Colorado New Play Summit Announces Four Readings 1/12-14

The Denver Center Theatre Company's fourth annual Colorado New Play Summit continues its climb to the top tier of American new play festivals with the announcement of four readings of new American plays and a musical that will join the world premieres of Inana by Michele Lowe and Dusty and the Big Bad World by Cusi Cram at the February 2009 event.

Artistic Director Kent Thompson, Director of New Play Development Bruce Sevy and Literary Manager Douglas Langworthy have selected the following new works to present to artistic directors, literary managers, dramaturgs, directors and press representatives who will travel to Denver February 12, 13 and 14 for the 2009 Summit.

Lyrics and Music by Meredith Willson, Book by Dick Scanlan

Based on the Original Book by Richard Morris, Directed by Kathleen Marshall

The Unsinkable Molly Brown rises again! The Colorado New Play Summit workshops Dick Scanlan's sparkling new adaptation of this great Meredith Willson (The Music Man) musical. Two-time Tony-nominee playwright Scanlan, co-creator of Broadway's Tony Award winning Thoroughly Modern Millie, is completely overhauling the book of this exuberant musical, based on his extensive research into Colorado and Brown's colorful Gold Rush past. Never before heard compositions from the Willson trunk add luster to the already outstanding score. Directed by two-time Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall, this promises to be a fascinating look at the titanic rewrite process of a musical theatre classic.

Eventide by Eric Schmiedl, Based on the novel by Kent Haruf(Commissioned by the Denver Center Theatre Company)
A moving companion piece to Eric Schmiedl's adaptation of Kent Haruf's Plainsong, Eventide continues the story of the aging McPheron brothers and their "adopted" daughter, Victoria Roubideaux. At the same time, Haruf turns his focus on a mismatched group of parents and children, residents of Holt, whose unvarnished lives are both fragile and tough. An honest, compassionate tale of how families in this small Colorado town are forged out of necessity.

When Tang Met Laika by Rogelio Martinez
(Commissioned by the Denver Center Theatre Company and Magic Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation New Science & Technology Plays Initiative)

In the 1990s Americans and Russians started to work together building the International Space Station. With more than a half century of hostilities under their space suits, can two old foes start to trust one another again? A play about the cold war warming up, a space shuttle program finding its purpose as it nears retirement, one very large robotic arm, weightlessness and a gun. (Workshopped at the 2008 New Works Festival (Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director) at Perry Mansfield Performing Arts Camp in Steamboat Springs, CO)

Take Me to the River by Constance Congdon
(Commissioned by the Denver Center Theatre Company and Magic Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation New Science & Technology Plays Initiative)Working a farm that's been in the family for four generations, the Campbells face the loss of their crops, their home and way of life over a water dispute. Kansas is suing Colorado for water owed from a river that originates in Colorado, but is shared with Kansas and Nebraska. Based on real stories, two families, the Campbells and the Montoyas, become torn apart as they are engulfed in this contentious environmental and political crisis.

Flooded by Julie Marie Myatt
(Commissioned by the Denver Center Theatre Company)
A star TV meteorologist turns oracle when he abandons bland L.A. for the wilder weather of North Carolina. As natural disasters mount world-wide, William unknowingly channels an on-camera voice of doom that ties extreme climate events to the sins of mankind. Despite the show's popularity, he finds to his sorrow that telling truth to power may cost him everything he holds dear. Playwright Myatt deftly plucks the dark threads of myth, folk tale, and religious prophecy that lie unquiet beneath the surface of modern existence.

Artistic Director Kent Thompson commented, "We called the event a ‘summit' because of the glorious Rocky Mountains, but also have built this event into a ‘peak' experience - we have created a new play festival that we feel is a must-see event for theatre professionals from across the United States."

The 2009 Colorado New Play Summit will also include a nationally-known panel of artistic directors discussing "What's New for New Plays?" The Denver Center's Kent Thompson will moderate the discussion joined by panelists Polly Carl, Producing Artistic Director of The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis; John Clinton Eisner, Producing Director of the Lark Play Development Center in New York; and Janice Paran, Dramaturg at the Sundance Institute Theatre Program. Another panelist will be announced later.

The Denver Center is continuing to create one of America's most ambitious new play commissioning programs - developing new works to be featured at future Colorado New Play Summits and eventually in full productions at the Denver Center and other national stages. With additional funding from the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, the Denver Center Theatre Company currently has commissioned new works from playwrights Jose Cruz Gonzalez - author of September Shoes and this season's Denver Center world premiere of Sunsets and Margaritas; Jason Grote - author of the 2007 Summit's critically-acclaimed world premiere 1001; Steven Cole Hughes - company member and author of Slabtown and cowboyily, Octavio Solis - author of the 2008 Summit world premiere Lydia, produced at four theatres this season and published in the December issue of American Theatre; and Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder - author of Gee's Bend and winner of the 2007 ATCA M. Elizabeth Osborn New Play Award for an emerging playwright.

For more information and Summit registration visit www.denvercenter.org/summit or call 303.893.6030 / TTY 303.893.9582.

 

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