60-Second Wonders
Fun festival returns to Dallas to deliver 50 dizzyingly fast one-minute plays
Ever find yourself thinking, “Man, I’d like to go see more theater, but plays are loooong”? When the One-Minute Play Festival returns in August, you’ll be out of excuses.
Coming back for its second year, the festival — #1MPF, as it’s known — challenges local playwrights to pen engaging, thought-provoking and, most important, short plays to be performed over August 9-11. More than 50 brand-new works will make their debut at Southern Methodist University’s Greer Garson Theatre, and tickets to the event are only $20.
Kitchen Dog Theater, which puts on the annual New Works Festival and PUP (Playwrights Under Progress) Fest, is hosting. The acclaimed company recently vacated its performance space at the MAC and will be relocating to the Design District after a year of staging shows in the Green Zone.
“I’m thrilled to be coming back to Dallas,” #1MPF founder and artistic director Dominic D’Andrea said in a release. “We had an amazing experience getting to know KDT and the community last year. It was the highlight of our whole season, and this year we aim to dig a little bit deeper into what’s going on in the community.
“Dallas has incredible artists, and KDT is a hub for regional and national voices. It’s important that we are doing the festival with them.”
There are no limits or stipulations for the playwrights, only that their finished work must be able to be performed in less than 60 seconds, and that it preferably deal with “the local community’s zeitgeist.” A handful of Dallas’ top directors will stage the final products.
Nearly 20 cities participate in the One-Minute Play Festival, with such boldface names as David Henry Hwang, Neil LaBute, Tina Howe, Donald Margulies, Kristoffer Diaz, Rajiv Joseph, José Rivera, Craig Lucas, Mike Daisey and Greg Kotis having written for it in the past.
This year’s Dallas festival will feature commissioned works by Jenny Ledel, Vicki Caroline Cheatwood, John M. Flores, Angela Wilson, Isabella Russell Ides, Jeff Swearingen, Jonathan Norton, Bruce R. Coleman, Brad McEntire, Jason Spinos Johnson, Matt Lyle, Jim Kuenzer, John Michael Colgin, Gretchen Smith and Janielle N. Kastner, just to name a few.
“Last year’s One-Minute Play Festival proved to be a great way to bring multitalented artists from throughout the DFW theater community together,” said KDT co-artistic director Tina Parker in a release. “It was an absolute blast and a fast-paced, one-of-a-kind thrill for local audiences. We’re excited to have Dominic and #1MPF back in Dallas.”
