The Vancouver Island One-Act Play Festival at the Village Theatre (110 Second Ave.) will return Jan. 19 to Jan. 22.
Talented artists from all over the Island, ranging from teens to seniors, will put on an array of one-act plays, according to a news release by ECHO Players.
The four-day event will feature six theatre groups:
• On Thursday, Jan. 19, Kwalikum Secondary School (KSS) will perform a comedy with a dramatic twist: A Game by Dennis Noble. The ECHO Youth Group will present the comedy Oh, What a Tangled Web, by John R. Carroll, also on Jan. 19.
• On Friday, Jan. 20, ECHO Players will present Working Hypothesis, an original comedy/drama written by Charles Whelton.
• On Saturday, Jan. 21, The Collective (from Quadra Island) will perform Hobson’s Choice, an original play by Chris Thompson. Dark Pond Productions (from Nanaimo) will present Stranger than Fiction an original play by Gordon McInnis, also on Jan. 21.
The festival will wrap up on Sunday, Jan. 22 with a drama/dance performance by Nanaimo District Secondary School Dance Company of The Wrong Side of the Wire, an original play written by Kelly Barnum and Sarah Kielly, followed by an extended intermission and an awards ceremony.
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“We are pleased to have Michael Armstrong as our festival adjudicator this year,” the release read. “In addition to offering private critiques to each group following the end of the presentations each evening, Michael will also be coming up on stage between each production, to share brief statements of his impressions of the performance with the audience.”
Awards will be given in the following categories: Best Play, Best Original Play, Best Director, Best Actor in a Male Leading Role, Best Actor in a Female Leading Role, Best Actor in a Male Supporting Role, Best Actor in a Female Supporting Role and Best Ensemble.
In the past, festival audiences have enjoyed marking their own choices in their programs and comparing with the adjudicator’s decisions when they are announced on Jan. 22, according to the release.
Show times are 7:30 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Tickets for one night are $15 for adults and $12 for seniors and students.
Full Festival packages are also available: $50 for adults and $40 for seniors and students. To purchase tickets, call 250-752-3522 or order online from www.echoplayers.ca.
— NEWS Staff, submitted
