MIDWINTER MADNESS Short Play Fest - 2012 - Listings, Auditions, Videos, Features and Everything Theatre!

John Chatterton & Midtown International Theatre Festival present
Second Annual Midwinter Madness Short Play Festival

John Chatterton and The Midtown International Theatre Festival (MITF) are pleased to announce the Second Annual Midwinter Madness Short Play Festival from February 13 through March 4, 2012.

The Festival will take place at Roy Arias Studios' Payan Theatre, 300 W. 43^rd St., 5^th fl. Tickets (at $14 and $17, depending on a play's length; no discounts for seniors or students) are available at www.SmartTix.com (search by play title) or by calling 212/868-4444.

"I have a passion for short plays. With the Short Play Lab throughout the season and the MITF's Short Subjects in the summer, and the Midwinter Madness Short Play Festival in the winter, it's all short play all year 'round!" said John Chatterton.

In addition to a tie-in with the MITF Short Subjects, the Midwinter Madness Short Play Festival also echoes the MITF with some international plays, notably

(CIRCO POEIRA "Dust Circus"), a solo play with puppets all the way from Brazil SEE VIDEO BELOW!(written and directed by Caio Stolai; produced by Milena Nascimento). (Tues, Feb 28 7:30 PM first show; Sat Mar. 03 6:15 PM second show; Sun Mar. 04 7:15 last show)

ONE OUT OF TEN, a play about immigrants in Greece, (originally created by Laertis Vasiliou; translated and directed by Aktina Stathak). (Tuesday February 14th at 6.15pm; Saturday February 18th at 7.30pm; Sunday February 19th at 7.15pm)

Other Midwinter Madness selections (30 in all) include:

COFFEE HOUSE, GREENWICH VILLAGE by John Doble - On a blind date in a Greenwich Village coffee shop, a beautiful woman gradually leads an ordinary young man to confront his dark side. (Monday, February 13, 6:00 pm. Thursday, February 16, 7:15 pm. Saturday, February 18, 3:30 pm.)

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE KARMA by Mike Durell - Can a washed-up ’80s pop star spar with a zealous fan and a gung-ho manager and still win? (Thu. Feb.16, 8:30 and Sat. Feb.18, 4:45)

THE TOUPEE by Tom Dunn - A wealthy widow looks for answers from the young woman who was the last to see her husband alive. (Monday, Feb. 13th at 9:45 pm; Thursday Feb. 16th at 6:00 pm; Saturday Feb. 18th at 2:15 pm)

A MONTH OF SUNDAYS by Tearrance A. Chisholm - When the skeletons emerge will their love survive or will it become her ghost?

NORMA JEAN ENLIGHTENED by Joanne de Simone - Following her death, Marilyn Monroe finds herself on a beach, where as the young Norma Jeane she is enlightened on life, love and death. (Wednesday, Feb. 15th, 7:15 pm; Friday, Feb. 17th, 8:15 pm; Sunday, Feb. 19th, 12pm)

HOLIDAY IN HEAVEN a musical by Demetria Daniels - What happens in the year 3000 when a harp contest in heaven is judged by an earthling who falls in love with Alexander the Great? (Disney meets 'The Pursuit of Happiness') (Tues. Feb 14, 7:30 PM; Sat Feb 18, 8:45; Sun Feb 19, 4:15)

HUNGRY PEOPLE, THE MUSICAL by Jung Han Kim - See the video clip below!

THE WALLS CAME TUMBLING DOWN by Paulanne Simmons - In Jewish myth, Rahab was so beautiful that if a man said her name twice he would ejaculate. Today she assists an American soldier in the war-torn Middle East.

JIMMY AND JANICE by Jason Cicci- Although nothing alike, recently broken-up Janice meets recently broken-up Jimmy when they travel to a wedding together. While they compare relationship war stories, they find common ground...and maybe more. (Monday, February 20 at 9:45PM; Thursday, February 23 at 9:45PM; Saturday, February 25 at 1PM)

REST by Leonard D. Goodisman - The father of the family lies comatose, but he keeps interfering with the lives around him.

THE SEVEN STAGES OF GRIEF by Dimitri C. Michalakis - A Black comedy about a dying father, an estranged son and a nurse who keeps smiling (Monday, February 20 at 6; Thursday, February 23 at 8:30; Saturday, February 25 at 3:30)

THE BABBLER by Jeffrey Fiske - From 1001 Arabian Nights and performed in the style of Modern Burlesque. A man scorns 4 women, who then get even. He is tricked, tormented and loses the shirt (and everything else) right off his back. (Saturday, February 24 at 9:45 PM)

HIROSHI-ME,ME,ME by Natalie Menna - There's no end to Roberta's delusions...or ranting. Scary that there's a little bit of Roberta in all of us!

ONCE by Dan Bocchino - Meeting the love of his life's family for the first time, a young man runs into an old "friend" he never thought he'd see again. (Wed. Feb. 22nd 8:30pm;Fri. Feb. 24th 7:15pm; Sat. Feb. 26th 12pm)

OUT OF THE CRADLE ENDLESSLY ROCKING by Nikola Tesla Gojcaj -

RED ALL OVER by Mike Fresta - Romance is in the air and these guys can't wait to drink it all in; their way. (Saturday, February 25th@6pm; Tuesday, February 21st@6pm; Sunday, February 26th@630pm.)

DICTATORS FOR HIRE by Joe Beck - Deposed dictators flood a troubled NYC temp agency for corporate CEO positions. (Tuesday, Feb 21, 9pm, Saturday Feb 25 9pm and Sunday, Feb 26 at 8 pm and Sunday, February 26, 2012)

WITHOUT A NET: 5 short plays by Meri Wallace

FETAL ATTRACTION by Sarah M Chichester - Laura goes down to the womens' clinic to change her life, and ends up changing someone else's.

WAITING FOR DR. HOFFMAN by Michele Willens - Would you kill for a new face? Three women—18, 27, 42-- meet in a cosmetic surgeon’s waiting room, ambivalent and anxious. They are joined by a former patient who expected more---and will go to extreme lengths to get it. (Monday, Feb 27, 8:30 p.m.; Thursday, March 1, 10 p.m.; Saturday, March 3, 5 p.m.)

MEREDITH'S RING by Andrew Rothkin - Nobody understood the strange new girl who showed up at school one day. But A.J. didn’t have to -- he loved. And sometimes love is enough. (Monday, February 27 @ 9:45 P.M.; Thursday, March 1 @ 6 P.M.; Saturday March 3 @ 2 P.M.)

STRAWBERRY FIELDS by Ashley Nicole Audette - With distance and pain being the main source of drive for this family, will their love for each other be enough to save them? (Tuesday February 28th 6pm, Saturday March 3rd 9:15pm. Sunday March 4th 6pm.)

LA PETITE MORT by Joshua R. Pangborn - A comedy about what happens after Stephen shoots his roommate's rapist. (February 29 @ 6:00, March 2 @ 9:00, March 4 @ 1:30)

THE BRINK by Eugenie Carabatsos - After witnessing the death of their two friends in a murder/suicide, Helen and Charlie reconstruct their memories in an attempt to cope with the loss.

SOCIAL ANXIETY by Gwen Baer - Four socially challenged people participate in a clinical trial group for a new miracle drug, for social-anxiety disorder.(Wednesday, February 29th, 7:30, Friday, March 2, 6:00, Sunday, March 4, 3:00)

ANIMAL KINGDOM by Laura Zlatos - Animal Kingdom is an edgy, avant-garde dark comedy that follows six eccentric characters through a moral quandary that asks, is murder ever moral? In a world where right and wrong are as twisted as the characters' identities, this sometimes philosophical and always entertaining play exposes human existence as a depraved and savage animal kingdom. (Wednesday, February 29 @ 9:00 pm., Friday, March 2 @ 7:30 pm., Sunday, March 4 @ 12:00 pm)

THE MAN IN THE WINDOW: The Building of the Brooklyn Bridge by Donald Orwald and Linda Harvey-Burkley.

John Chatterton created the MITF in 2000, a Midtown alternative to other theatre festivals, as a way to present the finest off-off Broadway talent in convenience, comfort, and safety. The MITF's artistic emphasis is on the script itself, and therefore the Festival focuses on minimal production values. If anything, the Midwinter Madness Short Play Festival, and Mr. Chatterton's other showcases for short plays, take the theme of minimalism even further. As he puts it, "The shorter the plays, the more plays we have in one space, so the less space we have for each one. We learn to share."

The Midwinter Madness Short Play Festival's media partner is LocalTheaterNYC.com.