New Brunswick’s festival of emerging playwrights offers something for everyone’s tastes. On now until August 4 in Fredericton.
After launching last week at the Fredericton Playhouse with a successful run of this year’s Main Stage production The Dangers of Geothermal Heating, the 2018 NotaBle Acts Theatre Festival continues until August 4 animating much of the city’s downtown core with live theatre performances across a host of locations. With lunch time shows, site-specific plays and world premiere performances of work by several New Brunswick playwrights, this year’s festival is packed with live theatre in all its forms.
To help you make the most of this year’s performance schedule, we put together a quick rundown of events planned for the coming days. Have a look and make this the year you take a chance on theatre.
Street Scenes: Three Site-Specific Plays
Blue Ribbon by Arianna Martinez
In a wacky tale of subterfuge and spoilt produce, viciously feuding grandparents competing for affection take it too far when they force their only granddaughter to become a double agent sabotaging each other’s vegetable stands.
S.C.O.P.E. by Jean-Michel Cliche
A time traveler warns of the dire consequences of lopping down ancient trees for passing vanity, and a teenage girl comes to terms with anthropomorphic artificial intelligence. S.C.O.P.E. is two monologues exploring strange futures.
The Great Beaverbrook Caper by Gordon Mihan
A hardened veteran of fine art protection keeps vigil on priceless paintings, now with the help of a new young recruit. But can they outsmart the slick subterfuge of a crafty criminal, whose chicanery may just make them criminal themselves?
Performed as a program of three plays starting at the Boyce Farmer’s Market parking lot, ending at Officer’s Square.
Tuesday July 31 and Wednesday August 1 at 8:30 p.m. | 90 minute running time | Admission $12 regular, $8 student/senior/underwaged.
One Year After by R.M. Vaughan
Elaine is downsizing. Surrounded by junk, Elaine knows mid-life is a dangerous time. There are just too many things to trip over. While she packs and sorts, she unpacks how she got where she is today. How far will Elaine’s downsizing go?
Performed at Renaissance College | Tuesday July 31 and Wednesday Aug 1 at 7 p.m. | 2 p.m. Saturday Aug. 4. | One hour runtime. Admission $8 regular, $5 student/senior/underwaged, or $14 regular, $10 student/senior/underwaged for those taking in a combined double-bill with Street Scenes on July 31 and August 1.
Taking it to the Streets: Four 10-Minute Plays
Everything Bagel by Tilly Jackson
A comedy about two sisters catching up over bagels and tea, this new short comedy has everything you need: Love, loss, laughter, and sesame seeds.
Jeannie Bikini by Liam Browne
Jeanie Bikini, world-famous vlogger and internet celebrity, is so used to her audience’s adulation she barely even thinks about it. But when her ratings start to dwindle, can she right the ship by taking a real interest in an anonymous fan?
Marvelously-Meta Misadventures by Rowan Miller
Writing is difficult, especially when you have nothing good to write about. Can a wannabe playwright find their muse? Or will their muse just give them more bad ideas?
Lloyd Bindey, By-law Enforcement by Brent White
When the city council passes a new by-law extending smoke-free zones around public buildings by two metres, Lloyd Bindey is on the case. Errant smokers beware!
Outdoors at the Café Beaverbrook atrium July 31 – Aug 1 | 12 – 1 p.m. | Outdoors at Picaroons Roundhouse Aug 2-3. Free Admission, with donations accepted.
Acting Out: Two One Act Plays
Carrion Birds by Greg Everett
In a dark and bleak forest where the birdsong is a murder of crows’ caw, the last scion of a cursed family ekes out a meager living from an impassive wilderness. But a hard land does not give easily, and life must be repaid with blood.
Casualties by Alex Pannier
Childhood can be something to look back on with fondness: comforting and secure, friendly and fun, but potentially so fragile. When parents fail to be adults, there’s a long way to fall, and children are the first casualties.
Memorial Hall, UNB | Aug. 2 – 4 | 7:30 p.m. | Admission $15 Regular, $10 Students/Seniors/Underwaged
Readings of the 2018 NB Acts Middle and High School Playwriting Contest
An Automaton’s Soul by Ben McIntosh, Carleton North High School
A nameless girl is the last human on Earth, her only companions the automatons that care for her. She knows she is different from them, but does not know how. She is aware of them, but are they of her?
The Old Geezers by Kasey Goodine and Emma Boles, Bliss Carmen Middle School
Bickering comes easily to one aging couple, so easily in fact they’ve practically made sport of it. But who will win? Yet another thing to bicker about.
Both of these readings will take place at Memorial Hall, UNB, 7 p.m. | Admission by donation.
