Last year I wrote a one-act play called AFTER ALEX and sent it out to a bunch of theatre companies who were hosting a night of one-act plays.  I received word back from one of these festivals – Guelph Little Theatre – Ward One Acts that my little play was a finalist with a handful of other scripts.   The festival then hired directors and if my play was chosen by one of these directors then it would be staged with other one-act plays.

I never heard back from the festival so I assumed my play had been passed over.  Nothing new to me.  Been there.  Done that.  Move on.  Then I got a happy surprise.  A week ago I received a belated email with apologies that my play in fact was chosen.  One of the other directors had to drop out of the festival, a new director was hired and she picked my play to stage.   AFTER ALEX was slotted in with 3 other one-act plays, one of which is written by playwright Norm Foster who is  one of Canada’s most prolific playwrights.  Just take a look at the list of his shows HERE playing all across North America.   Ward One Acts in Guelph runs from July 4-6 with four performances.  Each night, these four plays listed below will be performed:

AFTER ALEX is about a woman named Gloria Luca who is forced to reflect upon the life she’s lived and the life she imagined after a tense confrontation with her daughter Alex.  She accuses Alex of being selfish and irresponsible because of her plans to drop out of school and sail around the world.

The play is filled with biting humor, uncomfortable truths and bittersweet tears wrapped in themes of reconciliation and gentle healing.  The cast is made up of four characters, all women raging from early 20s to mid 50s.  My guess is the play runs between 20-25 minutes.  Set changes between each one-act will be quick and easy with minimal fuss.  The stage is an intimate black box setting with the audience surrounding the actors    I will be attending one of the four performances and look forward to seeing what they do with the material.

Performances dates/times are as follows:
Thursday July 4 @ 8pm
Friday July 5 @ 8pm
Saturday July 6 @ 2pm
Saturday July 6 @ 8pm

The Guelph Little Theatre is located at 176 Morris Street, Guelph, Ontario.  Here’s a MAP on how to get there.  Tickets are $15.  You can purchase them at the door or visit HERE to order on line.