Acorn Announces Short Plays For 10th Annual MPF 4/14-29

Acorn Productions, a non-profit art presented located in the Dana Warp Mill, announces script selections for the short play portion of the tenth annual Maine Playwrights Festival, to be held at the St. Lawrence Arts Center on MunJoy Hill in Portland from April 14 to 29, 2011.

The ten playwrights whose works have been selected for the MPF are all Maine residents hailing from a variety of communities throughout the state: Marie Coyle (Portland), Larry Crane (Southport), Lynne Cullen (Yarmouth), Shannara Gillman (Seal Harbor), Kathy Hooke (Portland), Michael Kimball (Cape Neddick), Cullen McGough (Portland), Jefferson Navicky (Portland), Isabel Sterne (Cape Elizabeth), Michael Tooher (Portland). This year's edition of the festival will be directed by Karen Ball, Laura Graham, Michael Levine, Stephanie Ross, and Tess Van Horn. Complete descriptions of each play appears below. Each evening of plays will be presented 4 times in rotating repertory, along with a special evening on Friday, April 29th on which all ten plays will be performed beginning at 7:30 p.m. The MPF culminates with the second annual 24-Hour Portland Theater Project, which will take place on the St. Lawrence Stage on Saturday, April 30th. Tickets to the 10th annual Maine Playwrights Festival are $16 for adults, $14 for students and seniors. Entrance to the 24-Hour Portland Theater Project festival is $10 suggested donation.

The playwrights whose work will appear in the 2011 MPF have a wide range of previous writing experience. Of the 10 writers, 6 have previously had worked presented as part of the MPF, while the other 4 are new to the festival.

Marie Coyle lives in Portland. She has written a short story collection, "Other Women," and has been published in Amarillo Bay Literary Magazine.

Larry Crane's full length play "Breadalbane" was one of three selected as Featured Plays in the 2002 Festival, after which much revised it morphed into "Baghdad on the Wabash" which was chosen as the Best Play by a Maine Playwright in the 2007 Clauder Competition.

Lynne Cullen is a playwright and storyteller whose plays have been included in 4 previous editions of the MPF. In 2010, Lynne was awarded a Maine Arts Good Idea Grant to work on her full-length play, "Ragana: Mistress of Illusion", which had a reading at Acorn Studios last September. www.lynnecullen.com

Shannara Gillman has been involved in theater in some capacity for most of her life. She currently lives on an island with her daughter and her dog and works in development for a biomedical research institution (no, not Jackson Laboratory).

Kathy Hooke is a published poet who tutors writers at UNE and works as a writer for a legal newspaper. Her plays have been read as part of Acorn's Friday Night Reading Series, and presented at the Norman Rockwell Festival in Kennebunk as well as last year's MPF.

Michael Kimball's stage plays include "Ghosts of Ocean House," nominated for the 2007 Edgar Award, and "The Secret of Comedy," produced by Acorn Studio Theater and Abingdon Theatre Company, NYC. Some of Michael's other plays produced by Acorn have been staged at Outworks, Stage Q, Estrogenius Festival, and Insurrection Theater. Michael has written four novels, including the London Times' bestseller Undone, and several screenplays for movie and television production companies. He teaches popular fiction and scriptwriting at the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing Program, in Maine.

Cullen McGough's piece stems from a lifetime in and around the Portland Waterfront. As a student and writer of disaster-based drama, Mr. McGough believes a stark warning is preferable to a grim history.

Jefferson Navicky's writing has recently appeared in elimae, Requited Journal, Quickfiction, The New Guard, & The Café Review. His short play, "Lungfish," was a part of the 2010 MPF. He teaches English at Southern Maine Community College and lives in Portland.

Isabel Sterne attended Cape Elizabeth High School and graduated from Cornell University in 2009. Like many fresh college graduates, Isabel discovered that finding a job "in this economy" was very challenging. After almost a year of job hunting, she now works as an editorial assistant for a travel website in New York City.

Michael Tooher is a local stagehand and member of IATSE whose plays have been produced by the Boston Theater Marathon and theaters in Albuquerque, San Francisco and New York City.

The Maine Playwrights Festival started in 2001 as a series of dramatic readings in the old Acorn School for the Performing Arts on Congress Street (there was no festival in 2003). Since that time, Acorn has presented 86 plays by over fifty different playwrights at a variety of venues, moving to the St. Lawrence in 2005 where the festival continues to make its home each spring. Several plays developed at the MPF have gone on to success in other markets, most notably Carolyn Gage's "The Poorly-Written Play Festival" and Michael Kimball's "Actual Glass," both of which were invited to festivals in NYC after their MPF production. Acorn's commitment to fostering the development of new plays has extended into year-round programming of original plays in the Acorn Studio Theater. Acorn Productions is dedicated to nurturing the performing arts by building collaborations between groups of artists. In addition to the MPF, Acorn annually produces Phyzgig, a vaudeville festival that takes place between Christmas and New Year's Eve, and Naked Shakespeare, an ongoing series of free performances in traditional and non-traditional venues in Greater Portland.

2011 MAINE PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL SHORT PLAYS

SCHEDULE A

Aiming Off, by Larry Crane - Arriving at what you desire involves negotiation. For Alma and Jake the physical attraction is palpable. But getting to that place where they both want to be involves negotiating some pretty intense terrain.

Class, by Marie Coyle- Three college seniors fight to pass one last course.

Silence and Slow Time, by Kathy Hooke - An old woman with dementia tells a shaggy dog story and leads her tightly scheduled granddaughter to a new understanding about time and life itself.

The Last Fish in the Sea, by Cullen McGough - Faced with the grim realities of declining catches and increased regulations, Maine fishermen struggle with each other and themselves.

The Rope Swing, by Shannara Gillman - Two adults try to reconcile their shared past by returning to their old haunting grounds.

SCHEDULE B

Infestation, by Jefferson Navicky - A couple's relationship, and each individual's sanity, is threatened by a fruit fly infestation.

In This Economy, by Isabel Sterne - A job interview goes awry when interviewer and interviewee realize they only have moments to live before an asteroid destroys earth.

Perfect Joe, by Lynne Cullen - One Christmas Eve in 1965, Joe and Maria Sullivan return home from visiting relatives to find that the dog has eaten the Christmas Village.

The Perils of Long-Term Care, by Michael Kimball - An elderly couple explores the art of disagreement.

Size Matters, by Michael Tooher - Welcome to the first meeting of the Discussions Regarding Male Inadequacy therapy group, where size is ALL that matters.

PERFORMANCE CALENDAR

What: The 10th annual Maine Playwrights Festival short plays
Who: Acorn Productions
When: April 14 to 29, 2011Where: St. Lawrence Arts Center
How Much: $16 adults, $14 students and seniors
FMI: www.acorn-productions.org or 854-0065

Thursday, April 14th at 7:30 p.m. -Schedule A
Friday, April 15th at 7:30 p.m. -Schedule B
Saturday, April 16th at 5 p.m. -Schedule B
Saturday, April 16th at 8 p.m. -Schedule A

Thursday, April 21st at 7:30 p.m. -Schedule B
Friday, April 22nd at 7:30 p.m. - Schedule A
Saturday, April 23rd at 5 p.m. - Schedule A
Saturday, April 23rd at 8 p.m. - Schedule B

Friday, April 29th at 7:30 p.m. - all 10 short plays (one admission)
Saturday, April 30th at 5:30 and 8 p.m. - 24-Hour Portland Theater Project ($10 suggested donation)

 

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