Perspectives / Naomi Wallace Naomi Wallace's work has appeared in many forms at the Humana Festival. Two of her full-length plays have premiered at Actors Theatre: One Flea Spare in 1996 and The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek in 1998. Her ten-minute play Standard Time was produced in 2000, and she wrote a T-shirt play, Manifesto, for the 1999 festival. She is currently under commission for a full-length play. Although playwright Naomi Wallace grew up in the Louisville area, she didn’t have a relationship with Actors Theatre until her first few plays—One Flea Spare, about the London plague of 1665, and Slaughter City, about a strike at the Fischer's Meat-Packing company—were produced in London. But when Actors produced her play One Flea Spare during the 1996 Humana Festival, it was the beginning of a lasting bond, including the commission of The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek for the 1998 festival, and Standard Time appeared in 2000. What keeps her coming back? "The attention and care they gave each show," she says. "They found a way that made each play feel cared for. That usually doesn’t happen at a festival. I never felt I had to compromise my vision in any way simply because of the volume of work going on outside my own work." Currently, Naomi is working on a play about Louisville’s Rubbertown area, a key source of pollution in the city. During recent visits to gather historical research and interviews with residents, corporate representatives and activists, she says the theatre has provided great encouragement and support. "It’s great to have a theatre that’s excited by what I want to create and allows me all their facilities to do that," she says. "New plays are always a risk for theatres. What is positive at Humana Festival is that it’s all new plays. These are not staged readings—they’re full productions. That’s wonderful for new writers. It’s an incredible opportunity for a new writer to have their work showcased." She is also encouraged to see the festival supporting what she calls "less-white theatre—letting voices and visions be heard that don’t always get a stage in America." As examples, she cites Pure Confidence (2005) by Carlyle Brown, about a black jockey before and after the Civil War, and Moot the Messenger (2005), Kia Corthron’s critical look at corporate media, election tampering and the war in Iraq. "Actors Theatre has been a stage for more radical and more exciting voices that challenge the mainstream American theatre. I think it’s moving in that direction. Marc Masterson has a more inclusive vision of American theatre. I would like to see more new plays by African Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans and Latinos. It’s still much harder in this country to get a play on if you’re not male and you’re not white. Only 35 percent of new plays in this country are by women. The arts really just reflect what’s going on in the outside world." She also commends the community for supporting Actors Theatre over the years—even during times of economic challenge. "When there’s less money, the arts are usually the first thing to go," Naomi says. "The fact that we have and are able to continue the Humana Festival is a triumph. It’s really a jewel inside Kentucky and I’m very grateful that it’s there." — Raven J. Railey