Actors' Theatre's 8 Tens @ 8 Short Play Festival Celebrates Silver Anniversary

Santa Cruz County Actors' Theatre celebrates the 25th Anniversary of the 8 Tens @ 8 Short Play Festival, January 10 through February 9, 2020, at the Center Stage Theater in downtown Santa Cruz.
The annual ten-minute play festival is one of the most anticipated and popular events of the theatre season in Santa Cruz. The festival stages sixteen award-winning plays from the 2019 international playwriting contest, shown in repertoire over the five-week festival.

"Actors' Theatre is now the longest running and most respected short play festival in the United States," says Artistic Director and Festival founder, Wilma Marcus Chandler. "We have proudly kept in touch with many of our winning playwrights and have seen them go on to have plays produced in larger venues, knowing it all started for them here in Santa Cruz."

Every summer, Actors' Theatre holds a international playwriting contest, judged by a select group of local writers and directors. The winning plays are then produced into fully staged productions for the January Festival. The contest has become nationally renowned, with well over 200 entrees every year from around the world.

The sixteen award-winning plays will be presented as an "A" and "B" night, eight ten-minute plays on each night, in rotation. A special ticket package is available to see any "A" and "B" night showing throughout the run of the Festival. "Our 25th season," adds Chandler, "offers a wide variety of comedy and drama. They are plays with heart, conscience, and humor."

The 2020 Festival roster includes:

"A" NIGHT

LIFE ON LAND by Tom Sime. Director, Gerry Gerringer
THE ARGUMENT by Seth Freeman. Director, MarNae Taylor
MORE THAN STINK by Brian Spencer. Director, Jim Schultz
THE WINNER by Lori Londigan. Director, Nat Robinson
WAKING UP by Gail Borkowski. Director, Wilma Chandler
VANISHING BORDERS by Elyce Melmon. Director, Buff McKinley
STRANDED TRAVELER by Eric Thomas. Director, Kathie Kratochvil
UNCLE NUTTY 'S FINAL DAYS by William J. Royce. Director, Daria Troxell

"B" NIGHT

KNOTS by Robert Moulthrop. Director, Brian Spencer
THE MEMORY OF US by Mary Caroline Rogers. Director, Andrew Davids
COUNTING PEDESTALS by Carlos Jerome. Directors, Noel Warwick & Suzanne Schrag
WHY GOD MADE BEGGARS by Steve Koppman. Director, Marcus Cato
THE FISH POND by Joe Lauinger. Director, Cathy Warner
FLORIDA by Steven Doloff. Director, David Halper
THE NEXT IVAN SHARANSKY by Jim Geoghan. Drector, Hannah Eckstein
PRESS PRAY by Seth Freeman. Director, Miguel Reyna

Tickets: $32 General | $29 Senior/Student $58 General Package, $54 Senior/Student Package - for any two-nights of the Festival
Purchase at sccat.org, brownpapertickets.com, or 800-838-3006