Welcome to the News Archive: Ohio University MFA Playwriting
Bookmark this page for the latest news and information on the projects, productions, awards, and honors of our Ohio University MFA playwrights. For specific program information other than news related items about the graduate playwriting program (such as curriculum), please visit the Ohio University School of Theater page or call the Ohio University School of Theater at 740-593-4818.
To apply, email us for application instructions at ohioplaywriting@gmail.com — we begin reviewing application materials in January. NOTE: Applications are due no later than March 1st each year.
— Gregg Henry, Artistic Director, Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. (The Post, 4/13/10)
Awards
OU graduate playwrights have been awarded many honors such as: the Kendeda Prize (2010), Kendeda Top Five (2007, 2009), the Wasserstein Prize (2008), New Dramatists' Joe Callaway Award, The Gilman/New Dramatists Playwriting Fellowship, Whitfield Cook Award, Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, New York Innovative Theatre Awards, Kennedy Center's Fund for New American Plays' Roger Stevens Award, Drama-Logue Awards, commissions from the Jerome Foundation and Théâtre du Soleil Levant in Switzerland, a Hugo Award nomination and numerous Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Awards.Publishing
Works published by current and recent MFA playwriting students are available from Smith and Kraus, Dramatists Play Service, Heinemann, Northwestern University Press, Samuel French, and Playscripts, Inc.Film & Television
Alums in the last five years have also gone on to write for film and television, including such shows as the Emmy Award-winning 24, the Emmy Award-nominated Battlestar Galactica, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Chuck, NBC's Smash, and HBO's In Treatment with Gabriel Byrne.Commissions & Funding
In addition, since 2005 current Ohio University MFA playwrights have earned more than $82,000 in commissions, grants and fellowships to research and write their new plays.
2012-2013 Ohio playwrights workshop. Pictured (l-r) standing Greg Aldrich, Mark Chrisler, Jeremy Sony, Jeffry Chastang, Anthony Ellison, and Neal Adelman; seated: Chanel Glover, Patsie Varkados, Morgan Patton, Bianca Sams, and Rebecca Abaffy
High Profile Productions
OU MFA playwrights consistently sustain a high level of achievement. Tony Award-winning theatres that have developed or are slated to produce former and current OU graduate playwriting program students include: Victory Gardens Theater, Steppenwolf, The Mark Taper Forum, The Goodman, Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Alliance Theater and New Dramatists. Other major theatres developing OU MFA plays recently include Ensemble Studio Theatre, Magic Theatre, The New Group, Pan Asian Rep, Foundry Theatre Works, Theatre J, Collaboraction, Perishable Theatre, Edge Theatre, Prop Theatre, MPAACT, Chicago Dramatists, Contemporary American Theater Festival, the O'Neill Center and The Playwright's Center in Minneapolis, to name a few.
The 19th annual Seabury Quinn, Jr. Playwrights Festival kicks off April 17 & 18 with the opening of WORSE THAN TIGERS by Mark Chrisler and THE SYLLOGISM OF A GOLDEN HIPPO by Rebecca Abaffy. The festival launches into full swing April 24-27, with eleven new plays being presented in readings, staged readings, and workshop productions. These eleven plays represent the culmination of work for this year's OU MFA Playwrights. Read more about the festival and our guest mentors George Brant, Kia Corthron, and Dennis Zacek on our festival page. Bianca Sams takes home honors from KCACTF
2nd Year playwright Bianca Sams has been awarded honors in two playwriting competitions associated with the Kennedy Center American Theatre Festival for her latest play, BATTLE CRY. BATTLE CRY is the second place recipient of both the Lorraine Hansberry and Rosa Parks Playwriting Awards. This comes with a cash award for Sams, an expense-paid invitation to attend the National Festival at the Kennedy Center in DC April 16-20, membership in the Dramatists Guild and with the Playwrights' Center of Minneapolis, and a professional development residency for Sams to continue work on her play. BATTLE CRY will have a staged reading this Spring here in Athens at the 19th Annual Seabury Quinn Jr., Playwrights Festival.
Kara Lee Corthron Returns to Athens
It has been our pleasure to have Kara Lee Corthron in residence as a guest artist and visiting professor for two years running (both spring semester 2012 and spring semester 2013)! Kara Lee Corthron’s plays include Julius by Design (Fulcrum, July 2011), ETCHED IN SKIN ON A SUNLIT NIGHT (InterAct Theatre in Philadelphia, June 2012), ALICEGRACEANON (New Georges, October-November 2012), HOLLY DOWN IN HEAVEN (Forum Theatre in D.C., September-October 2012), SPOOKWATER, LISTEN FOR THE LIGHT, ELECTRIC PERSEPHONE IN THE SCORPION'S DEN, and WILD BLACK-EYED SUSANS. We invite you to learn more about Kara and her work by visiting her website, karaleecorthron.com.
Eric Coble's 'The Velocity of Autumn' premieres Fall 2013
OU MFA alum playwright Eric Coble's THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN, featuring Academy Award winner Estelle Parsons and two-time Tony winner Stephen Spinella, will premiere in an exclusive pre-Broadway engagement at Arena Stage, September 6-20, 2013. Coble's 90-minute dramatic comedy will be directed by Molly Smith, artistic director of Arena Stage in Washington, DC. Read more about the play on Arena's website. Read more about our playwrights' latest projects...
