Pressure Points: A Ten Minute Play Festival

Director's Note

We all have pressure points.

They are the places where the outside world presses inward—the expectations of society, the weight of circumstance, the people we love, and sometimes the expectations we place upon ourselves. Pressure forces us to question who we are, what we believe, and who we become when the usual ways of moving through the world are no longer available to us.

The five plays in Pressure Points could not be more different. They move from realism to absurdism, from the familiar to the unexpected. Yet each asks its characters to navigate the pressure of being human in relationship with someone—or something—else.

As I worked on these pieces, I kept returning to a question: What emerges when we are under pressure? What happens when relationships are tested by time? Who comes back? Who walks away? What remains when circumstances change?

Directing this festival has made me think about my own relationships—the people and circumstances that have shaped me, often through some combination of choice, chance, and fate. Some relationships withstand pressure. Others transform. Some leave us with more questions than answers.

Perhaps that is what I hope this collection offers you: not answers, but questions. Moments of recognition. A glimpse of something familiar in someone else's story. A reminder that beneath our wildly different circumstances, we share more than we might imagine.

Featuring works by Dayshawnda Ash, Stuart Hoffman, Heidi Lewandowski, Greg Vovos, and Rachel Zake

Directed by Ricky Quintana

Stage Managed by Dylan Todd Brown

Lighting Consultant / Operator |  Steven Barton

Sound Consultants / Operators | Josh Caraballo, Thomas Jeffries

Deck Chiefs | Shawna Melnykowski, Astrid Jobe

Cuyahoga Community College, School of Creative Arts, Eastern Campus

Oct 2-4, 2026