Western Edge Theatre presents The 2019 New Waves Festival

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Sunday, February 24th, 2019
Feb. 21, 22, 23 - 7:30 pm Feb. 24 - 2 pm

2019 NEW WAVES FESTIVAL FEATURES 3 WORLD PREMIERES

The plays won’t be all that’s new at Western Edge Theatre’s 2019 New Waves Festival, as the Nanaimo company changes up the format of its long-running event to premiere three new scripts in fully-staged productions.

All three are winners in Western Edge’s recent short play contest for mid-Island writers. “Mama Bear, Papa Bear and Baby Bear,” by Dante Ambriel of Denman Island, is a startling one-person play in which a family’s cell phones reveal unwelcome secrets. Nanaimo playwright Miles Hayes’ “Public Intoxication” is a tender evocation of a transgender man’s attempt to reconnect with his old high school friends. And in “Dispossessed,” by Nanaimo’s Sean Enns, a fashion-conscious demon attempts to swap lives with a teenage girl, with devilishly funny results.

Past New Waves Festivals have featured staged readings of new scripts, and sometimes a fully-staged feature production. This time, all three plays will receive full stagings.

“The quality of the winners in our contest was so high,” says Western Edge artistic director Brian March, “that we wanted to show them all off to best advantage. And the writers are either directing their plays or taking active part in producing them. They're the stars of the process."

“Mama Bear, Papa Bear and Baby Bear” is performed by the playwright, Dante Ambriel, who has been a member of The Actor’s Studio L.A., The Beverly Hills Playhouse, and the American Screen Actors Guild of Los Angeles. “Public Intoxication” features Nanaimo actors Alex Brennan, Miles Kehoe, and Daniel Puglas and is directed by Western Edge executive producer Frank Moher. Playwright Sean Enns directs “Dispossessed,” featuring William Anderson, Whitley Dunn, Lesley Lee, and Nicole Potvin.

Tickets are available online at https://westernedge.org, by phone at 250-816-6459, and at Amethyst Forest, #27 – 1925 Bowen Rd., Nanaimo (in Bowen Centre).

The 2018-19 Western Edge Theatre season is generously supported by Romper Room Indoor Rock Climbing Centre, InPrint Graphic Design and Printing, and the Nanaimo News-Bulletin. It is also made possible by financial support from the City of Nanaimo and the Province of British Columbia.