The heart of the LaBute New Theater Festival is, of course, the new plays submitted. Eight finalists were selected from more than 250 submissions.
The elite eight:
• Alexis Clements, Brooklyn, New York — "The Elephant in the Room"
• Carlos Perez, Kansas City — "Cleansing Acts"
• Daniel Damiano, New York, New York — "Cut"
• GD Kimble, Bronx, New York — "Two Irishmen Are Digging a Ditch"
• Joshua Thomas, St. Louis — "Kink"
• Peter Grandbois, Granville, Ohio, and Nancy Bell, St. Louis — "Present Tense"
• Rachel Fenton, St. Louis — "Blood Brothers"
• Tyler Vickers, Los Angeles, California — "Pinky Swear"
The eight plays will be broken into two sets of four, with the first set performed at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and at 3 p.m. Sunday (July 5 through 14), and the second set performed at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and at 3 p.m. Sunday (July 18 through 28). Neil LaBute's "The Possible" is performed every weekend of the festival, and LaBute will attend the opening weekend (Friday and Saturday only).
The festival also selected works from five high school playwrights. Those plays and their authors:
• Aidan Murphy, Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, Illinois — "The Summit of the Gods"
• Laura Townsend, Clayton High School — "Imagination"
• Annie Kopp, Ladue Horton Watkins High School — "Stand Up to Bullying"
• Laurel Button, Mary Institute–Country Day School, Ladue — "Little Star in the Sky"
• Amanda Ehrmann, Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, Illinois — "Wordless"
These five plays will be presented in readings at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 6.
All performances and readings take place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle Avenue. Tickets are $30 ($25 for students and seniors; $50 for opening weekend). Call 314-458-2978 or visit www.stlas.org.
