STEVE DUNKELBERGER: A FLOOD OF TALENT >>>

Tonight's offering at Northwest Festival of Plays is all about home-grown talent as  Grace Livingston portrays Elaine Madonna Bergeron in Tacoma playwright C. Rosalind Bell’s hit "The New Orleans Monologues," which was directed by University of Puget Sound's Geoff Proehl. The Tacoma university was home to the first theater to ever stage the work when it was produced  in November. It has been gaining attention ever since. This is a show to see if you are going to see any of the shows in the festival, of course the shorts are always sort of fun too, but that is a post for tomorrow.

The show starts at 8 p.m. at Tacoma's Broadway Center for the Performing Arts' Theatre on the Square.

Sunday will bring a list of shorts starting at 5 p.m. and another roster running at 7:30 p.m.

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