Minnesota playwrights join the 35th annual Humana Festival of New Plays

Photo courtesy of Actors Theatre of Louisville

Jordan Harrison

​Several playwrights with Minnesota ties will be featured in the 35th annual Humana Festival of New American Plays, to be held in February through April in 2011 at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Jordan Harrison will contribute one of six full-length world premieres at the festival, while Dan Dietz and Allison Moore are part of a team of playwrights for The End, a showcase for the Actors Theatre's Apprentice Program.

Maple and Vine will be Harrison's fourth Humana Festival play, following Act a Lady, Kid-Simple, and Fit For Feet. The story follows Katha and Ryh, a couple who attempt to escape their 21st-century lives by moving into a neighborhood of 1950s reenactors -- but what will they sacrifice for happiness?

Dietz and Moore will be among five playwrights contributing to The End, a look at the always-coming-but-never-arriving apocalypse. Moore's past work includes My Antonia, the Ivey award-winning play that premiered earlier this year at the Illusion Theater. Deitz has a long list of credits and honors to his name, and is currently a Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights Center.

The festival, sponsored by the Humana Foundation, has produced more than 400 new plays in the last three and a half decades, including a trio of Pulitzer Prize winners and others that have become part of the modern American play repertoire, such as The Gin Game (a Pulitzer winner), Anton in Show Business, Big Love, and After Ashley.

For more info, visit the event's official website.