by Rachel Green
Daily Lobo
Move over, Denver. Step aside, Phoenix. Albuquerque is set to host the largest theater festival in the Southwest.
"It's vital that such a festival happens, and because we do a large festival, our program has gotten national attention for it," said Jim Linnell, assistant producer of Words Afire, a theater festival featuring 21 plays in 21 days.
Words Afire, hosted by UNM's Theatre X, began last night. It will include full-length plays, short-act plays, one-act plays, comedies and dramas. The theater department has won five national awards for its writers in the past.
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The special event in this year's festival will be a reading of a script written by Elana Greenfield. Greenfield is a Whiting award winner from New York. Her new radio play, "How They Made the Movie/transiberiada," will feature members of the Tricklock Company. The play is about two women taking a road trip through
New Mexico.
Scripts from theater-writing classes were submitted in the spring to a reading committee of master's of fine arts writers to be considered for the festival. Auditions are open to anyone who wants to participate in the festival by doing off-stage work.
Student Babak Gharaei-Tafti is an actor in one of the full-length plays, "Kiss for Death," where he plays La Muerte, or death.
"It's about the beauty of life, helping each other and life in general," he said.
Gharaei-Tafti said the festival is a good thing for actors and theater majors.
"It's great because it's all new work, and it's different," he said. "You get to collaborate with the director and the playwright into making the character real."
Linnell said about 100 students participate in the festival, and all the work is done by volunteers.
"This is all part of the work they do as students in theater and design," he said. "It's part of their learning, and it's part of what they came here to do, particularly the grad students. We do this kind of festival in the graduate program because it's been one of the most important teaching vehicles in the writing program."
Kamarie Chapman, a graduate student in the theater department, will have a reading of her script, "Damn You Edward Tootsie."
"Having your script read is a way to present it to the audience and get feedback," she said.
She said this festival is the reason she came to UNM.
"It is such a rare thing that a university puts on this kind of production," she said. "And hopefully, it'll bring new audience members to see new theater."
Vanessa Sanchez / Daily Lobo
Lisa Fenstermacher, right, holds the first programs for director Lou Clark to cut the ties off at the opening night for the Words Afire festival Wednesday.
Vanessa Sanchez / Daily Lobo
Bobby Tafti, right, pulls Lila Elena Martinez's hair before strangling her during "A Kiss for Death," written by Don Garcia and directed by Nick Lopez. The scene was one of five performed to kick off the festival.
