A Benefit for Friends of the Animal Shelter
What: The Rogue Valley Ten-Minute Plays Festival
When: Monday September 15, 2008
Where: Ashland Community Center, Lithia Park, Ashland
Time: Performance 1: 5:00 - 6:45 p.m; Performance 2: 8:00 - 9:45 p.m.
Tickets: $15 – General Admission; $20 - Reserved
ArtWork Enterprises presents the eighth annual Rogue Valley Ten-Minute Plays Festival (TMPF) on Monday September 15, 2008 at the Ashland Community Center on Winburn Way across from Lithia Park in Ashland, Oregon. There will be two performances. The first reading will run from 5:00-6:30pm and the second from 8-9:45pm following a reception at 6:30pm.
Since 2001, ArtWork Enterprises has produced a summertime festival of very short plays. This year they decided to produce this event to benefit other worthwhile non-profit groups that are local to the Rogue Valley. The concept is to use theatre as a means to express and promote the values of the partner organization. For 2008, the AWE board of directors chose the Friends of the Animal Shelter (FOTAS 
) as their recipient.
This year's TMPF is produced in support of Friends of the Animal Shelter, a Jackson County non-profit organization that provides supplemental programs and volunteers to the Jackson County Animal Shelter. Given the beneficiary, playwrights were given the option of submitting plays that speak to the human-animal connection, and most chose to follow this path.
Due to the broad variety of submissions, some of the plays presented will address human fascination with animals (and vice versa) as well as encounters with not-so-real animals such as tame werewolves, talking monkeys, and very polite sharks. Other plays will speak to our lives and the times in which we find ourselves. All performances are theatrical readings, presented with scripts-in-hand. Readings are professionally directed and bring together the best talents available in the Rogue Valley.
This year, AWE is pleased to welcome René Millán and Caroline Shaffer as our directors. Both are long-time actors with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, and Caroline has been both an actor and a director in previous AWE productions. She earned a Masters of Fine Arts degree from American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, and completed additional study at Weber Douglas in London. This summer, Shaffer has been working with the Oregon Conservatory for Performing Arts, directing some of their summer programming for young actors. San Diego native Millán received his MFA from the University of Washington and has experience as both a director and educator as well. His wife, actress Sara Jane Nelson, leads the cast in "Tales of Fannie Keenan" at Oregon Stage Works through September 29.
All performances are at the Ashland Community Center on Winburn Way, across from Lithia Park and next to Pioneer Hall. The first performance is for the pre-dinner crowd from 5-6:30pm. There will be approximately eight excellent short plays, each one a gem on its own but together they make for a powerful and moving event. There will also be a reception that will provide an opportunity to mingle with the stars of this year's TMPF and enjoy some snacks and beverages all for the benefit of Friends of the Animal Shelter. The reception will be held at the same site as our performances from 6:30–8pm. The second performance of the day begins shortly after the FOTAS reception and will also feature approximately eight plays from 8-9:30pm.
Please contact AWE for tickets, volunteer opportunities, and other inquiries via email at info@AshlandNewPlays.org or by phone at 541/482.4357. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $20 for reserved seats (the first three rows). A separate ticket for the reception is required for $20; or $15 if purchased with a performance ticket. AWE is pleased to donate the net proceeds to FOTAS .
ArtWork Enterprises develops collaborative theatrical readings and events that bring new works to the American stage, giving playwrights, artists, and our community ongoing opportunities to create, learn, appreciate, and participate in the journey from page to stage. For more information, contact info@AshlandNewPlays.org or call (541)482-4357.
Friends of the Animal Shelter (FOTAS) is a non-profit organization formed in 1990 to support the programs of the Jackson County Animal Shelter to increase pet adoption, improve the quality of life for Shelter animals and to promote spay and neuter. These goals are realized with each new volunteer who shares their time, talent, and energy. To learn more about FOTAS and the programs it sponsors, please call 541.944.2021 or visit their website at www.fotas.org.
