Don't Miss The One Act Play Festival This Weekend

Just because the weather has finally decided to catch up with the calendar and more and more locals are seeking fun out-of-doors doesn’t mean the theatre season in Providence is winding down. In fact, for some local arts organizations – the Artists’ Exchange for instance – the action is just starting to heat up. The group will be putting on its ninth annual One Act Play Festival this month, bringing 16 one-act plays by playwrights hailing nationwide and from Canada to local audiences over two weekends.

“It’s a nice balance,” says Jessica Bradley, artistic director for the One Act Play Festival and theater manager for the Artists’ Exchange. “It will be a fast-paced and fun festival. We cover a broad range of topics.”

Although there truly does seem to be something for everyone in the lineup – plotlines run the gamut from ferreting out a larcenous lunch thief in an office to a look at the lives of bugs living in a jar together – Jessica says that, after the plays were selected, it seemed there was one discernable through line after all. “We found that the festival is very relationship-centric,” she says. “And that’s exciting to us.”

Whether it’s exploring the relationship between families pre- and post-financial windfall (More Than Money, written by J.J. Steinfeld and directed by Kate Lester) or watching two men explore their relationship while sitting on a log (The Last Two, written by Kevin Broccoli and directed by Jack Read), the idea of relationships is particularly poignant for this small arts organization, which has been part of a much larger relationship with its community over its ten years in existence. Jessica, who came on board at the Artists’ Exchange last year, describes her role as helping to facilitate the collaboration between the Exchange’s resident theatre company, Epic Theatre, and area artists, as well as bringing in local theatre groups who make use of the spaces in the exchange’s Black Box Theatre 82.

But the community that comes and goes through the Artists’ Exchange is more than just local theatre artists looking for a home for their work. Throughout the year, the Exchange employs several trade artisans who teach classes for the community – “theater art, felting, clay, you name it,” she says.

Jessica also goes on to say that the Exchange is part of a larger umbrella organization called Gateways to Change, which she describes as “a human service agency of sorts.” When not putting on productions, the Artists’ Exchange works to provide classes for clients of the Gateways programs, offering adults with disabilities the chance to take classes in arts, theatre, ceramics, music, crafts and so on. When the Artists’ Exchange puts on a production (as it does with the one-acts, or when Epic Theatre holds their shows), the clients are integrated in that process as well. “The arts and being creative are important for everyone,” she says of why it’s important to offer artistic programming for the clients they serve. “Our clients astound us daily. They are talented, smart, warm and giving people, and we give them the capacity to be free. We provide a nurturing space for anyone to participate in the arts.”

Part of that nurturing space is definitely carved out in the cast and crew of the Festival, as clients and community members alike of all ages and abilities are part of the productions. Jessica says the Exchange always holds community auditions for the annual festival, and this year those auditions produced a range of skills and ages. Not only is the Festival aimed at audiences of all ages, the cast is, too – the youngest member of the cast is nine-years-old, whereas the eldest is 79. Some haven’t been on stage before, while some are veteran theatre professionals. Each show will utilize cast members to move set pieces and create transitions from show to show, making use of minimal set pieces and props inside the Black Box Theatre.

Marshaling the casts of 16 plays – directed by seven different directors – is not without its challenges, Jessica says, although that can be said of any production. But the rewards she reaps from organizing the festival are many, particularly owing to its collaborative spirit. “It’s exciting for us, as artists, to have this kind of atmosphere,” she says. “We’re allowed to play more and have more artistic license. And the community looks forward to it, too.”

Artists’ Exchange Ninth Annual One Act Play Festival
July 25 – August 16 Fridays & Saturdays at 7pm
Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door Theatre 82 & Café
82 Rolfe Square, Cranston. www.artists-exchange.org