Brooklyn's Piper Theatre Presents 'SMART PLAYS' Festival, Now thru 6/17

In Piper Plays: Smart Plays for Young Actors Playwriting Festival and Compeition, Piper Theatre and Piper Plays will present 9 new one-act plays that explore the world of children. The festival, Smart Plays for Young Actors, is the culmination of a nationwide playwriting contest and runs today, June 15 and June 16 and 17, 2012 at 7 p.m. at the BAX Brooklyn Arts Exchange (421 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY). The plays presented have been chosen from over 100 entrants from throughout the United States and Canada. All of the presented plays will be either New York or world premieres.

Admission is $20.00 (to benefit the Piper Education Program). Tickets are available at the door. For more information, visit www.pipertheatre.org. The program will run 95 minutes. Critics are invited on or after today, June 15.

These one-act plays are smart, dynamic, quirky, exciting, funny, disturbing, and original. Smart Plays for Young Actors will present a wide range of theater: from siblings warring over breakfast cereal using Elizabethan language to teenage video gamers solving a world crisis from their basement. These are stories of triumph and frustration, morbidity, insurrection and lust—a piercing view inside the kaleidoscope that is the teenage mind.

After the festival, three of these plays will be selected by an expert panel of judges to be presented again on Wednesday July 11, 2012 during the Piper Theatre Summer season at the Old Stone House in Washington Park in Brooklyn. At the performance on July 11, the audience will vote on their favorite one act and the winner will receive at $500.00 prize.

All 9 of the festival plays will be published in the inaugural anthology of Piper Plays: Smart One-Acts for Young Actors.

About the Plays:

The Queen of Cocoa Puffs and The Captain Crunch King-- by Corey Pajka.

Directed by Marielle Duke

(Comedy) Some of the greatest battles in history are unrecorded. Some of the bloodiest wars are fought right at home. When a pair of sovereign siblings sit down for breakfast with two hearty appetites and one cereal box between them, a battle cry is heard across the kingdom of New Brunswick. There will be blood—and perhaps orange juice.

Dancing Turtle—by Thomas M. Atkinson. Directed by Rachel Rear.

(Drama) This play invites the audience into the inner life of a girl—damaged at birth—that is both painful and glorious, as she navigates the first longings of adulthood at an Appalachian Festival.

Dandelions for Angels—by Marco Santarelli. Directed by Alissa Laderer.

(Drama/comedy) Centers on a critical time in the lives of two teenagers struggling with something far beyond their years. Tom, trying to come to terms with his mother’s death, has joined a troupe, which performs in hospitals. After one such performance, he meets Stacy, who suffers from a long-term illness. They form an immediate and strong relationship, and Tom begins to heal his guilt over his mother’s death as he brings Stacy dandelions and promises to visit her even as her illness progresses. Although they leave their dialogue to return to their own routines, they do so with a sense of peace and contentment, as they attempt to close the door on their previous struggles.

Fall of Duty—by Jeane Iribarne. Directed by Nicholas Guastella

(Drama/comedy) Dave and Tony are young computer programmers who work in a basement designing games. The basement provides the perfect, low-light environment for the boys, that is until the power goes out—for seven days! How will the boys cope? Naturally, theu re-enact scenes from their favorite games ( including “Call of Duty,” “World of Warcraft,” etc.) discovering some surprising things about the games and themselves in the process.

The Blasphemy of Bees—by Christopher Dimond. Directed by John McEneny

(Comedy) Seventh grader Arthur Reckhouse is desperate to win his Catholic school’s science fair. His project, however, a proof that God does not exist, gets him into hot water with the school’s powers-that-be. Arthur defies authority and moves forward with the project in secret, regardless of the consequences. As he competes with his arch nemesis, the school’s reigning science fair champion, the reasons behind Arthur’s apparent atheism are revealed. This dark comedy examines the points where faith, science, and awkward middle school romance collide.

Burying Barbie—by Christopher Dimond. Directed by John McEneny.

In this dark comedy, Rachel, a morbid young girl, stages elaborate funeral ceremonies for her Barbie dolls. Together with her imaginary friend, she must bury the dolls as, one by one, they die of elaborate forms of cancer. As she approaches the final doll, her worried mother attempts to put a stop to the game and, in the process, discovers the disturbing truth behind her daughter’s unusual behavior. The play examines what it means to lose, to grieve, and to heal.

Handy Man—by Steve Koppman. Directed by Sarah Abrams.

(Comedy) Mitch, age 14, has been roped into helping Mrs. Gobler, mother of his friend, into helping her with her grocerires after knocking over her shopping cart. She then prevails him to do one chore after another while offering him unsolicited advice. The tow of them, both isolated people, make a certain connection.

Cravings –by Tatiana Suarez Pico. Directed by Henry Pines.

(Comedy) A young teen boy speaks his deepest thoughts about a beautiful older girl while sitting in a café with his mother.

Brechtian Alienation—by Sean O’Donnell. Directed by John McEneny

(Comedy) A group of determined students force a reluctant teacher to watch their self written play to get into a student play festival. Their play is a mash-up of “Little Women” and “Trojan Women.”

Schedule Piper Plays : Smart Plays for Young Actors Festival (in order of appearance):

Friday, June 15 7:00 pm

Brechtian Alienation
The Blasphemy of Bees
Handy Man
The Queen of Cocoa Puffs and the Captain Crunch King
Dandelions for Angels
Fall of Duty

Saturday, June 16 7:00 pm

Burying Barbie
Dandelions for Angels
Cravings
Handy Man
Dancing Turtle
The Blasphemy of Bees

Sunday, June 17 7:00 pm

Queen of Cocoa Puffs and the Captain Crunch King
Burying Barbie
Fall of Duty
Cravings
Dancing Turtle
Brechtian Alienation

Since 2000, Piper has been committed to creating free accessible and dynamic theatre for families; creating opportunities for emerging artists and creating a safe and nurturing theatre experience for children.

Piper Theatre Productions is a not-for-profit theatre company founded by siblings Rachel and John P. McEneny, in order to offer free and accessible, dynamic theatre for families. In the summer of 2001, with the help of Hudson River Arts and Reverend S. Burt Ulrich, Piper made our home in Untermeyer Park in Yonkers, NY and then in 2005 moved operations to J.J. Byrne (now Washington Park) at the historic Old Stone House.

Since 2000, Piper Theatre Productions has produced some of the most exciting youth theatre in New York City. In residence at the Old Stone House of Brooklyn, with its brand new playground and beautiful gardens, children spend their July creating great characters, working together as a team, playing games and producing full-scale theatre productions. Piper’s education programming provides a creative, nurturing transformative experience.

For more information visit piperhtheatre.org.

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