Mark your calendars for the return of FutureFest to the Dayton Playhouse stage: July 15 through 17, 2022. Festival Passes (all six plays for the price of five) or tickets to individual plays are on sale now. Below is the schedule of events during the festival.
Friday, July 15, 2022
7:00 pm – Opening Night Reception in the Dayton Playhouse Lobby. Join us for an introduction of the Playwrights and mingle with fellow theatre-lovers. Please note, as a COVID-19 precaution we will not be serving hors d’oeuvres at this reception or at any other time during the Festival. We appreciate your understanding.
7:45 pm – A Tribute to the Late Jim Payne. Join us in the theater for a heartfelt tribute to Jim Payne, former Executive Director of the Dayton Playhouse and one of the three founders of FutureFest. Dodie Lockwood and John Riley will make remarks.
8:00 pm – The Wild Boar by Daniel Damiano. Curtain Up! on FutureFest 2022. This production, directed by Jennifer Lockwood will be followed immediately by the FutureFest adjudication.
A newly retired teacher moves to a remote island, seeking nothing but solitude and serenity. However, when a boar arrives at her house one day, an unlikely relationship develops, bringing about unexpected feelings from her past, while placing her at odds with the local authorities and the island’s other inhabitants.
Saturday, July 16, 2022
10:00 am – Griswold by Angela J. Davis. This production, directed by Shanna A. Camacho will be followed by the FutureFest adjudication.
Inspired by the forgotten history behind the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that established a right to sexual privacy. Fusing magic realism, docudrama, and comedic truth, the play mines the spirit and drive of the overlooked 65-year-old woman whose actions set the Griswold case in motion, the extraordinary events leading to establishment of the right of sexual privacy, and the essential link between sexual privacy and personal dignity.
3:00 pm – Lakshmi Counts Her Arms and Legs, by Holly Hepp-Galván. This production is directed by Annie Pesch, and will be followed by the FutureFest adjudication.
When a child with four arms and four legs is born in rural India, the villagers see it as blessing. People come from miles around to pray to the reincarnation of the goddess Lakshmi. However, neurosurgeon Aakil Singh knows that the child needs a life-saving operation. Accompanied by his American wife, they go to visit the child and meet her parents. However, just as Aakil starts the hard work of convincing them to remove the child’s limbs, his wife has an unexpected spiritual epiphany. Based on the true story of Lakshmi Tatma.
8:00 pm – The Little Sisters of Littleton, by Kate Katcher. Directed by Dawn Roth-Smith, this presentation will be followed by the FutureFest adjudication.
When a recent widow is caught sneaking a man out of the house in the wee hours of the morning, her man-hating sister is forced to confront the ex-husband she divorced over thirty years ago. The door-slamming comedy, with one sister trying to conceal her antics and the other determined to root them out, turns serious when real feelings are dredged up and unanswered questions demand a response.
Sunday, July 17, 2022
10:00 am – Every Livin’ Soul, by William Cameron. Directed by Ray Gambrel, this production will be followed by the FutureFest adjudication.
In the darkest days of the Depression, a stranger finds refuge in an Ohio farmhouse. He begs a meal from Hannah, the widowed owner, and the two form a kinship. For Hannah, this handsome young man might be the harbinger of a brighter future. As her husband used to say, “There’s a little bit of good in every livin’ soul.” But when the stranger’s
perilous secret is revealed, Hannah finds herself in a struggle for her family’s very existence. Loosely based on a true story, Every Livin’ Soul celebrates the triumph of hope in the face of heartbreak and desperation.
3:00 pm – The Docent, by Donna Kaz. This production is directed by Aaron Washington, and will be followed by the FutureFest adjudication.
The Docent is grounded in a lecture on the trees of Central Park given by Urban Forestry expert, Edna Gregory. During the course of the lecture we flash back to Edna’s first encounter with her life’s work – her first job as an Urban Park Ranger in New York City in 1981. Just out of High School, she comes to the big city for the first time and rents a room in the West Village with a young man named Charles. All through the play New York City’s trees become a tribute to the astonishingly beautiful and devastatingly tragic history of New York City and the soul mate that Edna has loved.
6:00 pm – FutureFest 2022 Awards Ceremony. Join with the Playwrights and casts as the FutureFest 2022 winning script is announced. No tickets are required for this event.