Stage Left Theatre Announce WITCHES VANISH & More for LeapFest 9 this Spring

Stage Left Theatre has announced the program for LeapFest 9, Stage Left's annual new-play festival, running May 15 – June 3, 2012. LeapFest is an annual event featuring five new plays with socio-political themes, presented as workshop productions in rotating repertory. This year's festival includes new works from Claudia Barnett, Shayne Kennedy, Alex Lewin, Barbara Lhota, and Penny Penniston.

LeapFest is a developmental festival. The three-week event is designed to help playwrights and their plays bridge the gap between development and full production. To further this objective, the festival features an extensive rehearsal process for each play, multiple workshop performances before the public and post-show audience discussions after each performance. In addition to our general audiences, regional theater producers and artistic directors are invited to attend the festival in order to get an advance look at some of the best new plays in the country. Of the 41 plays to undergo the LeapFest process, 16 have gone on to full productions at theatres around the world. Three of these plays were also awarded the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work.

AGREED UPON FICTIONS by Shayne Kennedy is directed by Megan Shuchman and plays Sun. 5/20 @ 7:30 p.m., Sat. 5/26 @ 7:30 p.m., Sun. 6/3 @ 2:00 p.m.

Every neighborhood has its characters-the mischievous kid, the gossipy widow, the dog walker, the jogging mom. When one of the most vulnerable characters in the neighborhood turns into one of the most threatening, how does the community respond?

THE INTERVIEW by Alex Lewin is directed Artistic Director Vance Smith and plays 5/20 @ 2:00 p.m., Thurs. 5/24 @ 7:30 p.m., Sat. 6/2 @ 7:30 p.m.

Hoping to volunteer as a "big brother," aspiring filmmaker Jake Selzler arrives for what he expects to be a routine screening interview. But the interviewer, Sheila Miller, knows more about Jake than she lets on, and the resulting confrontation has surprising and immediate consequences for them both.

KEYS OF THE KINGDOM by Penny Penniston is directed by Meghan Beals McCarthy and plays 5/19 @ 7:30 p.m., Sun. 5/27 @ 2:00 p.m., Thur. 5/31 @ 7:30 p.m.

Irene Hoff is an ultra-liberal New York artist married to another woman. When she gets a commission to paint a ceiling in an evangelical mega-church, she can't imagine how or why she was chosen for the job. She arrives in Kansas to discover that the church leader believes she has been chosen by God.

WARPED by Barbara Lhota is directed by Jason Fleece and plays Sat. 6/18 @ 7:30 p.m., Sun. 6/26 @ 2:00 p.m., Thu. 6/30 @ 7:30 p.m.

Two Chicago police officers give a ride home to a young, drunk twenty-something. Several hours later, the young woman emerges from her apartment screaming rape. Influenced by the film Rashomon, Warped presents the contradictory stories from each character's perspective and asks the question: Is the truth constant, or is it as malleable as our own perceptions? Warped was developed through a Downstage Left Residency in the spring of 2012.

WITCHES VANISH by Claudia Barnett is directed by Scott Bishop and plays Sun. 6/19 @ 2:00 p.m., Thur. 6/23 @ 7:30 p.m., Sat. 7/2 @ 7:30 p.m.

In a series of stylized, highly visual vignettes employing puppetry, poetry, and surrealism, the Weird Sisters from Macbeth explore the stories of women who disappear, whether by choice or force. Inspired by history, astronomy, and Shakespeare, Witches Vanish examines the nature of change and the value of human life. Witches Vanish was developed through a Downstage Left Residency in the fall of 2011.

Tickets and more information: 773.975.8150 or online at www.stagelefttheatre.com.