You never know who the next Andrew Lloyd Webber will be.
“One of these days, one of these plays [in the Baltimore Playwrights Festival] is going to really go somewhere, and we?ll get to brag about it back here in Baltimore,” playwright Joe Dennison said.
The Baltimore Playwrights Festival, which begins Thursday, features plays written and directed by Maryland residents. Since 1981, the festival has produced more than 220 full-length productions.
Dennison has been involved with the festival since 1989. His entry this year, a play called “Perpendicular,” will premiere at the Vagabond Players Theatre on July 26.
“It?s the case of the frustrated mother,” Dennison said. “She?s a housewife who leaves her husband and young son to go on a vision quest to Paris. But I don?t want to give away the ending.”
Miriam Bazensky, the director of “Barbie: A Doll Her,” a play by Terry Kenney, is also the vice chairman of the festival.
“It?s just amazing to see a play that is one-dimensional become a fully realized play, from paper to stage,” she said. “I?ve been involved since 1985. I just got hooked.”
The Baltimore Playwrights Festival receives 75 to 100 submissions annually. Throughout the year, the festival works with playwrights through public readings, discussions, critiques and workshops to find the best of the best in Baltimore.
“Barbie: A Doll Her” is a dark humor play that explores the relationships between Barbie and her owner.
“As Barbie struggles to become more real, her owner descends into fantasy,” Bazensky said.
This year, plays will be shown at the Fells Point Corner Theatre, the Vagabond Players Theatre, Theatrical Minin Company, Mobtown Players, Uncommon Voices, Chesapeake Arts Center and the Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre. The first play begins Thursday and the last play ends performances on Sept. 2.
“New plays are always exciting,” Bazensky said. “Some don?t work. But the bottom line is, we are producing original plays and giving these playwrights a chance to see their production fully realized.”
More information
For an entire listing of plays, dates and times, visit baltimoreplaywrightsfestival.org.
