Critical Mass: Baltimore Playwrights Festival 2008 lineup - News and opinions from Sun critics on art, theater, music, dance, media

The Baltimore Playwrights Festival has announced the lineup for its 2008 season, which runs this summer from June 26 through Aug. 31.

The venerable festival, now in its 27th season, will champion the work of at least 12 playwrights and 13 plays. (A slate of one-acts set to run in August hasn't yet been announced.) The shows will be produced at local theaters throughout the Baltimore area.

Talented Julie Lewis will be represented by two offerings this year. Her full-length work Jarvis Legend's Borrowed Skin will be presented by the Theatrical Mining Company from June 26-July 13. And her short play Foundation and Mettle will be part of a slate of compact works presented by Vagabonds Theatre July 18-Aug. 3.

The complete lineup follows. Drumroll, please:

June 26-July 13:

Finding Fossils by Ty DeMartino, directed by Alex Carney, Fells Point Corner Theatre.

Sparks fly over a July 4th weekend, when an Italian father and son re-examine their relationship while grieving the death of their wife and mother.

June 26-July 13:

Jarvis Legend's Borrowed Skin by Julie Lewis, directed by Nancy Murray, Theatrical Mining Company.

An artist's obsession can be mistaken for an addiction – landing him in rehab, where he is psychoanalyzed and forced to decoupage and blow glass. Where is the line drawn between reason and art?

July 10-July 27:

Nonstop Realism by Tim Paggi, directed by Jayme Kilburn, Strand Theatre Company.
Eight short comedies encompass a varied sweep of experimental topics, from confiding secrets in pets to soap-opera politics.

July 17-Aug. 2:

Keeping Faith by Mark Scharf, directed by C.J. Crowe, Chesapeake Arts Center.
An abducted bride-to-be is detained in an Arkansas hotel room. Her fiancé and the police are in pursuit in this twisted family comedy.

July 18-Aug. 3:

in this life: four short plays directed by Susan McCarty at the Vagabonds:

Trio by Jim Cary -

When the drummer and pianist of a jazz trio try to replace their saxophone player, old family secrets and suspicions of betrayal threaten to split them up forever.

Pier by Joe Dennison -

Once upon a time, a man went out on a pier to think about his life.

Suckled by Wolves by Pat Montley -

Two friends prepare to confront their former abuser, now a bishop.

Foundation and Mettle by Julie Lewis -

A father and son find themselves in a power struggle negotiated through old gym equipment in the basement.

July 24-Aug. 10:

Graven Image by Stephen Kilduff, directed by Miriam Bazensky at Fells Point Corner Theatre.
The friendship between a widower and a young female house painter shatters the uneasy calm between the man and his daughter, bringing long-buried emotions to the surface.

July 31-Aug. 17:

Gay Deceivers by P.S. Lorio, directed by Barry Feinstein, Theatrical Mining Company.
In the early 20th century craze for everything “modern,” a housewife invents the world's first falsies in an attempt to rekindle the spark in her marriage.

Aug. 1-Aug. 23:

An Evening of One Acts (TBD), Mobtown Players.

A selection of one act plays.

Aug. 14-Aug. 31:

Kosher with Salsa by Miryam Madrigal, directed by Jerry Gietka, Fells Point Corner Theatre.
Take a Mexican Jewish convert and a Jewish girl from Beverly Hills. Add two bigoted mothers, one gay boutique-owner brother, shake, mix well, and serve.

Aug. 15-Aug. 31:

Helena Troy by Rich Espey, directed by Bill Hauserman, Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre.
The Theatre Athena is bankrupt, but if Amy’s new play can clinch a grant, the troupe may survive. All she has to do now is convince her boyfriend that it’s from Ancient Greece, satisfy two divas, bring her friend’s boyfriend out of the closet and resurrect a recently deceased professor.