Theater lovers unite: Annual One-Act Play festival returns to Northport this weekend
A photo from rehearsal of this year’s Deepfake by Alisa Zhulina with Renee McClean, Brianna Acevedo, and Cal Gladen, one of ten plays featured in this year’s annual Northport One-Act Play festival.Photo by Jo Ann Katz.
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The 15th annual Northport One-Act Play festival is quickly approaching; the weekend festival has seen in the past decade and a half plays by writers from all over the country, as well as from countries as far as New Zealand.
The ten dramas and comedies featured in the 15th annual festival are split into two programs and will be performed twice each, once as a matinee and once in the evening at The Playhouse at St Paul’s in Northport Village this coming weekend.
Northport resident Jo Ann Katz, who is directing two of this year’s plays, explained the history of the festival to the Journal in an email earlier this month:
“Sixteen years ago, I had been holding monthly play readings at St Paul’s United Methodist Church on Main Street in Northport. After several years doing that I had worked with quite a few playwrights, directors, and actors, mostly from Long Island. One of them, Michael Casano, asked me if I would be interested in filling a need for one-act play writers to get their plays on the stage. I thought it would be a great idea and within a year we had produced our first Northport One-Act Play Festival,” Katz wrote.
“We have produced from ten to 24 plays over the festival weekends. Even during Covid we produced three online festivals which benefited some of the local food banks and other non-profit organizations.”
The actors and directors involved in the plays are all Long Island community theater people, Katz explained, participating in theater from New York City to the East End. Many times, there is a reunion or two in the green room of actors who have a history doing plays together.
This year’s festival is dedicated to the memory of Jeff Bennett, “a star in the theater sky,” Katz told the Journal. “His loss was felt by so many as expressed in our program by the remembrances of people who knew him for years and those who worked with him at Bare Bones Theater in Northport.”
Program 1 of the 15th annual Northport One-Act Play festival will be presented on Friday, September 27 at 7:30pm and Saturday, September 28 at 2:30pm. Program 2 will be performed on Saturday, September 28 at 7:30pm and Sunday, September 29 at 2:30pm. Admission is $25 to each of the four festival performances. For more information, including descriptions of each play, visit www.northportplays.com or call (631) 223-8053. Click here to reserve tickets (recommended); cash only will be accepted at the door.
The Playhouse at St Paul’s is located at St Paul’s United Methodist Church, 270 Main Street, in Northport.
