The 13th Annual Play Fest opens Friday, May 4 on The Grange stage. The following seven short plays will be brought to life – the culmination of Orcas playwrights, directors and actors. This year brings several new faces out to share their talent. Tickets are $10 and all performances begin at 7:30 p.m., with doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the door, at Darvill’s Bookstore or at www.orcasactors.org. Performances are May 4, 5, 6 and May 11, 12, 13.
Nonviolent Gulch: by Evan Wagoner-Lynch, directed by Melinda Milligan, the cast is Travis King, Larry Hampel, Liz Doane, Rick Markov and Lisa Spesard. What happens when Gunstone, the gunslinging desperado, the “devil of Nevada,” wanders into his favorite bar in “Rattlesnake Gulch” and finds that the town has renamed itself “Nonviolent Gulch,” the bar is the “Namaste Saloon” and they don’t serve whiskey anymore?
Camelot: by Nancy Reas, directed by Carie Lou Gottschaldt, cast: John Mazzarella and Annette Mazzarella. “Through foggy recollections of the past, Fred struggles to make sense of the present as Nancy ponders the end of a dream.”
Dust: by Mary Bayley, directed by Lisa Spesard and Isabella Schermerhorn, the cast is Leslie Liddle, Don Yerly and Hayley Thompson. A family drama set in the 1930s. From Philadelphia ballrooms to dusty country farming – a family relocates with hopes of innovation, but it’s a rougher business than expected.
Moira: by Kat Blucker, directed by Madeline Olson, the cast is Susie Shipman. For 25 years, Moira’s life has been consumed by the whims of her violent husband. But one night, everything changes.
Thirteen This Way: by Miguel Villarreal, directed by Evan Wagoner-Lynch, the cast is Kevin Doyle, Jessie Gonzalez, Frank Michels, Travis King and Stephanie Wright. Two buddies find themselves working a neverending job with a difficult client, a fellow named Thomas Jefferson. Just when it seems the end is within reach, Jefferson and his friends come up with a new job for the duo: something that will send them down a very perilous path, indeed.
Coming Out: by Heather Thomas, directed by Lynda Sanders, the cast is Stephanie Wright, Gus Klueber and Isabella Schermerhorn. “It’s all well and good to raise your kids to be independent and think for themselves until they do…”
The Adventures of Jack Armstrong: by Hank Pollard, directed by Frank Michels, the cast is Larry Hampel, Rick Markov, Margot Van Gelder, Alia Hynek, Lesley Liddle and Michels. Presented in the genre of a 50’s radio drama, the play follows a family on an action-adventure archeological roller coaster ride through jungle habitat and ferocious animals.
