Asparagus
A teenager in a panic stumbles across a homeless man living in an empty lot. But as their pasts begin to catch up with them, they find that their only hope for survival lies with each other.
Cast: Janice Amano, Julian Schwartz

Playwright: Schatzie Schaefers

Hometown: Anchorage, Alaska

Current Location: Anchorage, Alaska

Schatzie Schaefers is a playwright, director, actress, and radio personality who lives in Anchorage, Alaska. She is a producer of and regular participant in Alaska Overnighters, where plays are written, rehearsed, and fully staged in the span of twenty-four hours. Schatzie’s plays have been produced at the 8x10 Festival in Fairbanks, The University of Alaska Anchorage, The Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, The San Francisco Short Leaps Festival, The Harvest Theatre of Toledo, & The South Camden Theatre of New Jersey. Her natural disaster-inspired Snow in Galveston was produced at the Impact Theatre of Brooklyn in February of 2007.

Bobby Hebert
Two men struggle to cope with boredom and anxiety in the wake of a disaster much greater than themselves.
Cast: Daryl Denner, Wil Petre



Playwright: Samuel Brett Williams

Hometown:Hot Springs, Arkansas

Current Location: New Brunswick, New Jersey

Samuel Brett Williams' plays have been produced at Mile Square Theatre, New Orleans Theatre Experiment, Readers Theatre Repertory, and District of Columbia Arts Center. His plays have been selected for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights’ Conference, the Philadelphia New Play Festival, The Hatchery Festival, and the New Plays from the New South Festival. His plays have received staged readings at Rorschach Theatre, Flashpoint Theatre, Luna Stage, and Working Man’s Clothes Productions. Brett came in third place for the 2005 Playwright of Merit Award and second place for the 2006 Playwright of Merit Award. He teaches Screenwriting and Expository Writing for Rutgers University.

Close Encounter
A chance meeting at a mall food court between two powerful-seeming people shows the darker side of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Cast: Alexandra Henrikson, Roger Lirtsman, Stacy Osei-Kuffour

Playwright: Amy Tofte

Hometown: Brookings, South Dakota

Current Location: Los Angeles, California

Amy Tofte graduated from the University of Iowa where she worked with writing mentors John O'Keefe and Art Borreca. She continued to write while studying acting in NYC. Amy’s plays and other solo pieces have been produced in the Midwest, New York, Mississippi and Los Angeles. She received an Arts Alliance Grant for development and production of her one-woman show CATRIX that played in Mississippi and Los Angeles. Amy has acted professionally around the country and takes great pride in helping to produce other playwrights. She’s currently developing a new theater company in Los Angeles that will be managed by playwrights.

Human Resources
A cowboy and a bureaucrat explore the meaning of manifest destiny in this unusual job interview.
Cast: Alexandra Henrikson, Roger Lirtsman

Playwright: Mike Folie

Hometown: Belford, New Jersey

Current Location: Congers, New York

Mike Folie's plays have been produced Off Broadway, regionally around the US and internationally, winning several awards. His full-length plays include The Adjustment, Panama, Lemonade, Slave Shack, Naked by the River and Love in the Insecurity Zone. His short comic play, Sexual Perversity in Connecticut, was recently seen in New York at both the Samuel French Short Play Festival and the NY Cringe Festival. His most recent play, Alfred Kinsey: A Love Story, was commissioned by Broadway and film producer George W. George, and produced in NYC at the Michael Weller Theatre. Mike is a resident playwright at New Jersey Repertory Company. He is most proud of being the husband of Frances Mayer and the father of Brendan and Elizabeth.

Interpreting A Dream
Ivania is having trouble adjusting to her new country. Her well-meaning principal and her assigned bilingual “friend” try to get through to her. When those who speak the same language fail to communicate, how can you interpret a dream?
Cast: Paola Poucel, Yesenia Tromp, Kristina Wilson

Playwright: Judy Klass

Hometown: New York, New York

Current Location: Nashville, Tennessee

Nineteen of Judy Klass' one-act plays have been produced. Her full-length plays Transatlantic and Damage Control have been produced in NYC. Her unproduced full-length Stop Me If You've Head This One won the Dorothy Silver Award in 2006. Judy co-wrote the Showtime cable film "In the Time of the Butterflies", based on the novel by Julia Alvarez. It has won Alma and Imagen awards, stars Salma Hayek, Edward James Olmos and Marc Anthony, and is out on DVD. Her screenplay "Au Pair Girl" is under option. Look for songs from Judy's CD "Brooklyn Cowgirl" at iTunes, myspace and cdbaby.

The New Sign
It is one month after the September 11th attacks. At a roadside restaurant in the Southern United States, two restaurant workers struggle to create the sign of their times.
Cast: Daryl Denner, Kyle Walters

Playwright: K. Biadaszkiewicz

Current Location: Wyandotte, Michigan

K. Biadaszkiewicz is a playwright, poet, novelist, essayist, and short story writer. Her work has been published and/or produced in the US and Europe.  Her very short play, He Came Home One Day While I Was Washing Dishes, has been selected for the 2005 Best American Short Plays anthology (Applause Books).

Please Pass The Salt
Knife, Fork, Spoon, Cell Phone. The classic American family dinner gets upgraded to the 21st century when the entire family brings technology to the table.
Cast: Brittany Felton, Julian Schwartz, Kyle Walters, Kristina Wilson

Playwright: Debbie Wiess

Hometown: Lexington, Massachusetts

Current Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Debbie Wiess is a Boston-based playwright and screenwriter. She writes in English, as well as in French, and has developed a number of projects of various lengths and subjects for both theatre and cinema independently and in collaboration. Her work has been presented throughout the USA. Her 25-minute 3-act Theatre of the Absurd play Le Salon/The Living Room, which she wrote in French and then translated into English, was presented bilingually in Boston last fall through the French Library to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Samuel Beckett. This past spring she attended Edward Albee's Great Plains Theatre Conference where one of her short plays had been accepted to the Play Labs. This will be the fifth production and NYC premiere of her play Please Pass The Salt. In addition to writing, she directs and has been involved in film and theatre productions in Boston and NYC in a variety of capacities. She is very active in the local film and theatre communities, as well as several Boston cultural organizations. She was recently seen on stage at the Shubert Theatre in the Boston Lyric Opera's production of Le Nozze De Figaro.

Shift: A Political Allegory
Patriotism, lies and barfights. Three rowdy servicemen encounter a jaded bartender on their last night before they ship out.
Cast: Daryl Denner, Brittany Felton, Roger Lirtsman, Wil Petre, Kyle Walters

Playwright: Jordan Smedberg

Hometown: Crete, Illinois & Minocqua, Wisconsin

Current Location: Brooklyn, New York

Jordan Smedberg has been writing plays, short stories, travel essays and articles in NYC for the better part of a decade. In 2003 she teamed up with Mariel Goodu to co-write, co-direct, and co-produce Teaching Einstein To Read at walkerspace in Manhattan. Her original full length play, Lucid, premiered at New York International Fringe Festival in August, 2007. She was also a featured playwright in The Next Big Thing Festival at the Rock Theatre in Manhattan. Her play, Shift: A Political Allegory, premiered at the Strawberry One Act Festival in Manhattan in August, 2007.