The ninth annual event will take place at the St. Lawrence Arts Center from Mar 27 to April 4

Acorn Productions announces the selection of nine plays for inclusion in the company's annual Maine Playwrights Festival, an event dedicated to providing Maine-based playwrights with a creative incubator for their work. This season the Westbrook-based company received a $7,500 award from the Artists in Maine Communities program of the Maine Arts Commission in order to allow for the inclusion of full-length plays in the event. This year's festival features 7 short plays, as well as two longer works. The scripts were selected by a reading committee comprised of Acorn's Producing Director Michael Levine, AddVerb Productions Artistic Director Cathy Plourde, and Davis Robinson, Associate Professor of Theater at Bowdoin College. Additionally, Acorn has scheduled three evenings of its Second Friday Series of dramatic readings with some of the runner-up scripts submitted for inclusion in the festival.

The Maine Playwrights Festival was previously called the Maine Short Play Festival and has changed its name in order to reflect the new nature of the event. Festival directors include Levine, local veteran actors and directors Harlan Baker and Christopher Price, and performer, director and educator Julie Goell. Funds from the Maine Arts Commission award will allow Acorn to create a complete set and expanded lighting design for the festival, while providing for more rehearsal time and greater technical support. The nine plays will be performed by professional actors in three evenings of rotating repertory between March 27 and April 5 at the St. Lawrence Arts Center in Portland. The exact schedule and ticket information will be released later this month. Please see information below for exact play titles, authors, descriptions, and listing information.

Acorn also selected 6 plays for including in the next three Second Friday series of new dramatic readings. Of these plays, 2 are full-length and 3 are short plays, and all were selected as finalists for this year's Maine Short Play Festival, but for various reasons were not included in the festival itself. The readings will be done by professional actors from Acorn's Shakespeare Ensemble and the Maine Short Play Festival cast. The playwrights will attend the event, and each evening will conclude with a "talkback" session to allow the playwrights to receive feedback on these works in progress. No admission will be charged, though donations will be accepted. Please see information below for descriptions and listing information.

Acorn Productions was founded in 1998 and currently makes its home in the Dana Warp Mill in Westbrook. The company's mission is to invigorate the community of performing artists in Southern Maine. Acorn seeks to nurture new performance pieces, develop artist collaborations, train new talent, and make the arts accessible to a wide spectrum of the general public. Acorn accomplishes these goals by mounting annual festivals that are open to a variety of artists as well as presenting professional performances by local actors in both traditional and non-traditional venues. Ticket prices for these performances are maintained at an affordable level in order to lower economic barriers for potential audience members. Acorn also offers educational programs, including acting classes and workshops, and offers fiscal sponsorships to grassroots organizations or individual artists seeking to become more active members of the performing arts community.

Calendar Info

WHAT: The Maine Playwrights Festival
WHEN: March 27 to April 4, 2009
WHO: Acorn Productions
WHERE: St. Lawrence Arts Center, Portland
HOW MUCH: $12 general admission, $10 students and seniors
FMI: www.acorn-productions.org or 854-0065

Featured Plays

PRIVATE
By Roger Bechtel
The prostitute and the politician meet in a piece examining the personal fallout of public shame # what happens before the press conference.

THE GODDESS TOUR
By Carolyn Gage
A good, old-fashioned murder mystery that packs a feminist punch.

Short Plays

ARE YOU GOING TO WEAR THAT SHIRT?
By John Manderino
Jill wants Jack to wear a different shirt # but we learn it's not the shirt itself that she has a problem with.

BETTER, TOMORROW
By Lara Lom
A couple has to handle an unexpected event in their lives, which eventually affects the ways in which they communicate.

HOT DISH
By Diana Sterne
A son tries to set boundaries with his overbearing mother.

INVISIBLE MEN
By Lynne Cullen
One Saturday morning, Frank O'Connor persuades his friends to relive a childhood game of whiffle ball and the stakes turn out to be more than they realize.

PROTECT US
By Cathy Plourde
It takes the Dept. of Homo-land Security to bring one father to his senses.

PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER
By John Rizzo
A mentally challenged man wants to become a stand-up comedian.

REORIENT
By Michael Kimball
Sexual reorientation coach arranges a first date between a gay man and a lesbian woman.

Calendar Info

WHAT: Second Friday series
WHEN:
Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. - "Sunday Sonata"
March 13 at 7:30 p.m. - "Transit of Venus"
April 10 at 7:30 p.m. - "Getting," "Nom de Guerre," "The Sheltering Heart."
WHO: Acorn Productions
WHERE: Acorn Studios, Dana Warp Mill, Westbrook
HOW MUCH: Free (suggested donation $5)
FMI: www.acorn-productions.org or 854-0065

Second Friday Series

SUNDAY SONATA (Feb. 13)
By Clare Melley Smith
Charles and Vivian, recently divorced college-friends, come together in mid-life in a seemingly perfect romance.

TRANSIT OF VENUS (March 13)
by Larry Crane
Marcella adopts the approach of the male of the species in seeking revenge on a convicted killer in jail after enduring the disappearance of her only child.

GETTING (April 10)
by Danie Connolly
Sometimes getting what you want isn't necessarily what you need.

NOM DE GUERRE (April 10)
by Dana Pearson
Five soldiers in a foxhole during the Battle of the Bulge help a new father come up with a name for his daughter.

THE SHELTERING HEART (April 10)
by Kathy Hooke
A young woman who works at an animal shelter is forced to decide for herself what having a sheltering heart really means.