Southern California’s Gifts to Humana Festival

David Henry Hwang’s “Bondage” is one of five works by writers with Southern California ties at this year’s Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theatre of Louisville.

In Hwang’s play, a masochist (B.D. Wong, above left) and his sadist (Kathryn Layng) discover that their leather act no longer prevents intimacy and love becomes possible--if ethnic stereotypes don’t get in the way. The one-act is directed by Oskar Eustis, resident director at the Mark Taper Forum. Other Southern California selections include:

Jane Anderson’s “Lynette at 3 A.M.”: The author of the Pasadena Playhouse hit “The Baby Dance” here makes bedmates of an insomniac and a man too exhausted to talk in one of the festival’s 10-minute plays.

Hugh MacLean’s “Hyaena”: A terminally ill patient must fight against more than disease when a human predator preys on his vulnerability.

Jose Rivera’s “Marisol”: The author of LATC’s critically acclaimed “The Promise” again employs a style of magical realism, this time to explore the world of the homeless.

Mayo Simon’s “The Old Lady’s Guide to Survival”: Two widows, one with failing eyes and the other with a failing memory, learn that life can begin at 80.

The other playwrights with work at the festival: Marsha Norman, “D. Boone”; John Olive, “Evelyn and the Polka King”; John Conklin, “The Carving of Mount Rushmore”; Joyce Carol Oates, “Procedure”; Lanford Wilson “Eukiah”; and Suzan-Lori Parks, “Devotees in the Garden of Love.”