Before the lights, sets, props and costumes, every great theatrical show starts somewhere.
This weekend, D.C. theatergoers can witness awesome new work before it even hits the stage.
The Kennedy Center hosts the free Local Theatre Festival at the REACH this Friday and Saturday.
“This is our second year presenting the Local Theatre Festival,” Victoria Murray Baatin, senior director of Social Impact told WTOP. “It’s tied to our Local Theatre Residency, a yearlong program where we invite local theater makers from D.C., Maryland and Virginia to showcase their work. They have a one-week residency where they develop pieces in a nascent stage or things that are almost done and just need a little help to cross the finish line.”
Last year’s inaugural festival was somewhat of a trial run, but the overwhelming feedback prompted a return.
“We had such positive feedback from our community, from our local theater makers, from theater professionals, from students, from fans of theater that we must, must continue this, so we heeded that call,” Baatin said.
This year’s festival once again presents staged readings of unproduced works in progress.
“We have one by playwright Regan Linton, ‘Squishy But Firm,’ Ifa Bayeza has a work called ‘One Small Alice’ that she’s been developing, and Tom Minter’s ‘By Me You’ll Never Know,'” Baatin said. “We’re also excited to welcome Marjuan Canady, D.C. native and producer extraordinaire having just had successful runs of ‘The Wiz’ and ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ on Broadway. We’re excited to welcome her work in development called ‘Imagine.'”
You can also enjoy insightful panels featuring Q&As with leading industry experts.
“We’re really excited about the panels,” Baatin said. “I’ve got the great fortune of moderating a panel conversation on Friday evening between The Washington Post’s outgoing theater critic Peter Marks and incoming theater critic Naveen Kumar, so that will be a very, very special conversation. [On Saturday] Otis Ramsey will moderate a panel called ‘The Artist-Audience Connection.’ It’s about cultivating an appreciation for new play development.”
After listening to the panels, you can participate in workshops for hands-on activities.
“We’re really looking forward to welcoming Paige Hernandez from Havana Hop, using heritage and family values to tease out inspiration for work,” Baatin said. “Washington Improv Theater will join us on some improvisation workshops. If you’ve ever wondered how folks change the intonation of their voice, we have dialect coach Melissa Flaim. … We’re really looking forward to ‘Shear Combat: How to Fight Light a Pirate,’ a stage combat workshop.”
After all the readings, panels and workshops, the wonderful result is continued success stories.
“We’ve had pieces that worked through the residency and the festival that found their way to Off-Broadway, and folks have also produced things within the local theater scene, so it really is getting in on the ground floor,” Baatin said. “We’re really excited about ‘0874: A Filipino-American Love Story,’ a piece that was written by Alex Palting and that piece actually made it to New York and had its Off-Broadway debut last summer.”
Listen to our full conversation here.
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