Monday, March 16, 2015

The Hormel Festival of New Plays and Musicals

Phoenix Theatre's Hormel Festival of New Plays and Musicals starts this Friday March 20th and runs to March 29th.

Click here to read Gil Benbrook's story at AZ Lifestyle Magazine about this year's festival and his discussion with PT Associate Artistic Director Robert Kolby Harper



Click here for a complete schedule of events.

Staged Readings of 5 New Plays and Musicals

The Boob Show (Musical)
By Sally Jo Bannow
Music and Lyrics by Sally Jo Bannow and Craig Bohmler  
This musical is a celebration of boobs! Breasts have become such a big deal in our culture. Sometimes the women and men behind them get lost in the shuffle. With heart and humor, The Boob Show explores the world of boobs in this witty, engaging, and poignant new musical. Featuring local artists, Sally Jo Bannow and Craig Bohmler.
(Recommended for a mature audience-with a sense of humor).

Christmas 2.0
By Donna Hoke
All Angela wants is a happy Christmas, but her daughter's left for college, her husband's busy with fantasy football, and her cat won't stop peeing where he shouldn't. In desperation, Angela turns to Facebook, where some old friends help her see things in a new light.

The Up Side of Down (Musical)
By Y York and Amanda Jacobs
Inspired by Eleanor H. Porter’s novel Pollyanna
 
Inspired by the Eleanor Parker book, The Upside of Down is a musical re-telling of Pollyanna. The story begins as Pollyanna, after having lost her mother and her father - a young upper class white woman and an African American minister is sent to be cared for by her Aunt Polly. Pollyanna’s views of joy, goodness and love are put to the test as she is thrust into a world that doesn’t see things quite like she does. This magical story about kindness, compassion and family is suitable for all ages.
(Recommended for 10 and up).

The Nearly Final Almost Posthumous Play of the Not-Quite-Dead Sutton McAllister
By Kris Bauske

When world-renowned playwright Sutton McAllister suffers a major stroke and nearly dies, everyone springs into action to find the final script written in longhand by the old man just days before the almost end. Hilarity abounds in this drawing room comedy that will leave you wondering who’s who, what’s what, and where’s the nearly final almost posthumous play of the Not-Quite-Dead Sutton McAllister.

Forward
by Angelica Howland

Claire is waiting and has been mired in the same place for a very long time.  Walsh has run away but, his life keeps chasing him down.  The two meet in a beach house rental and almost immediately connect on a level neither has experienced before.  Their deep connection is threatened by a long suffering girlfriend, an old man desperate for answers and a bittersweet blast from the past.  Are soul mates always supposed to end up together? Or is it sometimes best to say goodbye and move forward?

Bending Reality: An Evening of Short New Plays 
Staged Readings of 5 Shorts Plays with a Different Perspective

Zombie 
By Brandon Wicke
When slacker buddies Mike and Phil discover a shambling zombie has taken up residence in Mike's basement, it looks as if a good old fashioned zombie-slaying romp is imminent. However, when Mike's girlfriend Jen arrives with a Zen new philosophy regarding the zombie phenomenon, the two budding slayers of the undead must decide whether their new house-guest is really the threat they assumed him to be. Don't miss this dark, existential new zombie-comedy that turns the genre on its head.

Bread
By Michael Yichao
Olivia hates poetry. Dan has secrets. Go back in time for this play about boys, love, heartbreak and high school.

Survival Strategy
By Donna Hoke
Officemates Jerry and Jenny make a deal to get from each other at work what they can't get at home.

Indivisible
By Ann-Giselle Spiegler
Patriotism is more than just a word. It's a call to action in service, in classrooms and on the streets.

The Courting Candle 
By Joann Yeoman

What’s the best way to audition a potential spouse: purchase a mail-order bride, hire a matchmaker, go to the debutante ball, experience speed dating, attend an ice cream social, crash an “A-list” party, or make an attempt at online. Faye has come up with a new spin on an old method. Will it work?

24 Hour Theatre Project
Six new works are created from conception to production in one 24 hour period and the audience delights in witnessing the outcome.

Composer/Lyricist Cabaret
Audiences listen to songs written by composers and lyricists before they ever become a musical. Playwrights and producers attend to listen, network and create the connections to make the musical come to life.

Sit Down Readings:
Free to the Public!

Airdrop
by Kirt Shineman
In 2011, when reporter Anton Suryapin is arrested by the Belarus KGB, his pregnant girlfriend, Polina, calls on all of her friends to help with his release. She contacts Tomas and Hannah, owners of Sweden's ad agency Studio Total. In an effort to help Polina’s boyfriend, on July 4th, 2012, Tomas and Hannah illegally fly their small plane from Lithuania to Belarus and drop nearly nine-hundred parachute-wearing teddy bears on Minsk. The teddy bears land unhindered, with their messages of freedom, but the fall-out from the airdrop on everyone involved, especially Polina, Anton, Tomas, and Hannah, changes their lives forever. (Based on true events.) AIRDROP is exciting, humorous, dynamic, intelligent, and 75 mins.

On display
by John Perovich
How far would you go to get what you want? Jack, a shut-in artist in the Lower East Side is faced with tough choices once his mother unexpectedly dies. Longing for the day when people will immortalize him for his artwork, Jack is thrown off balance by the arrival of Mary, a local grocer that makes home deliveries. Mary experiences love at first sight with Jack’s paintings and is determined to get the artist’s work into a local gallery with the help of a curator. What starts as an innocent partnership between the three characters develops into a dangerous dance of exploitation.

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