STEVE DUNKELBERGER: FESTIVAL OF NORTHWEST PLAYS >>>

The crowds for tonight's presentation of "Sawtooth," an award-winning play by Idaho-based writer Dano Madden, that looks at how tragedy affects friendship, was about half what opening night drew.

About 80 folks attended  “Geography Club," Thursday night, compared to about 40ish today. But fear not. The numbers aren't what they seem since Madden doesn't have the base of local fans the way a local playwright would and his show is being staged in Centralia, which is sort of a far way to drive gas prices being what they are. Northwest Festival of Plays organizers knew this was going to be the "dip night," but their fears weren't as bad as they first thought.

They projected a few dozen a night, so the 40 or so in the audience beat the spread, suggesting the festival is going to be far more successful than they first thought.

"It has been a good crowd," local actor, director and festival organizer Tim Hoban says. "We have had a lot of good support."

One of those in the audience was Courtney Rohl of Seattle, who drove down to support her college friend turned playwright, Madden. She's a actor-transplant from Chicago, who bound for the Emerald City for the weather and good theater.

"I didn't see a lot of 'big house' shows there because the ticket prices were so high," she says before the show. I just couldn't justify it. I have been able to see a lot more shows now."

The eight-night festival, which is now entering day three, offers a deep pool of 150 actors, directors, stage hands, crew and theater hands spread around three full-length works and 30 short works written by playwrights around the Pacific Northwest.

On tap Saturday is a whopper. “New Orleans Monologues” by Tacoma writer C. Rosalind Bell is a story about  Hurricane Katrina that was last staged locally at University of Puget Sound last November.

The festival runs through the weekend and Thursday to Sunday next week at
Theatre on the Square, 905 Broadway, Tacoma; $9-$12; www.ticketwindowonline.com, www.northwestplaywrights.org.