Second Annual Chicago One-Minute Play Festival to Benefit the Fresh Squeezed Series, 4/15-16

After sold-out performances last season, Victory Gardens announces The Second Annual Chicago One-Minute Play Festival, in partnership with the New York-based One Minute Play Festival (OMPF), to benefit the Fresh Squeezed series. The event will be held in the Zacek-McVay Theater at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater on April 15 and 16, 2012, at 7:30pm.

Nearly one hundred, one-minute plays by 50 established and emerging playwrights will be commissioned for the two-night only event. A One-Minute Play is a form of theatre that looks at the ten-minute play form and structure, and distills it down to the most immediate story-telling event or core emotional content.

The festival will feature works by Usman Ally, Scott T. Barsotti, Aaron Carter, David Cerda, Kurt Chiang, Rachel Claff, Gloria Bond Clunie, Randall Colburn, Britteney Conner, SL Daniels, Bilal Dardai, Philip Dawkins, Lisa Dillman, Mike Ervin, Brian Golden, Idris Goodwin, Stephen Grush, Reeny Hofrichter, Ike Holter, Laura Jacqmin, Joel Drake Johnson, Nambi B. Kelley, Mickle Maher, Arlene Malinowski, Chelsea Marcantel, Riley McIIveen, Patrick B. MacLean, Megan Mercier, Jake Minton, Caitlin Montanye Parrish, Nicholas A. Patricca, David Perez, Mallory Primm, Edgar Sanchez, Emily Schwartz, Jon Steinhagen, Robert Tenges, Leean Torske, Christina Michelle Watkins, Jamila Woods, Marisa Wegrzyn, Aaron Weissman, Joe Wescott, Joe Zarrow, Martin Zimmerman, and others.

The festival will include the direction of Sydney Chatman, Keria Fromm, Jason Gerace, Sarah Gitenstein, Will Rogers, Tim Speicher, Jeffry Stanton, Jaime Totti, Jonathan Verge, and Adam Webster. The Chicago One-Minute Play Festival is curated by Dominic D’Andrea and produced by Will Rogers.

The One-Minute Play Festival was created in New York in 2007 by Dominic D’Andrea to promote the spirit of radical inclusion for writers of different age, gender, race, culture and point of career. The One-Minute play challenges the playwrights to expertly craft a theatrical moment. It requires a new sensibility to work in this deceptively small form.

“After last year’s kick-ass festival, we are again bringing together a wicked group of local playwrights, dedicated to telling stories in, literally, seconds,” says Victory Gardens Producer Will Rogers. “We’re thrilled that Dominic and Victory Gardens have such a great partnership. With this festival we are able to feature established Chicago playwrights, while continuing our mission of nurturing new voices by opening the doors to storefront artists who wouldn’t normally hear their work in a theater of our size. Where else can you see nearly one hundred plays by emerging and established Chicago writers, featuring great Chicago talent, directed by a fantastic group of Chicago directors—all working together for two evenings of performances? This is an adrenaline-charged, fast-paced, and fun event, unlike anything else in Chicago.”

The Chicago One-Minute Play Festival facilitates a community of playwrights, actors, directors, and community-at-large to participate in the challenge and creation of progressive short-form theatre. The festival is a true community-based event, and has a sense of both local and national position.

Playwright essays and comments about their experiences with the festival will be posted on a blog, www.oneminuteplays.wordpress.com.

Performances are at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, in the heart of Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Tickets are $15 and are available through the Victory Gardens Box Office, 773.871.3000 (tty: 773.871.0682), email tickets@victorygardens.org, or visit www.victorygardens.org.

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