FIRST LOOK FESTIVAL OF PLAYS to Feature Works from Neil LaBute, Elizabeth Berger and More; Begins 7/13

The Open Fist Theatre Company presents their fourth annual FIRST LOOK FESTIVAL OF NEW PLAYS, with new works written by Neil LaBute, Elizabeth Berger, Maia Madison, and Joseph Fisher, along with staged readings by Jim Knable, Melanie Marnich, Sheldon Bull, Phil Swann & Ron West, Jason Paige and Dean Moira and Jessica Goldschmidt.

The festival is a 2 month celebration of contemporary American theatre and music. Material has been carefully selected from around the country, and ten new works will be presented in production or in staged reading/concert format. There will be four full productions and six staged reading and concert events.

This year we are thrilled to announce the return of Neil LaBute to the Open Fist (2009 Helter Skelter, The New Testament, 2006 Audobahn) with Short Ends, a collection of short plays, written for the stage and screen. Short Ends marks the first time Mr. LaBute’s short works for the screen make their stage debut.

We are equally thrilled to announce the world premiere of Everything is Enough by up-and-coming writer Elizabeth Berger (“The Neighbors” ABC’s new show), a dramedy about Dennis Max whose sanity and marriage is threatened when his sister and his newly adopted niece come to stay in his home. In August, Open Fist member Maia Madison (nee Rosenthal) makes her writing debut on the OFTC stage with a world premiere comedy, Nobody Loves Jews When They’re Winning, about an interfaith couple trying to live happily ever after, without her Jewish family finding out. And finally, closing out the festival, is Joseph Fisher’s world premiere production of In The Canopy Of The Forest (Mr. Fisher’s Wolf Inside the Fence was nominated for best new play of 2010 LA WEEKLY AWARDS), a dark and beautiful tale about surviving youth, life and friendships in the pacific northwest.

The Festival will begin on Friday, July 13 and run through Saturday, September 16 at The Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood.

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