Be in The Loop!
Aggregate Collective, a theatre company using a value set of radical hospitality and shared learning to guide programming and operations announces a unique theatre festival that focuses on the development of new plays crafted specifically for young adults written by professional playwrights from around the country. In this inaugural year, all of the selected playwrights came via a collaboration with Uproar Theatrics, a new theatrical licensing company dedicated to providing quality plays and musicals for producing organizations of all levels.
The Loop Festival will take place on Thursday, August 15, 2024. It is a day-long staged reading presentation of three different plays that are written in the genre of Young Adult Theatre. Young Adult Theatre includes plays that tell stories relevant to young adults and written for young adult actors to perform. After each presentation, the audience participates in a facilitated discussion and acts as responders to play. These responses may inform how the playwright adapts the play in the future.
Twenty five young adult actors from all around Southern Oregon will be participating in a three day development process prior to the presentation. In this process leading up to the reading, the young adult actors act as cultural consultants for the playwrights and provide insight and responses to the authenticity of the writing. The rehearsals and the presentation will take place at The Hivve, a multimedia performance venue in downtown Grants Pass.
SHOWTIMES: (All PST)
2:00pm “Yes, And…” written by Erin Dealey
4:00pm “Mixed Media” written by James Mainard O'Connell
7:00pm “Dolcevita” written by Briandaniel Oglesby
TICKET INFO:
Your $10 ticket entitles you to all-day entry to the festival at The Hivve in Grants Pass AND a link to the YouTube Livestream, which you can watch from anywhere in the world! We have the tickets listed as “All Day Entry Pass” and “Livestream Pass” so we can get an idea of how many guests we'll have, but both passes will allow you to enter the festival AND watch the livestream online, so you will have all-day access and flexibility to attend the whole event in whatever format you'd like.
The Loop Festival Playwrights
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Briandaniel Oglesby
Briandaniel Oglesby writes some plays for mature audiences and many plays for young actors. He is a queer, mixed-Latino playwright with an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin who now runs a theatre department at a small private JH/HS school. There, he creates plays with and for his students, focusing on innovating either in structure, subject matter, and/or development process. Prior to that, he cofounded and Literary Managed Barnyard Theatre, a company committed to developing and producing new work. His plays have been developed at Playwrights Week at the Lark, the JAW Festival, San Francisco Playhouse, B Street's New Comedies Festival, Cap Stage's Playwrights Revolution, Wordsmyth in Houston, and at universities and colleges across the US. His plays for young people have been published by Uproar Theatrics, Stage Partners, and Stage Rights, and his scholarly work has appeared in Youth Theatre Journal and Howlround.
PLAY TITLE: “Dolcevita or The Clown Chorus of the Carnival del Dolcevita Proudly Presents the Sad Tale of the Turbinado Triplets”
PLAY SUMMARY: When our story begins, the Turbinado triplets are already orphans. Zeppelin accident, you know. And now the clownish Chorus spins the sad tales of Amalia-Tamalia, Jayce-Marie, and Nic Turbinado, triplets separated to lead lives so different, it’s like they come from different eras.
A chance meeting at the carnival their parents used to work at starts a tradition of reuniting once a year – which is shattered when the differences between the siblings become too great to handle.
And for many years, the siblings live their own lives. Nic, whose impoverished life is like a roller coaster, grabs his boyfriend and hits the road – which hits back. Amalia, the invisible one, leaves her middle class upbringing to embrace a life of con-artistry, falling in unrequited love with someone who wants to make history as a bank robber. Meanwhile, non-binary Jayce-Marie lives in the massive family estate that feels like the worst parts of a funhouse, eventually becoming the caretaker for the elderly family matriarch.
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James Mainard O'Connell
James Mainard O’Connell has been a theatre professional and educator since graduating from Hendrix College with a major in Theatre in 2003. Over the course of his career, he has worked as an actor, playwright, director, designer, and/or technical director in New York, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and Arkansas. In the midst of it all, he earned an MFA in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature in Performance from Mary Baldwin University. So far, James has been involved in more than 200 theatre projects in one capacity or another.
As an educator, James has taught theatre to students from 1st grade to graduate school and all ages in between in settings including classrooms, summer camps, and scene shops. Over the course of his career, he has worked with students at Columbia University and Kingsborough Community College in New York City, James Madison University in Virginia, and elsewhere. Since 2011, he has directed the middle and high school theatre program at Episcopal Collegiate School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
As a playwright, James is a three-time winner of the Hendrix-Murphy Playwriting Contest and has had several plays produced, from family-friendly murder mystery comedies (Mountain of Crime and Sudden Death) to adult-skewing one-acts (Painted Distraction and (s)election) and theatre for young audiences (Tad! or, The Frog Prince and The Haunting of Goldilocks and the Three Bears). His play, Tad! or, The Frog Prince is currently available for licensing at Uproar Theatrics.
PLAY TITLE: “Mixed Media”
PLAY SUMMARY: Tentatively titled Mixed Media, the play covers 13 years in the life of Nik--a genderfluid nonbinary youth who is a visual artist. Nik's story is narrated by actors who represent the artworks that Nik has created from age 5 to age 18. They illuminate Nik's life by showing scenes of the moments that inspired Nik to create that piece of art. Throughout the play, we see Nik navigating growing up; discovering, suppressing, and asserting their identity; handling the tragic death of loved ones; making and losing friends; seeking affirmation from their father; and more. The play culminates in the presentation of their art portfolio in a college application process in which we, the audience, represent admissions administrators, implicitly deciding whether we think we should allow this person to be part of our community.
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Erin Dealey
Erin Dealey is an educator, director, and writer, with 30+ seasons as head of the Theater department at Sugarloaf Fine Arts Camp in Northern California. In addition to theater projects including BRILLIG and WHAT LIGHT? (UPROAR Theatrics), she is a screenwriter, blogger, and award-winning author of over a dozen children’s books (so far) including DEAR EARTH…From Your Friends in Room 5 (Harper Collins/ Illus. Luisa Uribe), PETER EASTER FROG (Simon & Schuster, Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/ Illus. G. Brian Karas), and SNOWGLOBE WISHES (Illus. Claire Shorrock) & JUST FLOWERS (Illus. Kate Cosgrove) with Sleeping Bear.
Erin’s credits include former International Thespian Society troupe director, Lenaea High School Theatre Festival respondent, Sacramento Theater Company (Education outreach), and member of EdTA. She is represented by Deborah Warren at East West Literary Agency.
Socials: @erindealey
Website: https://erindealey.com/
PLAY TITLE: “Yes, And…”
PLAY SUMMARY: Yes, and…for high school senior Zoey, Improv is life so Duke plans an Improv Party / Twelfth Night celebration so he can finally tell her how he feels about her—as soon as he gets off work as a singing pizza delivery person. Meanwhile, college freshman Beatrice goes back to visit her high school theater teacher and overhears Admin talking to Mrs. K about closures! Beatice jumps into action to rally theater kids –including her ex-best friend--to defend the theater program to the school board and keep Mrs. K from quitting. When the board meeting is canceled due to snow, Beatrice ends up at the Improv Party, where we learn the meeting was about banned books, apologies come in many forms, and anything can happen on Twelfth Night.
The Loop Festival Directors
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Estrella Cervantes - Director of "Docevita"
Estrella is a first generation immigrant born and raised in Southern Oregon. She is currently the Operation Manager at SoHumane where she helps improve the lives of people and animals through sustainable programs. Estrella was a committed high school theatre student and member of the International Thespian Society. As an adult, she knew that keeping theatre in her life was essential. This love for theater and non-profit work is what led her to the Aggregate Collective. In her free time she enjoys reading and playing with her two dogs!
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Heather Lundy Kahl - Director of "Mixed Media"
Heather Lundy Kahl is a trained actor and educator from Vancouver, Washington who has discovered the joy of developing the theatrical superpowers within students of all ages and backgrounds.
Heather received a BFA from Southern Oregon University and has been working with acting students for nearly 20 years. Heather served as the founder and Artistic Director at Downstage Center Productions, The Director of Theater at Riverside Performing Arts and as a teacher for a number organizations in the Pacific Northwest.
She is currently working as a Family Law Guardian ad Litem for 2 counties in the state of Washington. Heather believes in the magic of the actor’s voice. She believes that when we teach our children that their voices matter, that their thoughts have power and that their ears are their most powerful body part, we build more empathetic and intelligent communities.
Teaching young people how to use their bodies, voices and imaginations onstage can change the landscape of our society.
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Amy Lizardo - Director of "Yes, And..."
Amy Lizardo is a regional theatre actor, singer, director, and teaching artist. As an actor Amy is currently a member of the acting company within the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. At OSF she has appeared in numerous productions, including: Macbeth, Jane Eyre, Twelfth Night, Revenge Song, The Tempest, Mother Road and La Comedia of Errors. Before joining OSF, Amy was based in the bay area where she worked for numerous theatre companies including: Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Theatreworks Silicon Valley, California Shakespeare Theatre, and many many more! Amy has worked as a teaching artist and director of young actors for over 15 years and looks forward to creating theatre artists and theatre lovers for years to come.