Director Matt Worzala, from left, and actors Thomas Knaus, Mike Eserkaln, Peter Blavat and Tony Mayer rehearse at Venture Theatre for “Right Hand Man.”
Posted February 8, 2007
By Warren Gerds, Green Bay Press-Gazette
What: “One-Act Theatre Festival”
When: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday through March 17
Where: Venture Theatre, 380 Main Ave., De Pere
Tickets: $12 adults, $10 students; (920) 983-0966 or mike@comedycityonline.com
Note: Adult situations and mild suggestive humor
Nine plays, nine directors and seven actors take on multiple roles in Venture Theatre’s second “One-Act Theatre Festival.” Six weekends of action start Friday in De Pere.
The objective is to encourage everybody to try something new and expand their abilities, said producer Mike Eserkaln.
“We’ve had people who’ve only written comedy trying out drama, directors who’ve only directed plays directing musicals or monologues,” he said.
Eserkaln selected the plays and picked the directors.
“Some of the plays I became very familiar with over the past months or years from our ‘Write Club,’ which is a group of us that meets every other week to read and critique each other’s work,” Eserkaln said.
“Some pieces people just brought to me out of the blue on the day of the deadline. And there’s at least one piece that is for certain a planned part of a bigger play that’s being worked on.”
The festival, which runs approximately 90 minutes and includes an intermission, is a good place to try out small parts of future bigger plays, he said.
“Venture Theatre’s objective is to bring new theatrical works to the stage,” Eserkaln said. “Written by Wisconsin writers. It’s as simple as that.”
Along with Eserkaln, the cast is made up of veterans Peter Blavat, Sarah Goltz, Thomas Knaus, Mike Lorenz and Tony Mayer, along with Venture newcomer Amanda Lyn Johnson.
The plays:
• “Dog Eat Dog,” written by Jon Bruinooge, directed by Dave Eserkaln.
• “Elmer’s Tune,” written by Pat Quigley, directed by Mike Eserkaln.
• “Wood Burning,” written by Matt Worzala, directed by Barb Robertson.
• “Fenster and Finch,” written by Pat Quigley and directed by Mike Lorenz.
• “Jack’s Decision,” written by Mike Eserkaln, directed by Peter Blavat.
• “Destiny,” written by Jeff Lucas, directed by Tessie Mickie.
• “Writer’s Lament,” written by Matt Worzala, directed by Kasey Johnson.
• “Translation,” written by John Egan, directed by Pat Quigley.
• “Right Hand Man,” written by Joe Abrahamson, directed by Matt Worzala.
Most of the participants are from in-house, Eserkaln said, though one of the writers in the festival is from outside the troupe.
“In the future, we know there will be more (community participation),” he said. “Right now, we’re the guinea pigs testing out the format. In a year or two, we’ll open it more and more to the public.”
