Bailiwick Directors’ Festival
Bailiwick Repertory’s annual showcase of generally unknown pro, semipro, and student directors features one-acts ranging from established classical and contemporary selections to untested material. There’s a lot more of the latter than the former in this year’s fest, which includes a number of efforts by writer-directors. Coordinator Jonathan Pitts promises greater selectivity than in the past, noting that the 18 projects being shown were chosen from 36 applicants. Bailiwick Repertory, Bailiwick Arts Center, 1229 W. Belmont, 773-883-1090. Through August 20: Mondays-Wednesdays, 7:30 PM. Then August 21 through 24: Thursday and Saturday, 7:30 PM; Sunday, 2:30 PM. Each night’s program consists of three one-acts, as shown in the listings below. $10 per program.
The Reader runs festival listings on a week-by-week basis; following is the schedule for August 18 through 21.
MONDAY, AUGUST 18
The Chairs
Eugene Ionesco’s 1952 play about a nonagenarian couple, labeled a “tragic farce” by the author, is directed by Rachel Klem.
Traction
A short story by Erik Ramsey inspired this three-character comedy directed by David Castro, about a would-be messiah at a tire re-tread factory.
The Ruffian on the Stair
A Sense of Urgency Productions presents Joe Orton’s early dark comedy to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the British playwright’s murder by his boyfriend. Edwin A. Wilson directs.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 19
Milk, Dust, & Books
Three short plays by local writer Victor H. Schiller are connected by a single common event. Lila Stromer directs.
We’ll Always Have Parrots
Theater and dance teacher Domenick Danza directs Julie Taylor in this one-woman piece, adapted by Danza from a Discover magazine article by Polly Shulman.
The Love Talker
Deborah Pryor’s drama about an adolescent’s loss of innocence is directed by Michael Miller.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20
Penguin Blues
Ethan Phillips’s comedy concerns a nun and a voice-over artist who meet at an alcohol rehab center. Robert Chynoweth directs.
Innocuous Remark
Tom Small directs Michael Chemers’s short comic study of sexual innuendo between two folks who meet in a nightclub.
Surrender
Lucy Smith directs an ensemble-created work about “grief and loss.”
THURSDAY, AUGUST 21
Kaspar
This dance/theater piece, scripted by Marta Garcia and Nancy Gomez and directed by Garcia, is adapted from Donna Williams’s autobiography about her experiences as an autistic adolescent and from Peter Handke’s dramatization of the story of Kaspar Hauser, who spent his youth imprisoned in a small cell until he escaped at age 16. This piece is one of three to be shown in a “Festival in Review” program that will feature encore performances of previously seen productions; the other two selections are still to be announced.