Playwright's Festival: Nine Down, One To Go

Megan Gogerty (left) and Michael Gilboe in "Feckless."

My buddy Sonya Chappelear offers critique.

Saw another of the Playwright's Festival 2014 offerings this afternoon at Mill Mountain Theatre and this one's got a lot of promise as a comedy, but not as a drama. In this early draft of "Feckless," the play tries to be both and the critique session at the end should be quite valuable to playwright Byron Harris (a guy with a superb resume). Comments flowed quickly and easily.

This one is centered on a mass murder on a bus by a wacko who thinks he's Waldo ("Where's Waldo?") and for a good part of the play, it is quite funny. The final third gets serious, long and needs work. But the frame is there for a superb play. I will mention that it is set in my hometown of Asheville, N.C., which held special interest for me and nobody else in the audience.

The final play in the series is tonight at 8 p.m. It is a musical ghost story, written by Kevin Ferguson.

Playwright Byron Harris (left) with Todd Ristau and director Jeri Weiss.