Blueprint Festival at Windmill Arts gives new stories the stage 

The inaugural short film and play festival promises fresh work and perspectives in a single space. 

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Hoping to create something unique for Atlanta theatergoers, aspiring festival director Jonna Leanne reached out to Sam Ross, founder of Windmill Arts in East Point, to pitch a weekend full of short plays and films involving local talent. She said she started with few preconceived notions about how it would come together.

Now, Blueprint is running April 24 through April 27 at the theater, featuring 12 works — two films and 10 plays, all 10-minutes long — never before seen in the city.

“This is definitely a passion project,” Leanne said in an interview. “I’m obsessed with bringing Atlanta’s amazing actors and directors to the forefront.”

To curate the festival, Leanne and the team at Windmill Arts culled 10 scripts from 370 submissions from around the nation. Notable local directors — including Jennifer Skura Boutell, Christopher Hampton, Charis Sellick, Obie Outlaw and Kenneth Trujillo — selected the scripts that they gravitated toward the most and chose their casts.

“Most nights in a theater, you have one director for two hours engaging in the whole space, telling one story,” Leanne said. “We have 10 directors and over 20 actors all doing different things, bringing unique perspectives. As someone with ADHD sitting in that audience, I know there’s at least one or two plays each night that I’m just going to be in love with because we’re giving each director the freedom to make it what they want.”

Sydni Michelle Perry, who is directing Try As I Might as part of the festival, said she was excited about how layered and human the script was. The piece centers around a gay couple facing challenges in their relationship after the death of a parent.

“Trent Clifford, the playwright, doesn’t rush to resolve anything,” Perry said in a statement. “The story sits in the tension, the silences, the small moments of care and intention. As a director, I’ve tried to create a space where those moments can breathe. So much of the work has come from trust between the actors, between our team, in our own unique abilities, insights and perspectives — and in the writing itself.”

Each performance of Blueprint will present one film and five plays, with the first set on Thursday, April 24, at 7 p.m. The second set will premiere on Friday at 7 p.m. The full array of material will be shown on Saturday and Sunday, beginning at 3:30 p.m. 

The productions are very minimalist, Leanne said, and the focus of many pieces is human relationships.

She said she hopes the first year of Blueprint provides a framework from which the festival of short works can only grow.

“Since it’s the first time, I don’t think any of us are going to realize the impact or the future of this,” she said. “We couldn’t have imagined what it is now. The community support has been amazing. I want to build upon it to make something even greater.”

Where & When

Blueprint, a short play and film festival, runs April 24 through April 27 at Windmill Arts Center. Tickets, $25.
2823 Church St., East Point, Ga. 30344

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Benjamin Carr is an ArtsATL editor-at-large who has contributed to the publication since 2019 and is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, the Dramatists Guild, the Atlanta Press Club and the Horror Writers Association. His writing has been featured in podcasts for iHeartMedia, onstage as part of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival and online in The Guardian. His debut novel, Impacted, was published by The Story Plant.