Wisconsin Wrights 2015

October 1-3, 2015

Wisconsin Wrights Play Festival

Last winter, Forward Theater Company asked Wisconsin-based playwrights to submit their works for an opportunity to participate in their Wisconsin Wrights New Play Festival, part of FTC’s 2015-16 season. Forward Theater Company accepted stewardship of the Wisconsin Wrights program from the UW-Madison Division of Continuing Studies in the summer of 2014 and is making the program a bi-annual part of their season.

The purpose of the project is to give three playwrights the extraordinary opportunity to develop their plays with professional directors, dramaturgs, and actors, with rehearsals culminating in a public reading. The goal is to support the expansion and exercise of the playwriting craft, exploration of characters, and constructive critique by caring, invested artists.
In response, they received an overwhelming number of plays from Wisconsin playwrights, which then endured a critical selection process.

Overture Center for the Arts

201 State St,
Madison, WI 53703

About the show

Runtime:
N/A

Performance Dates:
October 1-3, 2015

Age Recommendations:
N/A

Accessibility

We strive to make our performances available to the entire community. This guiding principle captures the theater we aim to be.

We’re proud to be a resident company at Overture Center, which provides practical accessibility for a variety of needs.

Visit accessibility page >

In a Clearing

by Karen Saari (Madison, WI)

Thursday, October 1st

Set in a small town in Northern Wisconsin, In a Clearing centers around Mark, a newly recovering alcoholic embarking on a relationship with Pam, a childhood friend who has returned home in the wake of a family tragedy. As Mark copes with sobriety, he begins to suffer from flashbacks to an event that may eventually threaten his relationship and the life he is trying to rebuild.

Director: Catie O’Donnell
Stage Manager: Jo Chalhoub

Cast
Paul Milisch
Carrie Sweet
Jess Schuknecht
Mary Ambrosavage

Faithless

by Michael Proft (Cedarburg, WI)

Friday, October 2nd

At the turn of the last century, a woman journalist conducted a series of interviews with Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science. Faithless is a fictionalized depiction of those meetings and the events surrounding them, as well as the story of that reporter — a woman finding her voice in a field and a time where men call all the shots.

Director: Enda Breadon
Stage Manager: Laura Arnold

Cast
Amy Ludwigsen
Sam D. White
Donavon Armbruster
Linda Stephens
Trevor Rees
Jim Buske
William Bolz

Learning to Stay

by James DeVita (Spring Green, WI)

Saturday, October 3rd

Adapted by playwright James DeVita from the 2013 novel by Madison-based author Erin Celello, Learning to Stay asks what you would do when the person you’re married to is no longer the person you married. Attorney Elise Sabatto is thrilled when her husband returns home in one piece from his military service in Iraq. But as the after-effects of his trauma set in, Elise must find a way to help him – and save herself.

Director: Jen Uphoff Gray
Stage Manager: Laura Arnold
Dramaturg: Laura Farrell-Wortman

Cast
Susan Shunk
Travis Knight
Scott Haden
Peter Hunt
Karen Moeller
Lee Palmer
Sola Thompson