One-Minute Play Festival & ORDINARY DAYS Extended Through June 29

Round House Theatre and the New York based company, The One-Minute Play Festival (#1MPF) have created a dynamic partnership to present The 1st Washington, D.C. One-Minute Play Festival, to be performed July 12 - 14, 2014 at Round House Theatre. Following sold-out performances in more than 20 cities, this festival aims to celebrate local voices and investigate the local zeitgeist through this exciting process. Performances are at 8pm on Saturday, July 12, Sunday, July 13, and Monday, July 14.

"I'm thrilled to be coming back to my hometown and bringing the work to Round House," reflects Dominic D'Andrea, #1MPF's Founder and Producing Artistic Director. "Round House was a company that deeply influenced me as a young artist, and it's an incredible honor to be able to bring and share our #1MPF work with the local community."

Tickets are $20 and are available online at www.RoundHouseTheatre.org or by calling the Round House box office at 240-644-1100.

#1MPF will feature close to 90 new One-Minute Plays by more than 50 playwrights from DC's growing pool of exceptional contemporary writers, including some of the most important artistic voices in the nation.

Artists will be working on this emerging short form to explore the relationship of the individual voice to the zeitgeist of the DC region. The writers have several weeks to complete scripts, with the only stipulation being that they can be performed in one minute.

Playwrights are selected by invitation and asked to engage in #1MPF's playmaking approach. Playwrights are encouraged to write about anything they are passionate about, and, as emerging themes or ideas become apparent, the plays are grouped into "clumps" to reflect those elements. Teams of directors and actors work to stage each clump of plays. And the result: 80 to 90 fully mounted plays, all staged with four chairs. It's a fast-paced, fun thrill-ride of non-stop theater.

The Festival will feature commissioned work by: Psalmayene 24, Brett Abelman, Kathleen Akerley, Norman Allen, Randy Baker, Mario Baldessari, Jennifer Barclay, Bob Bartlett, John Becker, Joan Bellsey, Bari Biern, Martin Blank, Michael Bobbitt, Nicole Burton, Patrick Bussink, Renee Calarco, Marni Penning Coleman, Kathryn Coughlin, Jenet Dechary, Thembi Duncan, Maboud Ebrahimzadeh, Rich Espy, Christine Evans, Kitty Felde, Zachary Fernebok, Patrick Flynn, D.W. Gregory, Mary Hanley, Jenn Book Haselswerdt, Paige Hernandez, Caleen S. Jennings, Nicole Jost, Ben Kingsland, Jon Klein, Jacqueline Lawton, Kristen Lepine, Liz Maestri, Sabrina Mandell, Rick Massimo, Heather McDonald, Tom Minter, Danielle Mohlman, Robert Montenegro, Jennifer Nelson, Shawn Northrip, Malcolm Pelles, Mary Resing, David Robinson, Kristy Simmons, Stephen Spotswood, Adi Stein, Chris Stezin, Allyson Stokes, Gwydion Suilebhan, Anu Yadav, Laura Zam, and more.

Plays will be directed by Randy Baker, Lee Liebskind, Kate Debelack, and Jennifer Mendenhall with Michael Kramer, Ryan Maxwell, Kelsey Mesa, Joshua Morgan, Gus Heagerty, Ty Hallmark, and more.

The Festival is curated by #1MPF Producing Director, Dominic D'Andrea.

WHERE
Round House Theatre Bethesda, 4545 East-West Highway (one block from Wisconsin Ave. and Metro's Bethesda station)

ABOUT
The Festival features close to 90 brand new One-Minute Plays by more than 50 playwrights from DC's growing pool of exceptional contemporary writers. Artists working on this emerging short form will explore the relationship of the individual voice to the zeitgeist of the DC region. The writers have several weeks to complete scripts, with the only stipulation being that they can be performed in one minute. Playwrights are selected by invitation and are encouraged to write about anything they are passionate about, and, as emerging themes or ideas become apparent, the plays are grouped into "clumps" to reflect those elements. Teams of directors and actors work to stage each clump of plays. And the result: 80 to 90 fully mounted plays, all staged with just four chairs. It's a fast-paced, fun thrill-ride of non-stop theater.

TICKETS

Tickets are $20, and can be purchased by calling 240.644.1100, online at www.RoundHouseTheatre.org, or visiting the box office in Bethesda.

The One-Minute Play Festival (#1MPF)

The One-­Minute Play Festival (#1MPF), a New York City-based theater company founded by Producing Artistic Director Dominic D'Andrea, is America's largest and longest running short form theater company.

#1MPF is barometer project, which investigates the zeitgeist of different communities through dialogue and consensus building sessions and a performance of many moments. #1MPF works in partnership with theatres sharing playwright or community-specific missions across the country.

#1MPF creates locally sourced playwright-focused community events, with the goal of promoting the spirit of radical inclusion by representing local cultures of playwrights of different age, gender, race, cultures, and points of career. The work attempts to reflect the theatrical landscape of local artistic communities by creating a dialogue between the collective conscious and the individual voice.
In each city, #1MPF works with partnering organizations to identify programs or initiatives in each community to support with the proceeds from the work. The goal is to find ways give directly back to the artists in each community. Supported programs have ranged from educational programming, youth poetry projects, teaching artists working in prisons, playwright residencies and memberships, and community arts workshops.

Annual partnerships have been created with theaters in close to 20 cities including: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Trenton, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Boston, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Seattle, Dallas, Austin, Indianapolis, Anchorage, and more, with partnering institutions like Primary Stages, Victory Gardens Theatre, Cornerstone Theatre Company, The Playwrights Foundation, Boston Playwrights Theatre, Actor's Express, InterAct Theatre, Mixed Blood, Passage Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, Kitchen Dog, Salvage Vanguard, ScriptWorks, ACT, Perseverance Theatre, and others.

Notable #1MPF contributors have included: David Henry Hwang, Neil LaBute, Tina Howe, Donald Margulies, Nilaja Sun, Lydia Diamond, Phillip Kan Gotanda, Kristoffer Diaz, Rajiv Joseph, Sam Hunter, Karen Hartman, José Rivera, Craig Lucas, Mike Daisey, Greg Kotis, Michael John Garcés, & close to 600 famous, emerging, and midcareer playwrights.

To post a comment, you must register and login.