Thrills, chills, comedy, and good old-fashioned love are to be found in the upcoming 36th Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays, which begins Feb. 26.
During the Humana Festival's run, multiple shows will take place including: The Veri**on Play (Feb. 26-April 1), How We Got On (March 2-April 1), The Hour of Feeling (March 6-April 1), Eat Your Heart Out (March 9-31), Oh, Gastronomy! (March 16-April 1), Death Tax (March 20-April 1), and Michael Von Siebenburg Meets Through the Floorboards (March 22-April 15).
All performances will take place at various theatres inside Actors Theatre, which is located at 316 W Main Street in downtown Louisville.
Theatre goers can enjoy one show or multiple shows during the Humana Festival. The New Play Getaway package allows theatre goers to see multiple Humana Festival shows during a weekend. College Days weekend, March 16-18, features multiple shows as well as opportunities to network and even audition for the Acting Apprentice group. Locals weekends and industry professional weekends will also take place.
Tickets for individual shows or the packages can all be purchased at the Actors Theatre website, at the box office, or by calling the box office at 502-584-1205. Hotel and transportation information (including a Humana shuttle) can also be found at the Actors Theatre website.
The 36th Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays will open with The Veri**on Play, a combo thriller and screwball comedy. Jenni has to deal with horror she never expected after making a call to a cell phone company's customer service department. She seeks revenge, or at least her service to be corrected.
Nicholas Martin directed the Lisa Kron-created work. The production will run from Feb. 26-April 1 in the Bingham Theatre.
How We Got On goes on beginning in March. Hip hop rose to fame during the 1980s in the streets. For three kids in the Midwestern white suburbs, it was their route to cultural identity in this coming-of-age story.
Idris Goodwin created the production, and Wendy C. Goldberg directed it. How We Got On will run from March 2-April 1 at the Bingham Theatre.
Seizing the next moments will be The Hour of Feeling. Adham and his wife, Abir, head to London, leaving their Palestinian home, to deliver a career-making lecture in 1967, a defining year in the Middle East. Adham's own goals, and his marriage, become muddled as the Middle East begins to change rapidly.
Mona Mansour created The Hour of Feeling, and Mark Wing-Davey directed the production, which will run from March 6-April 1 in the Pamela Brown Auditorium.
Hearts are on the line in Eat Your Heart Out. Multiple stories to bound together by hopes, fears, and longing. One couple longs to adopt a child. A single mother fears not being able to connect with her daughter. A woman hopes her best friend could see her beyond just friendship.
Adam Greenfield directed the Courtney Baron-created Eat Your Heart Out, which will run from March 9-31 at the Bingham Theatre.
Speaking of eating, Oh, Gastronomy! will premiere in March. The pleasures and contradictions of food are explored by five playwrights and a team of acting apprentices. The food experience will be a pleasureable one, or it will be one that causes indigestion.
Michael Golamco, Carson Kreitzer, Steve Moulds, Tanya Saracho, and Matt Schatz created Oh, Gastronomy! Amy Attaway directed the production, and it was co-conceived and developed by Sarah Lunnie. Oh, Gastronomy! will run from March 16-April 1 at the Bingham Theatre.
Death Tax is set to thrill audiences in late March. Maxine is a dying, rich woman who believes her nurse is trying to end her life. The accusations will lead to unexpected and binding consequences that involve money, power, and human life.
Lucas Hnath created Death Tax, and Ken Rus Schmoll directed the production. Death Tax runs from March 20-April 1 inside the Victor Jory Theatre.
Last, but certainly not least, to open is Michael Von Siebenburg Meets Through the Floorboards. Baron Michael von Siebenburg has the look of youth but is really a 500-year-old Austrian who has since moved to the United States. He keeps himself young thanks to first dates and a certain meat tenderizer. Life gets complicated, though, thanks to a landlady and a medieval comrade's ghost.
Greg Kotis created the production, which was directed by Kip Fagan. Michael Von Siebenburg Meets Through the Floorboards will take place March 22-April 15 in the Pamela Brown Auditorium.
More information on the Humana Festival of New American Plays can be found at the Actors Theatre website.
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(Image from Actors Theatre)
