LARGO/ST. PETERSBURG - In continued celebration of their ten-year anniversary, Largo Cultural Center, in partnership with American Stage Theatre Company, announced the ten 10-minute original plays to be featured at the center’s 10x10 PLAY FESTIVAL, running January 25, 26, & 28 & February 1-4.
The competition attracted the attention of playwrites worldwide, as over 200 submissions were received from locations as near as St. Petersburg, and as far as the U.K. Each submission incorporated the Festival's theme, "Anniversaries: the marking of time of a notable event.” The ten plays, that were chosen after blind readings, will be presented for the first time in staged readings in the Largo Cultural Center’s Tonne Playhouse. Each playwright also receives a cash prize.
“The 10-minute play challenges writers, directors and actors to develop characters and tell a story in a compacted amount of time,” said T. Scott Wooten, curator for the event. “Performed together, the plays will allow audiences to taste a plethora of styles, genres, characters and situations making the theatrical experience exciting and full of variety.”
The following are synopses of the 10 X 10 Festival’s ten winning plays:
SORRY I’M LATE by Larry Stallings of Orlando, Florida: The ghost of an old vaudeville performer makes his theatrical comeback on the anniversary of his death.
BLUEBEARD by George Freek of Belvidere, Illinois: Days before their fourth wedding anniversary, a husband confesses infidelity to his wife, AND to his lover… but who really wants out of the relationship(s)?
HANGING ON by Claudia Haas of White Bear Lake, Minnesota: Two best friends, an optimistic actress and an overwhelmed playwright, celebrate their 10th anniversary of moving to the Big Apple to conquer Broadway, but have they really achieved their respective goals?
THE 3000TH ANNIVERSARY…OR WAITING FOUR HORSEMEN by T. Andrew Orrell of Clearwater, Florida: After 3000 years, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse meet together over cake to decide if it’s time to begin the end.
TRUTH & LIES by Larry David Donahue of New Port Richey, Florida: On his 19th birthday, a young man receives a visit from his mother after fourteen years of separation, and a new hope for their broken relationship.
INCREMENTS by Mark Kenneally of Port Charlotte, Florida: A couple of kooky newlyweds duke it out the afternoon of their wedding questioning the sacred vows of their holy matrimony.
KAMASUTRA by Tom Coash of New Haven, Connecticut: A New Jersey mobile home salesman and his wife visits the Chandela Temple Complex in India on their wedding anniversary, but can the infamous erotic Kamasutra temple carvings bring back the spark of love for this bickering couple?
MARVIN AND JULIUS by Steven Bergman of Leominster, Massachusetts: On the day of college graduation, two roommates look back at the last four years and ponder what is to become of their friendship when their keepers return from the ceremony – oh, did we mention the said roommates were gerbils?
THE DEAD MAN’S SON by Steve Mountan of St. Petersburg, Florida: A year after three witches meet a soldier named Macbeth, a back-story begins when young Fleance, the son of Banquo, has a chance meeting with his father’s assassin that mirrors Shakespeare’s classic tragedy.
JUST DESSERTS by Mark Dietrich Wyss, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin: When a husband won’t swallow what he doesn’t want to eat, he inadvertently transforms an anniversary celebration from a battle of wills to an epiphany by chocolate.