‘The Ted Shine New Play Festival’ at Soul Rep Theatre
—Chris Sanders
On Thursday, June 8 2023, I attended my first Ted Shine New Play Festival, produced by Soul Rep Theatre Company. It was a night of eight 10-minute plays, one short film, and was filled with uproarious laughter.
The festival performances are split into two acts. Act One consists of four plays, while Act Two starts with the short film, and finishes with the final set of plays.
The short film Space Invaders features Ashley Oliver, Keith “Epik” Price, Zachary “J” Willis, and Corey Pratt. Written and directed by Tonya Holloway, it tells the story of a couple who comes home from a date to be greeted by two unwanted house guests. This is a tale of Space Invasion that may be unfortunately related to more Earthly happenings in many eyes—though the honest human connection is what adds to the humor.
The rest of the night consists of 10-minute one-act plays of varying genres, all of which were humorous in nature. Actors featured were Bill Hass, Tiana Shuntae Alexander, Alexandria Lofton, J.R. Bradford, Vanessa Taylor, Wes Frazier, Shaundra Norwood, Brian Gibson, Annie Adair Skinner, Bre Brownfield, Christopher Dawson, Curtisha Starks, Christian Taylor, Tyler “T” Lang, Kayla Gilchrist, Octavia Thomas, and Viki Blocker. Each is listed in order of first appearance, though some appeared twice.
Slave Trade, Murder Furniture, and The Haunting Package are all part of the thiller genre. Part of the humor and joy of viewing these was the heavy "NOPE'' factor when something was amiss. Everything is fun and games in these—until things get *weird* fast! Slave Trade, almost seemingly ripped from the drafts of Black Mirror, confirms my fears of AI technology. And every character in Murder Furniture and The Haunting Package knew that when you hear a strange noise coming from a place where no one should be…. You. Do. Not. Go. Check. It. Out. You. LEAVE! (Note: each prior punctuation mark is to be accompanied with a clap.) Get out! Immediately. With haste. Just yeet yourself outta there, before whatever made the noise yeets you outta life.
Cat, Woman, with Til Dummy Do Us Part, and Getting with the Program tell stories of relationship woes at various stages. Cat, Woman focuses on a budding romance and the one obstacle between them: a cat. Til Dummy Do Us Part initially gave me Twilight Zone vibes; it tells the story of an established couple in which a woman struggles with her boyfriend’s tendency of only speaking through his ventriloquist dummy. Getting with the Program focuses on silver-haired women looking for love online.
Gyros of Olympus and Like a Kite tell tales of family drama. In Gyros of Olympus, Hera must deal with the consequences of her husband’s infidelity—all while running a Greek restaurant with her least favorite step-child, Hercules. Like a Kite plays out like a family sitcom, where a set of parents must decide if they will condone their son and daughter getting high when they each come of age.
Irwin Daye directed Slave Trade by Ian Patrick Williams and Gyros of Olympus by Michael Lin. Morgana Wilborn directed Cat, Woman by David Lewison and Getting with the Program by Mark O’Neill-Butler. Tonya Hollow directed Murder Furniture by Rita Anderson. La-Hunter Smith directed Til Dummy Do Us Part by Robin Berl and The Haunting Package by Deirdre Girard. And Aaron Butler directed Like a Kite by Ron Fromstein. Each director did fantastic work with the play they led.
Enjoy a night of side-splitting comedy with Soul Rep’s Ted Shine New Play Festival, playing through June 17th at the Margo Jones Theatre in Fair Park.
WHEN: Through June 17, 2023
WHERE: Margo Jones Theatre, 1121 1st Avenue, Dallas TX
WEB: soulrep.org
