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SFA Theatre to Present 5-Day Playreading Festival

Sylvia Bierschenk - March 7, 2008

NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - Flights of fantasy, an epic plot, comic sketches, award-winning playwrights and even a famous daytime drama star are all part of the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre's Festival of New American Plays scheduled for Tuesday, April 22, through Saturday, April 26, in SFA's Downstage Theater.

The festival's purpose is to give the three participating playwrights an opportunity to see and hear their works-in-progress presented by live actors in front of a live audience, explained Scott Shattuck, director of the SFA School of Theatre and the festival's coordinator. "Before they go into full production, most plays are developed in a process much like our festival provides."

During the five-day festival, each of the three plays will be presented as rehearsed or staged readings two different times for the audience and its playwright. The focus will be on the scripts rather than on the production elements, explained Kyle Kennedy, SFA assistant professor of directing and acting.

Richard Strahle's "This Day Forward" will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 22, and Friday, April 25. Shattuck, who is directing the play, loosely describes it as an epic since it follows one family from the 1880s to the present. Each of the five interlocking acts deals in some way with a marriage within a different generation.

"You sense that Richard is also a screenwriter," said Shattuck of the Colorado-based playwright. "As the style of the writing evolves from act to act, century to century, the effect is cinematic." Strahle penned the 1992 martial arts independent film, "My Samurai."

Shattuck, who is directing the reading, described the play as "sweet, funny and exceptionally touching. On the phone the other night, Richard explained that the play is ultimately about the way that love makes all things seem possible."

Playwright Staci Swedeen returns to the festival from New York with five short works which will be presented as "Take Five: Five Short Plays."

Director Kyle Kennedy said the works reveal the breadth of Swedeen's writing. "The first piece is a very poignant drama, but the last four are short comedic skits, similar to those presented on "'Saturday Night Live.'"

"Take Five" will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, and at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 26.

Shattuck will also direct "Cornbury: The Queen's Governor," by William M. Hoffman and Anthony Holland. The play is based on the life of cross-dresser Edward Hyde, the English governor of New York and New Jersey from 1661 to 1723, and will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 24, and Saturday, April 26.

"The play is hilarious," exclaimed Shattuck, "yet its themes of diversity and acceptance are quite thought-provoking. The history lesson is fascinating, but it's a whimsical take on factual events, a distant cousin to 'Shakespeare in Love.'"

Hoffman, a theatre professor at the City University of New York, is best known for his Broadway play "As Is" which confronted the AIDS crisis. It won the 1985 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play, the Obie Award for Distinguished Playwriting and three Tony nominations, including Best Play.

Brad Maule, former star of "General Hospital" and SFA lecturer in theatre and film, will read the part of Pastor Cornelius Van Dam, one of the play's villains.

The festival is a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Theatre and is sponsored in part by Tipton Ford-Lincoln-Mercury of Nacogdoches.

Due to adult language and themes, the plays are recommended for mature audiences only.

Tickets to each performance are $12 for adults and $6 for seniors and students. Advance ticket purchases are recommended since seating is limited in the Downstage Theater, located on the ground floor of the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive.

For tickets or more information, please call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS.

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