2008 Winners Announced!!

After receiving 416 scripts from 41 states and six countries for this year's theme,

Something Left Unsaid

here are "The Seven":

Jury Prize
"The Education of Macoloco"
by
Jen Silverman
Simsbury, CT
------------

"That Day"
by Craig Abernethy, San Diego, CA

"Teddy Knows Too Much"
by Matt Hanf, Elk Grove, CA

"Notes on Drowning (For the Man Who Cannot Make the Journey)
by Jen Silverman, Simsbury, CT

"In Retrospect"
by David Clark, Carbondale, IL

"Somewhere Between the Sky and the Sea"
by Alex Broun, St. Kilda, Australia

"Homesick"
by Daniella Vinitski, Boulder, CO

This just in!

The winner of the Bob and Gail Bosser Audience Choice Award
was not settled until the final performance Sunday night. And the winner was...
"The Education of Macoloco" by Jen Silverman. In close competition was "Somewhere Between the Sky and the Sea" by Alex Broun. Congratulations to our playwrights, cast and crew for your outstanding contributions!

Make your reservations now! These plays are produced under Equity professional contracts, run one weekend only (June 19-22),
and always sell out!!!

Finalists

"Something That's the Same" by Dan Moyer, Palo Alto, CA

"Dangerous Baby" by Ed Valentine, New York, NY

"Blood and Menthol" by Christopher Lockheardt, Andover, MA

"In a Clearing Quiet" by Michael Tooher, Portland, ME

"4 Photos of Pluto" by Kevin Chirstopher Snipes, Woodside, NY

"JAP" by Lauren Yee, San Francisco, CA

"Without Regards to New Orleans" by Barbara A. Bryan, Baltimore, MD

"Henry" by Claudia Barnett, Lacassas, TN

"Once Removed" by Jami Brandli, Los Angeles, CA

"A Troubled Heart" by Constance George, New York, NY

"Like" by James McLindon, Northampton, MA

"Words" by Jessica Foster, Newtonville, MA

"The Venting Mahcine" by Richard Davis, Jr., Augusta, GA

"Potty Mouth" by Keisha Poiro, Great Mills, MD

"On Screen" by David McClinton, Denver, CO

So, what's with the INTERNATIONAL label? We want to ensure you don't confuse FUSION's professional production with the student efforts announced elsewhere in town that have adopted FUSION's format of seven ten-minute plays. We are flattered they've borrowed our fun, vital format and completely support their work. However, our seven have always been selected from the best submissions from all over the world. They're professionally produced by the finest theatrical professionals in the state. See both, if you're able; but remember, The INTERNATIONAL Seven only happens at FUSION.

Marissa Greenberg, review, June 21, 2008 (on-line), Albuquerque Journal:

In Jen Silverman’s The Education of Macoloco, Anessa teaches her son bizarre trivia and the so-called “facts of life.” But Anessa withholds the truth of Macoloco’s paternity and, until the play’s conclusion, of her inner life. Such silences befit the winner of the Jury Prize of The Seven: Something Left Unsaid, FUSION Theatre Company’s New Works Festival.

Now in its third year, the festival received 417 short works from 41 states and 6 countries. The jury reads submissions “blind” and chooses 7 for performance. This year’s winners suggest a bright future for the international stage. In particular, expect to hear again from Silverman. Silverman, who graduated from Brown University in 2006 and begins the MFA program at Iowa Playwrights Workshop this fall, had 2 plays in the festival.

Like Macoloco, Silverman’s Notes on Drowning (For the Man Who Cannot Make the Journey) withholds essential information until the end. The final revelation belittles mundane suffering yet proves oddly life affirming. Strong direction (Jen Grigg and Elizabeth Huffman) and solid performances energize Silverman’s learned, witty and affective scripts. Laurie Thomas gives an especially impressive performance as Anessa, a physically and emotionally demanding role.

Other plays invite the audience to deduce what is left unsaid. The title of Craig Abernethy’s That Day refers to September 11, 2001. Kirsten and Toby (compellingly performed by Ravenna Fahey and Michael Finnegan) never specify the date, but as they describe an exhibition of photos taken in the tragedy’s aftermath, the audience can fill in the blank. Despite its intentional evasions, That Day is rawly honest. Like the exhibited photos, it demonstrates that art can render reality “too real.”

Perhaps the most amusing play, Teddy Knows Too Much by Matt Hanf (Jacqueline Reid directs), also includes a profoundly disturbing silence. A mustached and uproarious John Hardman stars as 3-year-old Billy, who surreptitiously torments his family in order to secure his parents’ attention. Mom and Dad (Lou Clark and Bruce Holmes are hilarious) look for simple solutions to Billy’s behavior. First they give him a stuffed teddy bear who becomes privy to all Billy’s secrets and therefore must be silenced. Teddy’s flushing is followed by medication. In a final tableau, Hanf’s implicit commentary on parenting in America ceases to evoke laughter.

What ought not go unsaid is that The Seven is worth seeing.

With the inception in 2006 of our The Seven: New Works Fest, FUSION Theatre Company has been pleased to host a wonderful new way to fulfill our mission of presenting fresh, new works of extraordinary merit.

To view our previous "Seven" productions, click here.

With an annual theme selected by our patrons via on-line voting, FUSION Theatre Company has seen exponential interest from talented playwrights the world over. Our inaugural festival in 2006, with the theme Games People Play, drew over 70 submissions, from which the top seven were selected by our artistic staff. They were professionally produced, acted and directed and were enthusiastically received by full houses.

The word got out: the following season, our patrons chose No Regrets as the theme and over 350 playwrights from 39 states and 6 countries responded. The caliber of the top submissions was so spectacularly good, our staff chose seven for the main fest, and produced another seven for cabaret offerings.

And now it's official: the theme for 2008 will be Something Left Unsaid.

You'll want to make your reservations now; last year's Festival, The Seven, was completely sold out. Expect the unexpected as FUSION Theatre Company selects a crop of diverse and intriguing new works to be presented by the finest directors and actors in New Mexico.

If you are a writer interested in submitting a new work for adjudication, please see our guidelines here. We'd love to see your take on this year's theme: Something Left Unsaid.

You bet! I'd like to be reminded of coming events!

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