Over the next two weekends Hollins University and Mill Mountain Theater will present their Winter Festival of New Works, featuring two award-winning new plays as part of the Region IV Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). The plays, which have a distinct Roanoke flavor in the actors taking part, will be held at MMT’s Waldron Stage downtown and tickets cost $10 for each performance. Call 540-362-6517 for ticket reservations.
This year’s plays are:
“Moving” by Sean Michael McCord, which has won several significant awards and “Arachnothology” by Kimberly C. Patterson, the top ranked one-act play at last year’s KCACTF Region IV festival among its awards.
The Hollins-Mill Mountain Winter Festival of New Works has fully produced new works associated with the Playwright’s Lab at Hollins University since its first collaboration in 2012. Scripts launched at this festival have been published, won numerous awards, and have gone on to full productions in theatres around the country
“Moving” asks the question, “Can love survive romance?” Over the span of 30 years in one apartment lovers come together, fall apart, and move on through life's choices.The actors are Stephen Baltz, Cierra Culbertson, Hope Napier, Deirdre Price andEmma Sala (Baltz and Sala are Roanokers). Performances are January 23, 25, 30, February 1 at 7:30 p.m.
“Arachnothology” looks at what would happen if we gave spiders - and women - a fighting chance? It is a study of spiders in written language: 90,000 species in 13 scenes. The play tracks the evolution of spiders through myth, folklore, popular culture, and science to weave a tapestry about identity and choice--and whether or not it's possible to start over.The players are Bonny Branch, Tatiana Durant, Amanda Mansfield, April Marcell and Emma Masala. All but Durant are Roanoke actors.
Performances are January 24, 26 at 7:30 p.m. and January 31, February 2 at 2p.m.
About the Writer:
Dan Smith is an award-winning Roanoke-based writer/author/photographer and a member of the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame (Class of 2010). His blog, fromtheeditr.com, is widely read and he has authored seven books, including the novel CLOG! He is founding editor of a Roanoke-based business magazine and a former Virginia Small Business Journalist of the Year (2005).