Rogue Theater Festival is back and presenting both Fully Staged shows and Staged Readings over one week at The Flea downtown. Check out our full length shows below! Tickets are on sale May 13th.
AGENCY FOR THE LOST
By Serena Norr
Monday, June 3rd
7:00pm
Mae has the simple life she is supposed to, typing memos for the "important” at Memos for the Less. Her hands, however, are suffering as she types day-after-day, sending memos up to the faceless on the 27th floor. But something is missing. Is it her dead end marriage? Or the constant messages she gets from her shallow officemate, or the lingering feeling of abandonment when her father left 36 years ago. It all seems to change when she goes to the Agency for the Lost, a quasi-detective firm with a founder who has a penchant for cigarettes and egg salad sandwiches, who promises to find her dad in the "lost dimension," a place everyone goes who leaves. When he comes back, or the person who she thinks is her Dad, she realizes that longing for the idea of someone isn’t exactly the same idea as the actual person. As her hands and body continue to weaken, she learns from her dad (who may or may not be her dad) that there is another way. A place where she doesn't have to follow the rules that she doesn't get or chase the preverbal carrot to get to the 27th floor. Will she give it all up and leave like her father, or stick around and finally feel "found"?
TRANSYLVANIA OR THE WEEKEND AFTER DRACULA DIED
By Patricia Lynn
Tuesday, June 4th
7:00pm
Jonathan Harker is terrified. He and his beloved partner Mina were the only two people present when Count Dracula died, and now they have symptoms—strange symptoms that don’t seem possible since neither of them were bitten. Desperately, John revisits the diary he kept while he was trapped in Dracula’s castle in Transylvania a few months earlier, hoping that the passages will provide more information about the infamous monster. But as John relives his most traumatic memories, he realizes that maybe they’re not so traumatic. Maybe they’re empowering, enlightening; maybe Count Dracula isn't as bad as everyone thinks he is…
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Transylvania includes themes of violence, death, and grief.
RABBIT. RABBIT. RABBIT.
By Brittyn Bonham
Tuesday, June 4th
7:30pm
Rabbit. Rabbit. Rabbit. Is a one act thriller following two sisters in April of 2011. The younger sister, Bell, is a budding podcaster with a large Tumblr following. She navigates the world with guidance from her much older sister: Lindy- a corporate business woman hoping to snare the perfect man. The audience is confronted with feminine rage through Bell’s growing interest in the history of Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain’s marriage. On the other side of the story, Lindy is invited on a suspicious camping trip with her Eagle Scout boyfriend, dad-bod Derrick. Can the sisters rely on Courtney Love’s “F*** the Man” standards for a happy ending? Or will everything they consume keep them trapped in a rabbit’s snare?
KILLING IT
By Rebecca Kane
Wednesday, June 5th
7:00pm
Emerging stand-up comedian Jon is set to be featured in local reporter Rachel’s article about the intersection of comedians and trauma. This breakthrough moment would be scary, but at least he has his best friend and roommate, fellow comedian Andy, to lead him through it and work with him on new jokes. Everything seems to be working out… too bad Andy’s been dead for months.
KNOCK KNOCK
By Floyd Toulet
Wednesday, June 5th
7:30pm
"I've got a condition called Dissociative Identity Disorder. It means that I hear voices in my head. I'm not making them up and I'm not mad. They're real. They live inside me". A slaughterhouse is set on fire and a body is found. The man believed to be responsible is questioned. A disturbing game of cat and mouse ensues until a series of flashbacks and recalled memories finally exposes the truth. Surprising, powerful, and unsettling, KNOCK KNOCK takes you on a journey deep into a mind broken by the past. KNOCK KNOCK is recognized by the V&A National Video Archive of Performance, endorsed by Peter Egan, and was awarded five-star reviews by the London Audience Club.
THE TRUNK
By Jon Seresi
Thursday, June 6th
7:00pm
Jonny Devine - a charming curmudgeon recently diagnosed with dementia - enlists his best friend's son, Asher, to sort through the contents of his New York apartment while he can still recall their significance. With wit and wisdom, The Trunk explores the choices we make in living and in dying.
HE'S DIFFERENT
By Arianna Wellmoney
Thursday, June 6th
7:30pm
"He's Different" delves into the intricacies of dating in the modern world, where feminist ideals collide with the allure of potential. Liv, the protagonist, is fed up with witnessing her friends repeatedly fall for mediocre men. As she navigates the complexities of modern dating, Liv encounters Travis, a seemingly different breed of man — intelligent, cultured, and intriguing. But just as sparks begin to fly, fate intervenes, leaving Liv questioning the true nature of attraction and the allure of potential.
I THINK WE'RE LOST: A TALE FROM NEVERLAND
By Peter Fenton
Friday, June 7th
7:00pm
When a jaded, college-aged Peter Pan considers leaving Neverland, Tinker Bell pulls out all the stops to make him stay. She sends the newest Lost Boy and "Wendy 2.0" off on a secret mission to kill Captain Hook before the pirate finds Peter again. Along the way, the newcomers confront unsettling mysteries lurking in Neverland's past. Peter Fenton, the playwright behind sold-out Rogue Theater Festival favorite ABANDON ALL HOPE, returns with a staged reading of I THINK WE'RE LOST: an aged-up not-quite sequel, not-quite adaptation dark comedy/drama remix on the classic J.M. Barrie tale, PETER AND WENDY.
BULLY!
By Al Holm and Adrian Vasquez De Velasco
Friday, June 7th
7:30pm
After the death of his wife and mother on Valentine's Day, only three days after first child is born, a young Theorodore Roosevelt spends his grieving days out west. Racing from the ghosts of his past, Teddy distracts himself as he leads a posse of hunters and ranchers on a deadly quest for the ultimate prize....Big Foot.
THE POETRY PANACEA
By Amy Losi
Saturday, June 8th
2:00pm
What if your life could be changed by poetry? It’s open mic night at the Poetry Panacea Café. Enjoy the poems and Daisy’s homemade pastries. You will be entertained and moved by this multi-generational cast in this funny and touching drama. The five characters reveal their dreams and vulnerabilities as they search for change, love, and connection. All of their lives intersect as they confront loss and the ghosts from the past. Their stories are filled with humor, pathos, a touch of jazz, and the curative power of poetry.
CLOCKS ARE LIKE ANGELS
By Kyle R. Thomas
Saturday, June 8th
7:30pm
This play takes place in a small town in East Tennessee in 1933, when the TVA began dam construction and started buying up land and displacing families. The story opens with a family burying their fifth baby, and later they find out that they must rebury their dead as part of their forced move, which is just unthinkable. As the stakes intensify, they must grapple with the idea if life is still worth living at all. Twists and turns and betrayals ensue, leading to a tragic ending.
POTTY MOUTH
By Sophie Ferrin and Chloe Schneider
Saturday, June 8th
8:00pm
Two best friends get in line at a music festival for the port-a-potty. Patiently waiting their turn until they realize how much time has passed and that they might miss the concert they came to watch. They attempt to speak to the person inside and that’s when sh*t hits the fan.
SCREAMPLAY
By Connor Wentworth
Sunday, June 9th
3:00pm
Singers, Actors, and Dancers -- oh good! murders. A performing arts school is being plagued by a murderous killing spree, creating their own version of a scary movie live on stage. But don't worry, THE SCHOOL has got it under control. With every phone call the students receive, another one takes their final bow -- but who is behind the knife?
THE GOBLIN WOMAN
By M.R. Krestul
Sunday, June 9th
4:00pm
A battle of dichotomies takes the stage in M. R. Krestul’s new work, The Goblin Woman. The experimental play explores gender, queerness, desire, and identity through the lens of Christina Rossetti’s acclaimed poem, “The Goblin Market.” In The Goblin Woman, a series of vignettes, devised movement, poetry, and scenography tells the story of Lizzie and Laura, two fragmented parts of the same self, and Jeanie, a long-lost-almost-lover. The tale is driven by warring identities and powerful, unyielding feelings which prompt us to question who we are, who we were, and who we will be.