CyberfestThe Electronic New Play Festival
Cyberfest will be a periodic playwriting festival in which much of the activity occurs on the internet or electronically.

THE SELECTION: First, we will put in a call for writers, directors and actors who will be available to participate within the parameters and deadlines. All participants, or at the very least, the playwrights, will write in seeds when they declare they are available to participate. They will be printed and put into a basket and then drawn at the start time. The seeds should be a noun, an adjective, a verb, and maybe a phrase.

PARAMETERS: The shows should be at least 10 minutes but no longer than 20 minutes, and should require no more than 4 actors with minimum tech.

START: At the specified time, live via webcam if possible, the playwright’s names will be drawn of who will be participating in that cycle, followed by the directors, and then the seeds. An E-mail will immediately go out and the writers may begin writing.

DIRECTORS: One week later, all four final scripts will be sent to the directors. The directors will declare which shows they want to direct via E-mail and they will be assigned in the order they are received. They will begin rehearsals

SHOW: The shows will open the next Friday, and possibly run Saturday too. Ideally the shows will be broadcast live and also recorded to stream off the website. There will be a short break between each piece with an intermission for the audience after the first two.

Contacts
Website: www.dfwplaywrightsalliance.org
Web Master: Tim Shane (Tim@shane-arts.com)
Newsletter Editor: Allene Nichols (allenen@pobox.com)

On Friday, May 15th, the following 5 writers were selected to write their shows...

Mary Humphrey
Rosie McGee
Troy Camplin
Tony Hawkins
Donnie Wilson

On Friday, May 22nd, the following directors were assigned to the scripts...

“Gender Specific” by Mary Humphrey * Directed by Joshua Bridgewater

“Love Potion #5: Tribal Musk” by Donnie Wilson * Directed by Atseko Factor

“The Wait” by Tony Hawkins * Directed by Matt Salter

“Almost Ithicaid” by Troy Camplin * Directed by Melissa Flower/Valerie Huston

“Cut Your Loss” by Rosie Arrelle McGee * Directed by TD Ballard

You can get into all the shows live buy purchasing 1 ticket for $10. As a promotion incentive, the show that has the most tickets under their name per night will get a percentage of the box office sales. If you do not know any of the shows, pick the title that you find most appealing. You may purchase the tickets online by clicking this box:

You may also view the performances on our webcam by adding "dallashubwebcam" to your yahoo messenger.

On May 29th and 30th, 4 of the 5 productions arrived and performed to both a live studio audience and a live interactive virtual audience. We assume the 5th show was lost in Cyberspace. Read a review of the shows below or by clicking: here

Love Potion #5: Tribal Musk
Written by Donnie Wilson
Directed by Atseko Factor
Featuring Atseko Factor, Angelica Jackson and Antonio Wright

Gender Specific
Written by Mary Humphrey
Directed by Joshua Bridgewater
Featuring Mary Humphrey, Terren Humphrey, Caren Strickland and Joseph Bridgewater

Cut Your Loss
Written and Directed by Rosie Arrelle McGee
Featuring Kristol Jamison, Amy Bryant, Richard Perkins, Erik Berry and Robert Peacock

Almost Ithicaid
Written by Troy Camplin
Directed by Melissa Flower and Valerie Houston
Featuring Matt Clark, Rebecca Johnson, Valerie Houston

THEATER REVIEW: Buster Spiller for Examiner.com
Love Potion #5 & Gender Specific dominate 1st Annual Cyberfest
May 30, 4:06 PM

As patrons sat in the audience at the Dallas Hub Theater waiting for the start of the 1st Annual "Cyberfest", an electronic play festival collaboration between the Hub and the DFW Playwright's Alliance, you could sense the anticipation of start of something groundbreaking and unique: a marriage between traditional theater and technology.

Fingers were busy texting in "dallashubwebcam" on their iPhones and other similiar devices and sound checks were being made by the production staff to ensure the voices and applause of those in other cities tuning in via Yahoo messenger could be heard.

Applause was the standard of the evening which showcased 5 world premiere play shorts, especially when the actors of Dallas-based playwright Donnie F. Wilson's play "Love Potion #5: Tribal Musk" took the stage.

Running slightly under 15 minutes, Love Potion #5 dealt with the usual trials and tribulations of African-American dating, with Bruno a black man played with amazing finesse and candor by Atseko Factor engaged in a revolving door of one night stands while being relentlessly pursued by Juanita, played by the equally talented and beautiful Angelica Jackson, a slightly full-figured black woman who could have easily inspired by Anthony Hamilton's R&B hit "Sista Big Bones" , with curves and style to match.

Juanita is attentive in preparing Reno his favorite meals and cleaning his apartment but he still rejects her advances. Unsure what to do about his "problem", he confides to his friend Jake, played outrageously by the delightful Antonio Wright who resembled an super-size Steve Urkel of the hit TV sitcom Family Matters that Juanita "may be a demented soul."

When Juanita finally has her way with Bruno with a little assistance from a condom and a candle, she turns him out and all he can say is "damn!" Bruno starts to develop some intense feelings for Juanita, only later to develop what he believes to be an STD. Jake comes to the rescue and discovers the root of Juanita's deception is in the candle, a love potion so potent that Jake has to fight Bruno off!

Given the back and forth battle of the sexes within the African-American community, Wilson should consider developing a full length version of this play, which I believe would be well-received by audiences.

Mary Humphrey's "Gender Specific" was a sci-fi riot, with Humphrey leading the cast of 3 as a character named Dalik, a woman who has developed "co-entrancing" technology that renders humans devoid of any knowledge of sexual attraction but provides plenty of sexual stimulation. Creative sound design by Joseph Humphrey, who is Humphrey's son, gave the play an authentic futuristic feel.

Dalik starts her day with a healthy dose of simulated sex joined by her friend Nari, played by newcomer Karen Strickland, who initially started off with low volume and energy but in minutes rose to meet Humphrey's enormous stage energy.

As Dalik expounds on the virtues of her co-entrancing technology, Nari isn't convinced and accuses her friend of being unfair to her boyfriend by not acknowledging that she has always had feelings of same-sex attraction towards women, particularly another female named Reyna.

Dalik tries to thwart the conversation, stating a society that is sexually equal poses no problems, with the exception of the "lesser ones", a group of humans responsible for every societal ill imaginable. Dalik is resolve in her determination to make sure this sub-group upgrades.

As Dalik ponders whether this is possible and if she needs to manufacture new people in order to save the species, in walks her boyfriend H1, a metal helmet-strapped being with no emotions like Dr. Spock of Star Trek fame played by Terren Humphrey, who is also Humphrey's real life youngest son.

Created by Dalik as well, the younger Humphrey is hysterical as H1 as he tries to understand why Dalik doesn't need him or how two vaginas can create the "ooh-ahh" feeling. He implores Dalik to implant him with "your penis technology chip so I can better assist you."

While the remaining two shows were not on the level of the first two plays, they were enjoyable as well and had some bright moments. Third in the lineup was "Cut Your Loss" by Rosie Arrelle McGee that also focused on male/female relationships.

Opened with narration provided by Robert Peacock, which seemed unnecessary to introduce the story, we find the lead character Aaron played with comedic flair by Erik Berry, a black man from Ithaca, New York who is having relationship issues with his girlfriend Sarah, played by the graceful Amy Bryant.

Despite there issues, Aaron has a habit of keeping a pair of Sarah's panties close to him in his jacket pocket. As in the first play reviewed, Aaron starts to experience a lot of itching and scratching himself which also extends to his buttocks. When Aaron finds himself on a bus with Sarah and her best friend Gloria, played by the hilarious Kristal Jamison, Gloria notices Aaron's behavior and asks with street attitude "what is wrong with your boyfriend? Looks serious to me!" Actors like Jamison who command the stage with non-verbal communication in the absence of lines are always a pleasure to watch.

Aaron soon meets a fellow male traveler, played by Richard Perkins, who has had the same syndrome for 2 years. As the story unfolds, it is revealed that the source of all the itching and scratching is not sexual indiscretions but laundry detergent.

Concluding the festival was "Almost Ithicaid" by Troy Camplin, an effective collision of Homer's Odyssey with modern day realities. In this play, we find Odysseus, played by Matt Clark being confronted by his wife Penelope, played by the convincing Rebecca Jonson of giving her an STD as well as no real love.

As if they didn't have enough problems, in walks in their son Telemachus, played well by Valerie Huston in a last-minute casting change and his gal-pal Helen (of Troy), a femme fatale played by the alluring Meg Sullivan. An allusion to infidelity with Odysseus is made, followed by Helen rattling off a list of her conquered men, including former president Bill Clinton. Odysseus implores his son to not "bow down to her wantoness" but Telemachus is resolute in his love for Helen.

The problem with this play is themes the playwright attempted to illustrate would be best achieved in a full stage production to adequately flesh out the issues crammed into a 15 minute stage segment.