Live Theater Is Back; Powerstories Announces 2022 Season

Tampa FL

05 November, 2021

2:52 AM

Description

TAMPA BAY, FL — After nearly two years of being shuttered due to the pandemic, Powerstories is will present the return of live, in-person, public performances for the 2022 theater season. The intimate theater on West Kennedy Boulevard will reopen to the community with the debut of two dramedies, one drama, and two festivals, continuing the theater's 22nd-year commitment to producing the finest work to open minds and hearts. "In this exciting season, we look forward to amplifying underrepresented voices and showcasing stories that both entertain and enlighten," said Powerstories founder Fran Powers. "The only thing good to come out of the pandemic was our ability to pivot, transform and become a hybrid live theater and virtual one. By investing in state-of-the-art video technology, we can bring our festivals to patrons literally around the world. We've had submissions for our festivals from as far as Canada and the Philippines. That wouldn't have happened without us wanting to reach isolated patrons who were going through this shared global experience." The 2022 season will open in February with Josefina Lopez's Real Women Have Curves, followed by the eye-opening drama Conspiracy Of Silence: The Magdalene Laundries by Anne V. McGravie in April, and the beloved dramedy Steel Magnolias in September. Interspersed between the three plays will be two theater festivals returning for their second year, The Voices of Truth in March and The Voices of Women in July. Feb. 3 - 20Real Women Have Curves is a play by Josefina Lopez that is set in a small sewing factory in East Los Angeles. It covers issues of gender politics and the Latina immigrant experience through a week in the lives of five Latina characters. April 28 - May 15The Conspiracy of Silence-The Magdalene Laundries by Anne V. McGravie tells the true story of young women in Ireland being sent to work in laundries of Catholic churches.Sept. 15 - Oct. 2Steel Magnolias by Robert Harding is based on the playwright's experience with his sister's death. The play is a comedy-drama about the bond among a group of Southern women working and visiting a beauty parlor in northwest Louisiana. For the 2022 returning festivals, the play collection process will be combined. Playwrights can submit for either Voices of Truth or Voices of Women beginning Nov. 15. Selections will be identified and playwrights notified by Dec. 15, 2021. There is no cost to submit a play. In 2021, the festivals ran three weeks and two weeks, consecutively. With a full season, the 2022 festivals will be limited to one week each. "This time for our festivals, we are given preference to new plays that have not yet been produced. We are limiting our submission to the seven of very best scripts locally and around the world," Powers said. "We had incredible scripts this year and can't wait to see what the next round of submissions will bring and where they might come from. More than ever, we can't wait to be regularly back in the theater with our audience. It's been way too long." Powerstories Theatre is located at 2105 W. Kennedy Blvd. in Tampa. Tickets for the 2022 season will go on sale in December. For more information about showtimes, ticket prices, auditions, and Powerstories Theatre's COVID-19 mask guidelines, visit www.powerstories.com.