2008 Woodie Awards
New PlayFest opens March 16
Students given the chance to play director for a change
Tiara Johnson
Issue date: 2/22/07 Section: Entertainment
The writer and directors of the New Play Festival (commonly know as PlayFest) have one thing in common: working with MJC Theater Professor Michael Lynch, the producer of PlayFest.
Tim Glidewell: "The Familiar Stranger," Steven King: "King of America," and Romeo Mora: "Only in Dreams."
Each one has taken Lynch's playwriting class and are now working hard directing their plays to be shown to the public.
All of the directors have had a different journey to their involvement in theater, adding to the diversity between each of the plays.
Glidewell has been involved in drama since he was 5 doing little plays with his sister at home.
He had directed a murder mystery in high school and this is his first time directing since then.
"The Familiar Stranger" focuses on a house and the families and people who live in it.
It features the largest cast of the three plays and is also the longest, running at about an hour.
King wrote his play either last fall or spring and has been doing theater since his freshman year of high school when he focused on acting but also directed a few of his own plays.
"King of America" is a satire of Bush and political things that he does not like about America.
"Because of their hard work and everyone else's hard work it is going to be a really good show," King said.
Mora has done three PlayFests for three years, writing and directing.
He has also been assistant stage manager for "Hansel and Gretel."
"Only in Dreams" is about a young man on his way to his rehearsal dinner and the conflict of deciding who is deciding if he wants to marry his fiancée or still look for his ideal woman personified on stage while the play is going on.
It was written during the summer and work-shopped during the fall semester.
"After Theater 100, I started to be exposed to the idea of my stuff really being produced. I enrolled in his play writing class and worked and worked, though during that semester none of my stuff made it," said Mora, "He gave me a challenge to write a play that is 10 minutes long. If I can do that, he'll let me into PlayFest and that is what happened. Every since I have been doing the same thing over and over."
The New Play Festival will open on March 16 at 7:30 p.m. on West campus in Cabaret West. The other dates are March 17, 23, and 24 at 7:30 p.m. and March 18 and 25 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10.
Tim Glidewell: "The Familiar Stranger," Steven King: "King of America," and Romeo Mora: "Only in Dreams."
Each one has taken Lynch's playwriting class and are now working hard directing their plays to be shown to the public.
All of the directors have had a different journey to their involvement in theater, adding to the diversity between each of the plays.
Glidewell has been involved in drama since he was 5 doing little plays with his sister at home.
He had directed a murder mystery in high school and this is his first time directing since then.
"The Familiar Stranger" focuses on a house and the families and people who live in it.
It features the largest cast of the three plays and is also the longest, running at about an hour.
King wrote his play either last fall or spring and has been doing theater since his freshman year of high school when he focused on acting but also directed a few of his own plays.
"King of America" is a satire of Bush and political things that he does not like about America.
"Because of their hard work and everyone else's hard work it is going to be a really good show," King said.
Mora has done three PlayFests for three years, writing and directing.
He has also been assistant stage manager for "Hansel and Gretel."
"Only in Dreams" is about a young man on his way to his rehearsal dinner and the conflict of deciding who is deciding if he wants to marry his fiancée or still look for his ideal woman personified on stage while the play is going on.
It was written during the summer and work-shopped during the fall semester.
"After Theater 100, I started to be exposed to the idea of my stuff really being produced. I enrolled in his play writing class and worked and worked, though during that semester none of my stuff made it," said Mora, "He gave me a challenge to write a play that is 10 minutes long. If I can do that, he'll let me into PlayFest and that is what happened. Every since I have been doing the same thing over and over."
The New Play Festival will open on March 16 at 7:30 p.m. on West campus in Cabaret West. The other dates are March 17, 23, and 24 at 7:30 p.m. and March 18 and 25 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10.
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