Meet the Playwrights!

Wednesday, August 7th

7:00 pm

Bainbridge Public Library

FREE

(no tickets necessary)

A lively panel discussion and Q&A

with the ten local authors behind Island Theatre’s

2024 Ten-Minute Play Festival!

Come meet the playwrights behind this year’s 11th annual Ten-Minute Play Festival. Hear them talk about their plays, ask them questions, and enjoy a wide-ranging discussion about plays, playwriting and theatre.

This year’s plays were selected from over 70 submissions and run the gamut from the real to the surreal, comedy to drama. There’s something for everyone – and a new play every ten minutes! Here’s the line-up:

“Advance Team: Zoo” by Gina King

Cast:

Charlie Malo

Autumn McMurry

Pete Benson

Director: Jennifer Pippen-Montanez

“Blackout” by Lee Lawing

Cast:

Tyler Weaver

Sydney Renee

Jacob Freimark

Director: Sabrina Fiander

"Buds” by Kendra Truett

Cast:

Katie Zehrung

Ivan Winkler

Jackie O'Brien

Director: Pete Benson

“Damn Ye Jack Slade” by Paul Lewis

Cast:

Josi Twigt

Zinnia Keller

James Macpherson

Alex Sanso

Director: Todd Erler

“On The Gurney” by Roger Midgett

Cast:

Elissa Kratzer

Nora Harrison

George Shannon

Vanessa Acierto

Director: Fred Saas

“On The House” by Barbara Hume

Cast:

Sandi Spellman

Mike Toot

Director: Jeff Brown

“Teotwawki” by Aleks Merilo

Cast:

Emily Kay Townsend

Todd Baylor

Pete Simpson

Director: Ellie Bosch

“The Reservation” by Aviva Peltin

Cast:

Brian Guy

Stacey Higginbotham

Director: Steve Stolee

“The Ride Home” by Jennifer Pippin-Montanez

Cast:

Claudia Soisson

Audrey Benson

Director: Barbara Hume

“Third Time’s a Charm” by Audrey Nelson & William Galvin

Cast:

Ruth Bookwalter

Kestrel Rundle

Director: Tracy Dickerson

About the Playwrights

William Galvin (he/him) (co-author with Audrey Nelson) is a Bainbridge High School graduate and a rising senior at the University of Washington. He is majoring in computer science and applied math. This is his first published play, and he maintains that Audrey did most of the work. In his free time, William likes struggling with crosswords, cooking, and playing tennis.

Barbara Hume is an emerging playwright with over thirty years’ experience in theatre as an actor, choreographer and director. Her play “Light Through the Cellar Door” focuses on women’s reproductive choice and will be featured in the “Perspective Series” at BIMA on August 29, 2024. Her play “Red Line” examines the impact of segregation during the 1940s and was featured in Theatre 33’s “Pop Up” 2024 Summer Season this past June in Salem, Oregon. Her ten-minute play “On the House” takes a humorous look at the complications and snafus of digital dating.

Gina King moved to Bainbridge Island just in time to graduate as a Spartan, then spent a few post-college decades working with all manner of critters from spotted owls to butterflies as a wildlife biologist for the Yakama Nation. She's happy to be back home, protecting land with the BI Land Trust, exploring the PNW with husband Alex, and occasionally dabbling in writing. She's honored to have a play selected for the Festival, and excited it's the same year her daughter Ellie will be directing her first 10-minute play.

Lee Lawing. Since 2018, I have had a renewed passion for writing and telling stories. I participated in the 2018 William Inge Playwright’s Festival with my one-act play “Crashing Through Kauai.” Being a playwright who doesn’t like to talk about myself or my work all that much, I feel I’ve done pretty well. I’ve had my plays performed all over the world as well as being published in journals and anthologies. I am truly thankful that I am still writing and telling stories and always honored by being selected when the stars align.

Paul Lewis is a playwright and composer whose work includes “The Names” (Theatre 33), “Lost in the Hills, A Musical” (Theatre 33); musical adaptations of two iconic children’s books, “The Runaway Bunny” and “Caps for Sale,” both of which premiered at Boston Children’s Theatre; “The Crossing, A Musical” (Theater Schmeater and Jewel Box); “Jill Trent Science Sleuth” (Cayuga College); “Oblivion” (Driftwood); and “The Hours of Life, A Musical” (Theatre22). His musical adaptation of the best-selling novel Wish won the 2023 AATE Distinguished Play Award.

Aleks Merilo is an award-winning playwright. His script, “The Snowmaker” was winner of the Playwrights First Award, The Chameleon Theatre Circle New Play contest, Playhouse on The Square’s New Works @ The Works Festival, and was a finalist for the Oregon Play Prize. His play “The Widow of Tom’s Hill” played Off-Broadway at 59E59, where Broadway World called it “A truly distinctive piece of theater.” His play “Exit 27” was called “The best original play to be produced this season” by the Houston Chronicle; was voted best new play by Broadway World, Houston; and played most recently at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.  He has an MFA in playwriting from UCLA and is represented by the Robert A. Freedman Dramatic Agency. Aleksmeriloplaywright.com.

Roger Midgett is a Clinical Social Worker who has lived with his family on Bainbridge Island for the past 25 years. He’s participated in Poetry Corners, Ars Poetica, and John Willson’s poetry workshops. He has published fiction and poetry under the pen name Sam Rogers and his books can be seen at samrogersbooks.com.

Audrey Auerbach Nelson (she/her) (co-author with William Galvin) is a writer, a Bainbridge High School graduate, and a rising senior at Wesleyan University, where she studies anthropology. She is a reporting intern for the Kitsap Sun and a participant in the 2024 Vox Media Writers Workshop for aspiring journalists. In 2021, her short story "Complications" was honored by Wesleyan's prestigious Hamilton Prize; Lin-Manuel Miranda called the story "delightful and surprising at every turn." When not writing, Audrey enjoys playing contact sports, collecting dangly earrings, and ranting about the subversive qualities of romance novels.

Aviva Peltin is delighted to have her work selected for Island Theatre’s Ten-Minute Play Festival. Her screenplays have been recognized in writing competitions, and in 2023, she signed her first shopping agreement with an established executive producer in LA. Aviva is also the co-host of “When Isabel Met Aviva,” a podcast about romcoms, female-driven screenwriting, and breaking into the entertainment industry. She’s also a fellow in the Northwest Screenwriters Guild. Aviva’s now developing a romcom based upon her experiences of moving to Bainbridge from Seattle and witnessing how islanders have mastered the art of leisure.

Jennifer Pippin-Montanez has acted in Island Theater’s Ten-Minute Play Festival off and on for the past decade. “The Ride Home” is her second play produced for the Festival. She has appeared in community theaters across Kitsap County, including Bainbridge Performing Arts and Port Gamble Theater. She teaches English at North Kitsap High School.

Kendra Truett has frivolously dabbled in theatre, music, art and writing much of her life, usually throwing the spaghetti to the wall to see what sticks. She was a teaching artist with La Jolla Playhouse, the Escondido Center for the Arts, and Arts for Learning in San Diego. With degrees from the Academy of Art University and San Diego State, she was a theatrical set designer, painter, and photographer for many years. She was a co-founder of the theatre group, the Poolhouse Project, and Crazy Mother Independent Film Productions, having written plays and very, very independent (okay, no-budget) screenplays. She was most recently seen on stage in BPA's “Beauty and the Beast” and “Cabaret” and is currently working on a few new scripts she hopes will be most curious and inappropriate.