BWW Previews: The Slant Culture Theatre Festival

What began as a testing ground for young actors has become a laboratory for new works by some of the top artists in Louisville in theatre and beyond. The Slant Culture Theatre Festival returns to Walden Theatre this weekend for 10 days of artistic experimentation.

Originally a Walden conservatory program in which teenage actors worked on new plays by rising writers, the former Slant Culture Series has expanded to include community-wide participation both onstage and off. The 2014 festival, running November 14-24, features work from local theatre stalwarts Le Petomane Theatre Ensemble, Savage Rose Classical Theatre Company, Theatre [502], the Louisville Improvisors and Walden itself.

"We recognized that there now seems to be a cadre of semi-professional theatre in Louisville," said Alison Huff, the festival's producer. "While each group has its own core audience, there's not much cross-pollination as you would think. But these are theatre professionals and masters of their craft who make a living in the field of producing exciting, relevant and high-quality theatre on a consistent basis."

The festival will feature additional offerings beyond the performances. The Moth StorySLAM, an open-mic storytelling competition that takes place monthly at Headliners music hall and is the local version of the nationally-broadcast "Moth Radio Hour," presents a special engagement opening night. J. Barrett Cooper of Savage Rose will explore the history of horror and terror in theatre in a lecture on Theatre Grand Guignol. Theatre [502]'s Gil Reyes will facilitate a workshop on contemporary plays and playwrights. Local actors Chris Anger and Teresa Willis will deliver solo performances.

The festival will also feature SLANTGuest Productions, a juried lineup of performances from companies outside the core Slant contingent. Local troupes performing will include Baby Horse Theatre Group, Looking for Lilith, Pandora Productions, Marrow Street Theatre and the Walden Theatre Alumni Company.

The full Slant schedule and tickets are available at www.slantculture.com.