Dramashop Originals Festival: Locally Written, Directed, and Performed

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Join the folks at Dramashop in April for a uniquely local slate of performances. With seven original plays and shorts written, directed, and performed by area talent, the Originals Festival is a celebration of Erie's brightest in theater.

PREMIERING FRIDAY, APR. 12

Dramashop is known for productions of modern, of-the-moment theatricals — including works that held their world premieres as recently as 2017 and 2019.

So, in keeping with that tradition, Dramashop is set to bring to the stage a new collection of full-length and short plays which can proudly mark the year of their world premieres as 2024 — opening night for the Dramashop Originals Festival, to be exact.

This over-two-weeklong event, which runs from April 12 through 28, follows in the footsteps of last year's One Act Festival, which itself came about as a progression of the Shorts Festival and the Blue Bowl Monologues. It features — you guessed it — original full-length and short plays, all written, directed, and performed by local talent.

One such talent is Brenna Thummler, graphic novelist, playwright, and 2023 40 Under 40 honoree, who adapted her own work — the graphic novel Delicates — into the full-length staged reading entitled Delicates the Musical, which is one of seven featured works in this festival.

In her own words, "It's the story of three characters who are encountering 'death' in different ways — loss, ideation, and death itself — and how their individual obstacles become obstacles in their friendship."

Thummler continues, "But these dark undertones are lifted by humor and whimsy, as ghosts, both real and emotional, are brought to life inside a retro Pennsylvania laundromat. I think the emotional depth of Delicates is doubled in the musical adaptation."

When asked about adapting her own work for the stage, Thummler remarked on the challenge of self-editing while staying true to your vision but found that putting her work into musical format was "a team mentality." And, she added, "the team is exceptionally creative."

Along with Thummler's piece, featured full-length works include Hades and the One Year Winter by Charlotte Stowe and Midst of Paradise by Howard Lang; shorts include Line by Benjamin Snyder, Drunk Works, Sober Thoughts by Adam Jeffrey Rossi, License to Marry by Daniel Collete, and Clearance Corner Training Video by Chris Pederson.

These performances are staggered and repeated throughout the festival, so if you can't make one showing, there will be two more, along with a playwriting workshop on the final Saturday and panel discussion with the playwrights on the final Sunday. 

Beginning Friday, Apr. 12 with various times and plays through Sunday, Apr. 28 // 1001 State Street, Ste 210 // $17 // For tickets and info: tickets.eriereader.com