The Next Hot Show -- for Free
Parker Dixon, left, and Clay Steakley performed in Theater J's "Either Or" in the 2006 Page-to-Stage Festival.
(By Mark Buenaflor)
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Seven years ago, Arena Stage hosted a conference to consider this question: "Who needs new plays?"
The resounding answer? Everyone.
This weekend you can bear witness to the early debut of 75 new plays during the Kennedy Center's free, three-day Page-to-Stage Festival.
Forty-four theater companies (most from the Washington area, plus half a dozen innovative troupes from across the country) will set up camp at the Kennedy Center to stage readings of original plays they are considering producing.
Don't expect costumes or sets or intricate lighting designs. Still, says festival curator Gregg Henry, "you can see a pretty fully realized play. . . . The actors are going at it 120 percent."
The festival has become a tradition for local audiences hungry for the start of the fall theater season. Last year, more than 5,000 people showed up to wander through the marbled halls, dropping in and out of whatever readings piqued their interest and fit their schedule.
The appeal for theater companies is the chance to catch reactions to new pieces: seeing which parts work and which need improvement. And, of course, the chance to mingle with one another.
"We get the small, young companies in Washington -- the scrappy, energetic, progressive little companies -- side by side with some major institutions in Washington," Henry says. Participants this year include Signature Theatre, Washington Shakespeare Company, Scena Theatre, the Georgetown Theatre Company, Chicago's 500 Clown Theater and Utah's Salt Lake City Acting Company.
The subject matter is predictably diverse. You can catch several historically inspired works if that's your thing, or peer into the future for an imagined look at the world of dating, circa 3008. ("M39," by Callie Kimball plays Sunday night at 7:30.)
The point, Henry says, is just to listen, explore and get excited about what's to come: "It's the whole theater community saying, 'Come on in and see what we're doing.' "
· Page-to-Stage Festival, Saturday-Monday. Plays begin at 2 p.m. each day; last shows end about 10 p.m. Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW. 202-467-4600.
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'Les Misérables' at Wolf Trap
Never sat outside at Wolf Trap? Never cried for Cosette during the famous musical? Done both but never simultaneously? Now's your chance. Bring tissues -- and a picnic.
· "Les Misérables," through Sept. 7. Wolf Trap Filene Center, 1551 Trap Rd., Vienna. 703-255-1900.
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