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January 31, 2007
Contact: Deborah Baum
(401) 863-2476

New Plays Festival 25.1
Brown Playwrights Premiere Work at Annual New Plays Festival

New productions by three M.F.A. candidate playwrights will be featured in the 25th annual New Plays Festival, presented by the Brown University Literary Arts Program and the Brown/Trinity Repertory Consortium. The festival runs from Wednesday, Feb. 7, through Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007, in the McCormack Family Theatre. All performances are free and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.


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PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Original works by three graduate student playwrights will be showcased during the first installment of the 25th annual New Plays Festival, presented by the Brown University Literary Arts Program and the Brown/Trinity Repertory Consortium. “New Plays Festival 25.1” runs Wednesday, Feb. 7, through Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007, in the McCormack Family Theatre, 70 Brown St. All performances are free and seating is first-come, first-served.

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New voices, New Plays
The first installment of the New Plays Festival will feature premières from three new playwrights, from top: Enrique Urueta (Forever Never Comes), Ann Marie Healy (Common Decency), and Gregory Moss (House of Gold).


The festival’s first installment includes Forever Never Comes by Enrique Urueta, Common Decency by Ann Marie Healy, and House of Gold by Gregory Moss. Each of the three productions will be presented twice. Schedule information is listed below.

Having served as a forum for the early work of renowned playwrights such as Sarah Ruhl (finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in Drama for The Clean House and recipient of a 2006 MacArthur Fellowship) and Nilo Cruz (recipient of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize in Drama for Anna in the Tropics), the New Plays Festival has proven instrumental in bringing the work of America’s most talented young playwrights to the stage.

The student playwrights have been working under the guidance of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel with graduate students in the Brown/Trinity Consortium and professional artists from around New England to collaborate on this innovative and stimulating week of theatre.

Featured Works

Forever Never Comes by Enrique Urueta
directed by Donya K. Washington
8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7, and 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10

A young man returns home to rural Virginia on his way to start a new life in San Francisco. A young Latina struggling to leave is the only one who sees what’s really going on around her. You can always go home again ... just don’t expect to leave.

Common Decency by Ann Marie Healy
directed by Holly Derr
8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 11

Ladies everywhere are doing all sorts of strange things: taking and being taken, passing on and being passed up, falling in love and falling apart. The people of Calumet have never seen such indecency! What begins as a rollicking winter season of wild abandonment and free expression ends with a chilling blood wedding as the tiny town of Calumet converges and kills in its cry for common decency.

House of Gold by Gregory Moss
directed by Makaela Pollock
8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 9, and 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10

Part Alice in Wonderland, part tabloid headline, House of Gold is the story of a Very Famous Dead Little Girl brought back to life by the desires of a chorus of desperate characters. As she negotiates the dangers of the suburban house that is her entire world, she seeks to reclaim her internal organs, find a snack, and finally divide herself from the dreams of the living.

The festival is led by Artistic Director Bonnie Metzgar, who is currently producing Suzan Lori-Parks’s epic “365 Days/365 Plays” National Festival, an event that marks the largest collaborative effort in American theatrical history. Metzgar also serves as associate artistic director of The Curious Theater in Denver, and was formerly the associate producer at the Public Theatre/NYSF in New York. Other artistic staff includes scenic designer Tristan Jeffers, technical director Bill McLoughlin, lighting designer Jennifer Rock, costume designer Jessie Darrell, sound designer Katy Buechner, properties master Eric Reynolds, and producer Rick Dildine.

The New Plays Festival is made possible through support from an endowed fund for the Adele Kellenberg Seaver ’49 Professorship in Literary Arts. A second installment of the festival, with three more premières, is scheduled for April 18–22, 2007.

For ticket reservations, e-mail [email protected] with your name, telephone number and number of tickets requested.

Editors: Brown University has a fiber link television studio available for domestic and international live and taped interviews, and maintains an ISDN line for radio interviews. For more information, call (401) 863-2476.

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