The Playgoers of Lethbridge are pleased to present the regional One Act Play Festival, April 30 at the Sterndale Bennett Theatre.
There will be five plays presented ranging in length from 12 minutes to 40 minutes including two original scripts. There 
are also classics like Anton Chekhov’s The Bear, more modern fare and two one woman plays.
The participants range from university students to an independent theatre troupe from Foremost.
“It’s a really good forum for new actors, directors and new material,” said Rita Peterson, regional representative for the Chinook Region.
She is not only excited that enough plays were submitted to make the festival a go this year, but is also excited Lethbridge will be hosting the provincial festival, May 20-21.
“It was just our time,” she added, noting the seven best plays from all over the province from the seven different regions in Alberta, will be performed at the finals.
But for now, Peterson is pumped up for April 30.
“There is a lot of variety. Put it this way. It is going to be a really interesting evening of fun. It should be a very worthwhile,” she said.
Plays include the University of Lethbridge’s John Wiebe’s short show called “Are You Blind Or Just Stupid,” which features seven actors.
“It is a satirical examination of the justice system in Canada. It’s based on an actual legal case in Calgary,” Peterson described.
The other University of Lethbridge play is ‘Permission.’
“It was runner-up in the University of Lethbridge play and prose competition. It comes from a group called Punchline Theatre,” Peterson described.
Kate Connolly will be performing the one woman show ‘Miss Fozzard Finds Her Foot,” which is about a lonely, middle aged woman who falls in love with her chiropodist’s assistant.
One original work comes from Foremost. ‘A Light in The Darkness’ takes place in London, in 1817 in Newgate prison. It examines women and children being visited in prison by English prison and social reformer Elizabeth Fry.
Peterson is also looking forward to having Gail Hanrahan back to adjudicate the plays and choose the winner to go on to the Provincials.
“She adjudicated last year, but there were only two plays, so we brought her back this year,” Peterson said.
“I find the adjudication process is so interesting. You learn a lot just by listening,” she said.
Learning is something the cast of the Bear including Jeff Graham , Naomi Snelgrove and Richard Amery are looking forward to.
“For me, I just love watching how people build their characters,” said Graham, who plays ‘the bear’ Smirnov in the play. He has never competed in the One Act Festival before, though has been involved with the previous main stage productions “the Mousetrap” and ”The Importance of Being Earnest.”
“I’m looking forward to winning,” Graham laughed.
“It’s very rare in the theatre that you are going up against against other theatre people,” he continued.
“Each character is like a child. You get to watch it grow up, especially in this shorter rehearsal time. We lost three weeks of rehearsal,” he continued.
“I’m enjoying the process of learning the lines and discovering my character in a very short amount of time,” echoed “ Importance of Being Earnest” veteran Naomi Snelgrove, who plays Popova, the harassed widow, who is confronted by Smirnov.
“She is a widow, whose peace is disturbed by this guy who gets very angry with her,” she said of her character.
“It’s been a lot of fun and it is very humourous.”
Director Juanita DeVos is enjoying working with the cast.
“The best part is working with talented people who are fun to watch and who are spontaneous,” she said.
“We didn’t have a whole lot of time to get this together, but getting these people together with so much energy and passion, it has been a joy to direct them,” she enthused. While she hasn't competed in a one act play festival before, she has been production director for the Ottawa Fringe Festival.
“So I’ve seen a lot of people bring plays into a festival, but have never brought one in myself,” she said.
She discovered ”The Bear,” while searching for plays for this production’s stage manager Kelly Frewin, who originally wanted to direct, but who found he didn't have the time to do it, so she decided to do it herself.
“I’m just very thankful for Playgoers. Because this wouldn't have happened if it wasn’t for then,” she said.
The One Act Play festival begins at 7 p.m., April 30 in the Sterndale Bennett Theatre. Admission for the whole evening is five dollars.
A version of this story appears in the April 27, 2011 edition of the Lethbridge Sun Times
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