Building bridges

Authors competing for eight coveted slots in the City Theatre’s Local Playwright’s Festival write plays that offer new views of familiar Sacramento sites: local parks, the Old City Cemetery. This year, the eight winning plays honor the theater’s temporary home in the new, state-of-the-art West Sacramento Community Center Black Box Theatre by offering up plays that examine the link between Sacramento and West Sacramento: our mustard-colored Tower Bridge. The City Theatre’s site at Sacramento City College is being renovated, and the Tower Bridge plays are part of the opening month of the new 116-seat West Sacramento venue. Eight plays, chosen from 18 submissions, are in repertory, with four plays offered at each performance. They run the gamut of comedy, drama, mystery, romance and musical farce, all using the Tower Bridge as a focal point.

“West Sacramento has been wonderful to us, and loved the idea of using the Tower Bridge as the central theme,” explained Luther Hanson. Hanson started the Playwright’s Festival for participants in his Sacramento City College writing program, but has since expanded to all promising local playwrights. “Choosing a local subject matter creates a powerful connection that the audience responds to, and challenges the writers.”

Eight Views of the Tower Bridge, in repertory, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; $10-$15. City Theatre at the West Sacramento Community Center Black Box Theatre, 1075 W. Capitol Avenue in West Sacramento; (916) 501-6104. Through March 13.