2019
MARCH
THE MRS. WHEATLAND PAGEANT
By Lisa Wagner Erickson
Directed by Hart DeRose
Presented by the Lulubird Project
Sitcom nostalgia, small town reality and gender norms collide in a comedy about about one woman’s search for certainty in an ever-changing world .
Shorts Before the Show
Each evening of THE MRS. WHEATLAND PAGEANT opened with a Short Before the Show, presenting a 10-minute reading from a new work by a local playwright. A different playwright was featured each night. Participating playwrights included John Ashton, Jessica Austgen, Frank Oteri, Colette Mazunik, Leslie Lewis, Rebecca Gorman O’Neill, Rhea Amos, Nina Miller, Ellen K. Graham and Tami Canaday.
APRIL
LA VEAU
Directed by Rhea Amos
Presented by Pandemic Collective
Brigitte, a woman in New Orleans, is searching for her estranged mother when she begins having vivid nightmares about the bayou. As the nightmares become more surreal, a voodoo-esque magic bleeds into her life, blurring the line between dreams and reality. This surreal, spooky, and beautiful piece featured live shadow puppetry designed by Katy Williams.
JUNE
YOU’LL FIND FLIES
By Dakota C Hill
Directed by Brandon Stiller
Presented by Chase & Be Still Productions
Hellen Wellman and her family find their party plans for the patriarch of the household upended by the arrival of a young stranger. The Martin family soon discovers that much like politics and morals, family and the truth can be very divisive.
JUNE
Writes of Summer
Presented by the Lulubird Project
A two-night play reading soirée at Theater 29. Featured playwrights included Rebecca Gorman O’Neill, John Ashton, Frank Oteri, Tami Canaday, Jeff Neuman, Colette Mazunik, and Sean Michael Cummings. The playwrights were in charge of choosing, casting and directing each play that was featured on stage.
JULY
ESCAPE; A Multi-genre Mashup
Presented by the Lulubird Project
An afternoon of readings on the theme of “Escape” by a marvelous multi-genre mashup of local writers, including Ellen K. Graham, Judith Sara Gelt, Rowena Algeria, John Holley, Laura Bond, Rick D. Bailey, Gina Wencel, and Jennifer Erickson.
AUGUST
THE NEVER SUMMER
By Ellen K. Graham
Directed by Hart De Rose
Presented by Feral Assembly
In Denver, circa 2040, city girl Lee works hard, saving up money to get her own apartment. But her plans are derailed when she meets the velvet-voiced Corva, who wants to lure her away from civilization into the unmapped wilderness.
OCTOBER
A(nother) Night of Grand Guignol
Presented by Pandemic Collective
Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol was a Victorian theatre in Paris that specialized in showcasing the most stylized, gory and shocking horror theatre in the world. Founded in melodrama, the Grand Guignol’s plays were meant to stun and terrorize audiences; and the theatre even boasted an on-staff doctor to resuscitate traumatized patrons.
Pandemic Collective’s evening of Grand Guignol showcased two timeless horror plays originally performed at the Parisian theatre in the 1900's, revived for a second life and underscored with live music by Sleep Wake.
NOVEMBER
A Staged Reading of Always with a Bang by Frank Oteri
About the play: Caleb Andrews and Lillian Ellingwood are caught in a post-life loop that begins with a simple question and ends with a bang. Since making the decision to terminate their physical lives, the two teenagers are forced to repeat their individual ends upon the ring of a bell. Revelations are divulged between each chime breaking patterns as the deceased discover unknown truths about each other’s past and the full extent of their destruction.
Presented by the Lulubird Project
DECEMBER
HIDDEN WORLDS & STRANGE NEGOTIATIONS
Presented by the Lulubird Project
An evening of short plays by Jessica Austgen, Tami Canaday, Lisa Wagner Erickson, Ellen K. Graham, Dakota C. Hill, Rebecca Gorman O’Neill, and Edith Weiss
Directed by Veronica Straight-Lingo
Literary lovers, a cricket, a gnome. Time becomes a palindrome. Longing, secrets, other-worldly sensations . . . One reality spills into the next in Hidden Worlds & Strange Negotiations.
