LA JOLLA, California — I was elated to catch up with friend, actor, writer, and director Omri Schein this week by phone to ask him about an upcoming project in which he’s involved. Our local JCC is hosting the 7th Annual Five Minute Plays Festival. Having attended previous festivals I was excited to hear about the 2022 event.
This is Schein’s first rodeo for the Five Minute Plays. He is no stranger to writing, acting, or directing, but has never directed this particular event. He was actually slated to do this pre-pandemic and had selected the plays from all of the entries, but then….COVID. Clearly, a disappointment, however, for some playwrights, the silver lining was an increase in the plays accepted for this year’s competition.
Normally, the Five Minute Plays festival enables a reading of 10 plays. This year the docket has grown to 15 plays to allow for more playwrights to gain exposure. These scripts, though abbreviated, are not short on content or possibility. In fact, a few years ago, actor, writer, and director, Phil Johnson, entered a five-minute play that was selected and ended up an Off-Broadway show. “A Jewish Joke” ran at Theatre Row, starring Johnson.
Schein told me that what the panel is looking for is shows that embrace Jewish themes in a novel or unique way. The topic may include the Yiddishe Mama or other familiar Jewish ideas, but they must be presented in ways that are fresh and innovative.
The selection process is interesting and very fair. A play reading committee designates a score. All scripts are read “bllind,” meaning that the author of the script is unknown to the committee. They read the script and tally their scores. The scripts with the highest scores are selected for a reading. Then Schein selects the actors to read each play. He selects from our cadre of very gifted local actors. Each of the actors will perform a number of roles as there are only six actors chosen for the 15 plays.
These readings are unique in that the actors not only have a finite time to impart the author’s message but there are no props, no sets, and no costumes. The readings themselves must hook the audience. After the 90-minute program, audience members will vote on their favorite short play reading.
Treat yourself to a delightful evening out! You will not be disappointed and you’ll feel proud to be a supporter of such a fabulous program!
Tickets may be purchased at https://my.lfjcc.org/events by selecting June 13th, 5-Minute Play Festival.
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Eva Trieger is a Solana Beach-based freelance writer who specializes in coverage of the arts. She may be contacted via eva.trieger@sdjewishworld.com