New Works Festival
February 4-6 and 18-20, 2010

The ASOC will present their New Works Festival of One Acts and Monologs over two weekends beginning February 4th to 6th and on the 18th to 20th at 8pm with a repeat performance at the Oregon ACCT Theatre Conference being hosted by ASOC in March of 2010. All at the ASOC Playhouse, 129 West Bond Street, Uniontown Astoria.

Yes, ASOC went seining for scripts and this is our catch! These prize winning scripts and series of monologues range from satire to tragedy. First place winners for One Acts are: WAITING FOR PEPPKE by Walt Vail of Pitman, New Jersey; THE LAST ACT by Daniel DiIllo of Kelso, Washington; and INTERRUPTED MEMORIES by M. John Bohane of Nokomis Florida. Runner up for the One Acts are: MENGELE IN BUDAPEST by August Nigro of Allentown, Pennsylvania; SHIFTING GEARS by Linda Felton Steinbaum of Encino, California; and UNDOCTORATED by Russell Weeks of Seattle, Washington.

Winners for the monolog competition are: TALLULAH by Keyaho Rohlfs of Cannon Beach Oregon, PENELOPE by S.D. Graubert of New York New York. Runners up were: WINDOW WASHER OF WUHAN by Les Epstein of Roanoke Virginia, STAR MAN by Dale Andersen of Ladera Ranch California and BEDSIDE MANNER by Lisa Stephenson of Cincinnati Ohio. A special evening to celebrate the authors will be held on closing night of the show, Saturday, February 20th 2010.

Directors for these award winning shows include: Edward James, Anne MacGregor, Michael Wangen, Ashley Mundel and Markus Brown. Performers are: Matthew Little, Sandi Hilton, Richard Goosey, Tom Brownson, Cindy Howe, Slab Slavinski, Bob Goldberg, Paul Costello, Diane Borcyckowski, Marcus Brown, Patricia Shannon, Kevin Sheehan, Anthony Joseph Maki and Brian Allen.

Over 35 scripts were entered in this contest that ran from July to September 2009. Scripts came from as far away as Indiana, Florida, New Hampshire and even Ilwaco! The scripts were judge on length, cohesiveness, plot, and character development. Competition judges included: Carol Knutson-Hawes, a lover of plays and of our local theatres.  Although an idiosyncratic reader who often deviates from the team in her choices (she can find something good and/or bad in every play she reads) she still loves the process and the dialogue.  Carol teaches literature and writing classes at Clatsop Community College in Astoria, Oregon. Nannette Taylor, the Executive Director of PHAME Academy of Fine Arts in Portland, Oregon, a unique arts organization that works exclusively with developmentally disabled adults through the fine and performing arts.  A champion of original scripts for the stage, as the Executive Director of Columbia Theatre Co. (Portland, OR) she introduced “13 Plays in 6 Weeks” – a summer series that produced the original works of NW playwrights. During her 15 years in Scottsdale, Arizona, she collaborated with renowned playwright Terry Earp dramaturging and directing over 20 new plays, many of which were awarded both local and regional awards and Edward James local theater connoisseur and Professional Theatrical Stage director.