New Generation Theatrical  has announced the 16 play selections that will perform in the inaugural Be Original Theater Festival at the Dr. Phillips Center. The festival will be held at the Dr. Phillips Center October 4 – 6, 2019, and will feature 32 total performances over three days, spread throughout the Alexis and Jim Pugh Theater and the Rehearsal Hall at the Dr. Phillips Center.

Tickets for the Be Original Theater Festival are on sale now and can be purchased at www.DrPhillipsCenter.org. Tickets for individual table reading performances are $10, and tickets for individual simple staged readings are $12. Patrons can also purchase multi-show VIP lanyards for any 4 shows for $9 per show ($36), 8 shows for $8 per show ($64), or 12 shows for $7 per show ($84). The weekend-long festival will also feature post-show talkbacks and Q&A sessions with the writers and creative team at each performance, as well as a social area outside the Pugh theater with food, drinks, and a chance to meet and interact with playwrights, actors, and creatives throughout the festival.

“We were blown away with the level of talent that came through for our first year organizing this festival,” said Executive Director Michael Knight. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to give these writers an opportunity to showcase their new, original works for audiences and industry leaders.”

 

Be Original Theater Festival Table Read Productions

Anxieties Anonymous

October 4 — 9pm

October 6 — 3:15pm

Writer: Savannah Pedersen

A young comedienne on the cusp of her big break. A support group of young people with mental illnesses. They may have more in common than they think. After all, crazy is relative. (16+ for profanity, drug references)

 

Distopia: A Teen Parody

October 4 — 7:30pm

October 6 — 12:15pm

Writer: Charles Davidson

A “dystopian” story which follows the Main Character (aptly named Main Character) as she describes the apocalypse, struggles to survive, and tries to save the world with two unlikely friends. (13+ for mild language, sexual references)

Exhibit: Perfect European Man

October 5 — 6:00pm

October 6 — 1:45pm

Writer: DJ Salisbury

In 1903, Sandow the Magnificent was chosen to have his body cast in plaster as example of a perfect man by the British Museum. The play explores the power of beauty and the beauty found in the powerful. (15+ for mature themes, implied nudity)

It’s Always Raining at Best Buy

October 5 — 12:30pm

October 6 — 6:45pm

Writer: Gabrielle Snyder

A scientist enters a long forgotten town where time has been frozen at noon for a very, very long time. He quests to fix it, realizing this town is even stranger than he imagined. (13+ for mild language)

Rubberneckers

October 4 — 5:30pm

October 5 — 2:00pm

Writer: Alexander Hehr

Kissimmee local Bobbie Mannon has one goal: To rid the I-4 corridor of Rubberneckers. Highway Patrol Officer Dale Mabry has one wish: to not have to deal with Kissimmee local Bobbie Mannon. And Dale’s captain wants to capitalize in on the whole ordeal. When the world’s eyes are on the issue, who is truly trying to make the world a safer place? (16+ for profanity)

The Call

October 4 — 3:30pm

October 5 — 7:30pm

Writer: Francesca DiFrancesco

After the freak & accidental death of his brother, Danny Bowen has lived a reclusive life within the four walls of his own living room for the past three years. But, when an unassuming visitor arrives, unknowingly challenging Danny’s life as he knows it, the memories of his haunted past begin to come to life, revealing just what led up to the fateful incident that changed his life forever. (14+ for profanity, gun violence)

Trafficked

October 4 — 1:45pm

October 5 — 9:15pm

Writer: Gretchen Suarez-Pena

The horrors of human sex trafficking are very real. It is not just a problem in some distant country; it happens in our own backyard. Follow Ana Saco as she journeys from her office, to her past and tells the world her story and the story of countless others affected by the illicit sex trafficking industry. (14+ for mature themes, profanity, sexual content)

Wolf in a Concrete Jungle

October 5 — 4:00pm

October 6 — 4:45pm

Writer: Eislinn Gracen

A dark twist on the classic teen werewolf story, Rowen has been under the watchful eye of her neurotic father, David, for all eighteen years of her life. Rowen’s dreams of escaping her secluded life to college begin to fall apart once the wolf inside her develops a taste for blood. (14+ for profanity, sexual themes)

Be Original Theater Festival Simple Staging Productions

Adagio

October 4 — 1:45pm

October 6 — 2:00pm

Writer: John Mark Jernigan

aŸdaŸgio adverb 1. (especially as a direction) in slow tempo. Everyone makes choices. But not everyone knows how to LIVE with those choices. Adagio is journey inward to reflect on just how difficult it is for any of us to pick ourselves up where we are and move on. (16+ for profanity)

Bang Bang Charlie Foxtrot

October 4 — 9:15pm

October 5 — 1:30pm

Writer: Lil Barcaski

Ten years after the Iraq war, a young woman is still struggling with the demons and addictions caused by a traumatic experience with sexual abuse. She takes a job in a small restaurant where she is reconnected with some of the people involved leading to a tumultuous end. (16+ profanity, mature themes, gun violence)

Fallen Angel

October 5 — 9:15pm

October 6 — 3:30pm

Writer: Jami-Lee Bartschi

Fallen Angel centers around a modern day incarnation of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, who, in order to cope with the recent suicide of her sister, decides to bring her back to life by writing her in such vivid detail that she becomes flesh and blood. The play uses magical realism to combine the biography of Mary Shelley with her most famous work. (13+ some language)

God Bless America

October 4 — 1:45pm

October 6 — 2:00pm

Writer: Molly Smith

In a post-war America now called the United Republic, Captain Jack Miller takes a journey through his mind about his choices as an adolescent, evaluating the decisions that brought him to the present. The show deals with themes of patriotism, nationalism, violence, love, and the possibilities of what could happen in a nation that fights violence with violence. (16+ for violence and simulated terrorism)

It All Started at the Radisson Inn

October 5 — 5:00pm

October 6 — 7:00pm

Writer: Michael Wanzie

A tale of the chance meeting between Brett, a handsome, young heterosexual man and Connor, a charming and persuasive older gay gentleman who bond at a rolling party while high on ecstasy. The unlikely pair become frequent role-play partners, which Brett strives to keep secret from his fiancé, Julie. Eventually, worlds collide and the fallout is not pretty. (16+ for sexual content)

Qualia

October 4 — 7:15pm

October 6 — 12:00pm

Writer: Ashleigh Ann Gardner

After intense heat triggers massive reactor explosions across the United States, a woman spends five years alone in a bunker. But when a friend from her past arrives and invites her to leave with him, she must choose to either rejoin human society or stay with the sentient computer system she has come to love. (14+ mild language, sexual references)

Single Rider

October 4 — 4:15pm

October 5 — 8:00pm

Writer: Casey Tregeagle

They were summoned together under mysterious circumstances. They’ve never met and don’t get along. But thought a series of discussions, fights, and pop culture references, they realize they have a choice to make… (13+ mild language)

Wake Up

October 4 — 5:45pm

October 5 — 3:15pm

Writer: Michael Knight

Mark, if you’re reading this, you’ve been in a coma for twenty years. I know you believe you’re living a dream life but that’s because… it is. You are literally in a dream. It’s time to learn the truth. We are trying to reach you any way we can. Please Mark, wake up. (14+ for mild language)