Popular PlayFest Just Around the Corner

Friday – Sunday, May 4 – 6 and Friday – Sunday, May 11 – 13, 7:30 p.m., Orcas Grange

— from Aaimee Johnson for Actors Theater —

The 13th Annual PlayFest opens Friday, May 4 on The Grange stage. The following seven short plays will be brought to life—the culmination of local Orcas playwrights, Orcas directors, and Orcas actors. This year brings several new faces out to share their talent.

Nonviolent Gulch by Evan Wagoner-Lynch
Director: Melinda Milligan
Cast: Travis King, Larry Hampel, Liz Doane, Rick Markov, and Lisa Spesard
What happens when Gunstone, the gunslinging desperado, the devil of Nevada, wanders into his favorite bar in Rattlesnake Gulch and finds that the town has renamed itself  Nonviolent Gulch, the bar is the Namaste Saloon, and they don’t serve whisky anymore… ?

Camelot’s End by Nancy Reas
Director: Carie Lou Gottschaldt
Cast: John Mazzarella and Annette Mazzarella
Through foggy recollections of the past, Fred struggles to make sense of the present as Nancy ponders the end of a dream.

Dust by Mary Bayley
Director: Lisa Spesard and Isabella Schermerhorn
Cast: Leslie Liddle, Don Yerly and Hayley Thompson
A family drama set in the 1930’s. From Philadelphia ballrooms to dusty country farming.. a family relocates with hopes of innovation, but it’s a rougher business than expected.

Moira by Kat Blucker
Director: Madeline Olson
Cast: Susie Shipman
For 25 years, Moira’s life has been consumed by the whims of her violent husband. But one night, everything changes. With startling imagery, clarity, and sensory detail, she recalls the many experiences that have led her to this moment.

Thirteen This Way by Miguel Villarreal
Director: Evan Wagoner-Lynch
Cast: Kevin Doyle, Jessie Gonzalez, Frank Michels, Travis King, Stephanie Wright
Two buddies find themselves working a neverending job with a difficult client, a fellow named Thomas Jefferson. Just when it seems the end is in reach, Jefferson and his friends come up with a new job for the duo–something that will send them down a very perilous path, indeed.

Coming Out by Heather Thomas
Director: Lynda Sanders
Cast: Stephanie Wright, Gus Klueber, and Isabella Schermerhorn
It’s all well and good to raise your kids to be independent and think for themselves, until they do…

The Adventures of Jack Armstrong by Hank Pollard
Director: Frank Michels
Cast: Larry Hampel, Rick Markov, Margot Van Gelder, Alia Hynek, Lesley Liddle
and Frank Michels
Presented in the genre of a 50’s radio drama, the play follows a family on an action adventure archeological roller coaster ride through jungle habitat and ferocious animals, including the natives.

Tickets are $10 and all performances begin at 7:30 p.m., with doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the door, at Darvill’s Bookstore, or online at www.orcasactors.org. No one is ever turned away from an Actors Theater performance at the Grange for inability to pay.