by Jeanni Ritchie
Spectral Sisters hosted their annual 10-minute spring play festival from May 29-June 1 in the Kress Theatre in downtown Alexandria.
This playwriting competition accepts submissions (after an optional writing workshop) each March. They are then sent to an outside panel of judges who select the top 8 for production.
Each play has a different director and cast, though some performers appear in more than one play. Like Carly Bratcher, who starred in That Remains To Be Seen as people pleaser Lillie and An Appraisal as estranged daughter Sandra. (Loved her, by the way! This was my first time to see Bratcher in a show. I hope it’s not my last!)
It was hard to get past some of the actor’s previous roles! When Dylan Claude Boothe appeared in the first play, Ouroboros, I found myself snarling before I remembered he wasn’t actually Emma’s jerk of a husband in Terms of Endearment! Coincidentally, Reade Spivey (who’d played Emma in that City Park Players production) was not actually dying so I didn’t have to be sad every time I saw her!
Karen Riley Simmons went from grief-stricken mother Doris in the drama Suicide to widowed Gail in the comedy Hand Me the Crow-bar.
Ouroboros (which is a symbolic serpent- I looked it up during intermission!), Suicide, and Roses were thought-provoking or intense action dramas.
That Remains to Be Seen (based on a real live true tale in writer Terri February’s life!), Hand Me the Crow-bar, Professionals, An Appraisal, and The Stoned Age were side-splitting comedies.
Me thinks David R. Sobel played his role as Brian a little too well! Might he have imbibed in a little method acting?!
Another performer who was giving me flashbacks was Quentin McMickens. So caught up in the reveal that “Ashley,” the “gold digger” Brian’s daughter Sherry (Ellie Sobel) assumed her dad was talking about was actually a man, I didn’t recognize him at first. But I knew that voice! Smarmy Herbert Rockefeller/Vanderbilt from CPP’s Four Old Broads on the High Seas!
Alana Pate, who I usually see behind the scenes directing incredible student shows, also pulled double duty with Spectral Sisters’ 10-Minute Play Festival. Kooky next door neighbor Penny unknowingly shook a box of human remains in That Remains to Be Seen before shaking her fist as the no-nonsense owner of a moving company in Hand Me the Crow-bar.
Speaking of Professionals, Claressa Nixon and Alecia Lewis killed it in a jail cell when the cops rounded up, er…professional girlfriends, with Nixon dispensing life advice to a naive Doe (Eli Grant) when her outfit and poor choice of words landed her in the slammer.
Each play answered the theme “What Happened Was…”
Other actors appearing on stage were Austin Leander, Jim Weinzettle, AJ Williams, Jill DuPont, Steven Smith, Regan Amburgey, Eliot Carruth, and Alan Rogers.
The winning plays were, in order of performance, Ouroboros (written by Lewis Gauthier, directed by Alana Pate), Suicide (written by David Holcombe, directed by Regan Amburgey), That Remains to Be Seen (written by Terri February, directed by Sarah Catherine LaBorde), The Stoned Age (written by Melissa Savage, co-directed by Julie Beene-Police and Johnette McNeal-Coco), Hand Me the Crow-bar (written by David Adams, directed by Jeff Goelz), Professionals (written by John Wilson, co-directed by Bob Savage and David J. Holcombe), Roses (written by Frances Boudreaux, co-directed by Jim and Ruth T. Weinzettle), and An Appraisal (written by Carlos Turner, directed by Nick Blackstone).
Next year’s spring theme will be Grace and Wrath. If you’ve always dreamed of producing a play, this is a great chance to get your feet wet!
Spectral Sisters also has an annual fall production. This year it will be a collection of ten minute plays titled The Apartments. Writers are given nine characters (along with one additional character of your own) with which to stage a story. The setting and characters are completed for you; you simply provide a plot.
Characters include:
BONNIE: 18yrs old, female, French, secretary to mean boss, single, stand-up comedian, female, straight, sensitive cries easily, bites nails, imaginary friend, had a secret love child
TYRONE GRADISLEAR: 37yrs old, male, Dutch Canadian, contractor, its complicated, enjoys board games, straight, anxious, hates plaid, is incontinent, Taylor Swift is his guilty pleasure
JOSEPHINE: 50-65yrs old, female, Irish, teacher, dating, enjoys building model airplanes, straight, optimistic, owns a rabbit, ADHD, still has a crush on an old friend
It reminds me a little of Whose Line Is It Anyway? I can’t wait to see what Cenla’s playwrights come up with! Mark your calendars now for September 18-21, 2025.
Founded in 2003, Spectral Sisters Productions (SSP) is a unique organization in Alexandria, La. A 501(C)3 non-profit organization, SSP cultivates theater left untouched by educational or typical community theater groups, focusing on original plays written by local writers or provocative, cutting edge productions.
Follow Spectral Sisters on Facebook or go to their website to learn more about them, their vision, or these nine characters! spectralsisters.com/
They are always looking for playwrights, directors, and actors. Join the team; they’d love to have you!
Jeanni Ritchie is a contributing journalist from Central Louisiana. She can be reached at jeanniritchie54@gmail.com.
