Week One: Pittsburgh New Works Festival.

It's that time again. Thursday marked the beginning of the twenty-second annual Pittsburgh New Works Festival. Every year the Pittsburgh New Works Festival seeks to aid in the development of original one-act plays. Eighteen theatre companies. Eighteen new plays. Four solid weeks of performance.

I attended the festival on Thursday evening. Come Friday morning I was having a hard time finding a way to describe my experience at the New Works Festival... and right as I walked into Market Square I noticed massive clouds of smoke, pandemonium and curious bystanders. I realized that attending the week one of New Works was like witnessing a kitchen-fire -- or an explosion.