June 2023 Newsletter: 24-Hour Play Festival
The triumph can't be had without the struggle. -Wilma Rudolph
We did it!
You know what we do, what we’ve done for 20 years; Provide workshops for at-risk youth that teach them to write/direct a short play (and in the course of that training, we inculcate young minds with strategies and tactics to manage past trauma and future risk).
Well—to celebrate our 20th year, we did something completely different. We produced a 24-hour play festival, Write On! in Portland Center Stage’s Ellyn Bye Studio. (If you missed the event, we hope you'll consider making a donation today to celebrate two decades of transformative workshops.)
In one 12-hour span (7 pm Friday night to 7 am Saturday morning), writers drew for genre, number of actors, one required prop, one required line, then went home to write a short play. In the next 8 hours (8 am to 4 pm), directors drew for which play they’d direct, with which actors; rehearsed the play, blocked the action; and performed a tech rehearsal. And then—showtime!
At 7:30 Saturday night, June 17, eight short plays, written under pressure, directed with risk, were performed with brio—to great applause.
The audience was charmed from the first. Program Director Victor Mack welcomed all, then emcee extraordinaire Poison Waters (Grand Marshal of the Portland Rose Festival's 2023 Starlight Parade) flipped the switch on the high-energy evening and kept it going through banter with the audience and the judges (Beth Harper, Artistic Director Emerita of The Actors Conservatory; David Koff, Artistic Director of Change Through Play Improv & Acting studio; Nik Whitcomb, Artistic Director of Bag&Baggage Productions).
Left to right: Beth Harper, David Koff, Nik Whitcomb
The results:
Playwright Jenna Cody
Judges' Choice: The Horror by Jenna Cady. Directed by Jane Unger, starring Magnolia Brown, Zero Feeney, and Saren Nofs Snyder.
Genre: Adaptation
Prop: a Rolodex
Line: "I'm going to feed the chickens. The chickens don't care about my legal problems."
Magnolia Brown, Zero Feeney, and Saren Nofs Snyder in The Horror
Playwright Mishelle Apalategui
Best Use of Prop: Hellscape by Mishelle Apalategui. Directed by Jeffrey Puukka, starring Sanjana Venkat and Sean Arlo.
Genre: Drama
Prop: Laser temperature gun
Line: "Well, when you're fastidious and obsessed with perfection, things tend to turn out well."
Sanjana Venkat and Sean Arlo in Hellscape
Playwright (and PlayWrite coach) Brian Kettler
Best Use of Line: Housecat by Brian Kettler. Directed by Tom Cocklin, starring Barbara Passolt and Mele Satsuma.
Genre: Absurd
Prop: Seedling pots
Line: "It's not that I'm crazy. It's just that what I perceive and what others perceive is often a wide gulf."
Barbara Passolt and Mele Satsuma in Housecat
Playwright Valerie Asbell
Audience Choice: A Good Life by Valerie Asbell, Directed by Ashley Olson, starring: La'Tevin Alexander and Anthony Green Caloca.
Genre: Writer's Choice (they chose Dramedy)
Prop: A dragon puzzle box
Line: "Did you give the pig her enrichment box?"
La'Tevin Alexander and Anthony Green Caloca in A Good Life
The other plays and playwrights included:
Playwright Nancy Campbell
Broken From Hoboken by Nancy Campbell. Directed by Julie Schuerger, starring Marcella Laasch, Jesse Nobile, and Darrett Sanders.
Genre: Tragedy
Prop: A vintage blender
Line: “I am not dragging that cedar tusk all the way back to Hoboken.”
Marcella Laasch, Jesse Nobile and Darrett Sanders in Broken From Hoboken
Playwright Kate Herrell
The Wedding Grift by Kate Herrell. Directed by Sean Kirkpatrick, starring: Debbie Gerber, Murren Kennedy, Diane Slamp, and Dan Sweet.
Genre: Comedy
Prop: An acrylic paperweight thingy
Line: “It’s not paste until you eat it.”
Diane Slamp, Debbie Gerber, Dan Sweet and Murren Kennedy in The Wedding Grift
Tea for Three by Dawn Sellers. Directed by Pamela Sterling, starring Naomi Bowers, Rachel Fishman, and Piper Supplee.
Genre: Suspense
Prop: An ancient cassette tape
Line: “No! No puns. Every time you use a pun an angel loses its wings”
Piper Supplee, Naomi Bowers and Rachel Fishman in Tea for Three
Striptease by Doug Sellers. Directed by: Lennon B. Smith, starring Cortney Grant, Lucy Paschall, and Jonathan Wexler.
Genre: Farce
Prop: a ball of twine
Line: “And free microwaves always smell like burnt popcorn and arugula.”
Cortney Grant, Jonathan Wexler and Lucy Paschall in Stripetease
THANKS to all the playwrights, directors and actors who wanted to work with us. THANKS to everyone who came to see the show. THANKS to everyone who supported us from afar.
Thanks to Portland Center Stage staff who smoothed our way, poured the wine, ran the sound and lights (and found our lost phones). And—everyone else who made the dream of this wild event come true—and more than fulfilled our hopes and expectations. Stay tuned, we’re gonna do it again in 2024!
And most of all: On behalf of PlayWrite’s entire team, THANK YOU, supporters and donors, for being a part of our story for the last two decades and thank you for supporting the next generation of young people by helping them bring their stories into the world and onto the stage!
MORE NEWS coming up in our July newsletter.
Poison Waters, our fabulous emcee, in the Ellyn Bye Studio