The South Florida Theatre Festival

As you can tell by the banner, this year's South Florida Theatre Festival is upon us. It kicks off on Monday, but I wanted to start the celebration a little early - and make sure you know that the Theatre Scene doesn't take a break after Sunday this next week. And to show off our spiffy Festival banner.

On Sunday evening an insane group of maniacs a dedicated group of actors, directors, and playwrights assemble at the Miracle Theatre, home of Actors' Playhouse, and draw their assignments. The playwrights begin to write furiously so they can hand off scripts to the directors, who then work with actors to have a play ready for performance on Monday evening. This is Naked Stage's 3rd Annual 24 Hour Theatre Festival.

Now, if you don't want to drive all the way down to Coral Gables, you can head to Florida Stage in Manalapan, and enjoy the staged reading of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. The unique thing about this reading? It is only one of hundreds of staged readings of this play happening across the country on the same date.

The bad news is that if you don't already have free tickets as part of TCG's Free Night of Theatre celebration, you won't be getting any free tickets. BUT, that's not to say there aren't plenty of tickets left to see the participating shows; there are lots of tickets across the board, and they're all reasonably priced.

The closing night of the Festival will culminate in a party at Revolution Live, centrally located in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Here's the schedule of events:

South Florida Theatre Festival Schedule of Events

Monday, October 12
24 Hour Theatre Project and Theatre Fest Kick-off Party
Miracle Theatre, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables
8 p.m.
Tickets: $25
305-444-9293, www.actorsplayhouse.org

The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later (An Epilogue)
by Moisés Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris, and Steven Belber
Florida Stage, 262 S. Ocean Blvd, Manalapn
8 p.m.
Tickets: $30
561-585-3433. www.floridastage.org, community.laramieproject.org

SouthFloridaTheatre.com launches new website.

Monday, October 12 and Monday, October 19
Backstage Tours at Broward Center for the Performing Arts
201 SW Fifth Avenue, Fort Lauderdale
1 p.m.
954- 765-5831, www.browardcenter.org

Tuesday, October 13
City Theatre; Summer Shorts Reading
Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave, Coral Gables
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Free
305-442-4408

Thursday, October 15
Opening Party and Trade Show for Free Night of Theater
America's Backyard, 200 E Broward Blvd, Fort Lauderdale
5-7:30 p.m.
Free
954-557-0778, www.SouthFloridaTheatre.com

Thursday, October 15-29
Free Night of Theater
www.freenightoftheater.net

Participating Theatres:

Actors' Playhouse
-The Marvelous Wonderettes; October 16, 17, 18, 8 p.m.

Florida Stage
-Two Jews Walk Into a War...; October 20, 8 p.m.

Ft. Lauderdale Children's Theatre
-Pippin; October 17 and 23, 7:30 p.m. and October 18 and 24, 2 p.m.

GableStage
-reasons to be pretty; October 23 and 29; 8 p.m.

Palm Beach Dramaworks
-A Doll's House; October 25; 7 p.m.

The Women's Theatre Project
-Naked Women Fully Clothed; October 22 and 24 8 p.m., and October 25, 2 p.m.

Monday, October 19
MiamiARTzine.com 4th Anniversary Party
Museo Vault, 346 NW 29th Street
6-9 p.m.
Tickets: $20 ($15 for SouthFloridaTheatre.com members)
www.miamiartzine.com

Mad Cat Theatre Reading
The Light Box Theatre, 3000 Biscayne Blvd #100, Miami
7 p.m.
www.madcattheatre.org

Saturday, October 24
25th Annual Imprint and Community Service Awards Luncheon
Miami Shores Country Club, 10000 Biscayne Blvd, Miami Shores
Noon
Tickets: $65 (reservation required)
305-596-4228

Monday, October 26
Festival Closing Party/Presentation of Silver Palm Awards
Club Revolution Live, 200 W Broward Blvd., Fort Lauderdale
7:30-11:30 p.m.
Tickets: $20 (free for SouthFloridaTheatre.com members)
954-557-0778, www.southfloridatheatre.com