Tangent Theatre Company & AboutFACE Ireland Announce 2013 NEWvember Lineup

Tangent Theatre Company and AboutFACE Ireland have announced the final selections for their 3rd annual NEWvember New Plays Festival (Nov. 7-10, 2013) - a showcase of original plays by promising playwrights to be held at the Carpenter Shop Theater, Tangent's 50-seat performance space in the historic village of Tivoli. The Hudson Valley's NEWvember Festival will spotlight these eight works over an energetic four-day weekend, presented via rehearsed readings and featuring established actors and directors bringing these works to life. The selected writers, four women and four men, hail from origins all over the globe, including Connecticut, Chicago, Wales, Ireland and, coincidentally, four from Pennsylvania.

The spirit of NEWvember is to provide a dynamic, interactive and comfortable place where writers can hear their unproduced plays read by seasoned actors and discuss their work and creative process. With the intimacy of the Carpenter Shop Theater, audiences will get a first look at fresh, original plays presented by some of the region's top professional talent - and beyond. Just over 300 plays came in from all over the world - from 31 states and seven countries, ranging from the Hudson Valley to California, Canada and Israel - whittled down to fill six performance slots (eight plays presented in total; both opening and closing nights feature a short one-act paired with a full length play). Please see below for details on the eight winning plays and writers.

The outstanding plays were chosen based on originality, range, production potential, storytelling quality and emotional resonance. Tangent and AboutFACE believe in bringing compelling works to the stage and, while many of their productions are established plays, it is the promise of new works and the ability to discover new voices that gets the team energized. "We are so excited to present our third NEWvember festival," says Paul Nugent, Co-Artistic Director of AboutFACE Ireland and NEWvember Co-Producer. "Some of last year's plays have already gone on to full productions around the country. I can't wait for our audiences to experience this year's amazing suspenseful, hilarious and deeply moving stories."

The NEWvember festival was awarded a 2013 project grant from the Dutchess County Arts Council.

The NEWvember New Plays Festival @ The Carpenter Shop Theatre (60 Broadway, Tivoli), November 7-10, 2013; Thurs. & Fri. 8pm; Sat. 2pm & 8pm; Sun. 2pm & 6pm; tickets $15, festival pass $60. For more info, please visit tangent-arts.org or newvemberfestival.com (and AboutFaceIreland.com).

-- THE PARK BENCH HERO, by Elias Diamond, centers on a modern-day Civil War re-enactor who seeks revenge on his ex-girlfriend with the help of a kid wannabe-soldier. Elias is a playwright from McMurray, Pennsylvania, who is currently completing his degree in dramaturgy at Carnegie Mellon University.

-- A POSITION OF RELATIVE IMPORTANCE, by Hal Borden, involves a hilarious case of mistaken identity and job-seeking in today's crazy blogging, corporate world. Hal, a lawyer from Philadelphia, earned a master's degree in screenwriting from the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television, where he won the Hal Kanter Comedy Writing Award.

-- BRUTAL SELFISH RATTLESNAKE, by Aaron Weissman, has the Old West come alive...or is it dead...with murder, ghosts and music intertwined. Aaron is a Chicago-based playwright, performer, and musician, and co-founder of the experimental arts collective, the dilettantes.

-- REVEILLE, by Jessica Bedford, looks at contemporary military cadet life and the smuggling of a woman into the barracks. Jessica is an accomplished playwright, actor and teacher based in Philadelphia, as well as Associate Artistic Director at the Montgomery Theater.

-- DRAG THE PAST, by Shannon Reed, nimbly weaves the secrets of a woman's small town roots with those of her current big city life. Shannon is an award-winning writer and teacher currently based in Pittsburgh, where she is pursuing her MFA in Fiction.

-- WESTWARD MUTATIONS, by Kristen Palmer, journeys across America with an ill man and two teenagers, fleeing and then facing reality. Kristen is a Connecticut-based playwright with an MFA from Hunter College where she won both the Zarkower and Goldberg Prizes, and is also Artistic Director of Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theatre.

-- THE LONG WET GRASS, by Seamus Scanlon, sets us in 1980s Northern Ireland and the turmoil with Britain, as experienced by two childhood friends. Seamus is an award-winning author, playwright and librarian from Galway, whose short-story collection As Close As You'll Ever Be was published in 2012.

-- KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON, by Melisa Annis, deals with a Welsh couple suffering the loss of their son in Iraq and new elements that come into their lives. Melisa, originally from Wales, is an accomplished New York City based writer, actor and director, and former Artistic Director of Programming for Galapagos Art Space.