We're taking a short break from the Wiseys to attend 14/48: The World's Quickest Theater Festival!
Last night we saw the opening and closing of seven world-premiere plays at ACT's Gregory Falls Theatre, a very nice venue for the festival. (Maybe too nice, at least for the people sitting near me who were treating the theatre like a ballpark.)The theme of "collateral damage" inspired one play about war, one about cyberbullying, one about air travel (another form of bullying), two about sex, and two about real estate. Sounds about right, doesn't it?
We loved Wichita, written by Scot Auguston and directed by Carol Roscoe. The writting was tight, elegant, gorgeous, hilarious, kick-ass. I'd see anything directed by Carol Roscoe, anytime, anywhere. And the 14/48 gods cast it perfectly. We had spot-on performances with great comedic timing from Allison Strickland, Troy Fischnaller, and Stan Shields. This play was like the leadoff batter walking up to the plate and knocking the first pitch way, way out of the park.
Other highlights...Brandon Whitehead, comedic genius; Whitehead and Ryan Higgins cracking each other up a la Conway and Korman in The Female of the Species; giant alien hands; Morgan Rowe in Taxi; seamless, 20-second set changes; the 14/48 Band; the 14/48 band stealing an airport scene; Cafeteria Blossoms written by Celene Ramadan, one of the best teenage love sketches since Nichols and May did it in a car; Kerry Ryan in Come the Dawn.
Thanks to Sloop Bell and Jordan Rosin for blogging the festival. I love following the blog and reading about how hard everyone's working. I dreamt last night that I was in a play starting in a few hours and I had just gotten my script and didn't have my lines memorized. But then I woke up and read the blog and realized that was actually happening to other people! And all I have to do is show up and be marvelously entertained. What a relief.
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