EXIT’s Short Play Festival features original, multi-disciplinary performances

EXIT Theatre Arcata’s first Short Play Festival will be held June 16-18 and June 23-25, with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. at EXIT Theatre, 890 G St. (second floor), Arcata.

The productions feature local writers, actors, directors and technicians.

The festival received more than 100 plays from local, national and international playwrights. EXIT chose 10 of these plays for its Friday-Saturday festival nights. The plays are original works of no more than 10 minutes in length. The festival theme is “journey,” and the chosen plays explore this theme using a variety of theatrical styles.

Festival Sundays will feature an eclectic mix of multi-disciplinary short works ranging from solo plays to mime to staged readings to puppetry to dance to experimental theatrical performances.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit theexit.org.

EXIT Theatre Short Play Festival Lineup:

Friday and Saturday, June 16 and 17 at 8 p.m. (Tickets are $15. Also, a $5 voucher will be given for the next weekend of performances):

• “Ladies of the Night” written by Laurie Allen of Odessa, TX. Directed by Molly Severdia and featuring Christina Augello and Mary Severdia.
• “Friendly Skies” written by Dana Leslie Goldstein of Brooklyn, NY. Directed by Molly Severdia and featuring Cynthia Martells, Elizabeth Whittemore and Todd Hobrecht.
• “No More Flowers” written by Dana Hall of Orland Park, Il. Directed by Tisha Sloan and featuring Arnold Waddell and Monica Blacklock.
• “Location, Location, Location (or The Immeasurable Distance Between Here and There)” by Rich Orloff of New York, NY. Directed by Tisha Sloan and featuring Jason Valentin.
• Ali, Cosell, My Dad, and Me” by Michael Bickford of Arcata. Directed by John Heckel and featuring Michael Bickford.

Sunday, June 18 at 3 p.m. (Tickets are pay-what-you-can)

• “The Builder, The Performer and The Academy Awards” written and performed by Wendy Butler of Eureka. Directed by John Heckel.
• ”Journeys In Mime” written and performed by Richard Stein.
• “10 Minutes, Ten Teachers,” shadow puppetry written and performed by Sean Powers.
• “Survival Kit Upgrade”written and performed by Catherine Debon.
• “Veritable Vignettes” written and performed by Odile Lavault.

Friday and Saturday, June 23 and 24 at 8 p.m. (Tickets are $15, $10 with the voucher):

• “Dog and Human” by Ellen Koivisto of San Francisco, CA. Directed by Wendy Butler and featuring Victor Howard.
• “TARANTULANCHE!” by Evan Baughfman of Long Beach, CA. Directed by Michael Fields and featuring David Powell and Alex Bouin.
• “Sex in the Park” by Jack Rushton of Newbury, MA. Directed by Mitch Finn and featuring Ruthi Engelke and Brad Harrington.
• “And They Lived …” by Lee Richard Lawing of Bainbridge Island, WA. Directed by Tisha Sloan and featuring Trista St. John Fischer and Victor Howard.
• “Cabfare For The Common Man” by Mark Harvey Levine of Indianapolis, IN. Directed by Ruthi Engelke and featuring Jaye Templeton, Matthew Lewis, Stevent Santos, Doranna Benker-Gilkey, Rachel Houska and Elizabeth Whittemore.

Sunday, June 25 at 3 p.m. (Tickets are pay-what-you-can)

• “The Builder, The Performer and The Academy Awards” written and performed by Wendy Butler of Eureka. Directed by John Heckel.
• ”Journeys In Mime” written and performed by Richard Stein.
• “10 Minutes, Ten Teachers,” shadow puppetry written and performed by Sean Powers.
• A staged reading of “The Hike” by Karen Caronna and featuring Wendy Butler, Christina Augello and Arnold Waddell.

EXIT Theatre was founded in 1983 in San Francisco. Its mission is to provide a venue for artists to create and develop their original works. It opened its Arcata EXIT in 2020.