By Jessica Davis, JTNews Correspondent
For Jewish playwright Sharyn Shipley, this year’s Mae West Fest is an opportunity to produce the premiere of a play written especially for her mother.
Her one-act joins a collection of 26 other new works by female writers, dancers, poets, performance artists and musicians, in the sixth annual Mae West Fest, in Fremont from July 18–21. The Mae West Fest was created in 1997 in order to give Northwest women a chance to have their works produced locally.
Performances this year not only cater toward Jewish audiences, but also to gay, straight, young and old, says Heidi Heimarck, artistic director of the Mae West Fest.
Shipley returns to the festival for a second time. Her play in this year’s festival, “Memorial Day,” is the third in a series of shorts written for and about her mother. The first two plays of the series are titled “Moving Day,” about choosing a roommate, and “Veteran’s Day,” about a woman who plans to meet a man who she has been writing to on the Internet.
“Memorial Day” is about a elderly Jewish woman who accompanies a dying man to the hospital and is mistaken for his wife. The man is a former Nazi working off his penance in a Jewish senior center and she is the center’s most popular resident. It is a black 30-minute comedy about respecting the death of a not-so-loved one, said Shipley.
Shipley keeps herself involved in the local community as member of the Issaquah Arts Commission and Temple B’nai Torah. A playwright for more than 20 years, she tends to write about trust and honor. In addition to writing plays, Shipley has written TV scripts.
Tickets for the Mae West Festival range from $5 for individual shows to $40 for an all-festival pass. Call 206-860-2970 or visit www.maewestfest.org.