[NEohioPAL] First 10-Minute Play Festival

[Jan Harcar]

Weathervane Playhouse to Present Festival

of 10-Minute Plays

Silver Lake Resident Among Eight Finalists
 

Volunteer judges at Weathervane Playhouse read over 125 plays from all over the country before choosing eight finalists to present at the theatre's first annual 8x10 TheatreFest - July 15 to 17, 2011. 

 

While the prospect of reading and then choosing finalists from among 125 entries might seem to be an enormous task, each play was only 10 minutes long!

 

"A Weathervane Playhouse staff member calls it 'short attention span theatre'!" laughed Eileen Moushey, coordinator of the project. "The short format may appeal to fans of half-hour sitcoms, but there's also a real art to telling a story  - with completely developed characters and plot - in a very limited amount of time."

 

Among the finalists are two Ohioans. Huron resident Erin Bunting, a graduate of Case Western Reserve University's theater arts program, wrote a 10-minute play entitled Worth Waiting For. Patricia Robertell-Hudson of Silver Lake penned Trips with Grandma. Robertell-Hudson, who has been involved with Stow Players for 17 years, is a Client Relationship Specialist for the Huntington Investment Company. 

 

Three performances of all eight plays will be staged at the Playhouse on July 15, 16, and 17, in what will become an annual event at Weathervane - the 8x10 TheatreFest - Eight Plays, Ten Minutes Each.   Guest judges will attend a performance and rate the eight plays. Following Sunday's matinee, the Playhouse will host a reception to announce the winner ($150 prize) and the first-runner up ($100 prize.)

 

In addition to the festival's guest judges, audience members will get to vote for their favorite short plays. The winner of the "fan favorite" vote, also to be announced following the final performance, will receive a $75 prize.

 

Weathervane's 8 x 10 TheatreFest guest judges will include:

 

· Kerry Clawson, Akron Beacon Journal arts writer and theatre/dance critic.

 

· Dr. David Ritchey, Ph.D., theater critic for The West Side Leader and a professor in the School of Communication at The University of Akron.

 

· Mark Dawidziak, TV critic at the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the author of several non-fiction books, a novel and six plays.

 

· Bill O'Connor, retired reporter, columnist and theatre/movie critic for

the Akron Beacon Journal.

 

The Eight Finalists for Weathervane's 2011 8 x 10 TheatreFest
 

Bear-Ly Legal: A Love Story by Marek Muller of Littleton, Colo.



Crossing The Line by Seth Freeman of Pacific Palisades, Calif. 



The Kid's Menu by Richard Vetere of Flushing, New York. 



Ridiculously Overpriced Coffee by Kelly Butler of Hixson, Tenn. 



That Sucking Sound by Al Kline of Creswell, Oregon. 



Trips With Grandma by Pat Robertell-Hudson of Stow, Ohio. 



Vatican 3G by Joe Starzyk of Troy, New York 



Worth Waiting For by Erin Bunting of Huron, Ohio

 

The directors for the plays include some faces most commonly seen on stage (versus in the director's chair) at Weathervane Playhouse - Jo McGarvey, Ian Haberman, Ron Cuirle and Emily Cuirle - as well as Weathervane Playhouse Technical Director Alan Scott Ferrall. Rounding out the director roster are Bill Morgan, the artistic director of Cleveland Signstage Theatre, and Jeremy Lewis, the associate artistic director at The Players Guild Theatre in Canton.

 

In addition to the 10-minute length requirement, each play submitted to the 2011 festival was required to include a reference to (or an interaction with) a specific prop. The inspiration for the inaugural 8 x 10 TheatreFest is a chair that was donated to the Playhouse by the late Kitty G. Brown. Audience members who attend this year's play festival will also be able to cast a vote for the prop to "inspire" the playwrights who plan to submit entries in next year's 10-minute play competition.

 

8 x 10 TheatreFest Performance and Ticket Information

 

The Performances
Friday, July 15 at 8 p.m.

Saturday, July 16 at 8 p.m

Sunday, July 17 at 2:30 p.m.

 

Tickets
$10 each

By phone: 330-836-2626

In person: 1301 Weathervane Lane in Akron

Online: www.weathervaneplayhouse.com.

Janis Harcar
Director of Advancement
Weathervane Playhouse
330-836-2323 X16
www.weathervaneplayhouse.com
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