“Firehouse Center’s 2012 New Works Festival Celebrates Tenth Anniversary”
Premier New England playwriting festival to take place over two weekends in January.
Tin is the traditional material for the 10th wedding anniversary but the Firehouse Center for the Arts will celebrate this year’s New Works Festival with all new material thanks to the gifted playwrights, directors, and actors from the New England area who have contributed their talents to this, the 10th annual festival. It is because of the dedication and accomplishments of the New England theatrical community that the Firehouse is able to celebrate such a notable mark in the Festival’s history — it is not without hard work, creative participants and a Committee who continually has strived year after year to present an event that is fair and maintains high standards.
The four-night festival will be produced over two weekends Friday and Saturday nights, Jan. 20 – 21, and Jan. 27 – 28 at 8 p.m. at the Firehouse Center in Newburyport. Tickets are now on sale at the box office 978-462-7336 or on-line at www.firehouse.org and are $13 for adults per evening. A limited number of festival passes are now available for $38, a savings of $14 over four nights.
The first weekend (January 20-21) of the Firehouse Center for the Arts 10th Annual New Works Festival opens with No Longer Our Town, a full-length play written by Jay MacNamee (Rye, NH) a repeat winner, and directed by Tim Diering (Newburyport).
No Longer Our Town is a comedy that begins with the Daniel Webster Society for the Preservation of Oratory hosting that evening’s guest speaker: Professor Forsythe, who is staging a few scenes from his new play, a work-in-progress that puts an updated spin on Thorton Wilder’s Our Town. No Longer Our Town stars Victor Atkins, Terry Blanchard, Fedja Celebi, Susan Hern, Sandy Farrier, Tim Hiltabiddle, Spencer Redgate, Jennifer Wilson, and William Woodiel (all of Newburyport), Abby Seabrook (Newbury), Mark Nichols (Georgetown ), Kerry Zagarella (Ipswich) and Kate Bossi (Kingston, NH ).
The second evening of the Festival will present the one-act plays chosen by the judges’ panel to represent this year’s finalist in that category. Leslie Pasternak’s (Durham, NH) Surface, which took Top Honors, will be directed by Suzanne Bryan (Winthrop) and stars Lynne Lori Sylvan (Concord, MA) and Hal Fickett (New York, NY).
Also presented on Saturday will be Scene Changes written by Donald Tongue (Londonderry, NH), directed by Anne Smith (Newburyport) with Sally Nutt (Newburyport) and Kyle Robertson (Newbury); Man Alien Man, written by Marc Clopton (Salisbury), directed by Stephen Faria (Newbury) with Charles Bradley (Kingston, NH) and William Woodiel (Newburyport). All three one-act plays are dramas.
The Firehouse Center for the Arts New Works Festival showcases those works submitted by playwrights from all over the New England area which have been selected by a panel of five judges, all well-known theater professionals, who have participated in a blind judging-process. Now in its 10th year, the Festival continues to grow and has become a respected venue for the nurturing of new theatrical works. The 2012 New Works Festival will be presenting full-length plays as staged readings, and memorized ten-minute and one-act plays. Come see for yourself why this event is a sell-out year after year and why it has become one of New England’s most respected theater festivals –celebrating a tenth anniversary is an honor and a privilege!
Schedule of Plays
New Works Festival 2012 – The Long and the Short of It
Friday, January 20 (Full-length) 8 PM
No Longer Our Town
Saturday, January 21 (One-act Plays) 8 PM
Surface*
Scene Changes
Man Alien Man
Friday, January 27 (Full-length) 8 PM
A Book of Snow*
Saturday, January 28 (10-minute plays) 8 PM
Sea Level
Last Call
That Thing You Do With Your Tongue
Estrangers in the Night*
Blind Date
Bedtime Story
Seeking Alpha
*denotes festival winner
Calendar Listing
WHAT: New Works Festival 2012
WHEN: Friday – Saturday, January 20-21 and 27-28 at 8pm
WHERE: Firehouse Center for the Arts, Market Square, Newburyport, MA
TICKETS: All Seats: $13. Four Day Festival Pass: $38 (Savings of $14, limited availability.) For more info please call the Box Office at 978/462-7336 or visit online at www.firehouse.org)
About The Firehouse Center for the Arts- The Firehouse Center for the Arts is member-based organization located on the waterfront in Newburyport, with a 195-seat theater. The Firehouse offers “arts inspired experiences” including film, dance, theatre, concerts, children’s programming, a new works festival, and an art gallery which exhibits works by local and international artists. The Firehouse is handicap accessible
