The rain danced on the roof of the Reston Community Center's Center Stage theater last Thursday night, creating a constant dinging sound inside.
"It's real good if you have a rainy scene," said Richard Klare, the public relations manager for Elden Street Players.
The rain was not good, however, for the theater groups trying to get their pre-made sets inside the theater for sound and lighting checks the night before the One-Act Play Festival was scheduled to begin.
THE SECOND and final weekend of the festival, presented by the Northern Virginia Theatre Alliance, begins Friday and features works performed by the Reston Community Players and Elden Street Players, among others. It culminates with an awards ceremony Sunday. In between there will be two days, three performance sessions and nine productions. All together, the festival featured 15 on-act plays by 12 theater companies over the course of two weekends.
"We try once a year to give everyone the opportunity to see what everyone else is doing," said Lisa Bailey, the festival's producer and a member of the board of director of the Reston Community Players. "It's been called a festival, but 90 percent of the participants consider it a competition."
Three judges, all previous festival winners, will choose "best" award winners for production, original, director, actress, actor, supporting actress and supporting actor. In addition there are three "judge's discretionary" awards for promising newcomer, best ensemble and ambitious production.
THE FESTIVAL can feature up to 18 works each year. This time around, companies from Herndon, Reston, Woodbridge, Warrenton, Great Falls, Manassas, Alexandria, Washington D.C., and Accokeek, Md., signed on. The plays must be one-act productions that can be performed within an hour. Each group can submit a publicized and an original play.
This year, the Reston Community Players did just that, having performed "You Can't Trust the Male," by Randy Noojin last Saturday; and will perform an original work, "Bile in the Afterlife," by Dawson Moore this Friday.
The Elden Street Players will perform "The Love Talker," by Deborah Pryor on Saturday night.
Several groups use the festival to try out new directors or actors, while others advertise for writers willing to submit an original play. Six of the 15 plays this year are original pieces.
"There's not really enough original authors out there," Bailey said. "This is a perfect venue for a new author."
Klare, who is helping with publicity for the festival, said the format provides a challenge and some stressful moments for the theater groups.
"You have a limited amount of time. You only have one hour and you only get to do it once," Klare said. "But you're doing it primarily before a group of theater people, who are perhaps a little more critical and a little more forgiving."
THIS WEEKEND'S ACTIVITIES begin Friday at 7:30 p.m. and will continue with an afternoon session Saturday beginning at 1:30 p.m., followed by another session at 7:30 p.m. Each session consists of three plays. The evening sessions are reserved for plays dubbed as having mature themes. The Saturday afternoon plays are family affairs.
Tickets are $8 per session or $30 for a festival pass, good for all of the plays and the awards reception Sunday. The Center Stage theater is located at the Reston Community Center, 2310 Colts Neck Road. For more information, visit the Web site at http://www.nvtaweb.org.