Short plays come ‘Fast and Furious’ at Stage Left

On Saturday and Sunday at Stage Left Theater, the audience is advised to not blink during the theater’s third annual staged readings of one- to three-minute-long plays. “Fast and Furious” includes more than 35 plays written by local and national playwrights.

“The works are everything from comedy to serious drama,” said producer Sandra Hosking. “Each piece is a moment in time that will leave the audience laughing, crying and thinking.”

Hosking received about 150 submissions. The selected works include “The Choice,” by Stephen Kaplan, of New Jersey, about a man shopping for a dress; “Emergency,” by Allan Provost, of Florida, about a 911 operator who corrects grammar; “Crossing the Line,” by Jeff Stolzer, of New York, about a couple on a walk; and pieces by a half-dozen local writers. Hosking will also present a few of her own plays.

“I created ‘Fast and Furious’ to develop my own short plays and to get exposure for myself and others,” she said.

Hosking wrote her first play at the age of 12. “I’ve always liked to write,” she said, “But it always came out as dialogue; it’s my thing. I wrote my first one on a typewriter. It was called ‘Death by the Dollar.’ ”

She went on to receive a master’s degree in fine arts in theater/playwriting from the University of Idaho and a second in creative writing from Eastern Washington University. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and the International Centre for Women Playwrights, and her plays have been performed in festivals all over, including New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Canada. As a resident playwright at Stage Left Theater, she also produces the festivals “Hit and Run” and “Left Overs.”

This year’s “Fast and Furious” production will include more than 20 local actors doing the staged readings without sets, props or costumes.

Rebecca Cook will be directing actors as well as reading.

“We’ll make it as entertaining as possible using our voices and our steps,” she said.

Cook has worked for years in theater and film. “I really appreciate what Sandra does,” she said. “Her play festivals are unique and give writers and actors good opportunities.”

Playwright Stolzer agreed. “I was required to write a one-minute play to apply for Soho Rep’s 2015 Writer Director Lab in New York. I was not selected for the lab, but being selected for ‘Fast and Furious’ is a nice consolation prize and great exposure.”

Stolzer, a screenwriter turned playwright, described his play as abstract and metaphorical. “Opposed from screenwriting, playwrights don’t worry about commercial consideration,” Stolzer said. “We do it for the love of the art.”