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Just 1 time worth best at Futurefest
The term “one performance only” comes home to roost at an event like Futurefest, the Dayton Playhouse’s annual new play festival.
Six new plays will be presented there Friday though Sunday, July 29-31, each for one show only. Three will be somewhat fully staged. Three others will be done as staged readings.
Why go to a lot of trouble in a production with no budget for special effects? It’s understandable why you might ask that.
But in an art that still lives by the motto “the show must go on,” it’s never a surprise to encounter a director like Matthew Smith, who is finding a way to do something special while staging one of the plays.
It’s called “Drawing Room” and, no surprise, it’s full of art. Rather than hoping audience members will mostly use their imaginations, Smith and others have gone the extra mile to give them a lot to look at and think about in the drama by Mark Eisman about the kind of artists who work in courtrooms, including the Supreme Court.
“We built three separate frames that are suspended from the grid (ceiling) of the theater and will project the images in them via PowerPoint. Three projectionists operate the projectors and and simply turn on and turn off each image as indicated in the script, or as I saw fit.” he said when asked to explain..
“I spent many hours formatting the images and adjusting the animation of each image within each of the PowerPoint presentations so that all three projection screens were consistent with their look. ‘Drawing Room’ is the story of three artists and the projections illustrate and highlight mental images. Each screen is assigned to on character.”
Smith assembled a group of local artists including Jacqui Theobald, Terry Hitt, Patrick Hayes and Wendi Michael to make the images and worked with them to be sure each character’s work had a different look, taking into account the paper it was drawn on and what would be in the “negative space” of each.
Whether or not any of this year’s six plays goes on to have an extended life in the theater, it has to be reassuring for the six playwrights to know that the volunteers bringing their work to life for the first time are dedicated to the task.
The other plays in Futurefest 2011 are: “Roosevelt’s Ghost” by Michael Feely, “The Haven” by Richard Etchison, “Allegro Con Brio” by Nelson Sheeley, “Jinxed” by Stacey Luftig and “A Woman on the Cusp” by Carl L. Williams.
Single tickets are $17. Full-weekend passes are $90. Call (937) 424-8477.
The Playhouse, which adjoins Wegerzyn Gardens Metropark at 1301 E. Siebenthaler Ave., will have air conditioning for the weekend. The building’s system is out of order, but two portable units have been installed for the festival.
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By Coroner
July 30, 2011 9:20 PM | Link to this
The previously mentioned decomposing body has been identified: It is Terry Morris.