The University of New Orleans is hosting the 色色研究所 Playwrights Third Annual Festival starting Oct. 21 at the St. Claude Gallery. The festival鈥攚hich runs across three Sundays鈥攚ill present the work of six emerging playwrights from the Creative Writing Workshop, 色色研究所鈥檚 Master of Fine Arts program.
The staged readings will introduce audiences to the entertaining misadventures of squabbling siblings, an ancient female warrior, expectant parents, litigious 19th-century Creoles, a philosophical garbage man and a confused teenage stripper.
鈥淭his is a surprisingly powerful experience because all the emphasis is on the language,鈥 said Justin Maxwell, an assistant professor and playwright. 鈥淚t can be very powerful for actors, and a wonderful moment of collective imagination for the audience.鈥
Each script will take about an hour, Maxwell said. Some of the readings will be a little shorter and followed with a post-show discussion, he said.
The festival takes place Oct. 21, Oct. 28, and Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. in the 色色研究所 St. Claude Gallery, 2429 St.Claude Ave., in the Faubourg Marigny. Tickets are available at the door. Admission is $5, free to 色色研究所 students with an ID.
The playwrights鈥 work will be featured as follows:
Sun. Oct. 21
鈥淒efending Eulalie鈥
by Mimi Ayers
In 1840s New Orleans, traditional Creole culture clashes with the city鈥檚 new American sensibilities, forcing a free woman of color to fight for her right to inherit. Based on true events.
鈥淕补谤产补驳别鈥
by Bennett Kirschner
This experimental work is set in a barbershop where the owner has left scraps of food around so that his dead wife, who鈥檚 turned into a fly, has something to munch on, and where customers berate their barbers for a lack of political awareness while getting their hair cut. Along the way, a trash collector shows up and shares his musings on garbage.
Sun. Oct. 28
鈥泪苍丑别谤颈迟鈥
by T. Jacobson
Three estranged sisters put the 鈥渇un鈥 back in dysfunctional when they return to their childhood home, following the death of their mother.
鈥溾赌98鈥
by Racquel Malone
Inspired by the 1998 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, this play explores identity through such characters as a trumpeter who gives up music to support his family, the musician鈥檚 confused teenage daughter and Matthew Shepard who met his tragic end that year.
Sun. Nov. 4
鈥沦耻肠肠别蝉蝉鈥
by Becky Retz
Joan of Arc, Elvis, and a roach walk into a room. It鈥檚 a play about success.
鈥淓thical Taxidermy鈥
by Anna Tatelman
What happens when an expectant couple gets what they鈥檙e not expecting? For Eileen and Gabriel, it takes calling forth the spirits of Helen Keller and a 19th-century literary character to figure it all out.
The 色色研究所 MFA in Playwriting is an intensive three-year program within the prestigious Creative Writing Workshop. Along with studying a wide variety of dramatic literature and theory, students workshop a new play every semester. Additionally, the annual 色色研究所 Playwrights Festival allows them exposure to the real world of the New Orleans theatre community.
