Review: SATE’S APHRA BEHN FESTIVAL at The Chapel

Three novice directors were given the opportunity to collaborate with aspiring playwrights at this weekend’s Aphra Behn Festival. The 9th Annual Festival, produced by Slightly Askew Theatre Company’s (SATE’s) Rachel Tibbetts and Ellie Schwetye, included works penned by Dylan Malloy, Meredith Lyons, and Aurora Behlke.  

According to Schwetye and Tibbetts, the festival offers lesser experienced playwrights and directors an opportunity to gain valuable experience. The festival, named for an English poet and dramatist who was the first female writer to earn a living writing, offers growth opportunities for women in the arts.  

This year’s festival opened with Dylan Malloy’s coming-of-age short play FELICITY directed by Ashwini Arora. Teenagers Will (Lyd Foss) and June (Rose Shawver) are anticipating the launch of the space rocket Felicity that can be seen from Will’s backyard. The androgynous Will is cryptically expressing angst to June that is rooted in an anxiety causing secret that may be bordering on depression.  

Arora collaborates with her young actors to engender realistic portrayals, especially that of the angst-ridden teen Will. Foss effectively conveys the character’s internal tension and the frustration with her friend who does not seem to be grasping the struggle being expressed.  

Will finally has a breakthrough when June shows some effusive affection toward her friend. Foss garners some well-earned laughs with eye and facial expressions that conveys Will’s surprise and delight at June’s demonstrative touch.  

FELICITY ends on a sweet note, the narrative explores the protagonist's authentic feelings, but the scripted dialogue is too sluggish. In rewrites it could use a bit of punch, either by adding dramatic humor or darker drama. The touching payoff saves what could have been a talky play with heavy baggage that simply went nowhere. FELICITY has potential but needs more to keep the audience engaged. 

The other two entrants in this year, scenes from PIERROT’S BLANKET and THE INFERNO IS FOR B*TCHES, lean more toward experimentally avant-garde theatre. Theatre of the absurd is an acquired taste that can be polarizing in audience reaction, but when done well can have broader appeal and leave an indelible impression on even the stodgiest of audience members.  

Christina Yancy directs Meredith Lyon’s scenes from PIERROT’S BLANKET. The wise choice here was Yancy’s casting of versatile actor Joseph Garner as the mime Pierrot. The clean-shaven and made-up Garner was unrecognizable as the mime whose unattainable desire, his blanket, is just within reach. Garner’s silent magnificence expresses more emotion with a single gesture than many actors can with a page of scripted dialogue. The collaboration between director and actor created an unforgettable character. 

Miranda Jagels Félix, Jan Niehoff, and Kaylyn McCoy supported the vignettes with amusing portrayals. Félix (The Blanket) is the object of Pierrot’s want who always remains just short of attainable. Garner and Félix execute Yancy’s dancelike blocking with graceful precision. Niehoff and McCoy are comedic in their turns as a frustrated chef, bemused television host, frightened chef’s apprentice, and television announcer.  

Lyon’s scenes are unrelated and there is no linear plot. It is incomprehensible how these four scenes fit into a larger narrative, but that does not take away from the audience’s enjoyment from each scene. Yancy and her quartet of actors created interesting imagery that left a lasting impression.  

Celeste Genevieve Gardner (Heaven), Claudia Barney (Mannie), and Bradley Rohlf (Manny), blew onto the stage like a typhoon in Aurora Behlke’s THE INFERNO IS FOR B*TCHES. Directed by Kayla Lindsay, THE INFERNO IS FOR B*TCHES is Behlke’s punk rock musical about a student who did not complete a book report on “Dante’s Inferno.”  

Channeling her inner Sid Vicious, Gardner takes the audience to hell and back as she informs her teacher why her homework is incomplete. There’s plenty of humor and satire in Behlke’s libretto that is reminiscent of Elder Price’s “Spooky Mormon Hell Dream” in THE BOOK OF MORMON.  

Barney and Rohlf back Gardner on guitar and drums and become one of the three faces of Lucifer in the funniest bit in the play. The three actors figuratively throw themselves into their roles and literally throw themselves around the stage. Lindsay’s feral direction and blocking created powerful energy that engulfed the room. 

SATE’s Aphra Behn Festival played its final performance on April 5, 2025. Visit satestl.wordpress.com for more information on the Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble (SATE) and their future productions.  

Photo Credit: Joey Rumpell

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