ZOOM PLAY FESTIVAL

Festival showcases plays created for virtual performance

By Angie Sykeny

asykeny@hippopress.com

Laconia-based theater company Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative is giving a new meaning to virtual theater with its Zoom Play Festival, featuring a series of short plays written specifically for the Zoom video chat platform.

“It’s not like these are just readings of plays,” Powerhouse manager Bryan Halperin said. “These are plays that are actually being performed as they were intended.”

The festival, produced in collaboration with the Community Players of Concord, will be pre-recorded and available to watch for free on YouTube from Friday, April 16, through Sunday, April 25.

There will be seven original plays, all written by New Hampshire playwrights who participated in a 10-week playwriting workshop hosted by the two theater companies last fall. The workshop was open to playwrights of all experience levels and covered the basics of playwriting, such as developing plot points, characters and dialogue, as well as how to write a Zoombased play.

“If they came up with an idea that wasn’t really workable, I steered them back to how we could make it work to fit into this format,” said Halperin, who instructed the workshop.

Featured playwright Douglas Schwarz of Concord has been active with the Players for years, acting, directing and doing backstage work. Recently he’s taken an interest in playwriting.

“I’ve done a very small amount of playwriting in the past, and it’s something I’ve been sort of wanting to get better at,” he said. “I thought the workshop would be an opportunity to get some more perspective on how playwriting works and give me the confidence that I can really do this.”

Schwarz’ play, titled Choices, follows four people at various stages in their lives, talking over Zoom and reflecting on the choices they’ve made.

“I’ve thought a lot about how decisions can change our lives and really [determine] what direction our lives are going to go,” he said. “I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if I could do [a play] that somehow expresses these thoughts I’ve had?”

The plays In Boxes, Boys in Boxes and Girls in Boxes are three different versions of a play by Sharleigh Thomson, each with a different director and cast. Set in May 2020 during the pandemic, it centers on a video chat between two college seniors as they consider the next chapter of their lives and realize their romantic feelings for each other.

“You’d never make a captive audience sit through three versions of the same play back-to-back, but since it’s on YouTube, they can choose which one they want to watch, or they can watch all three at their leisure,” Halperin said. “It’s a bit of an experiment.”

Other plays include Couple Seeks Extrovert by Brenda Wilbert, a comedy about an introverted couple who step outside their comfort zone when they rent out a room to an extrovert; Ship of Fools by Chuck Fray, an interview between an oblivious newscaster and an author of apocalyptic fiction; and Here We Go by Doreen Sheppard, a look at how families come together and cope during hard times.

More than 30 people are creatively involved in the festival.

“That’s what we’re most happy about,” Halperin said. “It’s great to be able to give [theater artists] an opportunity to be appreciated during this time when theater is so limited.”

“Theater is so important to us, and going without it has been difficult,” Schwarz added, “so this was really a gift to us from the Players and Powerhouse.”

Joel Iwakiewicz and Adam Beauparlant in Boys in Boxes. Courtesy photo.

Zoom Play Festival Where: Virtual, via YouTube. When: Pre-recorded, available to watch Friday, April 16, through Sunday, April 25. Cost: Free, donations appreciated. More info: Visit communityplayersofconcord.org, belknapmill.org or Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative on Facebook.