Milwaukee playwrights, from page to stage at Carte Blanche

Carte Blanche Studios will stage the work of four local playwrights at its second annual New Plays Festival Nov. 8-11. Artistic director Jimmy Dragolovich has moved the festival from summer to November and trimmed it from eight short plays to four. The reduced number allows the company to stage all of the 10- to 20-minute plays every night of the festival.

Playwrights Jackie Benka, Emily Craig, David Kaye and Greg Ryan gave us a hint at what they’ve written for Carte Blanche and shared some thoughts on their experience.

Turn Around, by Jackie Benka

Directed by Josh B. Bryan; featuring Carole Alt and Anetta Martin

Summary: Turn Around is about a person’s inner struggle with who they are and who they want to be. Jennifer, the young main character, is a shy loner. She can never seem to say the right thing or dress the right way. Claudia, her alter ego, is charming, stylish, has a quick wit and and a quicker libido. Jennifer and Claudia as they fight over who gets to try and seduce the night’s date.

Inspiration: I was inspired to write Turn Around by a dream I started having when I was younger. Originally the play was written for two men fighting over a woman. Due to casting, I had to change from two straight men to two homosexual women.

Experience: I have written pieces for the Festival before. [My play] White Porcelain was done for the first New Plays Festival, just over a year ago. It was a thrilling experience to see my words come to life under the artful direction of Josh Bryan, who is also directing Turn Around.

Happily Ever After, and Then Some, by Emily Craig

Directed by Jackie Benka; featuring Michelle White, Carole Alt, Alex Van Abel and Michael Keiley

Summary: Happily Ever After and Then Some answer to the question, “What would Snow White, Jack the Giant Killer, or Prince Charming be doing in the 21st century?” I wouldn’t say it is a modern day fairytale so much as fairy tales stuck in the modern day.

Inspiration: I can’t really say I had a direct inspiration for this play.  I’ve always liked the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tales.  It really was just a question that popped into my head one day that wouldn’t go away.

Experience: This is the third show I’ve entered into the festival, and it’s always been a very positive experience. A lot of talented people are given a chance to shine in different ways whether it’s acting, directing, or writing. As an actor, I’ve always found it exceedingly interesting watching others interpret what I’ve written on stage. I’ve learned a lot just by watching the different roads the actors/director have taken.

Directed by Ken Morgan; featuring Annetta Martin, Donna McMaster, Richard Dickerson and Bill Fortier

Summary: Under the Bed is a play about children’s imaginations and what happens when their imaginary creatures cross over into their reality.

Inspiration: I was inspired to write this play when I was watching Stage Door at Sunset Playhouse. My friend Liz Mistele was in the show, using a voice she frequently slips into that I would describe as overexcited and childlike. I had been working on a comedy called A Love Letter To Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but I couldn’t get the voice out of my head. I went home, and wrote the first draft in ten minutes.

Experience: This is my first involvement with the New Plays Festival. I heard about it when I was performing in Bill Jackson’s Masque of the Red Death at Carte Blanche.

Directed by Chris Goode; featuring Becca Segal, Nick Kaye and Alex Van Abel

Summary: The play is about the problems that a man has summarizing his feelings for his newly deceased father. His mother charged him with writing  the eulogy; he’s having difficulty coming up with the words.

Inspiration: I have been working on the play for about six months. The submission date for this festival happened to occur at a time when I thought the play was more or less ready. My father is quite elderly right now and my mother has asked me to write the eulogy when he passes away. I’ve been kind of dreading the day that it happens but thought that writing a play about it might help me deal with it directly.

Experience: I’ve never submitted a play to this festival before but I have been an actor in the previous festival and I very much enjoyed the experience. As a matter of fact, the play in which I was an actor was one that Jackie Benka had written.

The Carte Blanche New Plays Festival opens tonight (Nov. 8) and runs through Nov. 11, with successive performances of all four plays at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at Carte Blanche’s website.