Fall Fireside Festival: Four nights of new plays, September 27-30

Twice a year, the Network holds its famed Fireside Festival, featuring fresh work by new and established playwrights. Each staged reading will be followed by a talkback session with the playwright, director, and cast. This year's Fireside is approaching fast, with a delightfully diverse selection of plays. Come see some exciting new theatre, and chat with the artists afterward! All shows begin at 8 pm.

NIGHT BLOOMING by Jospeh Zettelmaier
September 27, 2009

This drama follows the life of three generations of Arapaho women in the American Southwest. Lily, who was abandoned as a child, spends her life struggling to understand a mother she hardly knows, finding solace in the flowers of the New Mexican desert. When Lily's daughter Selene is diagnosed with a rare bone marrow disease, Lily must resume her search for her long-absent mother Natane. What begins as a journey to save her daughter unlocks emotion and surprising discoveries hidden deep in her troubled past. Starring Aphrodite Nikolovski (Language Lessons, Amadeus), Luna Alexander and Courtney Myers. Directed by Terry Heck.

VICTORIANA by Jason Sebacher
September 28, 2009

This comedy explores love, sexuality, and gender in the Victorian era, as well as our own time. Act I, All Aboard the Hindenburg! is an absurd look at an older couple experiencing unusual marital problems aboard the famed Hindenburg. Act II, entitled Can't You See? shows us life inside the crippled home of a twenty-first century, Victorian-obsessed sadist, his wife, and their devastating secret. Contains mature themes and explicit language. Starring Hugh Maguire, Phil Powers (Dirty Blonde, A Doll's House) and Chelsea Sadler (The Little Dog Laughed). Directed by Keith Paul Medelis.

THORSTEIN THE STAFF STRUCK: A Tale From the Icelandic Sagas adapted by Russ Schwartz
September 29, 2009

Iceland, circa 1050 AD. Thorstein is a poor farmer, struggling to survive even as he cares for his overbearing, bloody-minded father. Life only gets harder when he is branded a coward and pulled into conflict with a powerful family. All his efforts only seem to further seal his fate, until he's left with only one way out: a tricky negotiation at swordpoint. Adapted from an ancient short story, Thorstein is rich with historical detail and refreshing comedy. Starring Kevin Young (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead), John Manfredi (A Picasso), Mark Rademacher (The White Rose), Emily Sutton-Smith (A Picasso), and Isaac Ellis (The Threepenny Opera).

THE WAR SINCE EVE by Kim Carney
September 30, 2009

On the evening she is to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, brash and bawdy Roxie Firestone, a women's rights pioneer and feminist icon, has a dilemma. As the mother of two grown daughters - frumpy Milty, her put-upon assistant, and rebellious Tara, from whom she has been estranged for twenty years - she definitely wouldn't win any Mother of the Year awards. But when her prodigal daughter returns and the other threatens to jump ship, Roxie must get her priorities straight. Which is more important, sisterhood or motherhood? Starring Henrietta Hermelin (Tongue of a Bird, The Clean House), Mary Jo Cuppone and Leah Smith (Fuddy Meers. Directed by Artistic Director David Wolber (The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead).