Asolo Rep's 'Unplugged' festival opens in Sarasota

   Asolo Repertory Theatre's sixth annual Unplugged festival gets going this weekend. The festival features brand-new plays -- so new the playwrights are still tweaking them -- performed by Asolo Rep actors.
   This year's festival will include three plays, but only two have been announced so far. And the third one isn't going to happen until April 19 so there's no rush.
   First up is Bill Bowers' "Stories From the Road." Bowers is a New York writer and actor -- he was in "The Lion King" and "The Scarlet Pimpernel" on Broadway-- and he performed in

Bowers

the recent SaraSolo Festival. (He won an award at SaraSolo that from now on is going to called the Bill Bowers Award.) He's performed all over the world, in fact, in such diverse venues as the White House, an Amish colony and a nudist resort, and his new one-man show offers some stories from his travels.
   Next is "The Cannibals of McGower County," by Drew Larimore, a playwright with some solid credentials. The intriguing plot synopsis has three women celebrating a birthday when the ex of one of them shows up. He ends up getting shot and killed, and the title tells you how they dispose of his body.
   "Stories From the Road" is set for this Sunday, March 15, and "Cannibals" for Sunday, March 22. Curtain is at 7 p.m for both, and they'll both be in the Asolo Rep rehearsal hall at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are just $7. Call 941-351-8000 or go to.asolorep.org.