ISLAND THEATRE PRESENTS TWO EVENTS: August 2nd MEET THE PLAYWRIGHTS and August 17th – 19th TEN-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL
MEET THE PLAYWRIGHTS
A panel discussion with 2023’s Ten-Minute Play Festival playwrights
Wednesday, August 2nd at 7:00 pm
Bainbridge Public Library
Kick off the annual Island Theatre Ten-Minute Play Festival with “Meet the Playwrights” at the Bainbridge Public Library. This is your chance to meet the ten playwrights behind this year’s Festival and hear them discuss their plays, their writing practice, their challenges and triumphs, and anything else the audience wants to ask about. If you’re interested in writing, if you like live theatre, if you enjoy vibrant discussions, you’ll love this open-ended give-and-take with some of Kitsap County’s best playwrights. The event is free; no tickets are required.
It’s TABOO! For the first time in the ten-year history of Island Theatre’s Ten-Minute Play Festival, they’ve decided to have a theme: TABOO!
“Our intention for adding a writing theme would be to spice things up in our tenth Festival with a little novelty that we hope will provoke and entice writers into fresh creative territory and stimulate audiences with another facet or dimension to their appreciation of the plays,” Board Member, Steve Stolee told us in January. “The writing theme is employed by many film and play festivals and ever since we started Island Theatre Ten-Minute Play Festival in 2012, we have entertained discussions about adding this as a shaping tool, or writers’ prompt to our submission guidelines.”
However, Steve noted, that decision has always been shelved in the interest of keeping things simple…until now. “We started our planning with brainstorming lists, including a survey of other theater festival choices searching for a word / topic that would expand rather than limit creative thinking—we quickly saw a tricky business that could paint us into the proverbial corner!” he explained. “The word TABOO kept making it to the short lists and ultimately inspired us as having the desired wide interpretations and implications while striking a cheeky, colloquial familiarity. It lives easily in both comedy and tragedy; can inform scenes that are scalable from light romantic or family situations to political, religious or ethical high stakes. It is a well-known word and concept without seeming clichéd or over used.”
ISLAND THEATRE’S 10th ANNUAL TEN-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL!
4 performances:
Thursday, August 17 at 7:00 pm
Friday, August 18 at 7:00 pm
Saturday, August 19 at 3:00 pm
Saturday, August 19 at 7:00 pm
Bainbridge High School, 9330 High School Rd NE, Bainbridge Island, WA
All performances are FREE with a suggested $5 per person minimum donation – Tickets are required – click here to get yours!
This year’s ten plays will be fully staged in four shows August 17, 18 and 19 in the theatre at Bainbridge High School. They were selected from the 73 plays submitted by a panel of theatre professionals and the Island Theatre board of directors.
The ten plays and playwrights are:
- “Dancing For Her Death” by Katherine Anderson Law
- “Laundry Day” by Chelsea Leah
- “Steve Jobs’ Last Words” by Jeff Fraga
- “Routinely” by Erica Salazar
- “Mothers’ Day” by Wendy Wallace
- “Fire in the Yard” by Jeff Brown
- “Sex Talk” by Audrey Nelson
- “Summer ’17” by Henry Bacon
- “Nearest Far Away Place” by Aleks Merilo
- “Okaeshi” by Eileen Miller
Every August, Island Theatre presents the Ten-Minute Play Festival (with the exception of a two-year Covid hiatus) – a juried selection of plays by Kitsap County playwrights—both established and aspiring. The winning plays are fully staged and performed in both evening and matinee performances. The 2023 Ten-Minute Play Festival is partly supported by grants and donations from the City of Bainbridge Island and One Call for All.
About Island Theatre: The idea for Island Theatre came about in 1994 by Louise Mills and friend Michele McCrackin. Their first production, The Play’s the Thing by P.G. Wodehouse (adapted from a play by Ferenc Molnár) was performed in the Bainbridge High School’s auditorium. It was a huge success, and at a dinner for the cast and crew, held at the end of the successful show run, they decided to start a theatre company.
Island Theatre was born and named at a meeting later that year. The first board members were: Mary Braden, Steve Buechler, Kate Carruthers, Michele McCrackin, Louise Mills, Steve Nicolet; and Cynthia Sears, with Steve Stolee serving as its first president. In 1995, Island Theatre became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and produced its first official play.
With some exceptions, Island Theatre productions are free to the community, with donations gratefully accepted. Since its inception, Island Theatre has presented close to 200 plays at the Bainbridge Public Library or on another stage, such as Bainbridge Performing Arts.
Island Theatre includes three main program efforts: Island Theatre at the Library, a series of staged readings of plays; Island Theatre at Your House, a series of open play readings hosted in private homes; and the annual Ten-Minute Play Festival. The mission of Island Theatre is to provide low-cost, high quality theatrical programming, and over the years they have unofficially added the intention to provide learning and access to theatre arts. With the I.T. Ten-Minute Play Festival they offer a showcase for the original playwriting by Kitsap County authors; stage directing opportunities for up to ten local directors; roles for 25 to 30 actors and summer opportunity for our Kitsap communities to celebrate this local talent and creativity.
For more information on Island Theatre, click here.
Media Contact: Steve Stolee / (206) 696-6960 / SteveStolee@gmail.com
*Images and content provided by and used with permission from Island Theatre
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