Cranston, RI – The Artists' Exchange is pleased to welcome audiences to The Black Box Theatre for another memorable theatre experience. This June, Artistic Director Rich Morra presents a One Act Play Festival, featuring five original works by local playwrights.
Three of the plays were penned by Pat Hegnauer, cofounder and longtime Artistic Director of Warren's 2nd Story Theatre. Hegnauer, who currently resides in Portsmouth, RI, has directed over 300 plays, and maintains a multi-faceted career as an actor, producer, director, playwright, poet and teacher.
While two of Hegnauer's plays take place inside interrogation rooms, the similarity ends there. Cally's Side is set in Kentucky, where a 15 year old girl is questioned about her father's recent death. In Flat Lining, a young man desperately seeks answers after a not-so-typical heartbreak.
Inner Sight, Hegnauer's third play, features a feisty older couple whose handicaps contribute to an interesting interplay as they reminisce about their years together.
Barbara Schweitzer's Bottomless brings us into a family-owned café and reveals each family member's means of coping in the aftermath of a tragic accident that took place two years prior. Schweitzer has lived in North Smithfield, RI for the past 30 years. Her play SubZero is published in The Writer's Circle Anthology. Other plays have been finalists at City Theatre, Miami, at the Source Festival, DC and Short Play Marathon, Boston. She is also the author of 33 1/3. Bottomless will be her first fully staged play.
Mark Carter, frequent flyer of the Black Box Theatre stage, both as an actor and playwright, brings us Shakespearean Riding Hood, an adaptation Carter created in response to a teacher's criticism of his daughter's writing assignment, which was to modernize the story of Little Red Riding Hood. When consoling his daughter, Carter said aloud, "What does she want, Shakespeare?". This became a lightbulb moment for Carter that birthed a hilarious adaptation of one of the most well-known fairy tales of all time.
Rich Morra, Artistic Director of The Black Box Theatre, says, "I was thrilled by the response from the local playwriting community when we first sent out a call for entries, and I'm proud to showcase these five works that are sure to make for a well-rounded, entertaining and thought-provoking festival."
The One Act Play Festival will run June 12-14 and 19-21. All performances are scheduled for 7pm. Tickets are $15. For additional information, please contact Christina Mealey at 401.490.9475.
(This is not an RIFC Production)