By Jackie Demaline
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Work by women will dominate the 28th annual Humana Festival of New American Plays, including an entry from Melanie Marnich, a former Humana winner who started her playwriting career in Cincinnati in the mid-1990s.

The festival will run at Actors Theatre of Louisville from Feb. 29- April 10 with six full-length plays:

• After Ashley by Gina Gionfriddo, a satire about our media's obsession with victims and violence.

• Sans Culottes in the Promised Land by Kirsten Greenidge, a satire about the false promise of education and the reality of the glass ceiling in America.

• The Ruby Sunrise by Rinne Groff, a comedy, tells the story of an industrious teenage runaway who dreams of inventing television.

• Kid-Simple: a Radio Play in the Flesh by Jordan Harrison (the only male writer), about a girl who invents a machine for hearing sounds that can't be heard.

• At the Vanishing Point by Naomi Iizuka, a portrait of Louisville neighborhood Butchertown that brings together stories of residents past and present.

• Tallgrass Gothic by Marnich reveals the dark side of small town America.

Tickets are on sale. A $100 Humana pass offers four admissions in any combination. Tickets: (502) 584-1205, (800) 428-5849 and www.actorstheatre.org.