SEQUIM — Short pieces by eight local playwrights will be performed in Olympic Theatre Arts’ New Works Showcase set through Sunday.
The idea to spotlight the works of local playwrights began about five years ago, around the time of COVID-19, when OTA had a different director, said the theater’s current executive director, David Herbelin.
This year, there were almost 40 submissions. Some years there have been as many as 60, Herbelin said.
A 10-member committee reads and rates the scripts, weeding them down to six or eight for the New Works Showcase.
Not being selected doesn’t necessarily mean a play was poorly written, Herbelin said. The committee tries to select a variety of plays, offering audiences a taste of comedy, drama, horror and mystery.
“We go back and forth for a while,” he said of the challenging selection process.
Those whose plays are selected and who agree to allow OTA to produce them are paired with a director. If a director feels that any part of the play is confusing or needs tweaking, the director and the playwright work together on the rewriting. All of it is up to the playwright. Some authors do not want their script changed, Herbelin said.
Each play has its own director. Authors chosen for the New Works Showcase never direct their own plays.
“We recommend authors don’t direct their own works, and that’s kind of a hard-and-fast rule for us,” Herbelin said. “That way, you can see how your words translate to somebody else.”
The names of the authors are announced at the show, Herbelin said, but they are not asked to stand if they are in the audience because “not everybody is comfortable with that.”
The show lasts two hours, Herbelin said.
In the years since the showcase began, audience sizes have grown, Herbelin said. And there is no shortage of playwrights or would-be playwrights willing to compete to be in the annual show.
“It’s amazing how much creativity there is on this Peninsula,” Herbelin said. “The whole Peninsula is an amazing art scene … You know, I look at places like Laguna Beach, Calif., that is a major art mecca — you know, painters and sculptors and playwrights and theater musicians. To me, this Peninsula has the same potential because of how many talented people are up here.”
After the New Works Showcase, OTA will close out the year with a two-week run of “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians,” from Dec. 5 through Dec. 21.
For tickets or more information, visit olympictheatrearts.org.
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Kathy Cruz is the editor of the Sequim Gazette of the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which also is composed of other Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News and Forks Forum. She can be reached by email at kathy.cruz@sequimgazette.com.
Rebecca Maberry and Justin Stapleton rehearse a scene in “Backtalk,” written by local playwright Susan Macedo. It is one of eight short plays featured in Olympic Theatre Arts’ New Works Showcase, which will run Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Nov. 23. (Monica Berkseth)
