2014 PlayBuilders Festival of Original Plays
Presenting the 2014 Leeward Theatre Presents PlayBuilders’ 3rd Annual Festival of Original Plays! New, original works have been written by outstanding local playwrights and will be read by Honolulu’s best actors. Directors from Kumu Kahua, The Actors Group, The University of Hawai’i and PlayBuilders of Hawai’i Theatre Company have volunteered their time and talent to insure that the quality of each presentation will be outstanding. Don’t miss a night of this very special series. No play is presented more than once. This years selected playwrights are Cynthia Wicks, Richard Goodman, Mark Tjarks, Kirstyn Trombetta, Timothy Adams, Neil Milner, Kelsie K.A. Pualoa, Edward Pickard, Anthony Pignataro, Doug Ross, Kemuel DeMoville and David Penhallow Scott.
Founded in 2011, PlayBuilders’ AFOP provides an outlet for new plays and playwrights written by, with, and for the people of Hawai’i. Recent successes from the festival include Nancy Moss’ “Will the Real Charlie Chan Please Stand Up” and Jan Shiarella McGrath’s “Outage” which were produced in 2013 at Kumu Kahua Theatre and TAG respectively.
Play readings may be one act or full length plays. Following each reading there will be a discussion of the play with the Festival Panel (made up of local theatre professionals) and the attending audience.
This years festival will be held Thursday and Friday, May 8, 9 at 7 - 10 PM and Saturday, May 10 @ 3pm - 10pm at the Leeward Community College Lab Theatre at Leeward Community College.
Tickets: $10.00 per festival day available 30 minutes prior to the start time. Ticket sales end at 9:30 each night.
The Lab Theatre holds about 80 individuals, thus we recommend arriving early to ensure seating for later readings. After the venue reaches capacity, additional tickets will only be sold when patrons exit the theatre.
Founded in 2011, PlayBuilders’ AFOP provides an outlet for new plays and playwrights written by, with, and for the people of Hawai’i. Recent successes from the festival include Nancy Moss’ “Will the Real Charlie Chan Please Stand Up” and Jan Shiarella McGrath’s “Outage” which were produced in 2013 at Kumu Kahua Theatre and TAG respectively.
Play readings may be one act or full length plays. Following each reading there will be a discussion of the play with the Festival Panel (made up of local theatre professionals) and the attending audience.
This years festival will be held Thursday and Friday, May 8, 9 at 7 - 10 PM and Saturday, May 10 @ 3pm - 10pm at the Leeward Community College Lab Theatre at Leeward Community College.
Tickets: $10.00 per festival day available 30 minutes prior to the start time. Ticket sales end at 9:30 each night.
The Lab Theatre holds about 80 individuals, thus we recommend arriving early to ensure seating for later readings. After the venue reaches capacity, additional tickets will only be sold when patrons exit the theatre.
Schedule
Thursday, May 8th
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Friday, May 9th
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Saturday, May 10th
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Plays Précis
"Waiting for the Pizza Guy" by Cynthia Wicks
This play is intended to be absurdist, at least in the beginning. The absurdist nature of alcoholism.The first scene depicts active alcoholism and the “creative delusions” of it acted out by Boris and Livingston. Boris is pining away over a woman, Natasha who has has left him to “get sober”. The scene unfolds with absurdist strippers, an imaginary band and interactions with characters as they eat the pizza from the refrigerator that Boris and Livingston believes as not yet arrived. The following scenes are between Natasha, (the woman alluded to in the first scene) with Dudley, aka, the Pizza Guy in an Italian restaurant. I imagine, “The Italian Restaurant ” by Billy Joel playing at some point, as some of the lyrics are alluded to . It is semi-romantic and caries recovery and 12-step themes.Natasha says that she wants to help Boris, her ex, to get in contact with his estranged son. His son was in the imaginary band in the first scene.Natasha meets with Boris and makes amends, and gives him the contact information for his son, Calvin. In the final scene, Boris and Calvin are in a Pizza Parlor and are reunited. Of course, the pizza never comes waiting for a destiny that is always out of reach, until one lets it go and finds out it is inside. "War Stories" by Anthony Pignataro
War Stories is a one-act play about two World War II veterans who randomly meet in the Honolulu International Airport terminal in 1965. One is an American commercial pilot named Jake and the other is a Japanese businessman named Tadao. Though they were adversaries 20 years earlier in a war full of racism and brutality, they soon find that their experiences give them much in common. Soon idle chat gives way to swapping old stories, and sharing long-concealed secrets. "The Slip" by Mark Tjarks
The Slip won the Best Comedy Award at the fourth biennial Kauai Shorts Festival (2013) and was presented at the Aloha OPF XX (20th Original Play Festival) on the Big Island. A successful pickpocket/entertainer infiltrates a Senator’s private lunch with a proposition. Things turn ominous as the line between his act and a security threat blur. "A Dance with Abandon" by Kelsie K.A. Pualoa
Keola and Andrew are temporary roommates in the empty ballet studio above her small dance academy in Kaimuki. Ruth, Keola’s mother, soon decides that she will be moving in, whether there is space or not. Keola, Andrew, and Ruth need to come to some kind of arrangement that fits all three of their needs. The play explores themes of responsibility to culture and family, the freedom of art, and the hard work of being an individual. "Home Again" by Edward Pickard
Late-teenager Sarah Sue Ladner and young Ethan Mallett fell in love. She got pregnant. She was at term when she slipped down the rain slick embankment of swollen Black Creek into a deep pool. As she struggled in the water the baby came out. Sarah, unable to swim, could not save the newborn infant and was about to drown as well when her cries for help brought Ethan to her rescue. He was digging a place to bury the dead infant when a neighbor, farmer Jones, came upon him and demanded the death be reported to the sheriff. Sarah Sue was charged with infanticide and sent to jail. After serving her term of incarceration she was released with no one to meet her and no means of financial support. She went to New Orleans where she took several menial jobs but was unable to make ends meet. Faced with the prospect of prostitution which she found repugnant, she decided to return to the only place she had known as home. She steps out of a heavy rain onto the porch of the small farm shack owned by Ethan where he lives with his aged Aunt Marta. Here the play begins. |
"Voices from Hawaii’s Past" by Richard Goodman
From sailors to missionaries to lonely lady travelers, early visitors to the Hawaiian islands had interesting observations to make about the fascinating people who lived here. Several of Hawaii’s best actors will read selections from a few of the most intriguing journals and letters. "It Was the Perfect Crime" by Mark Tjarks
It Was the Perfect Crime, a parody of the longest running murder mystery in New York was presented at Aloha OPF XX (20th Original Play Festival) on the Big Island. Four actors have found themselves trapped in the longest-running play in New York (27 years) with no end sight, leading them to believe that a real murder may be the only way to end this murder mystery. "Treacherous Beloved" by Kirstyn Trombetta
People say children are born into this cruel world innocent and harmless, that only parents are to blame for a child’s doing. The monster little Nora always feared she’done day become like her hostile, always mysteriously expectant mother may becloser than she thinks. What begins as a typical day, strolling with her best friend,Ellie, turns into a terrifying reflection on Nora’s inner demons. Finding comfort in his friend Sam, Davey shares his aspirations of becoming an actor, as well as the neglect his family gives him. Jealousy consumes Benny, whose purpose for pleasing the only woman in his life makes him do unspeakable acts. Involving numerous flashbacks and flash forwards, Treacherous Beloved tells the thrilling story of a nameless, dysfunctional family of four, where innocence is stripped away from existence, an incestual relationship is accepted, a frightening birth awaits, and sibling rivalry results in death. Unlock the disturbing secrets and relationships within flesh and blood, and don’t be surprised for the unexpected. "School Dances and Schul Dances" by Nyla Fuji Baab
School Dances and Shul Dances is an adaptation of a story with the same name in Neal Milner’s book The Gift of Underpants. It’s about how us Jewish kids growing up in the 1950s behaved when they were around other Jews and how they behaved when they were in the broader world. It’s about dancing–the different ways Jewish adolescents danced at Jewish social affairs and the ways they danced at school dances. Jewish organizations’ social affairs were about making Jewish kids with raging hormones into proper Jewish boys and girls. School dances had a totally different mission. These differences came out in how we danced–or didn’t dance–depending on the setting. "The Apple" by Doug Ross
The Apple is, hopefully, a humorous illustration of behavior we model for our kids-whether we know it or not when we’re trying to get them to the school bus on time. "A Dark and Stormy Knight" by Kemuel DeMoville
A Dark and Stormy Knight is a farcical take on the murder mystery genre. Some of the major themes are: “Who is the killer?” “Did I lock the front door?” “What did that guy just say?” “There are too many characters.” and “Why am I here?” If the Grandparents of Clue and Rocky Horror had an illegitimate love child, who then went on to raise a family with the daughter of bad Agatha Christie internet fan fiction, their milk-toast progeny (who no one would talk about – and for good reason) would be A Dark and Stormy Night. Enjoy! |
Publicity & Photos
Photo of this Years Selected Playwrights for PlayBuilders Festival of Original Plays. Seated first row (L to R): Kelsie Pualoa, Kirstyn Trombetta, Timothy Addams, Seated second row: Nyla Fuji Babb, Standing (L to R): Neal Milner, Richard Goodman, Cynthia Wicks, Kemuel DeMoville, Edward Picard. Not Pictured: Mark Tjarks, Anthony Pignataro, Doug Ross and David Penhallow Scott. Photo by Marion Yee.
Awards
The 2014 Festival was held at Leeward Community College Theatre and introduced two new festival awards, the 2014 Best Play Award determined by professional adjudicators from Leeward Community College (Elizabeth Burdick), The Actors Group (Laurie Tanoura), and the local professional acting community (Richard and Karen Valasek). Each entry received the 2014 Official Selection Award which was determined by PlayBuilders’ staff.
The official list of awards is listed below:
The official list of awards is listed below: