Humana Festival 2011: 'Ten-Minute Plays'

In addition to six full-length world premieres, Actors Theatre produces a triple bill of works during the Humana Festival of New American Plays that distill theater to its essence: the Ten-Minute Plays.

These plays are selected from submissions to a national contest. To be eligible, scripts can be no longer than 10 pages. Subject matter runs the gamut from the comic to the deadly serious. Like the full-length works, the Ten-Minute Plays are also fully produced during the festival, and they are eligible for Actors Theatre’s annual Heideman Award, a $1,000 cash prize established with a gift from the late Ted Heideman of Louisville.

This year’s Ten-Minute Plays:

“Mr. Smitten” – Playwright Laura Eason explores the connections between people, their pets and each other in this comedy set in a veterinarian’s office, where Anna loses it after being told her cat is terminal. Eason is a current ensemble member and former artistic director of Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago and has written more than 20 plays, both original and adaptations.

“Hygiene” – Gregory Hischak’s play about family dysfunction begins when Wendy is sent home from school with a parasite growing out of her head. Hischak’s play “Poor Shem” was staged at Actors last year in the 2010 Apprentice/Interns Tens, an annual event that takes place in January. He is also a poet and former Seattle Grand Slam champion.

“Chicago, Sudan” – Actors Theatre commissioned this “choreopoem,” written and performed by Marc Bamuthi Joseph. With movement and verse, it reveals the connection between genocide in East Africa and a homicide in the American Midwest. Joseph’s “the break/s” premiered at the 2008 Humana Festival. He is the artistic director of the HBO documentary “Brave New Voices” and was one of the first recipients of the U.S. Artists Fellowship.

The Humana Festival of New American Plays, underwritten by the Humana Foundation and now in its 35th year at Actors Theatre of Louisville, is the preeminent festival of its kind. It draws theater critics and arts writers from across the country to view new works, many of which go on to be produced on and off Broadway and at regional theaters nationwide.   

Hello Louisville tip: Unlike the six full-length Humana Festival productions, which run in repertory throughout the festival, the Ten-Minute Plays are performed only twice, so plan accordingly.

Humana Festival 'Ten-Minute Plays' Humana Actors Theatre theater festivals new plays