The Short Play Festival Stands Tall

Those who regularly attend plays at Town & Gown Theatre might recognize the names -- or, perhaps, the many character faces -- of Valerie Thrasher and Jacob Boyd. Both work onstage and off, and both have volunteered to oversee this summer's Short Play Festival. I asked Valerie and Jacob about the history of the festival, its inner workings, and what audiences can expect come August.

A Brief History of the Short Plays

Tim: This will be the (lucky?) 13th Annual Stillwater Short Play Festival. Tell me a bit about that history — and a bit about your history with it.

Valerie: Thirteen years ago, Troupe D'Jour, a performance troupe of local actors led by Debbie Sutton, decided we wanted to bring a performance-based outreach program to the Stillwater area. Our idea was to showcase local talent while also supporting local non-profit organizations. Debbie met with other theater enthusiasts in surrounding areas and came up with the idea of holding a short play competition. The competition would feature six 10- to 15-minute original short scripts written by local playwrights. The audience would determine the winner through a monetary voting system, and 100 percent of the proceeds raised through ticket sales and audience votes went straight to our chosen non-profit beneficiary.

Our first non-profit beneficiary was Judith Karmen Hospice. We have since provided thousands of dollars to various other non-profits, such as Kickin' Childhood Hunger and Lions Meadows of Hope.

Jacob: Valerie and I have both been involved in the Short Play Festival from the beginning — mostly as actors, but occasionally as directors, too. In some years, one or both of us appeared in three or four of the eight plays.

We both took the reins last year. It was not initially a Town & Gown production, per se. Most of the actors and directors were Town & Gowners, but it was produced at various venues for the first several years before eventually coming under the Town & Gown umbrella and becoming an official T&G production four or five years ago.

Valerie: That very first year, I believe we received around twenty submissions from playwrights across Oklahoma. We had a small play selection committee narrow that down to six short plays. At the time, Troupe D'Jour had somewhere around ten members, and we all pitched in to bring the festival to life via play selection, directing, acting, publicity, and producing. Originally, we held the festival at the Sheerar Cultural Center, but after several years and some tremendous growth, we made the decision to partner with Town & Gown.

Now, after thirteen years we receive plays from all over the world, some years receiving over 300 submissions! It's a daunting task, but we have a fabulous festival committee and a wonderful group of volunteers who help make the play selection process run smoothly each year.

Jacob: Last year, we received over 350 in just three days!

Jacob Boyd, Valerie Thrasher -- and isn't that Lucy Robinson behind them? -- sharing the stage in one of the earliest short play festivals, back when they were performed at the Sheerar Cultural Center

From Selecting to Perfecting the Plays

Tim: You mentioned that you've taken on the duties of supervising the whole shebang. Tell me more about how a manageable selection is made from those hundreds of plays. Also, please explain the assigning of directors and the divvying up of actors. Does the process go pretty smoothly, or does it involve swordplay, covert operations, and/or the indignant clearing of one's throat?

Valerie: We have a small-festival committee comprised of Town & Gown and Short Play Festival veterans. This committee serves at the festival's core throughout the entire process, reading scripts, directing, and providing valuable insight. Due to the fact that we generally receive a minimum of 150 plays each year, we also ask for volunteer script readers to help our committee dwindle scripts down.

Jacob: We typically have a group of around a dozen people who each read anywhere from ten or twelve, up to twenty plays, and then send us their top three (or so). A smaller group then gets together to read those that made the first cut, and eventually lands on the final eight plays for the show.

Valerie: Once we have our scripts selected, we offer directing positions to any of our committee members and play readers until all director slots have been filled. Due to the nature of the festival, we allow directors to cast their shows independently. We also hold auditions, similar how we do it for regular season productions. The casting process is a fairly quick one. We hold two nights of auditions and have the festival cast typically with an hour or so.

There are few stipulations, but one we have in place as a festival standard is a limit on how many shorts any one person can be involved in. This can make the casting process a little more difficult, but we have yet to see any swords unsheathed. As I mentioned before, we have a wonderful committee of directors who understand the process, and we are generally gifted with a large talent pool to draw from.

It's very important to me that we make this festival as inclusive as possible, and the festival is great way to get one's foot in the door. This year, we have two high school performing arts students (current and former) running our light and sound boards, and our two stagehands are children of present cast members and directors. The festival is a wonderful way for anyone wanting to get involved on or offstage to dip their toes in the proverbial waters of community theater.

Jacob: It's hard work but a lot of fun. Libations are almost always involved, and some strong opinions are bandied about. But so far, as Val mentioned, we've yet to see any weapons drawn.

Chris Weimer directs Reed Bonge, Erin Prewitt-Brazell, and Zoey Aldridge in one of this summer's short plays. Due to the multiple plays being rehearsed, they're seen here in the lobby of the Town & Gown Theatre.

This Summer's Festival

Tim: Describe what folks will experience if they attend this year's festival.

Valerie: This festival is truly a hidden gem within the Stillwater community. Anyone who comes out to see it will absolutely have a wonderful time. One of my favorite things about this production is the roller-coaster of emotions. One play will have the audience laughing while the next will have them in tears. There's truly never a dull moment.

Jacob: We try to find a good balance of drama and comedy from year to year, but it just so happens that this year, we received a lot of fantastic comedic submissions. So in total we have two tearjerkers and six side-splitting comedies. Patrons can expect to enjoy the show immensely and walk away with a big grin on their faces.

Valerie: It's also a beautiful thing providing our patrons with an opportunity to not only support the arts but to give back to the community as well. Last year we raised over $3000 for Lions Meadows of Hope. This year our beneficiary is Mission of Hope. Our hope is to exceed last year's proceeds and to help raise awareness on the growing issue of homeless in Payne County.

Also rehearsing for this summer's festival are Charissa Prchal, Joyce Pool, Mika Guigar, and William Sanders. They were lucky enough to do so in the performance arena of the Town & Gown Theatre.

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My thanks to Valerie Thrasher and Jacob Boyd for their insightful replies here and for their volunteering to take on the mighty challenges of the ever-growing Short Play Festival. There will be three chances to enjoy all eight plays: August 1st and 2nd at 7:30 p.m. and August 3rd at 2:30 p.m.