Well, all that and more is par for the course at the 4×6 Fest. I got to enjoy the fruits of the 24-hour theater marathon for the first time on Sunday night, even though it's been held annually since 2015 and takes place in CL Space, which is just the other side of the wall from my desk. But I'm going to make sure not to miss it in the future. I was a judge for the 2017 edition (along with playwright/critic Peter Nason, Tampa Bay Theatre Festival’s Octavia Smith, actress Jonelle Meyer, and Theatre Tampa Bay co-founder Jon Palmer Claridge, aka CL's restaurant critic). Who knows? Maybe I'll throw my name in as a playwright or a director or an actor in 2018. Because it all looks like so much damn fun. (And OK, work.)
The multi-talented young actor/director/producer Brianna Larson conceived of the fest, which she launched with the help of a Jeff Norton Dream Grant from Theatre Tampa Bay in 2014. She rounds up talent by calling for applications, and has so far been able to accept all the writers and directors who’ve expressed interest, though she's had to pick and choose when it comes to actors because so many more apply.
“I try to select an eclectic group of actors,” she says. “Different types, looks, levels of experience.” Once she knows the personnel, she determines the makeup of each creative team via a highly sophisticated formula: She pulls the names from a hat.
It’s hard to determine which of the artists has the most challenging task. Playwrights get their marching orders from Larson around 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night of the fest weekend. She tells each writer the theme, the name of his/her director and cast members (with head shots and resumes), and a required catchphrase. The script must be ready by 8:30 the following morning, which is when the directors and actors take over, rehearsing through the day until it's time to present the plays to the public at 8 p.m. A panel of judges keeps score (with just minutes between each short play) and the audience gets to online-vote for their favorites in quirky categories invented by Larson and her 4X6 cohort Johnny Garde.
For the eight playwrights competing this year, the challenge was to write a play that fit (or was a comment upon) a specific genre, from fairy tale to film noir, from soap opera to historical fiction. The catchphrase was "If I had a dollar for every time someone's said that to me…" Despite the tight timeline and stylistic restrictions, the results were remarkable, and judging the best was tough. But here’s how it turned out, with audience awards first.
AUDIENCE CHOICE
Best Use of a Prop: A stuffed dragon with huge, voracious jaws, operated with aplomb by Nicu Brouillete in Betty Jane Parks’s clever, poignant variation on the fairy tale genre, “Happily Ever After.”
Oh Snap! Award: The best use of the catchphrase, tossed off sassily by Taliana Bosio in Taryn Alexander’s rom-com entry, "Starting from Match."
Best Dressed Award: Nicole Haumesser, for the exceptional cleavage she displayed in “Exceptional Service,” W.L. Newkirk's madcap entry in the Farce category.
Hottest Performer: Ryan Bernier, perfectly believable as the perfect boyfriend in “Starting from Match.”
The Style Award: “Black Coffee” by Kevin Michael Wesson, for its spot-on embodiment of the film noir genre, complete with soundtrack.
JUDGES’ AWARDS
Best Playwright: Lisa VillaMil, who chose to set her historical fiction entry, “September 18,” at a moment from the recent past — a confrontation between parents in a principal's office a week after 9/11.
Best Director: Dawn Kidle, for the farcical shenanigans (including a magnificent pratfall by Kelly Clow) in “Exceptional Service.”
Best Actress: Erica Garraffa, for her exquisite tough-gal deadpan in “Black Coffee.”
Best Actor: Nathan Juliano, for his natural, grounded performance in “September 18.”
Best Play: “September 18.” Lisa VillaMil's compelling, resonant script was all the more impressive for having been created in such a short time. (In addition to Juliano, the excellent cast, directed with sensitivity by Zachary Hines, included Jessica Watzman and Katie Eichler.) Now, with this award, VilaMil gets to have the play polished and produced in the Tampa Bay Theatre Festival at the Straz on Labor Day Weekend.
Note: For someone who just appeared on the scene this year, VilaMil has made quite a splash. She wrote one of the standout shows in the first Tampa International Fringe Festival, Kara Sevda; she was terrific in three different roles in Tampa Rep's The Other Place; and now this.
But boohoo: She's leaving us already, having gotten a year-long gig at America's oldest repertory theater, Hedgerow Theatre in the Philadelphia suburbs, where she will be a resident fellow. This judge votes for her to make a triumphant return to Tampa Bay once her fellowship’s over.
This article appears in Jun 22-29, 2017.
