Th Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays (review)

The 25th anniversary of the Humana Festival of New American Plays marked two important changes at Actors Theatre of Louisville. It was the first Humana Festival for new artistic director Marc Masterson, who replaced Jon Jory after his thirty-one-year stint at the helm. And it was the last Humana Festival for literary manager Michael Dixon, who for the past sixteen years had partnered with Jory in bringing Humana to national prominence as a premiere new play showcase. Nevertheless, the festival itself featured much the same spectrum of work, including Humana regulars (Jane Martin, Richard Dresser), established playwrights coming into the Humana orbit (Charles L. Mee, Mac Wellman), up-and-comers (Melanie Marnich), and a bevy of novelty pieces. If you count the phone plays in the lobby, an anthology piece for ATL's apprentice company on the theme of heaven and hell, and three ten-minute plays in [End Page 154] serial form by Arthur Kopit, nearly thirty playwrights had work on view. Still, as usual, the spotlight was on the six full-length pieces

Art · Art history · Heaven · Literature · Performance art · Theme (computing · Visual arts · History · Theatre and Performance Studies