Short narratives are undervalued. They never get the kind of space they deserve in dramatic adaptation. The need to make a show fit a feature-length format can lead to so much unnecessary effort. Just tell me the story and then give me another. Granted, I don’t always feel like this, but my favorite kind of narrative is often the shortest.
Next Thursday, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre opens its program of new shorts as it presents the Young Playwrights Festival Showcase 2014-2015. The showcase features three one-act plays from winners of a high school playwrighting competition. Plays written by high school students are directed, designed and performed by up-and-coming professionals. They’re big on the number three this year: it’s three stories written by three different playwrights, each one about three different characters. (I don’t recall that being a theme in years past.)
Talented actor Ken Williams directed Sydney Schlager’s As We Wait. It’s the story of three high school seniors waiting out the evening before finding out about a possible expulsion. Thomas J. Novak directs Hasani Kidd’s 3. It focuses on three prisoners trying to decide which one of them will be executed. Finally, Mallory Metoxen directs Nalee Praseutsack’s Storage Space. Three adult siblings seek connection and forgiveness after the loss of their mother.
The Young Playwrights Festival Showcase runs March 19-21 at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Studio Theatre on 158 N. Broadway. For more information, visit chamber-theatre.com.
