By Eva Trieger
SAN DIEGO –Everybody’s got a story to tell, yet not everyone has the opportunity or chutzpah to share it. Trinity Theatre Company is providing this opportunity with its Third Annual New Works Festival. This unique international playwriting festival invites adults to submit their original, new works for staged readings that may actually lead to full-length productions.
The festival has evolved even in the short time since its inception. Last year the committee of readers received 400 submissions as compared to this year’s 543. Some of these plays come from novice writers, others are from professors of playwriting. The criteria used to select the 14 submissions was reflective of Trinity Theatre’s mission statement. This community-minded inclusive body promotes a theatre experience that is intent on “unifying friends, family, and community. TTC believes all individuals wishing to participate in the performing arts should have a venue in which they inspire and are inspired.” This new works festival illuminates this vision.
Playwrights learned about the festival from each other. Through two initial Facebook pages, the “spider webbing” got the word out to aspiring playwrights internationally and nationally and the submissions began pouring in. Last year’s winners were winnowed down to ten, and the theatre allocated a weekend of readings. This year that number has been increased to 14 new plays, and the performance dates have expanded to include Wednesday through Sunday. Each day will have different offerings and each play will be read just one time.
All of the directors and actors are local San Diegans. Many are first time directors who felt called to direct a show after reading a script that spoke to them intimately. Artistic Director Sean Boyd, shared that after reading one script, his mom, who had never directed before, felt moved to try her hand at this craft! The casting process was described as somewhat intimidating as actors were not auditioning for a specific role. They were asked to prepare two different pieces to read before a panel of nine directors, the Artistic Director and a video camera for an absentee director! Thirty-five actors were selected to read for multiple plays.
Our local actors include: Rachel Baum, Abbie Black, Rene Borr, Hope Butner, Noe Castrejon, Patti Coburn, Peggy Daly, Catherine de los Rios, Amy Dell, Steve Fitzgerald, Sasha Foo, Mary Friedel, Lasya Gangardari, Elize Hugee, Ali Impey, Echo Jablonski, Rielle Jarrett, Jena Joyce, Haig Koshkarian, Maxine Levaren, Sean Libiran, Elaine Litton, Melina Morena, Lance Pate, J Rainey, Jo Darlene Reardon, Emma Rotella, Art Simpson, Ann-Marie Thornton, Daniel Vaca and Murphy Walsh.
One exciting facet of this festival is that it is fluid and evolutionary. While the actors and directors are attempting to bring the playwright’s words and intentions to life, this sometimes requires tweaking and re-writes. The actors, for this reason, are not encouraged to memorize their parts, but to enable the playwright to fine tune his message so that ultimately it is ready to “be given to someone else to find and foster.”
Boyd told me, in a telephone interview, that the hope is that these scripts will “find a life beyond the festival.” This was the path of a festival script that developed into a full-length stage production for Living After Midnight, a festival winner written by Sean Pomposello, and produced on Trinity Theatre’s stage in 2024. Whether a particular script is selected for production, the festival also serves as a great intermediary between playwrights and producers.
The emerging playwrights whose works are selected are paid a competitive sum. The source of this funding comes largely from individual donations and the art grants received by Conrad Prebys and the City of San Diego. The festival tickets are also based on donations of attendees.
The Third Annual New Works Festival will run from April 23-27th at Trinity Theatre Company at the Mission Valley Mall. Tickets may be purchased at https://trinityttc.org/current-productions/
*
Eva Trieger is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.