Tuesday, June 5, 2012

"New Plays from the Heartland" Winners Announced

Heartland Theatre Company has announced the three winners in its annual "New Plays from the Heartland" competition for one-act plays.


This year's theme was "Summer in the Heartland," with playwrights from nine states -- Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin -- invited to submit their short plays on that topic. After two rounds of judging, the winners are:

"Farmers Market" 
by Lori Tate Matthews (Stoughton, Wisconsin)
Sandy is an old hand at selling produce at the Saturday morning farmers' market. She’s eager to help Anika have a successful first day. What Sandy doesn’t know is that the newcomer is asking much too high a price for her merchandise.

"Fireflies" 
by Andrew Head (Bloomington, Illinois)
Ryan and Jess have everything they dreamed of when they were kids, including a home on Oceanview Drive. The fact that there’s no ocean and not much of a view has never bothered Jess. But Ryan can’t help wondering what’s outside the glass jar in which he unexpectedly finds himself.

"Lemonade and Lightning Bugs” 
by Terri Ryburn (Normal, Illinois)
How much is a memory worth in cold hard cash? As dusk settles on the back porch she has rocked on for 52 summers, Marge Wilson argues this question with her son. The answer is not in the empty bottles of Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Maybe the lightning bugs know.

The winning plays will be presented in staged readings at Heartland Theatre on July 13 and 14 at 7:30 pm, with a suggested donation of $5 at the door.

There will also be a forum, free and open to  the public, with this year's final judge, playwright Douglas Post, on July 12 at 7:30 pm. As the final adjudicator, Post will also conduct a master class with the winning playwrights. Post is a Founding Member of the Victory Gardens Playwrights Ensemble, teacher at Chicago Dramatists, and Chicago Regional Representative for the Dramatists Guild. His plays have been produced all over the world. As someone with expertise in every area of the playwriting life and screenplay, teleplay and radio play credits on his resume in addition to stageplays, his insights should prove very interesting.

"New Plays from the Heartland" is one of two opportunities for new plays offered by Heartland Theatre, with the other being the annual 10-Minute Play Festival which opens this week. The "New Plays from the Heartland" project is funded by the Town of Normal Harmon Arts Grant and sponsored by Paul and Sandra Harmon in conjunction with the NPH Sponsors Circle.

For more information about either project, call Heartland Theatre at 309-452-8709 or email boxoffice@heartlandtheatre.org

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