The four plays that received readings at last week’s Colorado New Play Summit:
“Plainsong,” by Eric Schmiedl *: Set on the high plains of eastern Colorado, Kent Haruf’s novel follows a high school teacher who cares for two young sons alone while two elderly bachelor brothers help a pregnant 17-year-old with no place else to turn.
“Our House,” Theresa Rebeck *: A rising TV news anchor is tripped up by her own ambition when she covers a hostage crisis perpetrated, she learns too late, by a man who despises her. A skewering of the trend toward TV news as entertainment and anchors as celebrities.
“Visitors’ Guide to Arivaca (Map Not to Scale),” by Evangeline Ordaz: A Mexican couple desperate to immigrate to the U.S. becomes stranded in the harsh Sonoran Desert.
“Shadow of Himself,” by Neal Bell: This retelling of the Gilgamesh epic is a provocative clash between the ancient and the modern, speaking to the enigma of male identity.
* Commissioned by the Denver Center Theatre Company
– Compiled by John Moore
More online:
PODCAST: Denver Post theater critic John Moore interviews Bruce Sevy, Evangeline Ordaz, Michele Lowe, Jason Grote and Steven Dietz. listen at denverpost.com/theater
