Get Into the Halloween Spirit with QUEER SCARE IV

Celebrate Halloween with the Village Playwrights on Wednesday, October 25 at 8 pmat the LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC with an evening of staged readings of scary, kooky and, of course, queer short plays. Seating is limited and reservations are strongly recommended. Email villageplaywrights@gmail.com or call 614-285-2515. $5 suggested donation.

The plays and playwrights are

"MacTrump" by Griselda Steiner

Griselda Steiner is a playwright, poet, freelance and screenplay writer. Her plays have been read at The Actors Studio, the Page Torn Salon, the Episcopal Actors Guild andthe Woodstock Fringe. Her poems have been published in literary journals and in Scene4 online. She has shown her poetry DVDs in Westbeth and read at the Cornelia Street Cafe, the Mexican Consulate, the 92nd St. Tribeca Cafe, St. Johns and The Duplex, NYC. Her feature articles have appeared in The Mailer Review, American Theatre Magazine, Parabola, Filmmakers Newsletter and Scene4 online.

"How to Carve a Jack-o-Lantern" by Marshall Foltz

Marshall Foltz is a Brooklyn-based playwright and theatre professional originally from the plains of Oklahoma. He received a BFA in Musical Theatre from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy where he also studied playwriting. He has written plays on a variety of subjects, but is proud to tell stories of the LGBTQ+ community-and especially proud one of those stories is a part of Queer Scare IV. Many thanks to my talented actors and director and all involved. @marshallfoltz

"The Really Mad Ghost" by George Bistransin

President of the Village Playwrights, George Bistransin learned to write plays by translating and producing the comedies of the ancient Roman playwright T. M. Plautus. Among others, he produced The Menaechmi Twins, The Braggart Soldier and The Haunted House at Boston's 1400 seat vaudeville era Strand Theater. In 1996 George was awarded a NEH grant to attend "The Art of Ancient Spectacle" at the American Academy in Rome where he organized a production of Plautus' Curculio in the Academy's garden. His most ambitious undertaking was the 1991 production of Moliere's The Would-Be Gentleman in collaboration with the Ken Pierce Baroque Dance Company, complete with fencing and a small pit orchestra of period instruments played by moonlighting Boston Symphony Orchestra members. Since joining the Village Playwrights, he has had many short plays produced including "Stop Loss," "Marriage, the Gay Way," "Entrapment," "Insider Steal," "Dueling Drag Queens," and "A.P. Sexology."

"Gay Men & Their Divas" by Brian Godshall

Brian R. Godshall has a B.A. in Theater from Penn State University and has written scripts, poems and more in a non-professional capacity. Twice he has been a finalist in the Scriptapalooza TV writing competition which is co-sponsored by the Writers Guild of America. He recently licensed a hip hop song ("The Game Goes Pow!"), which he co-wrote, to a major cable company. His 2 act play entitled "Virgin-More" was presented on the Main Stage at Dixon Place as part of the Hot! Festival in 2015. He had previously placed the one act "Virgin-Whore" in the Lounge as part of the Hot! Festival in 2014.

"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Part 2" by Joe Gulla

Joe Gulla is a regular performer at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater. This past May, Joe's full length play "GARBO" won the 2017 Downtown Urban Arts Festival "Audience Award" for its Cherry Lane Theatre performance. Joe's "The Bronx Queen" previously won the 2016 Downtown Urban Arts Festival "Audience Award." "Fall and Rise," written by Joe, played the Hollywood Fringe Festival last summer. In early 2018, "GAY.PORN.MAFIA," a collection of Joe's nationally produced, award-winning plays, will open here in NYC. As an actor, Joe played "Joey" in San Francisco's "Tony & Tina's Wedding" for many years and "Frankie" in Off-Broadway's "My Big Gay Italian Wedding". He also starred on NBC's "LOST", one of television's first adventure reality series. For more on Joe Gulla, visit JoeGulla.com.

"Trick or Treat Redux" by John Pakkanen

John Pakkanen has lived in the West Village for many years after coming to NYC from Western Pennsylvania. His one-act "Triage at St. Sebastian's" was staged by the Village Playwrights at the Producers Club's Royal Theater in April, 2016. His short play, "Hitch-Hiker" was staged at 353 Studios in June 2016. His one-act "Masques" was part of the Village Playwrights Halloween program last year.

"I Don't Always Bite" by Andy Ottoson

Andy Ottoson is a writer, director and producer. He served several years as Founding Artistic Director of Dalliance Theater where he oversaw twenty world premieres, including two at FringeNYC. He has also worked with Connecticut Lyric Opera, Dallas Opera, Guthrie Theater, Nashville Opera, The Fresh Fruit Festival (Outstanding Short Play, 2014), SPF at The Public Theater, Primary Stages, Framework Film Productions, Tulsa Opera, and many more. He is a member of AEA, AGMA, an Associate Member of SDC and the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab.