“Play Fest” –Coming on May 20th and 21st to the Opera House in Marlinton
Entertain yourself with an evening of seven short plays at the Opera House in Marlinton on May 20th and 21st when Play Fest comes to town. Eric Fritzius, the Director and author of two of the seven plays tells us about the event.
“Play Fest is sponsored by the Pocahontas Drama Workshop, which is a group that’s been together for over a decade now” Eric says. “They’ve put on a number of full length plays at the Opera House, and I was invited to be the director for that this past year”
As a Play Writer, Eric was expected to put on one of his own full length plays. He explains the slight problem with that suggestion, and the solution he came up with.
“The suggestion was that we produce a full length play of mine” said Eric. “The trouble is; I haven’t written one yet. I have written quite a few short ten minute plays and have had those in festivals around the State and at Greenbrier Valley Theater in Lewisburg. I suggested that we do a play festival of short ten minute plays similar to mine. And we could have one or two of mine in there, but I wanted to share the love with a number of play writes that I know from West Virginia and surrounding states and even as far away as my home state of Mississippi.”
Eric describes the types of plays you will see at Play Fest.
“The plays are going to run the gambit of comedy to drama and points in between” Eric says. “In fact the funny plays that are in the run have their dramatic moments and the dramatic plays have their funny moments. There are definitely some heave dramas in there, definitely some ‘laugh out loud’ comedies, but they all have a point to make behind the comedy or behind the drama.”
Eric gives a brief description of each of the seven plays which make up the Play Fest performance.
“The first play of the evening is called ‘to a Flame’” said Eric. “That’s one that I wrote and was first produced by Greenbrier Valley Theater back in 2009. It’s basically the story of a guy who accidently shoots the legendary Moth Man and has to figure out how to get rid of it, so he drags it to a friend of his house.
We have a play called ‘About the Baby’ which is by T.K. Lee, a Play Write from Mississippi. It’s basically a story about a mother whose son comes home with an infant, and the trouble is he doesen’t have an infant.
The third play of the evening is called ‘Suburban Garden’ and it’s from a Play Write from Wheeling named Tom Stobart. It is basically the story of a weed that falls in love with a flower. And we have actors playing both a weed and a flower. The Flower is a pretty posy and she’s very regal and doesent like being in proximity to this weed who is madly in love with her, and we have another actor who plays Fate, who intervenes.
The fourth play is called ‘Pumps’ and it’s by a play write named Brett Hursey who is from Virginia, and I have been telling people that it’s basically about a woman yelling at her shoes…for about 10 minutes with her husband egging her on. She basically has these shoes that she loves, but they hurt her feet.
The fifth play is ‘Tammy and Tom’ by a Huntington Play Write named Jonathan Joy. It’s kind of a unrequited love story as well, but told from the woman’s perspective as she is in love with a guy that she wants to ask out, but then it turns out he has some very specific requirements that she would have to meet in order to go out with him.
Number 6 is called ‘Legacy’ by a Ohio play write named Chris Shaw Swanson. It is actually one of the more dramatic pieces because it is set on Death Row. It features a character that voices the final words of other people who have been on Death Row as the character of Lynn tries to decide what her final word are going to be.
And then the final play of the evening is another one by me, and it is called ‘Playing Cards by Twilights Shine.’ It’s basically my moonshine play. It’s about a Sheriff and a Doctor in a small town not unlike Marlinton, who are trying to get the charges against the local famous moonshiner dropped after he’s been arrested for setting up a moonshine stand in the local Kroger parking lot.”
Eric says he is very happy with the actors from this community who bring life into these characters.
Once again, these plays will be at the Opera House starting at 8 p.m. on Friday May 20th and Saturday, May 21st and tickets, which cost $10.00, are available at the door. There will be a free “Preview Performance” on Thursday evening, May 19th. Eric does caution parents that there are some mature themes and language during some of the plays. As Eric puts it, “there’s some cussing going on, not a whole lot but a dusting of it.”
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