Either there is a lot of math involved in 10-minute play festivals or the overall focus on time gets me into a calculating state of mind.
For this year’s Second Annual Island Theatre Ten-Minute Play festival, three judges had to sift through 630 minutes of plays submitted by playwrights, new and experienced, from all over Kitsap to find the 14 winners that will be performed next weekend, August 24 and 25, at BPA.
The judges awarded First Place to Connie Bennett’s “Assigned Blessing,” and Steve Palay’s “Super-Citizen and the Parking Space” was Runner-Up. Both will be performed on each of the two evenings, with the remaining 12 finalists divided six and six over the two nights.
The playwright’s names were concealed from the three theater professionals who did the judging. Playwrights were allowed to submit up to three plays, with the understanding that an artist could have only one play selected for performance.
The plays are ten minutes long, and one woman, Kate Carruthers, is the overall managing director of the festival, but the number seven seems to enjoy special prominence in this year’s festival. This year there were seven more entries than last. Of the 14 featured plays, seven were written by 2012 winners: Connie Bennett, Jeff Fraga, Paul Lewis, Steve Palay, Karen Polinsky, George Shannon, and Wendy J. Wallace; the other seven featured playwrights are Judith Glass Collins, Robert Dalton, Charlie Hamilton, Keiko Green, Miller Shor, Ned Thorne, and Erik Van Beuzekom. And seven directors—Diane Bankart, Brian Danzig, Tim Davidson, Rozzella Kolbegger, Bob McAllister, Fred Saas, and Steve Stolee—will each direct two plays.
Is it a coincidence that the actors number 34, two digits which, if added, equal seven? Here they are: Caleb Adams, Joseph Adams, Michelle Allen, Tia Bannister, Kate Beddoes, Victoria Brown, Nathaniel Buechler, Darcy Clements, Robin Denis, Tracy Dickerson, Shannon Dowling, Ted Dowling, Paula Elliot, Todd Erler, Miranda Feldtman, Sean Fraga, Carolyn Goad, Keiko Green, Charlie Hamilton, Rilla Hughes, Hayden Longmire, Justin Lynn, Bob McAllister, Marybeth Redmond, Tell Schreiber, Robin Simons, Sandi Spellman, Bob Tull, Ruth Urbach, Diane Walker, Nathan Whitehouse, Meredyth Yund, Andrejs Zommers, and Kat Zommers.
Winning Playwrights: Front row: Connie Bennett (First prize), Karen Polinsky, Miller Shor, Judith Glass Collins, Wendy Wallace; Back row: Robert Dalton, George Shannon, Jeff Fraga, Steve Palay (Runner-up), Charlie Hamilton. Not Pictured: Paul Lewis, Erik Van Beuzekom, Keiko Green, Ned Thorne.
Twenty-eight years ago (a number divisible by seven), Island Theatre was formed as a nonprofit. Members stage play readings every other month at the Library. In the in-between months, they host potluck dinners at which guests are welcome to join in play readings. The group also preforms staged readings of Kitsap Regional Library’s One Book, One Community selections.
This year’s festival is funded in part by the Maggi Rogers Fund and the Bainbridge Community Foundation. BPA is providing technical and publicity assistance. Island Theatre also receives support through One Call for All and donations.
The festival starts at 7:30 both nights, August 24 and 25, at Bainbridge Performing Arts (220 Madison Ave. N.). The event is free, but donations are welcome. Organizers recommend that the under-13 set be left at home as some of the plays feature strong language and themes.
All of this numerology adds up to my vote that next year’s festival feature seven-minute plays, which, despite the increased difficulty for everyone involved, is clearly what the universe is demanding.
Here is the schedule:
“That Undiscovered Country” from 2012 Festiuval
Saturday, August 24
Act I
- Helping Hands, by Keiko Green (Directed by Fred Saas). A young couple deals with a question: If you could change one thing about your significant other, would you?
- iChat, by Judith Glass Collins (Directed by Diane Bankart). An email conversation between two opposing political views becomes an intimate chat.
- The Consortium, by Eric Van Beuzekom (Directed by Tim Davidson). An all-female group of “Weather Underground” radicals take on a mission that may save or destroy their friendships.
- Supercitizen and the Parking Space, by Steve Palay (Directed by Brian Danzig). There’s an open parking space in downtown Seattle. Why are you still sitting there?
Act II
- The Opening, by Jeff Fraga (Directed by Steve Stolee). An art gallery owner and artist both want the same thing, but go about getting it in complete different ways.
- The Butler, by George Shannon (Directed by Rozzella Kolbegger). When the craft project at the Sunrise Assisted Living Facility is “draw something that brings back a sweet memory,” the results at one table of women are not quite what you’d expect.
- Lunatic, by Miller Shor (Directed by Bob MacAllister). A teenage girl attends a therapy session, only to discover that things are not as they seem.
- Assigned Blessing, by Connie Bennett (Directed by Fred Saas). Two playwriting students become increasingly competitive in their efforts to complete their homework assignment.
Sunday, August 25
Act I
- Hoffmeister’s Hypothesis, or, Lucky Ducks, by Paul Lewis (Directed by Bob MacAllister). A Depression-era bank robber and his girlfriend, on the run from the law, unwittingly step into a time machine and travel forward in time to 1959.
- Anastasia, by Ned Thorne (Directed by Brian Danzig). A young real estate agent gets more than she bargained for when her first clients prove to have some VERY specific requirements for their dream house.
- Gingerbread, by Wendy Wallace (Directed by Diane Bankart). Simple becomes complicated when two souls meet in a kitchen.
- Supercitizen and the Parking Space, by Steve Palay (Directed by Brian Danzig)
Act II
- Scuzzy Bunny, by Karen Polinsky (Directed by Tim Davidson). Jill, a therapist counseling other women on how to find love, finds herself attracted to Sam, an arrogant egoistic selfish slob.
- dinner table, by Rob Dalton (Directed by Rozzella Kolbegger). The play explores a cathartic, late-life moment when a woman finally says what she never had the courage to say.
- Andrasteia, by Charlie Hamilton (Directed by Steve Stolee). What begins with two elderly men ruminating about past events progresses into a drama about retribution.
- Assigned Blessing, by Connie Bennett (Directed by Fred Saas). Two playwriting students become increasingly competitive in their efforts to complete their homework assignment.
All photos and the poster are by Steve Stolee. Featured photo is from last year’s I See France.