Red Earth Theatre is bringing Little Black Dress INK’s nationally-sourced Female Playwrights ONSTAGE Festival to Sedona for the sixth year. This nation-wide event features local actors and actresses giving voice to short plays and monologues written by female playwrights from across the nation. 

This reading of exciting new work will take place at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre on Thursday, April 25, at 7:30 p.m. and is open to the public. 

Every year, Little Black Dress INK, a nationwide female playwright producing organization, invites female-identifying playwrights to submit short pieces to suit the ONSTAGE theme. This year’s theme was Swimming With Giants. After playwrights submitted their plays, they participated i LBDI’s unique peer-review process to narrow down the list of semi-finalists. 

Taking place at Mary D. Fisher Theatre in Sedona, Swimming With Giants is a fast-paced, wildly diverse evening of live reader’s theatre, sure to amuse, surprise and move the audience. Red Earth Theatre is proud to bring the first ever readings of these innovative new works to our community and invites the community to this event. 

A play by Kate Hawkes, a local playwright, will be read, as well as five other plays and a monologue. Playwrights also include Gail Mangham, from Prescott, Anne Flanagan, C.J.Ehrlich, Jennie Webb, Liz Kerlin and Katherine Varga. 

The 10-minute plays are directed by Irmgard Lake, Dylan Marshall and Dev Ross, Cathy Ransom and Kate Hawkes, who also appear on stage. 

The other actors are Shondra Jepperson, Dave Belkiewitz, Tiffany Grimm, Larry Cohen, Riley Whittaker, Mitch McDermott, Mary Gladieux, Shaunn Cochran, Joan Westmorland, Ashlee Threlkeld and Terra Shelman. Karla Stamps, Martha Entin and Esther Henselmans will make their Red Earth Theatre stage debut. 

Some of the characters include a small dog who wants to be a life saver, a man obsessed with a B-grade film star, a daughter teaching her parents a thing or two about emojis, a very loud mind, two best friends who are not competitive, a young woman in the midst of a scrabble tournament and an older woman pondering her Act 3. 

To ensure tickets are available in advance, visit sedonafilmfestival.com under the Events link or just arrive at the door by 7:15 p.m. Suggestion donation is $10 at the door. This presentation is not suitable for children.