The Corchaug Repertory Theater’s third annual One-Act Festival hits the boards on Saturday, September 13 at 7 p.m. and on Sunday, September 14 at 4 p.m. at the Jamesport Meeting House.
The company, founded in 2022, focuses on new work and lesser-known plays by well-known dramatists. “The One-Act Festival is our fundraiser for the year and has been well-attended,” says board member, actor and director Nicholas Auletti. “Playwrights and new directors have the opportunity to find a space, and the public can experience new work … I value the feedback from the board and the community,” he says.
The show consists of three original short works: The Grind by Bob Kaplan, Disarming by Peter Harrington, and One Wish, Hold the Mayo by Auletti.
The Grind, written and directed by Kaplan, focuses on an elderly widower who works at a Starbucks-like coffee shop and is struggling to get by after a death in the family. Disarming is about a bomb technician trying to disable an explosive device and is unexpectedly funny. One Wish, Hold the Mayo is a satire about bureaucracy and paperwork, inspired while Auletti was stuck waiting at the DMV one day; its main character is promised one wish from a genie but must complete a mountain of paperwork to get it.
Auletti describes the plays as “eclectic” while focusing on the common everyman. “I see people’s struggles and want to illuminate them, to look at them from the bottom up,” he says. “There’s a line between informing and entertaining that is crucial, and is an essential part of the theater experience, … there’s a moral there that leads the audience to release an emotion — that’s meaningful theater.”
The company, described as a “mobile theater unit” without a home of its own, holds auditions in the Riverhead Library. While Jamesport Meeting House hosts the one-act festival, their full-length production in the fall — which this year is Edward Albee’s The American Dream — is hosted by Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Greenport.
Scenes from 2024’s One-Act Festival. (Photos Courtesy of Corchaug Repertory Theater)
Auletti believes that Corchaug Repertory complements other local theater companies’ productions. “The North Fork Community Theater produces musicals and plays, while Northeast Stage does more classical productions,” he notes. “We focus on new work and more provocative plays.”
The slate of one-act plays has a running time of an hour and fifteen minutes; tickets are $20 and can be obtained at the door or online.
Corchaug Repertory Theater’s One-Act Festival, Jamesport Meeting House, 1590 Main Road, Jamesport, 631-722-5170
