UNM spotlights grads in ‘Words Afire!’

From left, UNM dramatic writing graduate students Christina Hjelm, Kevin R. Elder and Zee Eskeets will see their new plays produced in the “Words Afire!” Festival of New Plays. (Courtesy of max woltman)

Spotlights will be on the work of three graduate students and a retiring professor at the University of New Mexico’s 2013 “Words Afire!” Festival of New Plays.

Zee Eskeets, Kevin R. Elder and Christina Hjelm are third-year master’s degree students in UNM’s master of fine arts dramatic writing program.

“All three of the plays are specific in location but they’re family dramas and have a sense of struggle, mutual protection and mutual friction that happens in a family that anybody can get on board with,” said Greg Moss, festival artistic director and head of the program.

	If you go WHAT: “Words Afire!” Festival of New Plays WHEN: Thursday, April 11-May 5 WHERE: Experimental Theatre, basement, UNM Center for the Arts HOW MUCH: Tickets are $15 general public, $12 seniors and UNM faculty, $10 students and UNM staff an are available at ticket offices in the UNM Bookstore and the Pit, at select area Albertsons supermarkets, at www.unmtickets.com, by calling 925-5858 or at the door Tickets and purchase locations apply to all performances of the festival’s four plays except for the April 20 opening performance of “The Menu” and gala. Tickets for that event are available by calling 277-9377 ADVISORY: Recommended for mature audiences because of content and language

Eskeets’ play “Fadeaway” opens the festival with evenings on Thursday, April 11 and Saturday, April 13 and a matinee performance on April 20. Joe Alberti directs.

“‘Fadeaway’ is a play based on a true story that happened on the reservation. It’s a family tragedy that all took place on the front steps of my grandma’s house,” said Eskeets, who is Navajo.

The play follows the journey of the protagonist Jason Black after he meets Kai Yazzie, the playwright said.

“It’s about their relationship and about him trying to come to terms with his sister’s death,” Eskeets said.

The story also is about the conflicts that Navajo youth have in dealing with “the old ways” and in trying to talk with tribal elders about issues of violence, alcohol and suicide, she said.

Eskeets grew up near Gallup, graduated from Valley High School and Occidental College.

The second play, Elder’s “Disposable Boys,” is a drama about a dysfunctional family centering on two brothers, Kyle and Tysen, who are growing up in a poor area of Albuquerque, Moss said.

“Their father has a substance addiction problem. One brother, Tysen, is slightly more sensitive, which causes him trouble and which compels his older brother, Kyle, to try to take care him, protect him from the father,” he said.

Elder’s play, which Rafael Gallegos is directing, will have evening performances on Friday, April 12 and April 18 and a matinee performance on April 14.

Hjelm’s play, titled “The Invasive Kind,” takes place at a motel in the Florida Everglades where two sisters, Ariel and Rebecca, are forced to deal with their father. It’s about how the family dynamics are affected when their mother dies.

“I think that speaks to anyone,” Hjelm said. “The sisters are trying to decide whether to reunite with their father who had abandoned them. The sisters have very different memories of their dad.”

Ariel, the younger sister, has been wanting to see their father her whole life. Rebecca hates him.

“The sisters are trying to sort out issues with their dad, and with men,” Hjelm said.

Her play, which Julia Thudium directs, will have a matinee performance on Saturday, April 13 and evening performances on April 14 and 19.

“I’ve seen these writers over the course of two years,” Moss said. “I think they have made incredible advances in writing and structuring the theatrical events, their storytelling for audiences.”

The festival’s fourth play, “The Menu” is by Jim Linnell, who is retiring from the University of New Mexico’s Theatre and Dance Department.

Linnell’s play is a production of Tricklock Company and directed by Elsa Menéndez.

The play opens April 20 and the opening night is followed by a gala retirement celebration for Linnell. Additional performances of “The Menu” are April 21, 25-28 and May 2-5.

For more information go to http://theatre.unm.edu.