Works by Will Eno, Sarah Ruhl and More Set for Actors Theatre of Louisville's 37th Humana Festival; Lineup Announced!

Artistic Director Les Waters and Managing Director Jennifer Bielstein have announced the lineup of plays, playwrights and directors for the 37th annual Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville, running February 27–April 7, 2013. The Festival, underwritten for the 33rd consecutive year by the Louisville-based Humana Foundation, will feature fully-produced world premieres by Jeff Augustin, Mallery Avidon, Will Eno, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Sam Marks; a suite of three one-act plays by Rinne Groff, Lucas Hnath and Anne Washburn commissioned by Actors Theatre and performed by the Acting Apprentice Company; and an evening of ten-minute plays featuring a new play by Sarah Ruhl, among others yet to be announced.

"Actors Theatre is honored to be able to provide a supportive space for playwrights to develop their work, and to know that the Humana Festival directly impacts the theatrical landscape on both a local and national level," said Les Waters, Artistic Director. "From renowned playwrights like Will Eno, Rinne Groff and Sarah Ruhl, to emerging writers Jeff Augustin and Mallery Avidon, who'll see their work produced on this scale for the first time, the Humana Festival proudly celebrates the strength and diversity in American playwriting today."

Under the new artistic leadership of nationally acclaimed director Les Waters, a recognized champion of important new theatrical voices, Actors Theatre celebrates its 37th Humana Festival. A pioneer in the field of new play production, Actors Theatre has grown the Humana Festival from a trailblazing theatre event into one of the most prestigious showcases of new work in the country. It boasts a legacy of having introduced more than 400 plays into the American theatre repertoire, and remains a vital platform for launching new plays and playwrights to the national stage with an impressive track record of numerous subsequent productions.

Jennifer Bielstein, Actors Theatre's Managing Director, said,"With the generous support of The Humana Foundation, the Festival continues to be a defining force in the ecology of the American theatre, creating a gathering space for lively conversation and a highly influential launch pad for numerous plays and playwrights. Drawing audiences of almost 40,000 each year, the Humana Festival is a standout event on the cultural calendar. Last year's Humana Festival attracted visitors from 32 states and 5 countries, further evidence that our strong investment in new play production is vital to our local, national and international arts communities."

This year's Festival program will feature (in chronological order of opening):

Full-length world premieres:

The Delling Shore by Sam Marks
directed by Associate Artistic Director Meredith McDonough
Over the course of one fraught evening at a country lake house, two feuding novelists confront their professional jealousies-and their personal failures-as their daughters are caught in the fray.

Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
directed by Gary Griffin When three siblings descend upon a former plantation to liquidate their dead father's estate, a disturbing discovery among his possessions brings a heated family reunion to an outright boil. A play about family secrets, memory loss, and the art of repression.

Cry Old Kingdom by Jeff Augustin
directed by Tom Dugdale Haiti, 1964. When an artist in hiding persuades a young man to pose for a painting, he feels alive for the first time in years. But under a repressive regime, with revolution brewing, no one's life is safe.

More Articles by This Author...