The Plays
This year, we present Montana Short Cuts, a set of ten-minute plays, Open Range, a set of one-act plays and Solo Act, for individual performers.
Montana Short Cuts
Ten-minute plays on the theme "Superstition."
Ain't No Fairy Tale by Steve Palmer
Cracks by Rebecca Ryland
Just To Be Safe by Samantha Strom
My Understanding by Ross Peter Nelson
Red Giant/White Dwarf by Leigh Ann Ruggerio & Brent McCafferty
Take It Straight by Perrie Frydenlund
Open Range
One-act plays not tied to the theme.
A Larson Story by David Singer
Mirage by GP Younger
The Dress Rehearsal by Perrie Frydenlund
Solo Act
Short plays for a single actor.
On Saturday Nov 7 & 14 at 9:00pm, there will be free preformances of short dramatic monologues.
The Writers
Perrie Frydenlund Perrie received a BA in Business Administration and a BFA in Theater Arts from the University of Montana Western. She both a Short Cut and an Open Range production this year, and is incredibly happy to see her work on the stage.
.jpg)
Brent McCafferty lives in Billings, Montana, with their partner, Leigh Ann; their rubber plant, Jack; and their paradoxical unworthiness of and need for human affection. They will spend their next life as a Norwegian Forest Cat.
Ross Peter Nelson has a creative writing MFA from the University of New Orleans and his work has appeared on three continents and won awards in Washington, Nevada, and Louisiana. In addition to his dramatic work, he has published two computer books and short fiction. He is an associate producer of the Last Chance New Play Fest and president of Raven's Feather Productions.
Steven Palmer Steve Palmer is an artist, performer, playwright and a 4th generation resident of Helena. His first play, performed before a paying audience, was in the Seattle area in 1979. As an actor he's toured with Shakespeare in the Parks and also worked briefly as actor/director/playwright with the Vigilante Players. As one of the organizers for Helena's, Last Chance New Play Fest, Palmer has written and performed a number of one-man shows including, BOXED, which was also performed at the United Solo Festival in New York City in 2017.
Rebecca Ryland holds an MFA in Acting/Directing and is a member of the Dramatists Guild. She has performed in Equity theatre and directed professionally for the past 30 years. Her plays have been produced off-Broadway, at colleges & universities and at community theatres across the U.S. and Canada. She is the owner of Heartland Plays, Inc. and the founder of ETC.
Leigh Ann Ruggiero is a novelist, playwright, and Assistant Professor of English at MSU-Billings. Her debut novel, Unfollowers, won the Juniper Prize for Fiction in 2021 and went on to win the National Indie Excellence Award for Multicultural Fiction and the Foreword INDIES Silver Award for Literary Fiction. Leigh Ann's most recent work onstage includes the roles of Serena in Legally Blonde: The Musical and Frederick in Pirates of Penzance; they also directed The Magic Flute, adapting it for a punk aesthetic at the University of Providence.
David Singer grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Madison, Wisconsin. He has lived in Helena for two years and is working for the state legislature as an analyst. In graduate school David took a film class, and it stirred his interest in the performing arts. David enjoys screenwriting and is excited to be writing for theater!
Samantha Strom is the Director of Publications at Farcountry Press. She also opened Swing Out Helena to teach swing dancing. This is her first submission to Last Chance New Play Festival, and was delighted that The Giveaway Pile was selected. She also acts, and will appeared recently in the Raven's Feather production of The Moors.
GP Younger is a founding member of LCNPF and a journeyman actor and writer of stage and screen. On screen, he’s appeared in Fear the Knight, The Bonnie Situation, Who killed Rock Cobin, and Plain Clothes as well as Madonna’s Bad Girl video. On stage he has appeared as Dracula and other characters, including Scrooge in a production of A Christmas Carol that toured with Barry Williams (Greg Brady) and Taxi’s Jeff Conaway. His plays have seen productions in NYC, Seattle, Phoenix, Denver, here and elsewhere.