KALAMAZOO, Mich.–For the past eight years, Theatre Kalamazoo (TK) has been providing a platform for local playwrights to develop and share new plays with the community. Theatre Kalamazoo is proud to announce that the ninth annual Theatre Kalamazoo New Play Festival will be held February 8-9, 2019 at the Judy K. Jolliffe Theatre inside the Epic Center in downtown Kalamazoo.

The free event will feature works by nine local playwrights, performed and directed as staged readings by local actors and directors representing the member theatres of Theatre Kalamazoo.

Plays were submitted from across the Kalamazoo area and were selected by a committee this past summer. Selected playwrights being featured in the festival are Eleanor Hughes, Nicole Mullis, Amber Palmer, Tucker Rafferty, RJ Soule, Olivia Trappen, Ynika Yuag and Arnold Johnston and Deborah Ann Percy.

Due to the success of the event over the past eight years and the recognition of the diversity and enormity of local playwriting talent, the New Play Festival has grown to include new work by Kalamazoo County playwrights, as well as that of Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College student playwrights to provide a unique, free and useful platform for our local playwrights to develop their work and further their writing skills. Steve Feffer (Professor of Playwriting at WMU) will conduct post-show conversations to assist the playwrights in further developing their work with input from the audience.

 This is a free event. No reservations are necessary. All shows are at the Judy K. Jolliffe Theatre in downtown Kalamazoo. For more information, please call any participating theatre or visit theatrekalamazoo.com.

 2019 selected plays:

Quest for Virgo by Eleanor Hughes, produced by Kalamazoo Civic Theatre

Mom’s Favorite by Nicole Mullis, produced by Center Stage Theatre

Weight by Deborah Ann Percy and Arnold Johnston from the Story by Steve Hamilton, produced by Miller Auditorium

Baby Dyke Whisperer by Amber Palmer, produced by Festival Playhouse of Kalamazoo College

Prep School by Tucker Rafferty, produced by Face Off Theatre Company of the Black Arts & Cultural Center

Holy Elmer G by RJ Soule, produced by Queer Theatre Kalamazoo

Strangers on a Cliff by Olivia Trappen, produced by Kindleberger Arts Commission

Dances on Knives by Ynika Yuag, produced by WMU Theatre

 

The schedule for the festival is as follows:

 Friday, February 8, 2019

 7:30 p.m.      Prep School, Holy Elmer G, Quest for Virgo and Baby Dyke Whisperer, followed by a talkback with the playwrights

Saturday, February 9, 2019

2 p.m.          Dances on Knives, Weight, Mom’s Favorite and Strangers on a Cliff

 4 p.m.         Prep School, Holy Elmer G, Quest for Virgo and Baby Dyke Whisperer

 7:30 p.m.    Dances on Knives, Weight, Mom’s Favorite and Strangers on a Cliff, followed by a talkback with the playwrights

 Plays contain mature content and are not intended for younger audiences.