'One-Minute Play Festival' Features Stellar New Eng. Talent

The One-Minute Play Festival (#1MPF) and Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) continue their dynamic partnership with "The 3rd Annual Boston One-Minute Play Festival," with part of the proceeds to benefit BPT's artist residency programming.

"The 3rd Annual Boston One-Minute Play Festival" will be presented on Saturday, Jan 4, Sunday, Jan 5, and Monday, Jan 6-all at 8 p.m. at BPT (949 Commonwealth Ave.). Tickets are $20 and available for purchase at 866-811-4111 and BostonPlaywrights.org.

The performance on Sunday Jan 5, at 8 p.m., will be live streamed on Howlround.com's HowlroundTV at livestream.com/newplay.

One-minute plays by more than 50 established and emerging Boston area playwrights were commissioned for this special event, prompted by #1MPF's unique playmaking process.

Referring to the exhilarating speed of both making and watching plays in this brisk format, BPT artistic director Kate Snodgrass said, "We're in a Fight Club! And all of our proceeds, every single bit of what Boston Playwrights' Theatre earns, will go back to where it belongs -- to the entire playwriting community around Boston... Yes, I love it!"

This year's festival will feature works by the great American playwright Israel Horovitz, and other local favorites Kirsten Greenidge ("Luck of the Irish,") Peter Gabridge ("Fire on Earth,") and Steven Barkhimer ("Windowmen," the acclaimed new play that BPT just closed.)

Israel Horovitz' work includes the Obie Award winning "The Indian Wants the Bronx," arguably the play that launched Al Pacino's career. He also penned the touching, local favorite, "Park Your Car in Harvard Yard," NYC's longest running play "Line" and the screenplay for "Author! Author!"

Directors include Project, Project's generative artistic directors Jeff Mosser and Vicki Schairer who recently brought Boston audiences the collaborative examination of modern technology "How May I Connect You?"
The latter also recently astounded spectators with her compellingly intimate production of "A Streetcar Named Desire," transforming the Factory Theatre into a stiffing and sultry flat in New Orleans and setting the play's burning sexual tensions right under our noses.

The One-�Minute Play Festival is America's largest and longest running short form theatre company in the country, founded by Producing Artistic Director Dominic D'Andrea. #1MPF is a barometer project that investigates the zeitgeist of different communities through dialogue and consensus-building sessions and a performance of many moments. #1MPF works in partnership with theatres sharing playwright or community-specific missions across the country. #1MPF creates locally sourced playwright-focused community events, with the goal of promoting the spirit of radical inclusion by representing local cultures of playwrights of different ages, genders, races, cultures, and points of career. The work attempts to reflect the theatrical landscape of local artistic communities by creating a dialogue between the collective conscious and the individual voice.

"Most of all, I love [D'Andrea's] passion about this whole process," said Snodgrass. "You can't slow him down or pull him away from the goal of seeing these bite-sized morsels come alive." Then continuing with the 'Fight Club' analogy she added, "Or maybe the metaphor is more like a slap."

In each city, #1MPF works with partnering organizations to identify programs or initiatives to support. The goal is to find ways to give back to the artists in each community directly. Supported programs have ranged from educational programming, youth poetry projects, teaching artists working in prisons, playwright residencies and memberships, and community arts workshops.

Notable #1MPF contributors have included: David Henry Hwang, Neil LaBute, Tina Howe, Donald Margulies, Nilaja Sun, Lydia Diamond, Phillip Kan Gotanda, Kristoffer Diaz, Rajiv Joseph, Sam Hunter, Karen Hartman, Jos� Rivera, Israel Horovitz, Craig Lucas, Mike Daisey, Greg Kotis, Michael John Garc�s, and close to 600 famous, emerging, and midcareer playwrights.

For more information visit: www.oneminuteplayfestival.com and www.BostonPlaywrights.org