New play festival ‘Center City Scenes’ to debut

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The College of Arts + Architecture, in partnership with the Department of Theatre, will present the inaugural “Center City Scenes,” a festival of new plays by local playwrights, on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 22-23, at UNC Charlotte Center City.

The festival will feature six short pieces, each about 15 minutes in length. University and professional actors will participate in these imaginative workshop productions, created for the urban, but intimate, atrium of UNC Charlotte Center City. Performances on Saturday will be at 5 p.m. in conjunction with UNC Charlotte Center City’s Community Day celebration. Sunday’s performances will be at 2 p.m. Admission is free.

“Center City Scenes” playwrights are members of Uni-Wrights, a group that meets regularly at UNC Charlotte. Uni-Wrights intends to stage “Center City Scenes” annually. The debut production will feature:

“Cleopatra’s Nose” by Ann Marie Oliva

Directed by Cat Rutledge

Professor Cynthia Hollis (Marla Brown), a rising star in the academic community, encounters a serious obstacle one evening when two graduate students confront her with some unsettling information.

Oliva is a playwright, fiction and non-fiction writer, and reviewer. She is the theatre/film editor of ARTS à la Mode and a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

“A Bite in the Brain” by Mark Pizzato

Directed by Mark Pizzato

A UNC Charlotte senior finds strange, new worlds at home, through her iPod and her bedroom wall, when she returns there for Christmas less than a year after her mother's death.

Pizzato is professor of theatre and film at UNC Charlotte, where he teaches theatre history, playwriting/screenwriting and various topics courses.  His plays have been produced in Charlotte; New York City; Washington, D.C.; St. Paul, Minn.; and Swarthmore, Penn.  Several have been published by Aran Press. His books include “Inner Theatres of Good and Evil,” “Ghosts of Theatre and Cinema in the Brain” and “Theatres of Human Sacrifice.”

“Tis Passed” by Stacey Rose

Directed by Lillie Oden

Long time lovers Phillip and Sophia have reached a critical point in their relationship ... or did it pass?

Rose is a UNC Charlotte theatre alum. Her various rantings can be read on her blog www.fromtherosesmouth.com; her play “The Social NetWorth” will debut in February 2013.  

“Getting In” by Jeanmarie Higgins

Directed by Sebastian Trainor

Andra has a ticket, Dennis doesn't, and Stephanie isn't sure if she wants one. Four kids wait outside of a concert, wondering which is better: the waiting or the getting in.
 

Higgins is assistant professor of framaturgy at UNC Charlotte. Her plays have been produced in New York City at HERE Arts Center, at UNC-Chapel Hill and Grinnell College, and as staged readings at Davidson College, Playwrights Theatre of N.J., and Woolly Mammoth. “Science Fair” and “To Moscow!” are published by Playscripts Inc.

“6-Foot Under/5-Foot Over” by Don Cook

Directed by Della Freedman

In this parody, the audience is asked to join the taping of an infomercial that hypes the benefits of the “6-Foot Under/5 Foot Over Afterlife Storage Kit,” a product that promises to reduce the high costs of funerals and burials. 

Cook is a retired corporate speech writer and film writer/director who worked primarily for the car companies in Detroit, New Jersey and Los Angeles. Between commercial gigs, he was a founding member of two professional theatre companies in Detroit.  Since moving to Charlotte, Cook has been writing plays, several of which have been produced locally and in six other cities across the country.  His full-length play “Crimes of Omission” will be performed in October at the Warehouse in Cornelius.

“Some Assembly” by Timothy Baxter-Ferguson

Directed by Timothy Baxter-Ferguson
 

Geoff and Jimmy discuss marriage and fatherhood while they put together a complicated piece of furniture in Geoff’s garage. (Some adult content.)

Baxter-Ferguson is a professor of English and theatre at Limestone College in Gaffney, S.C.,  where he has served as chair of the Theatre Department for several years. His plays have been produced throughout the United States and Canada, and his scenic designs have been seen at CAST, Queen City Theatre, CPCC and Collaborative Arts.

For more information on “Center City Scenes,” visit www.coaa.uncc.edu.