Welcome to
PlayFest 2023
The Arts Bridge Charity presents PlayFest 2023. PlayFest 2023 will consist of six new play readings presented over two weekends, October 27-29 and November 3-4, 2023. During each reading, patrons will experience groundbreaking new works while participating in the creative process by sharing their reactions directly with the playwright and creative team at a post-show talkback.
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PRESENTED BY:
PlayFest is presented with additional support from:
Rita Lowndes, Rick Schell & Scott Joseph, Grant Gribble, Mills Family Foundation, and Jason Dion
2023 PlayFest Finalists:
Diana Burbano “Beheading Columbus”
Paris Crayton lll “Only some of God’s Children or
Mississippi Magnolias”
Angela J. Davis “AGATHE”
Sandra Delgado “Hundreds and Hundreds of Stars”
Katie Dỗ “Who Hurt You?”
Christopher Washington “The Facts are as Follows:”
JOIN US FOR A PLAYFEST PARTY
Saturday, November 4 @ 7 p.m.
For just $20 more, join us for a buffet-style dinner (catered by Pig Floyds) with select available playwrights and directors in between that day’s readings.
PURCHASE PARTY TICKETS
Menu featuring:
Brisket
Pulled pork
Chopped chicken
Fried and Seasoned Tofu
Mixed Green Salads
Rice and Beans
Mexican Street Corn
BBQ Sauce
“The Facts are as Follows:“
Sponsored by Rick Schell & Scott Joseph
By Christopher Washington
Directed by Shonn McCloud
Performance: October 27, 2023
Time: 8pm
With a perfect memory and perfect LSAT score, James Ezekial Williams has just arrived on the East coast for his very first day of law school. Navigating a seductive, insidious curriculum designed by the genius Professor, James attempts to juggle microaggressions, critical race theory, and love. The Facts are as Follows: is about the consumption of whiteness, the folly of exceptionalism, and the creation of one’s own personal apocalypse.
“Who Hurt You?“
Sponsored by Grant Gribble
By Katie ĐỖ
Directed by Felichia Chivaughn
Performance: October 28, 2023
Time: 8pm
Ellie and Kira are two Vietnamese-American actors who always find themselves in the same audition rooms. As their lives become more intertwined with the same lovers, friends, and opportunities, Ellie’s jealousy spirals into a battle with insecurity, mental health and an epic heartbreak. When fear and coincidence bring Ellie to a life and death situation, her loved ones come together to ask, who hurt you?; how have we hurt ourselves?; and, most importantly, who hurt Ellie?
“Hundreds and Hundreds of Stars“
Sponsored by Rita Lowndes
By Sandra Delgado
Directed by Clare Lopez
Performance: October 29, 2023
Time: 4:30pm
Like millions of Americans, Clara’s days are consumed with juggling work and family. Recently divorced, she’s taking care of her tween-age daughter, her aging father – and paying alimony to her under-employed ex-husband. But in the midst of all that stress, she’s got something to look forward to: a long planned for trip to Europe with her daughter Stella. In preparation, Clara, who immigrated to the US with her family as a child, decides to apply for full citizenship. She wants to be able to stand in the same customs line as Stella. But when her citizenship application is flagged, it sets off an unfathomable series of events that threaten to force her out of the only home she’s ever known. Timely and provocative, Hundreds and Hundreds of Stars asks challenging questions about our country’s most fundamental values.
“Only Some of God’s Children or
Mississippi Magnolias“
Sponsored by Jason Dion
By Paris Crayton III
Directed by Angel Bates Creeks
Performance: November 3, 2023
Time: 8pm
Set two days after the 1963 March on Washington, John Malachi Curtis, and his best friend, William Cochise Brown, return home to Mississippi to unpack all of the emotions left over from the March, only to find, John’s son, Ezekiel, has been attacked during a sit-in protest. Betty, John’s wife, wants to leave Mississippi for good but the promise of land and remnants of love makes John unwilling to do so. Only Some of God’s Children or Mississippi Magnolias is a story of five different flowers just waiting to bloom.
“Beheading Columbus“
Sponsored by The Mills Family Foundation
By Diana Burbano
Directed by Roberta Emerson
Performance: November 4, 2023
Time: 5pm
Beheading Columbus follows two sisters down a trail of DNA deception and makes them face race and colorism in the Latinx community and in their own family. Lana looks white, Susi doesn’t and that’s been a point of conflict their whole life. Through DNA testing they discover that Lana has a white father. The DNA test also reveals that Susi, who is mixed race, has genes for the Alzheimers that are destroying their mother. Add to that, they discover that the previously unknown other father is a fertility doctor who has sired at least 40 mixed race children. Through love and a massive sense of humor, the sisters work at decolonizing themselves from the inside out.
“AGATHE“
Sponsored by Jason Dion
By Angela J. Davis
Directed by Joshian Morales
Performance: November 4, 2023
Time: 8pm
In the spring of 1994, a plane crash will take the life of an African president and ignite a raging killing spree that the world will later recognize as the Rwandan genocide. The person who is next in line for the presidency is a university professor by training and an advocate for women and girls’ education. AGATHE is inspired by the overlooked story of Agathe Uwilingiyimana, who served as Rwanda’s president for just fourteen hours and whose bravery and foresight are a beacon for all time. Fusing poetry and elements of magic realism with gripping docudrama, AGATHE is a full-length play.
About PlayFest
PlayFest is an annual festival that provides a place for writers, theatre professionals, and audiences to connect and share ideas that promote thought-provoking stories. Audiences experience staged readings of seven new works over two weekends and participate in the development of new plays, conversing with playwrights, directors, and actors while absorbing groundbreaking new works.
Since 1999, the festival has introduced over 163 new works to regional and nationwide audiences, including Karen Zacarías’ Native Gardens, Lauren Gunderson’s I and You, Mark Brown’s Around the World in 80 Days, Kathleen Cahill’s Charm, John Biguenet’s Shotgun, Jennifer Hoppe-House’s Bad Dog, William Missouri Downs’ The Exit Interview, Steve Yockey’s Blackberry Winter, and Steven Dietz’ Yankee Tavern. Out of those readings, we have produced 18 new plays in our mainstage season. Many PlayFest plays have also received productions in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Dallas, and Washington, D.C. Many PlayFest alumni have since been published and received critical acclaim and awards for their work. The world premiere of Gertrude and Claudius by Mark St. Germain, our first commission which appeared in PlayFest 2017, opened in our 2018-2019 season. Funding for the commission of Gertrude and Claudius generously provided by Rita and John Lowndes.
Orlando Shakes is a core member of the National New Play Network, a nationwide organization devoted to developing new work through the New Play Exchange, rolling world premieres, and annual conferences. Orlando Shakes prides itself on active participation within the national new play community while engaging its local audiences in the latest and greatest in playwriting.
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