JAW: A Playwrights Festival
Made in Oregon
July 13 — 16
The Made in Oregon series features Oregon playwrights for one–night–only readings of works in progress.
Admission is free, but seating is available only on a first–come, first–served basis.
The Lost Boy
Susan Mach
Monday, July 13, 6:00 p.m.
Loosely based on true events that took place in Germantown in 1874, The Lost Boy centers on the abduction of a four—year—old boy from a wealthy suburb. Faced with a $20,000 ransom demand – an exorbitant sum at the time – the boy's father, Christian Ross, refuses to pay. Ross is only allowed to respond to the kidnappers through brief messages in the personal sections of various newspapers, leading to a bizarre series of public communications that result in the boy's abduction becoming a media event and negotiations rapidly disintegrate, leaving a father (and a community) poised helpless on the edge of disaster.
Susan Mach has an MA in Playwriting from Boston University. Her first play, Monograms, was produced at Theatre for the New City in New York, Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, Portland Repertory Theatre, and the Icaras Theatre Ensemble in Ithaca, New York. The script, published by Rain City Press, also received a Drammy Award. Her second play, Angle of View, was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award and received readings at Portland Repertory Theatre and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre. For her third play, The Shadow Testament, she received a Women Writers Fellowship from Literary Arts, Inc. This piece has been workshopped by Artists Repertory Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, and JAW/West. Her play, The Difficult Season, a collaboration with renowned jazz pianist and songwriter Dave Frishberg, was workshopped at Artists Repertory Theatre. She was recently awarded a Women Writers fellowship from Literary Arts for her latest play, The Lost Boy.
In–School Suspension
Brian Kettler
Tuesday, July 14,6:00 p.m.
At an unnamed private high school, the stage is set for a school shooting simulation. It's just like a fire drill, except the students might not make it out alive. An actor has been hired to play the shooter and the school's most dangerous students, Danny and Angela, are locked away in an abandoned Spanish classroom. A passionate English teacher wants to make sure his students experience authentic feelings of fear and terror. What could possibly go wrong?
Brian Kettler recently graduated from Kenyon College with a B.A. in drama. He is also a graduate of the National Theater Institute and Theatermakers program at the Eugene O’ Neill Theatre Center. Favorite acting roles at Kenyon include Claudio in Measure for Measure and Pip/Theo in Three Days of Rain. Brian spent the past year as a SUN school drama instructor at Boise-Eliot Elementary. He is currently the drama and music specialist at MJCC day camp.
