PlayFest Indy isn’t your typical theater festival.
Running from Sept. 13-15, the free shows include no soundboards, props or light effects. Eight plays will be performed concert-style, with actors reading from podiums and someone offstage giving stage directions. Following the readings, audiences can share their thoughts on the scripts, which are still being tweaked.
“The point of a concert-style reading is to hear how an audience responds,” Jenni Werner, executive artistic director of the festival’s sponsor, the New Harmony Project, said. “From an audience point of view, you are engaged on a different level of imagining the play. If one of these plays gets produced, you’re in on the ground floor, and [the play] will probably change a lot.”
Beyond being helpful for the eight playwrights from across the country, the readings show audiences how theater is made and offers a chance to discuss it with other festival-goers and people involved in the production. The performances will take place at three local theaters.
Every script in the festival deals with the role hope plays in all of our lives. Werner said PlayFest’s goal is to help Indianapolis be seen as a hub for new theatrical works, similar to work being done by Discover Broadway.
Lina Patel, a Los Angeles-based writer who had residencies with the New Harmony Project in 2011 and 2021, wrote, “Sick Girl, or Don’t Hate Me Cuz I’m Pretty.” The autobiographical play delves into immigration, medical misdiagnosis and disability.
“Theater is meant to be experienced live, heard and seen,” Patel said. “It’s one of the few places aside from church or temple or mosque where you can come together, a diverse group of people from different backgrounds, and experience a story that everyone has a personal reaction to.”
If you go
What: PlayFest Indy
When: Sept. 13-15
Where: Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center, Indiana Repertory Theatre and Fonseca Theatre
Cost: Free, but tickets are required
Each playwright was paired with a theater company in the city whose mission matched the script: American Lives Theatre, Indy Shakes, Naptown African American Theatre Collective, Summit Performance, Phoenix Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Storefront Theatre and Fonseca Theatre.
Patel partnered with Summit Performance, a women-focused equity theater. Her script reading will take place at 5 p.m. Sept. 14 at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center. The play has already been heard by a California audience, which led Patel to cut the number of characters in the play from seven to five. Patel said she’s curious to see how Indianapolis audiences react.
“This is a crucial part to any play development process, and it’s really exciting for audiences to realize, ‘Oh, this is the first time a playwright is hearing it with professional actors … so it’s going to change after we hear it based on how we react to it,’” Patel said. “They’re instrumental in what stays and what goes and changes.”
Mirror Indy reporter Breanna Cooper covers arts and culture. Email her at breanna.cooper@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @BreannaNCooper.
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