THEATER PREVIEW: Gallimaufry plans ‘new play’ festival

Eight new plays will see their first light of day over the Halloween weekend in Laguna Beach.

That’s when Gallimaury Performing Arts, in association with the Orange County Play- wrights Alliance, will present the Laguna Beach New Play Festival at the Forum Theater on the Festival of Arts grounds.

“Producing a new play festival has been a dream of mine since the inception of Gallimaufry,” said Steve Josephson, artistic director of the Laguna-based company and himself an award-winning playwright.

“Being involved in the evolution of new voices in the theater has long been my passion,” Josephson added. “I believe Laguna’s place in the arts is to create more than simply produce.”

Spearheading the festival is one of Gallimaufry’s new associate directors, Kym Sawtelle-Castuera, in her capacity of the company’s associate artistic director of new works.

“We need good stories now more than ever,” she said. “Laguna Beach has long been known as an artist’s colony. People from all over the world are inspired by the creative spirit in residence here.”

The eight plays will be performed as staged readings over the weekend of Oct. 31. A $15 ticket will allow a playgoer to view any of the readings.

The plays are centered on a Halloween theme and, according to Josephson, “somehow give a nod to the macabre.”

The plays — four full-length scripts and four one-act vignettes — all have “off-balance” or “dark” themes that celebrate the spirit of the holiday.

The festival lineup includes “Kvetcher in the Wry,” by Jordan R. Young; “Rattlers,” by Johnna Adams; “Mad Leo,” by Frank Farmer; “God’s Waiting Room,” by Joni Ravenna Sussman and Eric Donald; “Coyote Rising,” by Tira Palmquist, “House of Ravens,” by Sue Parman; “The Family That Eats Together,” by Jerry Berning; and “Sonya & Leo,” by Arthur Kraft.

A detailed schedule of the performances may be found online at www.gallimaufry.info.

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Coastline Pilot.