Lemonade, cattle farming, quirky friendships, and more will be displayed this weekend and next at Theater Workshop of Owensboro’s Summer Shorts as the organization debuts six plays to the world.
Director Jason Bostwick’s favorite part of TWO’s season is Summer Shorts. He was introduced to TWO through the event, and this year, he got to see a different lens as a director of “Horseshoe” by Oregon-based playwright Sara Freedman.
The play follows a family undergoing a transition between ownership of their family business as two paths come to a head.
“It’s a touching family drama, that’s how I would describe it,” Bostwick said.
Bostwick said he contacted Freedman to let her know they selected her play, and the two immediately began collaborating on Bostwick’s interpretation. With the surprise of her show debuting, Bostwick said Freedman plans to attend the opening weekend performance to see how it reads on stage.
Bostwick said the world debut aspect sets Summer Shorts apart from other playwriting festivals. Each of the plays selected was written as a 10 to 12-minute one-act with a maximum of five characters. With these constraints, the playwrights took the shows in different directions, with 80 other shows submitted.
The six shows include Freedman’s, “Just Another Day” by Jane Lee, “Leap of Faith” by Avigayle Young, “Wake Me When It’s Over” by Mike Byham, “Lemonade” by Marjorie Williamson and “Plot Twist” by Mike Quig.
Director and Playwright Quig said the blind judging selection process enables a sense of unpredictability in what the weekend will look like. Quig penned the show “Plot Twist” after writing for three days.
Plot Twist marks Quig’s third show to participate in Summer Shorts, and Lemonade is his second time at the helm of a show.
Both shows have an inherent comedic tone to them, Quig said, noting the latter follows two older women while his piece follows a community of strangers learning things about each other they may not have expected.
“I consider ‘Plot Twist’ a wacky comedy about a group of strangers coming together and learning some, let’s say, very bizarre things about each other. I can’t tell you about those things, though,” Quig teased about the show. “…‘Lemonade’ is a comedy as well. But it does have a lot of depth, and it speaks to some issues in society.”
Like Bostwick, Quig finds Summer Shorts his favorite time of the season. He said the shows have a sense of containment and realism, and ultimately, they feel “very intimate.”
Summer Shorts allows the audience to see world debuts of different shows, yet competition is orchestrated throughout the weekends. TWO will award $500 for the best overall play and $250 for the audience favorite, and one play can win both awards.
There will be ways to vote during the July 12-14 performances and 19-21. To purchase tickets, click here.
