Aspen's acclaimed Theater Masters will present its second annual "Take 10," an evening of nine 10-minute plays from aspiring playwrights across the country as part of its National MFA Playwrights competition on April 15-18th at Off Broadway's 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street). "Actor John Lithgow, Theater Masters' Associate Director Pesha Rudnick and I read over 100 scripts submitted from nine of the top graduate playwriting programs to find these remarkable plays from some of the finest young playwrights this country is developing" said Julia Hansen, Theater Masters founder / Artistic Director – and former President of New York's Drama League. "In many ways, how I started the Drama League's "Director's Project" is how I am now developing new playwrights and giving them their first chance to have their work receive a New York premiere."
The 10-minutes plays are: Back Story by Benjamin Viccellio from Northwestern University - when life imitates art, one diva loses her sense of reality after too many years in the theater; The Big Exit by John-Paul Nickel from Carnegie Mellon - three contestants on America's next hit reality TV show are in for the surprise of their lives; The Echo, by Jennifer Fawcett from the University of Iowa - a tragic accident haunts the adult soul of a childhood survivor; Fernando and the Killer Queen by Kyle J. Schmidt from the University of Texas - Revolution, mayhem and l'esprit d'Abba ignite the final moments of the ruthless Killer Queen; Frogs by Sam Marks from Brown University - after all an night house party, two young women sit in the kitchen in the dawn light and assess the damage of the previous night, youth, and the past; The Hiding Place by Melisa Tien from Columbia University - a menacing, lyric glimpse at power, sexuality and the workplace; Higher Up by Annette Lee from UCLA - when the 'new guy' shows up for work, two businessmen experience firsthand what it's like to be in the dog house; Man up and Away by Joe Tracz from NYU - on the night of his Going Away to War party, Jordan says goodbye to his little brother Vic -- in the worst possible way; Rocky Road by Stephanie Andrea Timm from UCSD - one family's zany attempt to bring their son home from the war in Iraq.Videos