Calling all art lovers! Take part in all of Proteus Festival with the All-Access Pass! Your pass includes entry to the New Plays Festival, Music Contest, Plan B Finale, and Creative Team performances-so you can experience all of Proteus, your way.
SEPTEMBER 28 - OCTOBER 7, 2023
COUNTDOWN TILL PROTEUS PARTY ON OCTOBER 7TH!
Day
Hour
Minute
Second
Meet me at The Z for 2 full weekends of creativity!
Showcases of music, comedy, theater, kid’s entertainment, open mics, and interactive art projects take over our block of Town Center this October in the don’t-miss event of the season! Come see what The Z is all about-there’s no arts fest like Proteus!
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
All-Access Pass
Sept. 27:
Creativity starts here! Form a Creative Team at Proteus Festival. All ages and levels of experience are welcome. Grab up to 5 friends and come to The Z on 9/27 at 6pm to receive your prompt. Then, over the course of 5 days, create a new work in one of these disciplines: theater, music, film or a mix of all three, and on opening day of Proteus Festival, 10/5 at 7:30pm, present that new work at The Z on the Main Stage.
Creative Teams receive rehearsal space, technical support, and special access to all Proteus Festival events. They may also receive mentorship from local professionals in their chosen field if they desire that support.
Sign up here: https://thez.org/proteusteams/
Email our Community Engagement Liaison with questions.
Sept. 28:
NEW PLAYS FESTIVAL:
On Sept. 28: The Lessons by Jennie Brown - directed by Patrick Mullins
Can truth prevail in the teaching of history to school children? Sixty-five years apart, two Select Committees of the Virginia Textbook Commission face this question. In 1955, a committee member challenges misinformation in a proposed Virginia history manuscript for elementary students. Fellow members are reluctant to stir up unrest in communities of color, and with the state commission. In a 2020 meeting, one member protests the racial equity embraced in a new manuscript of a middle-school text. The chair tries to protect the committee’s work while grappling with intimations of unrest and potential violence.
Studio Theater
The 2023 Proteus New Plays features four new works written in our Z Playwrights Lab. Join us for staged readings in repertory during Proteus Festival and vote for your favorite show. The winner of the Audience Favorite will get an extended workshop run in November.
2023 Selected Plays are:
The Truth Be Told by P.A. Wray - directed by Sharon Cook
Boxes of Someday by Lou J. Stalsworth - directed by Sharon Cook
The Lessons by Jennie Brown - directed by Patrick Mullins
Insects and Giants by Clyde Santana - directed by Patrick Mullins
Sept. 29:
NEW PLAYS FESTIVAL:
On Sept. 29: The Truth Be Told by P.A. Wray - directed by Sharon Cook
When Frances, wife of General George Henry Thomas, a strategic winning general in the Civil War, finds out her now ailing and harassed husband has agreed to meet with a journalist with unknown motives, her protective instincts and suspicions go into overdrive, putting undue stress on her husband, and a bill at risk for passing. A bill that would protect the right to vote for Black Freedmen in the South – something her husband had fought hard to protect but failed.
Studio Theater
The 2023 Proteus New Plays features four new works written in our Z Playwrights Lab. Join us for staged readings in repertory during Proteus Festival and vote for your favorite show. The winner of the Audience Favorite will get an extended workshop run in November.
2023 Selected Plays are:
The Truth Be Told by P.A. Wray - directed by Sharon Cook
Boxes of Someday by Lou J. Stalsworth - directed by Sharon Cook
The Lessons by Jennie Brown - directed by Patrick Mullins
Insects and Giants by Clyde Santana - directed by Patrick Mullins
Sept. 30:
NEW PLAYS FESTIVAL:
On Sept. 30 see all 4 selected plays:
1:00pm The Truth Be Told by P.A. Wray - directed by Sharon Cook
3:00pm Boxes of Someday by Lou J. Stalsworth - directed by Sharon Cook
6:00pm Insects and Giants by Clyde Santana -directed by Leila Stephanie and Patrick Mullins
8:00pm The Lessons by Jennie Brown - directed by Patrick Mullins
Studio Theater
The 2023 Proteus New Plays features four new works written in our Z Playwrights Lab. Join us for staged readings in repertory during Proteus Festival and vote for your favorite show. The winner of the Audience Favorite will get an extended workshop run in November.
Oct. 5:
NEW PLAYS FESTIVAL:
On Oct. 5: Insects and Giants by Clyde Santana -Directed by Leila Stephanie and Patrick Mullins
On the eve of his retirement, a frustrated undercover officer, reflecting on some of his past experiences, questions his decision to retire and return to his family and his artistic life or continue to work undercover for his former bigoted supervisor.
Studio Theater
The 2023 Proteus New Plays features four new works written in our Z Playwrights Lab. Join us for staged readings in repertory during Proteus Festival and vote for your favorite show. The winner of the Audience Favorite will get an extended workshop run in November.
2023 Selected Plays are:
The Truth Be Told by P.A. Wray - directed by Sharon Cook
Boxes of Someday by Lou J. Stalsworth - directed by Sharon Cook
The Lessons by Jennie Brown - directed by Patrick Mullins
Insects and Giants by Clyde Santana - directed by Patrick Mullins
Creativity starts here! Form a Creative Team at Proteus Festival. All ages and levels of experience are welcome. Grab up to 5 friends and come to The Z on 9/27 at 6pm to receive your prompt. Then, over the course of 5 days, create a new work in one of three disciplines: theater, music, and film, and on opening day of Proteus Festival, 10/5 at 7:30pm, present that new work at The Z on the Main Stage.
Creative Teams receive rehearsal space, technical support, and special access to all Proteus Festival events. They may also receive mentorship from local professionals in their chosen field if they desire that support.
Sign up here: https://thez.org/proteusteams/
Email our Community Engagement Liaison with questions.
Oct. 6:
NEW PLAYS FESTIVAL:
On Oct. 6: Boxes of Someday by LouJ. Stalsworth - directed by Sharon Cook
Widower Ray Calabria battles 42 years of haunting memories as he nears the sale of his house to a young couple who, that same day, must make a life-shaping decision of their own. This is a love story of then and now.
“Boxes of Someday” is told alternately in real time and as a memory play during which promises are made ~ some kept, others put away and forgotten, only to be remembered too late to be kept. The play is funny at times, tearful at others, and it is likely the story someone we know has already experienced, or one which we will eventually live ourselves.
Studio Theater
The 2023 Proteus New Plays features four new works written in our Z Playwrights Lab. Join us for staged readings in repertory during Proteus Festival and vote for your favorite show. The winner of the Audience Favorite will get an extended workshop run in November.
2023 Selected Plays are:
The Truth Be Told by P.A. Wray - directed by Sharon Cook
Boxes of Someday by LouJ. Stalsworth - directed by Sharon Cook
The Lessons by Jennie Brown - directed by Patrick Mullins
Insects and Giants by Clyde Santana - directed by Patrick Mullins
PROTEUS MUSIC CONTEST
Friday, Oct. 6 at 7:30pm
Mainstage Theater
The Proteus Festival Music Contest is for emerging and early-career musical artists!
See performances from our five finalists at Proteus Festival, and watch as a winner is crowned by a panel of music industry professionals. The grand prize is a headlining concert in the Live at The Z Music Series and a recording package in The Z’s recording studio.
BUY TICKETS VOTE FOR AUDIENCE FAVORITE NOW
Oct. 7:
PROTEUS BLOCK PARTY
Saturday, Oct. 7 from 3-7pm
FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Meet me at The Z for our annual Proteus Block Party! This season kickoff is the biggest don’t-miss FREE event of the season showcasing music, comedy, theater, kid’s entertainment, open mics, and interactive art projects. We’ll have our doors open wide for the community to come see what The Z is all about-there’s no arts fest like Proteus!
October 7 at 8:00pm
Studio Theater
Community-favorite Plan B Comedy hits the Studio Stage of Proteus for an evening packed with comedy! Our resident comedians of Plan B Comedy offer a raucous evening of Sketch, Improv and Stand Up to give you a sampler platter of what the Plan B season has to offer.
PLAY YOUR PART
PROTEUS FESTIVAL SPONSORED BY:
PROTEUS FESTIVAL is funded in part by the citizens of Virginia Beach through a grant from the City of Virginia Beach Arts and Humanities Commission.
