An Uncorked Conversation: New Play Festival and Wine Tasting

Icicle Creek Theatre Festival Brings Two New Plays and Cases of Leavenworth Wine over the Mountain Pass to ACT Theatre

Laura Jacqmin and Yussef El Guindi Workshop New Plays, August 23-24

Seattle, WA – May 18, 2010 – In partnership with ACT Theatre, the Fourth Annual Icicle Creek Theatre Festival (ICTF), based in Leavenworth, Washington brings new plays by two of this country’s most talented contemporary theatrical voices, along with cases and cases of extraordinary wine from Leavenworth’s best wineries, to Seattle’s ACT Theatre, for An Uncorked Conversation: New Play Festival and Wine Tasting, August 23 and 24, 2010. Starting at 5:30 p.m., on Monday and Tuesday evenings, The Central Heating Lab at ACT hosts this first-of-its-kind event with ICTF, which allows attendees to sample more than two dozen types of wine from eight different Leavenworth wineries before moving into the theatre for an exciting new play reading by either Laura Jacqmin or Yussef El Guindi.

ICTF Artistic Director Allen Fitzpatrick reviewed countless submissions before arriving at this year’s two selections. “Experiencing the birth of a new play is thrilling and I want ICTF and ACT audiences to understand how valuable their reactions and feedback are during the play reading and workshop process. It’s vital to a new play’s development and I’m thrilled that these two plays will benefit from the sophisticated insights that Leavenworth and Seattle audiences will undoubtedly provide,” said Fitzpatrick. All the ICTF plays selected since 2007 have been developed further; four of the plays (Atomic Farmgirl, Dov and Ali, On the Nature of Dust, and Charm) have evolved to completed, fully-staged productions at regional, international, and off-Broadway houses. The two plays selected for readings at this year’s Fourth Annual ICTF are Laura Jacqmin’s, And When We Awoke There Was Light and Light and Yussef El Guindi’s Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World.

In And When We Awoke There Was Light and Light, 2008 Wasserstein Prize winner Laura Jacqmin relates the story of Katie, a student desperate to get into Harvard, who meets a new friend online, David, a teenaged soldier in Uganda. Katie becomes determined to help him escape to the U.S. and asks, “If I’m trying to do something good, then what’s the harm in using his story for my application essay?” When she learns that David hasn’t been completely honest about himself, she must decide whether to abandon her ideals or trust a virtual stranger.

2009 winner of the Osborn Award by the American Theater Critics Association and 2008 winner of ACT’s New Play Award, Yussef El Guindi will present his engagingly witty and romantic new play, Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World. Musa, a recent immigrant from the Middle East and NYC taxi driver, meets Sheri, an American waitress and woman with an unfortunate dating history. They fall head-over-heels in love, but their chances for making it are blocked by several skeletons in their respective closets.

An Uncorked Conversation: New Play Festival and Wine Tasting offers a rare opportunity to see a new play come to life at its first public reading AND sample much of what Leavenworth has to offer without crossing The Pass. ICTF Executive Director Shana Pennington-Baird has invited representatives from Leavenworth’s best wineries, hotels and arts organizations to cross the pass. For two wonderful evenings, folks from Icicle Arts, The Icicle Creek Music Center and The Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort and more, will set up a temporary shop in Seattle’s ACT Theatre lobby spaces to provide samples and give away loads of prizes. Participating wineries include: Silvara, Wedge Mountain, Icicle Ridge, Vin du Lac, Cascadia and more!

The acting company for the Fourth Annual ICTF will be announced in July 2010. ACT Literary Manager Anita Montgomery will serve as dramaturge for both plays. The ICTF acting company will also conduct play readings as part of ICTF in Leavenworth on August 21 and 22 at 1:00 and 7:00pm. Those readings will take place at the Icicle Creek Music Center near Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort. Overnight packages that include train transportation from Seattle, admission to the Leavenworth new play festival, and sleeping accommodations are available through Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort.

Tickets to Seattle’s An Uncorked Conversation: New Play Festival and Wine Tasting at ACT are $40 and include a commemorative wine glass, admission to the Wine Festival, and entrance to the New Play Reading. ACT Monthly and Charter Members receive free admission to the play reading and pay only $20 for the Wine Festival. Tickets and Memberships are available through the ACT Ticket Office at 700 Union Street, Downtown Seattle, (206) 292-7676, or online (festival/wine tasting tickets only) at www.acttheatre.org. Both readings are in the Bullitt Cabaret. For more information about The Icicle Creek Theatre Festival, visit www.iciclecreekact.com. For more information about ACT, visit www.acttheatre.org.