Future present tense
11th Annual
The Plays
This year, we present Montana Short Cuts, a set of ten-minute plays, and The Indys, independantly produced works of various lengths.
Montana Short Cuts
Ten-minute plays on the theme "Future present tense."
Towards a Brighter Future by Gregory Younger
How it Began by Ross Peter Nelson
Did We…? by Lily Hoelscher
Sanity Defense by Robert Worthy
Double Exposure by Steve Palmer
Quad by Leigh Ruggiero and Brent McCafferty
Reprisals by Bruce Hall
Secret Service by Rebecca Ryland
The Indys
The Indys are independently-produced plays This year, there are three indy selection comprised of five pieces..
Indy full-length
A Field of Daisies by Rebecca Ryland
Indy one-act
Saturn Station by Barry Stambaugh
Indy shorts
Escape by Steven Palmer
The Giveaway Pile by Samantha Strom
San Juan Todavia Vive by David Singer
The Writers
Bruce Hall has written, composed and directed for Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theaters around the country, including Montana Rep. He was Artistic Director of The Virginia City Players and founded the Brewery Follies during the final golden years ofthe Bovey Restoration. He wrote and directed several Murder Mystery musicals for the Bozeman-based Vigilante Theatre Company; with whom he also re-opened the Philipsburg Opera House in 1999. Bruce’s first acting gig ever was at Helena’s Brewery Theater.
Lily Hoelscher is a recent Carroll College grad with degrees in Theatre and Spanish. Originally from Oregon, she acted in community theatre productions for several years before coming to Helena, where she continues to be active both onstage and behind the scenes. An aspiring writer and musician, she recently collaborated with a classmate and faculty advisor to create an interactive murder mystery.
Ross Peter Nelson has a creative writing MFA from the University of New Orleans and his work has appeared on three continents and won awards in Washington, Nevada, and Louisiana. In addition to his dramatic work, he has published two computer books and short fiction. He is an associate producer of the Last Chance New Play Fest and president of Raven's Feather Productions.
David Singer grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Madison, Wisconsin. He has lived in Helena for two years and is working for the state legislature as an analyst. In graduate school David took a film class, and it stirred his interest in the performing arts. David enjoys screenwriting and is excited to break into the theater!
Steven Palmer Steve Palmer is an artist, performer, playwright and a 4th generation resident of Helena. His first play, performed before a paying audience, was in the Seattle area in 1979. As an actor he's toured with Shakespeare in the Parks and also worked briefly as actor/director/playwright with the Vigilante Players. As one of the organizers for Helena's, Last Chance New Play Fest, Palmer has written and performed a number of one-man shows including, BOXED, which was also performed at the United Solo Festival in New York City in 2017.
Leigh Ann Ruggiero is a novelist, playwright, and Assistant Professor of English at MSU-Billings. Her debut novel, Unfollowers, won the Juniper Prize for Fiction in 2021 and went on to win the National Indie Excellence Award for Multicultural Fiction and the Foreword INDIES Silver Award for Literary Fiction. Leigh Ann's most recent work onstage includes the roles of Serena in Legally Blonde: The Musical and Frederick in Pirates of Penzance; they also directed The Magic Flute, adapting it for a punk aesthetic at the University of Providence.
Rebecca Ryland holds an MFA in Acting/Directing and is a member of the Dramatists Guild. She has performed in Equity theatre and directed professionally for the past 30 years. Her plays have been produced off-Broadway, at colleges & universities and at community theatres across the U.S. and Canada. She is the owner of Heartland Plays, Inc. and the founder of ETC.
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Brent McCafferty lives in Billings, Montana, with their partner, Leigh Ann; their rubber plant, Jack; and their paradoxical unworthiness of and need for human affection. They will spend their next life as a Norwegian forest cat.
Robert Worthy is an artist living in Helena, interested in chronicling our everyday but intriguing, evocative, and beautiful environment. He is the author of the science fiction novel The One Body Problem: Basic Human Incompetencies. Beyond sci fi, he studies human successes and lapses in the real world in a more or less systematic way.
Gregory Younger is a founding member of LCNPF and a journeyman actor and writer of stage and screen. On screen, he’s appeared in Fear the Knight, The Bonnie Situation, Who killed Rock Cobin, and Plain Clothes as well as Madonna’s Bad Girl video. On stage he has appeared as Dracula and other characters, including Scrooge in a production of A Christmas Carol that toured with Barry Williams (Greg Brady) and Taxi’s Jeff Conaway. His plays have seen productions in NYC, Seattle, Phoenix, Denver, here and elsewhere.
Samantha Strom is the Director of Publications at Farcountry Press. She also opened Swing Out Helena to teach swing dancing. This is her first submission to Last Chance New Play Festival, and was delighted that The Giveaway Pile was selected. She also acts, and will appear in the crew/ensemble in Moriarty at Grandstreet in October.
Barry Stambaugh moved to Helena in 2014 from Austin, Texas with his partner Vicki, who’s from Butte. Barry has acted in several Grandstreet plays, and in the Fest, including Ross Peter Nelson’s Colter’s Hell. Big thanks and hugs to Vicki.