2008 Festival Schedule & Play Descriptions
Thursday, April 3, 7:30pm
Unknown Soldier
Music and Lyrics by Michael Friedman, Book and Lyrics by Daniel Goldstein
Directed by Will Frears
This epistolary chamber musical's intimacy beautifully conveys the tale of WWI-era lovers, separated by time and space. When a modern-day woman discovers their letters, the past becomes present as she enlists the help of a researcher far away, and their correspondence begins to mirror that of previous generations. Unknown Soldier is the result of a commission from the Huntington's Stanford Calderwood Fund for New American Plays.
Friday, April 4, 8pm
Sense of an Ending
By Ken Urban (Huntington Playwriting Fellow)
Directed by Evan Cabnet
An African-American journalist arrives in Rwanda to uncover dark truths about an act of genocide. The trip becomes something more troubling, however, when he finds he may be part of the story. After he meets a survivor, the journalist struggles to understand the nature of man's inhumanity, and to find the path that returns us to the best versions of ourselves. Ken Urban is a current Huntington Playwriting Fellow.
Saturday, April 5, 2pm
Thomas Repair
By Mat Smart
Directed by Melia Bensussen
A family crisis ensues when a mysterious girl appears in Jacob Thomas' quirky repair shop. She's blue — literally and figuratively — and as she attempts to "come clean," the relationships around her are thrown into chaos. Things left unsaid begin to fester and rot, and she proves she might be the only one who knows how to fix what's long been broken. Thomas Repair is the result of a commission from the Huntington's Stanford Calderwood Fund for New American Plays.
Saturday, April 5, 8pm
Broke-ology
By Nathan Louis Jackson
Directed by Amanda Charlton
In this family serio-comedy, the sons of an African-American family are torn between familial obligations and the dreams they've established for themselves. With dashed hopes for higher education, an ailing patriarch who sees his dead wife, and the mounting expenses of a new baby, the boys help each other face the major decisions of their lives. Together they just may discover a new definition of what it means to be a family.
Sunday, April 6, 7pm
Caroline in Jersey
By Melinda Lopez (Huntington Playwriting Fellow)
Directed by M. Bevin O'Gara
Things aren't looking so great for Caroline. Her husband has left her for a younger woman, she's about to be thrown out of her sublet in New Jersey, her landlady thinks she's crazy... and the spirit of Arthur Miller's accountant lives in her refrigerator. Thrown into this mystery, Caroline must discover the truth about her haunting (and herself) to help to heal a broken family across two planes of existence. Melinda Lopez is a 2003-2005 Huntington Playwriting Fellow; Caroline in Jersey is the result of a commission from South Coast Repertory Theatre.