Launching its fifth year of presenting new works, PlayFest has undergone many changes and lost one of its most ardent supporters.
Last fall, Christina Erteszek, PlayFest co-founder and chairwoman, died on Oct. 14. Her death came only two months after a successful week of workshopping new plays in Durango. Everyone involved has felt the loss deeply.
The festival is about to begin its fifth season next week. It is dedicated to Erteszek.
“If it wasn’t for Christina, there would have never been a Durango PlayFest,” actor and longtime friend Dan Lauria said recently.
Lauria recounted the early days of his friendship with Erteszek and fellow actor Wendie Mallik. Other creative collaborations preceded the beginnings of Durango’s unique festival in 2018.
“Years ago, after the terrible fires that swept through Colorado, Christina called her dearest friend, the lovely and talented Wendie Malick, and asked if she and I would come to Durango to perform the play ‘The Guys,’ about the Sept. 11 firemen who died that day,” Lauria said. “It was a benefit for local firefighters. We planned two performances, but ticket sales were so high, we ended up doing four – all to benefit local firefighters. Naturally, Christina asked us to do it again the following year. Then Christina asked if we could do a performance of A.R. Gurney’s ‘Love Letters’ for Fort Lewis College. We did, and it was another success.”
If you go
WHAT: Durango PlayFest, fifth annual festival of new American plays with readings, talkbacks, parties and panels.
WHEN: June 25 to July 2.
WHERE: Durango Arts Center, 802 East Second Ave.
TICKETS: All-Access Pass $150. Individual plays $25; $15 Fort Lewis College alumni; $10 FLC students. Free 5 p.m. June 28 Playwright Panel.
MORE INFORMATION: Call 259-2606 (Durango Arts Center) or visit www.durangoplayfest.org.
The idea of a new-play workshopping festival rose out of those early experiments, Lauria said.
“Perhaps, because of too many glasses of wine and great friendship conversation, I casually said: ‘Durango. What a wonderful place for a play festival.’ That’s all Christina needed to hear,” he said. “The next year, she and her husband (Fritz Geisler) invited Wendie and me to come to Durango to speak with a number of businessmen, including Terry Bacon. The rest is history.”
Separately, actor and longtime friend Malick confirmed Lauria’s origin story and filled in more details.
“Six years ago, Fritz, Dan, Christina and I hatched the idea for Durango PlayFest,” she said. “She nurtured its development from the start, and I imagined growing old with her in Durango someday.”
“Miss Bossy Pants,” as Malick affectionately refers to her late friend, “could delegate, collaborate, direct and inspire. She was a master gardener, in every sense of the word.”
The daughter of Polish refugees, Christina Erteszek, grew up in America to become part of the highly successful business in the fashion industry known as The Olga Co. Erteszek eventually developed a fashion line of her own. A writer and author of the 2020 book about the family’s journey, Erteszek also became an advocate for arts and education. In addition to PlayFest, she served the FLC Foundation as a director, among many other volunteer activities.
“After Christina’s passing, the board and staff were immediately and unanimously in favor of dedicating this year’s festival to her,” PlayFest Artistic Director Felicia Meyer said. “The Festival Party and Kick-Off Event will be the most visible way we honor her. As co-founders, Dan Lauria and Wendie Malick will share their memories.”
Three new plays will be workshopped beginning Monday morning in the FLC Theatre Building. Daily rehearsals will find playwrights William Ludel, David Myers and Alex Riad engaging with directors and actors to rethink, revise and reimagine original scripts.
The plays include: Ludel’s “Dr. Goldman’s Birthday Party,” Myers’ “237 Virginia Avenue” and Riad’s “Heartbeat.” Toward the end of the week, each will be presented more than once in semi-staged readings. All matinee and evening readings will be held at the Durango Arts Center. See the PlayFest website for specifics.
In past years, the fourth slot was earmarked for a new work by a local or regional playwright. Not so in 2023.
“We put out a call for local plays, and unfortunately, we didn’t receive any submissions.” PlayFest Artistic Director Felicia Meyer said.
Consequently, in the coveted fourth spot, a fully-realized and previously performed work will be offered: “I Came Back for Molly,” by actor-playwright Molly Carden.
Carden may be remembered by PlayFest fans as she appeared in last year’s reading of Richard Dresser’s “Our Shrinking, Shrinking World.” Earlier this year, Dresser’s play went on to a professional production at the New Jersey Repertory Theatre, and Carden was in the cast. She returns now to Durango for her autobiographical piece. It has only one performance, Wednesday (June 28).
“Molly sent us her play, and the programming committee loved it,” Meyer said. “The subject matter is important and relevant to our times and this community. Molly is an important young artist in American theater. We were thrilled with her performance last summer, and we felt that including her new play in this summer’s festival was an important role for us in nurturing this talent.”
Carden’s play shifts around in time and place and includes sojourns ranging from drama school to psychiatric hospitals. PlayFest’s content warning reads: “Contains themes of suicide and mental illness.”
In addition to Carden and the three other playwrights, a roster of directors and seven professional actors are coming in for the festival. The PlayFest website has photos and biographies.
“Our ambitious vision is for DPF to become a nationally recognized center for new play development,” Meyer said.
Last year’s festival tent on the FLC mesa turned out to be a one-off for Durango PlayFest. Located at the north end of the FLC athletic fields, the white-spired tent offered ample free parking and open seating. But there were problems.
“When we surveyed past actors and directors, the majority said they prefer a traditional theater setting where lighting and sound can be better controlled – and where inclement weather and noise from the nearby softball games would not impact performances,” Mandy Mikulencak, PlayFest managing director said. “The rental of a tent, chairs, lighting and sound equipment, portable restrooms, etc., was almost double the cost of the Durango Arts Center.”
In previous years, the festival performed at the college and on the Diamond Circle Melodrama stage as well as the DAC and the Smiley Tent. Sounds like a work-in-progress.
- 2018. PlayFest began with two new works by playwrights Stephen Nathan and Emily Dendinger and a previously produced play, “A Body of Water,” by well-regarded American playwright Lee Blessing. It was a Broadway outlier from 2008 and explained as “needing a refresher.” A new work, “Standby to Standby,” by a recent FLC graduate, Jake Yost, filled a community playwright spot.
- 2019. PlayFest showcased six works by established playwrights and the company expanded to 70 including a dozen FLC-affiliated personnel.
- 2020. COVID-19 shut down many arts organizations, including PlayFest except for a livestream of Lia Romeo’s two-hander “Sitting & Talking,” with PlayFest co-founders Dan Lauria and Wendie Malick.
- 2021. PlayFest returned with a slightly reduced format. Romeo’s “Sitting & Talking,” got a reprise, and her new play “Ghost Story” had a fully staged reading. The community play, Lindsey Kirchoff’s “Golden Gate,” was presented at the Durango Arts Center. Blessing’s new play, “The Family Line,” concluded the festival in the Smiley Building tent.
- 2022. Romeo returned with a new play titled, “The Agency.” Richard Dresser workshopped his new play, “Our Shrinking, Shrinking World,” as did Lauria with “Just Another Day,” in which he performed with Jodi Long. The community-playwright offering, “monster SLAYer,” by Diné storyteller Blossom Johnson, explored how a family processes grief for a missing daughter. All readings took place in a festival tent on the FLC campus.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
