Bedlam Theatre has announced the short theater pieces which will appear in their ninth annual “Ten Minute Play Festival,” scheduled for April 16 through 25.These “plays” run the stylistic gamut – from reflective drama to toy theater to lip-sync drag to a new short opera, with many stops in between. It will feature the work of new artists, creators, and performers, as well as such well-known members of the Twin Cities theater scene.
This year’s pieces include:
• Body Electric. A corporeal/digital synesthesia in real time by Wade Haynes
• Bootleggers. A hip hop monologue in three by Reggie Edmund
• Brenda McIntire, CEO. Smart performance art by Paige Collette
• Cirkus Kalashnikov. A Bulgarian circus tale by Aditi Kapil, Directed by Chris Kehoe
• Coffee with an Alien. An intergalactic fairy tale by Kait Sergenian and Alberta Mirais
• Death of a Bee Keeper. A toy theater drama by Soozin Hirschmugl
• A Dry Spell. A multimedia meditation, written and performed by Ronnell A. Wheeler
• 4 Short Plays About Torture. Written by Dominic Orlando, directed by Brian Balcom
• Gretchen/Faust. Faust’s abandoned love journeys in search of the soul. An opera by David Hanzal and Julie Kurtz
• Gut Wrenched and Rising or This Means You’re Gay Now. A circus-influenced ensemble performance about the joys and dangers of being transgendered. Created by Walken Schweigert, directed by Sofi Shank
• Halfway to Paradise. A poetic drama written by Carson Kreitzer, directed by Jen Elwood
• Identity Crisis: My Unconventional Pathway To Homelessness. A semi-autobiographical spoken-word theater piece, created and performed by Corey Walton and directed by Brian Grandison
• The Loneliest Astronaut. An existential comedy about space camp by Ben Egerman
• Long Day’s Journey into Puss. A lip synch drag experience created and performed by Jeffry Lusiak
• Sheer. A physically driven romp by Lelis Brito
• String Theory. A theatrical poem by Stephen Schutzman and directed by Cherie Anderson
• Terror-less. Cedar-Riverside youth take on security stereotypes
Created by Sharmarke Farah with John Bueche, directed by John Francis Bueche and Christopher Allen
• Today is the Last Beautiful Day Until Tomorrow. An introspective sci-fi comedy, written and directed by Molly Van Avery in collaboration with and starring Maren Ward
• Two Guys Just Standing There Looking at Each Other and Maybe Pulling Things Out of Bags. And There’s a Timekeeper. An experiment in task-based improvisation by Jason Ballweber and George McConnell
• Walk It Off. An athletic comedy created by Jon Mac Cole and Tom Lloyd
• Wingman. A new play where the audience becomes the performance, written by Eric “Pogi” Sumangil, directed by Jess Finney
These pieces will be grouped into three sets (groupings yet to be determined), and will be rotated six times during the course of two weekends.
Additionally, as part of Twenty Ten Fest Tru Ruts/Free Style Theater will showcase an evening of 10-minute hip-hop and spoken-word theater spotlights. Participating artists range from newcomers to heavy hitters including Hip Hip, lead artist of the BLEND, Toussaint Morrison, Karla Smith, slam champion Guante, Poetic Assassins, Reggie Edmunds, and selections by E.G. Bailey and Sha Cage.
For more detailed descriptions, artist information, and schedule, check out the festival website at www.bedlamtheatre.org/tenfest.
