Ah, spring, when a theatre-goer’s thoughts turn to…new plays. This year’s Pacific Playwrights Festival takes place April 23-25 and features staged readings of new plays by Amy Freed, Itamar Moses, Bathsheba Doran, David West Read and Sofia Alvarez as well as full productions of two plays read during last year’s festival: Julia Cho’s The Language Archive and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s Doctor Cerberus. Get the scoop on these hot-off-the-pen new works and get to know their talented creators.
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The Star of His Own Personal Horror Movie
Meet Franklin Robertson, the wonderfully sweet and awkward central character of Doctor Cerberus. In this coming-of-age comedy with a twist of terror, poor Franklin is just trying to survive. He’s 13, chubby and friendless. His parents don’t understand him. His older, jock brother torments him. His great comfort comes from the horror movies he watches on a black-and-white TV set in his basement during “Nightmare Theatre,” introduced by the enigmatic Doctor Cerberus. At the moment, he feels like the victim in his own personal horror movie, but he may yet go on to become the hero of his own life. |
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The Language of Love
If only George could find the right words, he could keep his wife from leaving him. But mastering the language of love isn’t easy, even for a linguist like George. His assistant, Emma, is also at a loss for words when it comes to matters of the heart. And the adorably cantankerous old couple Alta and Resten—whose dying language George and Emma are supposed to be chronicling—have communication issues of their own. The Language Archive spins a sort-of fable—buoyant and melancholy, funny and heart-breaking—about the deep human need to be understood.
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Caught in a Global Game
It’s 1989 and hotshot young architect Andrew Hackett, who has got a full slate of international projects in the works, is just about to hit it big. But a simple commission from the Minister of Culture in a fictional Middle Eastern country turns out to be more complicated than it appears. Howard Korder’s new play takes place in a region rich in art and architecture and sets complex questions about the process of creation and the ephemeral nature of art against the harsh realities of war and political intrigue.
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