The New Olde Bank Theatre in Verona to Present Annual One-Act Play Festival

The New Olde Bank Theatre in Verona will raise the curtain for its annual one-act play festival, "The Moral Abyss Strikes Back!" on Friday at 8 p.m.

Written by The New Olde Bank Theatre’s Artistic Director Sean Michael O’Donnell, the festival will feature five one-act comedies with a cast of eighteen actors. This is the theater's seventh festival and the fourth at the Verona location—the theater used to be located in Natrona Heights.

O'Donnell said the audience can expect a good time.

"These plays are rather silly and very over the top," he said. "We tend to do serious plays, so this gives us a chance to kick back, relax and have some fun."

The lineup for the festival includes:

• "The Accidental Intentional Death of Miss Connie Jones"— A desperate woman calls a suicide hotline. Unfortunately, the woman on the other end doesn’t care much.

• "Celebrity"—A struggling playwright realizes sometimes the only way to be famous is to be infamous.

• "It’s a Miracle!"— A community theater hilariously re-imagines "The Miracle Worker" as a musical starring a now fully-able Helen Keller.

• "Drag Queens, Lesbians, God & the Media"— Two reformed homosexuals—now married to each other—appear on a national talk show to disastrous results.

• "The Absolutely Positively True Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge"— Charles Dickens’ classic tale of Ebenezer Scrooge retold in twenty minutes with an alternate ending.

The cast includes: Maude Behrens, Hannah Gross, Frank Jackson, Rachel Noderer, Sean O’Donnell, Mace Porac and Danielle Powell of Pittsburgh; Laura Hoffmann and Bridget Seery of Verona; Roberta Honse of Springdale; Jackie Hranica of Sarver; Marie Karcher of West Deer; Linda Tracey Kennedy of East Pittsburgh; Evan Oslund of Mt. Washington; Melissa Pallone of New Kensington; Tom Protulipac of Worthington; Chris Schwanke of Penn Hills;  and Andrew Wolf of Natrona Heights.

Todd Collar of Pittsburgh, Roberta Honse of Springdale and Tom Protulipac of Worthington are directing.

O'Donnell said the cast has been rehearsing three nights a week for the past three weeks. Each play rehearses about three hours per week.

Performances are scheduled for July 22, 23, 29 and 30 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15. Seating is very limited and reservations are required. There will be a special opening night wine-and-cheese reception following the performance.

For more information or to reserve tickets, call 412-251-7904. To purchase tickets online with a credit or debit card, visit www.newobt.com. The New Olde Bank Theatre is located at 722 Allegheny River Boulevard in Verona.