THE 2003 PACIFIC PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL

READINGS

Safe in Hell
by Amy Freed
directed by David Emmes
Friday, May 16 at 1pm on the Argyros Stage

Cotton Mather's childhood was all work and no play. Even though he learned seven languages before he was 12, fasted and ruined his eyes reading, his father still doesn't think Cotton is ready for the Big Pulpit. There's so much pressure being a Puritan! Maybe it's time for a pretend exorcism or a mock trial. After all, if people don't believe in Satan anymore, Cotton and his father are history.

Anna in the Tropics
by Nilo Cruz
director to be announced
Friday, May 16 at 3:30 pm on the Segerstrom Stage

It's the end of an era, a lingering moment on the cusp of the Depression. The last of the Cuban-American cigar makers in a Florida factory bring an exuberant humor and love of life to their toil. But this is a hot and steamy world of danger and betrayal. Into this evocative setting comes a man known as the "lector," who reads aloud in the tradition of the time. His chosen book is Anna Karenina, and the emotions it unleashes change the destiny of everyone who listens.

Sea of Tranquillity
by Howard Korder
directed by Michael Bloom
Saturday, May 17 at 10:30am on the Segerstrom Stage

An All-American assortment of characters, misplaced in Santa Fe, wanders in and out of the lives of a psychologist with a past and his archeologist wife. They include an anti-social redneck with a PhD, a sit-com writer on the verge of tears, a modern day bounty hunter, a runaway and a murderer. Their souls may or may not be lost, and they definitely need a therapist's help — but how much can one man give?

Brooklyn Boy
by Donald Margulies
directed by Daniel Sullivan
Sunday, May 18 at 11am on the Segerstrom Stage

Everyone knows fame can be bad for you. But this bad? When Eric Weiss finally gets a novel on the best seller list, it's hard to celebrate. His marriage is threatening to unravel—again. His father is hospitalized, and his aunt tells him he should have worn a tie on "Today." Then Hollywood beckons, and it looks like all that glitters really could be gold, but Eric has a lot to learn in this look at family, friends and fame.

WORKSHOP

The Hiding Place
by Jeff Whitty
directed Mark Rucker
May 16 and 17 at 7:45 pm; May 17 and 18 at 2pm in the Nicholas Studio.

Life and art collide when Karl and Myra meet in a chic Manhattan restaurant. He's a married novelist whose life and work are both fashionable and meaningless. She's a fledgling writer new to the big city, waiting tables and harboring the usual dreams of fame and fortune. They begin to exchange letters, which they hide in a secret place on a busy street. As their curious relationship develops, the line between fact and fiction blurs—is it their destiny, or grist for their mills?

SPECIAL AFTER HOURS EVENT

JOE FRANK'S 'ONE NIGHT STAND'
Friday, May 16 at 10:30 pm

"Frank wanders deeply into the unconscious, producing Dionysian stories with a fairy-tale intensity whose effect is often funny, disturbing and deeply memorable."
- Salon Magazine

Long-time favorites with public radio audiences, Joe Frank's programs are sometimes dark, sometimes absurdist, sometimes solo recitations, sometimes ensemble pieces performed and/or improvised by actors, sometimes voices of real people heard in real situations - whether man-in-the-street interviews or phone conversations with lovers or strangers.

Within the span of a single hour, a Joe Frank show delivers multi-layered soundscapes intermixed with hypnotic, rhythmic music and tackles philosophical or spiritual questions of life, death, alienation, faith and love.

More information on the Pacific Playwrights Festival.