Houston theater lovers will recognize several of the playwrights with new works at the Museum of Dysfunction VII: A Showcase of Shorts, Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company’s upcoming annual short-play festival. Michael Weems, L. Robert Westeen and Leighza Walker along with Elizabeth Keel and former Houston Press contributor Abby Koenig are among them.
More than 200 submissions from across the country were sent in to the festival. The arduous task of selecting the 20 finalists was left to the team at Mildred’s and Wordsmyth Theatre.
According to Jennifer Decker, artistic director and co-founder of Mildred’s Umbrella, the team concentrated on the quality of the writing when selecting the finalists. “We don’t kick anything out because it is too graphic or the subject matter is too adult. We choose the most interesting pieces and do them truthfully.” The final plays were selected last May and rehearsals began in January. “I’ll see their final product for the first time the week of the show,” says Decker. “It’s a whirlwind, but it has always worked well in the past.”
There are two groups of plays, each being presented for a single weekend. (If you want to see all the productions, you’ll want to attend both weekends.) Group I includes One, Three, Two by Weems; The Thief’s Monologue and The Lovers Meet, both by Keel; Reston by Westeen; and The Bullet by Walker. Works by Denise O’Neal, Steven Korber, Linda Griffin, Rhea MacCallum and Evan Guilford-Blake complete the lineup.
Group II includes Syllogistic Infantilism by Koenig; Getting Over Grace by Jaclyn Grogan; Unspeakable by Helen Stewart; and Lunch by Eric James. Works by William Duell, Asher Wyndham, Jason Rainey, Katharine Sherman, Wayne Mattingly and Holly Hildebrant compete the second group.
8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Through April 4. Studio 101 at Spring Street Studios, 1824 Spring Street. For information, call 832-463-0409 or visit mildredsumbrella.com. Pay-as-you-can.
Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Starts: March 26. Continues through April 4, 2015
This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2015.
