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Beginning Sunday, March 23, and continuing each consecutive Sunday through April 13, Asolo Repertory Theatre will present its fifth annual Unplugged play festival, the theatre has announced. The festival will feature four new plays, with all performances starting at 7 p.m. in Asolo Rep's rehearsal hall, located at 5555 N. Tamiami Trail in Sarasota, a news release says. Festival passes are $21 and include admission to all the plays. Tickets for each individual reading are $7, the release notes. Festival passes and tickets are available by visiting the box office located in the lobby of the theatre, by calling the box office at 351- 8000 or visiting asolorep.org. Unplugged will allow theater enthusiasts "to experience brand new plays in their most organic form, stripped of costumes, sets and special effects," the release contin- ues. "Instead, Asolo Rep company members and select guest artists will perform the new plays with scripts in hand — providing patrons with the opportunity to focus solely on the playwright's story and words. Many of the plays are read aloud for the first time in the rehearsal room, allowing the playwright to revamp his/her piece based on the per- formance, the director's notes and, finally, audience reaction," it adds. The plays follow: • March 23: Bad Dog by Jennifer Hoppe- House — "After 10 years clean and sober, Molly Drexler tumbles off 'the wagon' and crashes her Prius through the side of her house. As the events of Molly's blackout (and the ghosts that chase her) emerge, her family members try to cope with her wreckage but end up running headlong into their own," the release explains. • March 30: Assisted Loving by Bob Morris — What would you do if your 75-year-old father dragged you into his hell-bent hunt for new love? "New York Times style writer Bob Morris, a chronically single son, shows us how it happened in this warm, witty and wacky comedy about a year of dating dan- gerously," the release says. • April 6: Goddess of Mercy by Jenny Connell Davis — "Kate and Mike struggle to hold it together as they try to juggle their relation- ship and his transcontinental commute. When Mike's sister, Brianna, just back from the Peace Corps and crashing on their couch, finds out Mike's oil company is sending him to hush up trouble in the same part of Asia she just left, their opposing views provoke an international incident," the release says. • April 13: Ask/Tell by David Bar Katz — "Set immediately after the repeal of Don't Ask/ Don't Tell, and delving into the mysteri- ous death of a soldier who had recently come out, Ask/Tell explores the hypocri- sies — both spoken and unspoken — that accompany intense intimacy between men in a war zone," the release adds. ASOLO REP TO HOLD ITS FIFTH ANNUAL NEW PLAY FESTIVAL Sarasota News Leader March 21, 2014 Page 119