Steph: You’re charging that much for onion rings that can’t get me high?
Cashier: I don’t set the prices.
FRYD is sleek and trendy. On Tuesdays, the restaurant donates 10% of pickle sales to a local school. It is not, to Steph’s disappointment, a dispensary. But Chuck needs support. His ill-conceived personal ad has summoned a trio of exes.
In “Escape,” WashU senior Zach Berger explores friendship, second chances and the true meaning of “The Piña Colada Song.” At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20, “Escape” will receive its world-premiere staged reading as part of the 2024 A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival.
Sponsored by the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences, the Hotchner Festival is modeled on professional theater development workshops. All plays are selected by “blind” submission. Selected playwrights then spend two weeks working with a director and dramaturg as well as cast and crew. The process culminates in a staged reading in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre.
The festival will continue at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, with “Follow The…” by doctoral candidate Frauke Thielecke. The story centers on Ginger and Mark, a young couple whose comfortable domesticity is interrupted by Mark’s sudden transformation into a giant white rabbit. The fur may be warm and the glasses now moot, but you can’t pay the mortgage with carrots.
About the Hotchner Festival
The Hotchner Festival is named for alumnus A.E. Hotchner (1917-2020), the acclaimed author and screenwriter who famously bested Tennessee Williams in a WashU student playwriting competition.
The 2024 festival is coordinated by Andrea Urice, teaching professor of drama and director of undergraduate studies in drama. Dramaturg will be playwright Zachariah Ezer, whose works include “The Freedom Industry,” “Address the Body!” and “Legitime,” and who joined the PAD in the spring as an assistant professor.
“Escape” is directed by Jeffery Matthews, a professor of practice in drama. “Follow The…” is directed by Annamaria Pileggi, a professor of practice in drama.
The A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre is located in the Mallinckrodt Center, 6465 Forsyth Blvd. All readings are free and open to the public. For more information, call 314-935-5858, visit pad.wustl.edu or follow the department on Facebook.
