Theatre Roulette is back and better than ever

MadLab's popular short plays festival is now at new downtown space

By Dwayne Steward

Posted May 10, 2010

Metromix

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(From left) Sarah Brunet as Alice, Peter Graybeal as Tucker and David Thonnings as Gino in "The Final Scene of a Nighty-Six Hour Long Play" by Scott Tobin, a selection from the 11th Annual Theatre Roulette, MadLab's short plays festival. (Credit: Andy Batt)

When it came time to plan for the 2010 installment of Theatre Roulette—MadLab Theatre's wildly popular annual short plays festival—the troupe's leaders were covered in soot and knee-deep in ceiling insulation.

"We were extremely busy renovating our new space (227 N. Third Street)," said Stephen Woosley, MadLab's publicity co-chair. "Last year we had 850 or so short plays submitted. We really didn't have the team to devote to a full selection process."

The typically four-month process of sifting through nearly 1,000 submissions from all over the country was whittled down to one month, with MadLab vets calling in favors from every theater contact they had.

"We reached out to some of our favorite playwrights from past Roulettes and quite a few people in the MadLab community," Woosley said. "Despite the shorted process, I still think we got a really good selection of scripts."

Theatre Roulette will once again feature three nights of theater ("Crazy/Talk," "Talk/Dirty," "Gone/Crazy") under the same month-long Roulette schedule. The 12-play festival will run four plays each night every Thursday through Saturday until May 29, with the last day of the festival featuring a full day of theater, running all 12 plays starting at 2 p.m. (Click here for the full schedule.)

This year,not only marks the first Roulette at the troupe's new downtown space (and the largest use of local talent since 2005), but the first time a musical has slipped through the cracks and made it onto the final schedule. ("We've never really had many musicals submitted, and when they have been, we've never had the staff to pull it off," Woosley said.)

"Nothing at All" is written by and stars MadLab vet Josh Kessler, who sees his first piece hit the Roulette stage, with past work being staged for the new "O.G. Productions," which is ironically helmed by "Nothing at All" directors Woosley and Amanda Bauer.

"['Nothing at All' features] soft '80s rock injected into a play about a loser who can't stop singing to girls," Woosley said. "Even if you don't know the music, you more then likely will be humming it after you leave. I know we all have been."

Theatre Roulette 2010 runs Thursday through Saturday until May 29 at MadLab Theatre. Tickets are $12 for adults, $8 for students/seniors and $6 for MadLab members. For more information visit the MadLab Web site.