Golden Curtain Winner
(best of festival)

Dust to Dust

By Johanna Beale Keller (Syracuse, NY)
Directed by Charlie Perkins

Prudence has come home from London to the small Southern town of Smallville to help her hilariously hypochondriacal sister, Verity, with the details of their father's passing, whom they both loved. The fastidious housekeeper Dotty will vacuum up anything it seems (oops) and then there is a mix-up of ashes when the local funeral director, Rufus T. Bullcocke, and long-lost love of Verity, arrives. But it turns out there is a hidden love affair that no one ever suspected!

Featuring:
Linda Romero as Verity Higgenbottom
Christine Brewer as Prudence Higgenbottom-Forster
Amy Hebb as Dottie
Michael George as Rufus T. Bullcocke

Silver Stage Award Winner
(second place)

The Sillage Mirage

By Jay Huling (Jacksonville, FL)
Directed by Charles “Joey” Thorne  

Set inside an austere, nearly empty perfume boutique, The Sillage Mirage follows Robert Dorian, a self-assured businessman in search of a cologne that will make him irresistible. He quickly learns that Sillage Perfumery does not offer choices: its enigmatic proprietor, Madam Agnew, assigns each customer the scent that suits their true essence. As devoted patrons return, transformed by fragrances they trust blindly, Dorian’s confidence curdles into entitlement and rage when he is denied what he wants most.

A darkly comic morality play, The Sillage Mirage explores obsession with image, the illusion of self-knowledge, and the cost of believing the world should conform to one’s desires —revealing, in its final moments, that some essences linger longer than others.

Featuring:
Alison Vistica as Madame Agnew
John Glymph as Robert Dorian
Ted Lehr as Joe Keppler
Julie Smith as Julia Manning
Jennifer Glymph as Colette Pembroke