PlayFest at Orlando Shakespeare Theater |
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| November 3 - 6, 2011 |
An engaging, fast-paced weekend packed with world premiere plays, distinctive panels, lively parties and dynamic networking events. It is the perfect opportunity to converse with PlayFest artists, establish lasting connections and absorb groundbreaking new works. Perfect for anyone who loves great theater! Play-in-a-Day kicks off this event on Thursday, November 3 followed by seven readings of brand new works in the next three days! Orlando Shakespeare Theater in Partnership with UCF is dedicated to the development of new plays, one of our country's most enduring art forms. PlayFest! The Harriett Lake Festival of New Plays is a nationally recognized program and represents one of the strongest commitments to new plays nationally. Over the years, Orlando Shakes has helped nurture and develop over 100 new plays – many of which have received subsequent productions in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Washington D.C. Keynote speakers and performances have included Philip Seymour Hoffman, Olympia Dukakis, Theresa Rebeck,John Pielmeier, Israel Horivitiz, and Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Schenkkan.
For the serious theater-lover, Industry Passes are available at a discounted rate for Theater Professionals. Festival Pass - $28 A no-frills approach to PlayFest, the Festival Pass enables you to see all seven PlayFest readings. A fantastic bargain! [buy now] Special Events
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Schedule
Sponsors
Patrons Roy and Patricia Ambinder |
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Readings - $5 (Mandell Theater)
 The OdysseyBy Charlie Bethel Friday, November 4 at 6:00 p.m. Shipwrecks, cyclopses, sirens and sex goddesses; cannibalism, death, loyalty and revenge. Solo artist Charlie Bethel unpacks it all for you in this retelling of Homer’s epic tale of a crafty hero trying to get home and the circumstances that stretch him to his limit. 75 minutes, followed by a Chat Back. [get tickets] |
 Zombie TownBy Tim Bauer Sunday, November 6 at 11:00 a.m. When a horde of zombies overruns the small West Texas town of Harwood, the townsfolk assume the worst has already happened. But then a San Francisco Theater collective arrives, determined to tell the town's story. The resulting play, assembled from interviews and told in the townsfolk's exact words, is the true recounting of that terrible invasion. 70 minutes, followed by a Chat Back. [get tickets] |
 SamsaraBy Lauren Yee Saturday, November 5 at 11:00 a.m. When American couple Katie and Craig vow to make a last-ditch effort to create a baby of their own, their quest leads them to India, where a thriving commercial surrogacy industry offers them one final chance at parenthood. But will their decision to “rent out” a surrogate unite or divide them? A hilarious, unsettling look at reproduction in the 21st Century, Samsara questions whether we can truly achieve intimacy in the face of shrinking worlds and expanding boundaries. 90 minutes, followed by a Chat Back. [get tickets] |
 The Invention of the Living RoomBy Andrew R. Heinze Sunday, November at 4:00 p.m. It's 1946. An apartment on the Lower East Side of New York City. Bessie Levin, an emotionally fragile yet dynamic woman, is haunted by the past but about to be hurled into the future. Bessie wants to keep her home unchanged and her racially mixed, religiously divided family together. Her son, Billy, is preparing to launch Levinstown, the first big postwar suburb, which he calls "the future of America." But will the Levins survive Levinstown? And will Bessie survive the future? 100 minutes, followed by a Chat Back. [get tickets] |
 SmokeBy Gloria Bond Clunie Saturday, November at 2:00 p.m. "Something's gotta kill you -- and everybody's got their own brand of smokes!" Country storeowner Ora Rakestraw wants no parts of the mysterious Wallace Johnson when he descends upon Manson, North Carolina to organize tobacco workers. The government declares cigarettes deadly. Things get hot when love and small town politics clash! 100 minutes, followed by a Chat Back. [get tickets] |
 FeverishBy Steve Yockey Sunday, November at 7:00 p.m. Feverish is a retelling of Phaedra & Hippolytus through a modern lens. The play fuses myth and modern ideas into a bold, vivid world of heightened realism, status games and unrequited lust. And sheds a whole new light on the "complex" love between a mother and a son. 90 minutes, followed by a Chat Back. [get tickets] |
 Strongman's GhostBy Jeffrey Hatcher Saturday, November 5 at 8:00 p.m. The General is a dictator of a small foreign country. He moonlights as a novelist. Everyone loves his books. They have to. He's the dictator. But he doesn't have time to do the actual writing anymore. For that he has ghostwriters. His soldiers have just brought him a new one. His assignment: finish the General's final book before the country is invaded by a nation very much like the U.S. 90 minutes, followed by a Chat Back. [get tickets] |
| Past Years |
| PlayFest 2011 - April 8 – 17, 2011 |
| PlayFest 2010 - April 2 – 11, 2010 |
| PlayFest 2009 - January 23 - February 21, 2009 |
| PlayFest 2008 - February 8 – 17, 2008 |
| PlayFest 2007 - February 23 – March 4, 2007 |
| PlayFest 2006 - February 8 – 19, 2006 |
