Wednesday, September 17, 2014

TADA! Fest 2014 - presenting 2013/14 Playwriting Contest FINALISTS

 

TADA! Fest 2014

 

Finalists of TADA!'s 2013/14 Playwriting Contest!

 

SEPTEMBER 18, 20 & 21, 2014

AT THE CABARET THEATRE

330 S Scott Ave

 

More info: http://www.thedrektor.com/Upcoming-Events---Productions.html

 

We will present staged readings of the four finalists (of 254 submissions) and you, the audience, will vote on each presentation that evening. The winning script will be presented in a full production as a World Premiere, JANUARY 10 thru 25, 2015.

 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014, 7:00 P.M.

"AMERICAN FARCE," by Michael Reimann (Orlando, FL) - Americans have a history of making bets.  Placing a wager on a baseball or football game is a common occurrence, but it doesn’t start and end with sporting events.  We bet on the sex of a new born, as well, being right or wrong.  The phrase ‘rugged individualism’ stems from those betting on themselves to better their lives when this country was just starting to expand.  In most cases there is a winner and loser.  Profit or loss.  Benefit or sacrifice.  American Farce examines the one bet in life that always pays off.  From the perspective of a self-centered manipulator struggling to put his life back on a positive track, C.W. Maxwell has fallen behind in his alimony payments and his gambling debts are coming due.  All his remaining funds and recent efforts have been invested in an untested system to handicap horse races.  It’s not long before the system is proven a complete bust.  But, all is not lost.  It appears Max’s luck has turned a corner when he learns he has an estranged ten year old son with an uncanny ability to pick winners.  With little experience as a parent and even less desire to be one, Max uses his naive son’s talent to rectify his financial obligations, however, he’s caught totally unaware of the family dynamics which result. Directed by Eva Tessler.

 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2:30 P.M.

"MOCHA" by Eleanor Burgess (New York, NY) - Mocha concerns the complicated, thorny topics of adoption and celebrity. When a film star, Eliot Henessey, arrives in Indonesia with her assistant to adopt a child, she attracts the interest of a journalist who questions her motivations, a bureaucrat who hopes to use her to publicize the islands, and a foster father who believes that Eliot’s personal life leaves her little room for a child. Meanwhile Ted and Carol, an infertile couple in the American suburbs, initiate a more normal adoption process, but find that the expense, uncertainty, and invasive examinations reveal rifts in their desires to have a family. Directed by Mary Davis.

 

SEPTEMBER 20, 7:00 P.M.

"DIRECTING HAMLET,' by Michael Perlmutter (Port Hueneme, CA) - BRIAN, a nineteen year old actor, is busy being verbally attacked, prodded, cajoled and anything but coddled by the director, LEE, an old seasoned theatre veteran. Using varying techniques masked in humor and discontent Lee reaches out to Brian by pushing him away, simultaneously back the layers of Brian’s portrayal of the Bard’s famous Dane to reveal both the boy inside the prince and the humanity inside the artist while Lee holds fast to his own reasons for burying himself into the daunting task.

 

Through the progress of their rehearsing one of theatre's most intriguing characters both men explore their own potentials and limitations, what it is to be a alone in the world and in need of a family, and why each of them have chosen this career path of artistic expression. Why is art, after all?  What are we celebrating, what are we looking for, and what are we hiding from? Directed by Sheldon Metz.

 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2:30 P.M.

"WOMEN and GUNS," by Steve Gold (Jamestown, NJ)Women in combat - This play details the life of a female Marine MP, Tiffany Hansen, who is sent to Baghdad during the Iraq war, leaving behind her civilian boyfriend in Southern California. The play follows the Marine from her first day in Basic training to her subsequent deployment in Iraq. Along the way, she meets Bobby, a car mechanic who will become her companion. The psychological effect of her deployment both on her and Bobby is examined, as is her reaction to her subsequent accidental killing of an Iraqi girl.

 

Tiffany actually serves in combat, even though women are officially barred from doing so by act of congress. Indeed, this play could not have been written before the Iraq war because the social conditions did not exist: Iraq is the first American conflict in which women serve in combat on a large scale. To date, almost five hundred women have been killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Directed by Michael Sultzbach.

 

 

Admission to each reading is $10, $8 seniors and students. Active military, free. A pass for all four shows is $30, $25 for seniors (62+) and students.  There will be an audience talk-back following each performance. Each audience will vote 1-10 (ten being best), on five categories. The winning script will be given a World Premiere performance at the Cabaret Theatre, January 10 thru 25, 2015, and a small cash prize.

 

The Tucson Alliance of Dramatic Artists (TADA!) is a 501(c)3 non-profit, professional-quality, repertory theatre company, dedicated to producing and presenting work that reaches out to our diverse community as it entertains, enriches and educates its audience on issues of social relevance.

 

 

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