APAC’s Original Play Festival continues at Aloha Theatre

Aloha Peforming Arts Company’s 24th annual Original Play Festival continues tonight and Saturday at Aloha Theatre in Kainaliu.

The festival opened Wednesday with five directors who chose 20 cast members for the eight scripts being presented this year. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. this evening and Saturday.

Ellen Farnsworth directs Friday’s show, “Mother’s Wishes,” a dysfunctional family drama by Robert Lynn. Cast members are Rich Mears, Shelene Grey, Tiffany Kutsunai, Kerry Matsumoto, Allen Eggleston, and Steve Grey.

Robin O’Hara directs the festival closer on Saturday, “Neil Simon’s Last Hit,” a “show biz” comedy by Jack Feldstein. Steven Grey, Stephen Alves, and Tiffany Kutsunai make up the cast.

All plays are presented as staged readings, with simple technical presentation and actors holding scripts.

Tickets are $5 per night. More information is availalbe online at www.apachawaii.org or by calling 322-9924.

At 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, APAC will host a free public potluck celebration on the Aloha Theatre stage to honor all participants in the festival. At this event, the “Opie,” a people’s choice award for best script of the festival, will be awarded to the winning script, which will then be forwarded to APAC’s Artistic Kokua Committee for consideration as a possible future mainstage production.

Aloha Performing Arts Company received a record 424 entries, from 10 countries, 43 of the United States, and the District of Columbia, for the festival.

Info: www.apachawaii.org.