NOTE: As the school year progresses, check back here regularly for updates. The quick links above are also available for viewing news of the major productions and awards OU MFA playwrights have earned in the previous two years, including the over $60,000 in grant money for writing and developing their new plays.

5/5/08
The 2008 MFA Festival Schedule:
The 2008 MFA Playwriting Festival Schedule has been announced: for full details click here. To see the bios of the nationally known guest artists in residence as respondents to the festival this year, click here.

5/2/08
Madness Productions Featured:
Playwrights' Production Class, affectionately known as "Midnight Madness", has been featured again on the web, this time in the ezine Speakeasy. To read their article and coverage, click here.

4/17/08
Recent Graduate Awarded Wasserstein Prize: Laura Jacqmin, a 2007 graduate of the OU MFA Playwriting Program, has been awarded the second annual Wasserstein Prize for her play And When We Awoke There Was Light and Light.  The prize includes a $25,000 honorarium. For more information, see the Playbill article: click here.

4/10/08
Recent Grad's Play in San Francisco:
Mark Witteveen's The American Bar is at Stage Werx in Sab Francisco from April 3rd to the 26th. For more info: visit sfgate.com here, or the Stage Werx web site here.

3/20/08
Recent Graduate's Play at Atlantic Theater:
Laura Jacqmin's ten-minute play, Space, premiered at the Atlantic Theater in New York on March 17th in a co-production between The 24 Hour Play Company and At Play Productions (as a benefit for Working Playground), starring Zoe Perry, Sarah Bisman, and Jessica Walter (a.k.a. Lucille Bluth, from "Arrested Development". See photo at right).

3/19/08
Recent Grad Teaches Workshop with Former Poet Laureate:
Merri Biechler taught her "Character Voice" workshop at the 10th Annual Douglas Anderson Writers' Festival in Jacksonville, FL on March 15, 2008.  Former U.S. Poet Lauret Billy Collins spoke about his writing process, and "People Magazine" journalist Anne Driscoll discussed the interview process.

3/19/08
OU Alums' Vampire Cowboys in the New York Times:
Vampire Cowboys, a product of OU MFA alums Qui Nguyen and Robert Ross Parker, have produced a new show reviewed in the NYT: click here.
 
3/7/08
Recent Graduate's Play a National Finalist for KC/ACTF:
Laura Jacqmin's 10-minute play Parkersburg has been selected as one of the top five 10-minute plays in the nation and will be featured on the Kennedy Center stage in Washington D.C. on April 18th.

3/4/08
1st Year's National Kennedy Center Award Winning Play On Tour:
Ryan Dowler's play Mammals, which won the Kennedy Center's National 10-minute Play Contest and was featured at the Kennedy Center last year, has been on tour around the country (co-sponsored by the Northwest Playwrights Alliance and Western Washington University). The slate of productions began in early January and will culminate in March with a production in Chacombe, England (about an hour and half northeast of London).  Northwest Playwrights Alliance also featured Mammals as an informal reading on December 8, 2007, in Tacoma, WA, as part of NPA's monthly reading series, and plans to publish the play in the third edition of their anthology of ten-minute plays, "NorthNorthwest," co-produced by NPA and Western Washington University.

3/3/08
2nd Year MFA Play at ATHE:
Kara Dunn's short play, The Risque Root has been selected to receive a staged reading at the Association for Theater in Higher Education conference in Denver, Colorado this coming July.

2/29/08
2nd Year MFA Plays at MATC in Kansas City: Kara Dunn's ten-minute, The Risque Root, and Reginald Edmund's Goldielocks received staged readings at the Mid-America Theater Conference in Kansas City.

2/19/08
2nd Year MFA Play in Evanston:
Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in Evanston, IL will perform a staged reading of Reginald Edmund's  Juneteenth Street on Saturday,  March 8th. From the press reliease: "Starting March 8, FJT invites you to join us for our series of theatrical readings by professional Evanston and Chicago playwrights every second Saturday of the month.All performances will take place at the Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Avenue, at 3:00 p.m."

2/11/08
Recent Alum's Award Winning Play In Production:
Laura Jacqmin's "Parkersburg", winner of the Kennedy Center Region III 10-minute play competition,  will be produced in Collaboraction's Sketchbook 8 this May 15-June 15 in the Steppenwolf Garage; and her play "Released"  will be produced in Culture Project's Women Center Stage Festival in NYC this April.

2/10/08
Recent Alum's Third Year Play at Alliance Theater in Atlanta:
Recent alum Merri Biechler's "Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver" received a workshop reading at the Alliance Theater as part of its award for the Kendeda Playwriting Competition. The play, about a woman dealing with the death of both her parents from cancer, has earned more than $30,000 in grants from the Ohio Univeristy School of Osteopathic Medicine as well as from the American Cancer Society and other charitable foundations.

2/9/08
3rd Year's MFA Play in NYC:
Third year MFA playwright Joseph Gallo's play "Warning: Adult Content" will be produced by Shetler Studios TDG in association with the Bridge Theatre Company at THEATRE 54, 244 W. 54th Street (between B'way & 8th Ave.) from February 19th through March 9th. For more information visit the Theatermania web site: http://www.theatermania.com/content/show.cfm/show/140878

2/4/08
Two OU MFAs Win at Kennedy Center ACTF III in Milwaukee:
Recent alum Laura Jacqmin and Bill Zorn, 2nd year MFA, finished in the top two slots taking first and second place at the ACTF Region III festival in Milwaukee. Both plays are now in consideration for the Kennedy Center ACTF National 10-Minute Play Award and could be invited for showcasing at the national festival in Washington DC this coming April.

1/29/08
2nd Year Play in NYC:
2nd year playwright Dana Lynn Formby's Armed with Peanut Butter was selected to be part of The Turnip Theatre Company's 14th annual short play festival in association with the American Globe Theatre of New York City.  The Performance Date is April 19th.

1/4/08
Three OU MFAs Finalists at Kennedy Center ACTF III in Milwaukee:
Bill Zorn and Reggie Edmund, both 2nd year MFAs, and recent alum Laura Jacqmin have each finished in the top six 10-minute plays for the Kennedy Center's American College Theater Festival, to be held in Milwaukee next week. All three will be on hand in Milwaukee to workshop and present their plays. OU has a very strong track record with ACTF awards -- this is the second time in three years that three out of six finalists are OU students. (Note: though faculty member Erik Ramsey is affiliated with ACTF, the plays are judged by outside auditors.) The top six 10-minute plays are selected out of numerous submissions from Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana.

12/10/08
Three OU MFAs Comissioned by OU School of Nursing:
Nick Sgouros, G. William. Zorn, and Dana Formby were each commissioned for $1000 by Ohio University's School of Nursing to write one act plays about living with type II diabetes in Appalachia.   The scripts will be part of a program for Appalachian communities to raise awareness about the  complications of type II diabetes.

11/8/07
Three Recent OU Playwriting Alums at Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens:
In a press release dated Tuesday, Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago has announced that Aaron Carter (MFA 2005), Laura Jacqmin (MFA 2007) and Merri Biechler (MFA 2007) will all be an integral part of that theater's future through commissions and professional workshops with an eye toward producing them in coming seasons. From the press release: "Aaron Carter and Laura Jacqmin are each receiving commissions to develop new plays for consideration by Victory Gardens. Additionally, playwright Merri Biechler will see her new play Real Girls Can't Win!  -- a comedy with an all-female cast examining technology, body image and popularity at an unnamed college -- receive a professional workshop at Victory Gardens this December, culminating in a staged reading that will be free and open to the public.  These commissions and workshop are part of Victory Gardens' New Audiences for New Plays initiative, funded by a Wallace Foundation Excellence Award." You can also read more about it at the Chicago Tribune website -- click here.) For more information on Merri Biechler, Aaron Carter or Laura Jacqmin, visit the alumni page of this web site.

11/1/07
Recent MFA Alum a Finalist for Clubbed Thumb's $15,000 Commission:
OU MFA Playwriting alum Merri Biechler (MFA 2007) is one of six finalists for Clubbed Thumb theater's prestigious playwriting commission. Clubbed Thumb commissions, develops, and produces funny, strange, and provocative new plays. Since its founding in 1996, the company has earned three Obies and presented plays in every form of development, including over 60 full productions. http://www.clubbedthumb.org/

10/25/07
2006 MFA Playwright Alum Mark Witteveen Featured In Short Play Festival:
Quoting from a prominent write-up in the Nantucket Independent: "Beginning Thursday, October 25, Nantucket Theatrical Production will present the series "Lessons Learned," three one-act plays from the 2007 Nationwide Short Play Festival and Competition. The plays being performed this year are "Leddy's Chair" written by Don Cook of Charlotte, N.C., "Drivers Test" written by Mark Witteveen [OU MFA '06] of Rochester, N.Y., and "Afterwards" written by John Zygmunt of Lake Elmo, Minn."  To read the whole article click here.

10/19/07
MFA Alum's Next Episode of Law and Order: CI 
2004 MFA Alum Jackie Reingold wrote the upcoming  episode of Law and Order Criminal Intent, directed by Constantine Makris, with actors Eric Bogosian, Amanda Detmer, Lola Glaudini, Alex Moggridge, Chris Noth, Josh Pais, Thomas Sadoski, and Alicia Witt. See it Thursday, October 25th at 10:00 PM on USA. 

10/5/07
Recent Alum Nominated for an Emmy:
Christopher De Paola (MFA '06) has been nominated for an Emmy Award for his role on WCIU-TV's show "Green Screen Adventures."  The official  category is: "outstanding achievement for individual excellence on camera: programming - performer". Christopher is also a head writer on the Chicago-based show. The Emmy Award winners will be announced at a ceremony in November.

10/4/07
Recent Alum to Workshop Thesis Play at Victory Gardens:
2007 MFA alum Merri Biechler has been invited to workshop her thesis play, Real Girls Can't Win!, at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago this coming winter.

10/3/07
2003 Alum a 2007-08 Dramatist Guild Fellow:
Justin Boyd (MFA 2003) has been named a 2007-2008 Dramatists Guild Fellow. The program brings playwrights and bookwriters/lyricists/composers together in a workshop and provides mentoring and observership opportunities with theater professionals around New York.

10/2/07
MFA Alum Pens Article for American Theater Magazine:
Justin Boyd’s (MFA 2003) article on the director Anne Kauffman appears in the October 2007 issue of American Theater magazine. Justin is currently an Affiliated Writer with American Theater through the support of the Jerome Foundation.

9/21/07
MFA Alum Co-Produces New NBC Series: "Chuck"
Anne Cofell Saunders (MFA 2000), previously a writer for the critically acclaimed and Emmy-winning Battlestar Gallactica, is now a co-producer of the new NBC television series Chuck. The show is an action/comedy about a nerd who works at a big-box computer store by day, but is a secret-agent by night. It premieres Monday, September 24th at 8:00 pm, 7:00 Central. 

9/19/07
Current MFA and MFA Alum Both at Shades of Black:
Current MFA playwright Reginald Edmund, and 2005 MFA alum Aaron Carter both had plays included in the 2007 Shades of Black Theater Festival in Knoxville, Tenessee on September 13th: Aaron Carter's Panther Burn and Reginald Edmund's Goldielock and the Three Bears.

9/10/07
Recent MFA Alum Named Lit Manager of Tony Award-Winning Victory Gardens:
Beginning September 10th, 2007, Aaron Carter (MFA '05) has been appointed as the new literary manager for Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago. (See Carter's bio on the "alumni page" by clicking the link in the green column to the left.) For the complete story visit: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/110994.html

SUMMER 2007 NOTES:

8/30/07
1st Year MFA Play in New Jersey this past June:
Kara Dunn's ten-minute "Seven Questions" was selected for a reading at River Union Stage.

8/29/07
3rd Year MFA Dance/Theater Piece & Summer Productions
Third year MFA Joseph Gallo wrote the text for 80% of Love a dance/theater piece that debuted at the Obie award-winning Ice Factory Festival at the Ohio Theatre in New York, prompting nytheatre.com to write, "...this dance soap opera/symbolist dream play boasts a virtuosity seldom seen."  In June, a workshop of Gallo's new play - Warning:  Adult Content - was produced by Circus Theatricals at the Hayworth Theatre in Los Angeles.  Also on the boards this summer - Ya Gotta Believe! - seen in Mile Square Theatre's Seventh Inning Stretch Ten Minute Play Festival.

8/25/07
MFA Alum's OU Play at JAW
2004 MFA Playwriting alum Jacquelyn Reingold's A STORY ABOUT A GIRL (initially developed at OU) had a workshop this summer in the JAW Festival at Portland Center Stage in Portland, Oregon. Jackie has also started her second year writing for Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Her next episode will air in November.

8/21/07
News Coverage of Recent Alum's Continuing Project With Medical Schools:
2007 MFA grad Merri Biechler's play Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver continues to gather research money, has become a teaching tool for medical schools, and is moving toward even greater community outreach. The play has been developed with the support of  the OU School of Osteopathic Medicine and ongoing grants funded by the American Cancer Society, among others. See the article for more information at: http://www.ohio.edu/outlook/06-07/August/800n-067.cfm

8/20/07
Recent MFA Alum Commissioned by Kennedy Center:
Merri Biechler (MFA '07) has been commissioned by the Kennedy Center and the White House Historical Association to write a new play for young audiences.  The play explores Dolley Madison's rescue of the George Washington painting from the White House before British troops burned the building to the ground in 1814.

8/18/07
Recent MFA Alum at Steppenwolf:
Laura Jacqmin's (MFA '07) play The Revisionists recieved a staged reading at Steppenwolf theater in Chicago as part of their First Look Rep series. The play was originally developed in the OU MFA playwrights' workshop.

7/22/07
Chicago Dramatists' Many Voices Project:
OU Playwrights Christopher De Paola (MFA '06) and Aaron Carter (MFA '05) were both selected as finalists for Chicago Dramatists' 2007 Many Voices Project. The Many Voices Project is Chicago's only playwriting contest and readings festival that embraces all playwrights of color.  Carter's "Evening News" and De Paola's "Recovered" will be read on July 21st at Chicago Dramatists.

7/16/07
'03 MFA Alum in American Theater Magazine:
Justin Boyd (MFA 2003) has been named a 2007-2008 Affiliated Writer with American Theater magazine. He will receive a $3,000 fellowship to write 3-4 articles between July 2007 and July 2008.

MFA Playwriting Program News and Notes (2006-07):
NOTE: The 2007 festival was a great success and capped off a very fruitful and exciting school year. Scroll down through the news and notes below to see just a few of the 2005-2007 highlights, including the nearly $60,000 MFA playwrights have earned in grants funding for their new plays, as well as major productions and other developments.

6/1/07
2nd-year Play Reading at Knightsbridge in L.A.:
Nick Sgouros' 2007 festival play, School by the Sea, will have a staged reading on Sunday June 24th at the Knightsbridge Theatre in Los Angeles. www.knightsbridgetheatre.com

5/30/07
3rd-year Plays at Clubbed Thumb and Guerilla Cabaret:
Laura Jacqmin's  one-minute play "Ohio" will be produced in Clubbed Thumb's "A Pageant of the 50 States (and more)" this Wednesday, May 30, at the Ohio Theatre in NYC as a prelude to their Summerworks Festival.  In addition, her new ten-minute play "Advisor", will be also be produced in NYC this June by Guerilla Cabaret at Collective: Unconscious, dir. Pirrone Yousefzadeh. See guerillacabaret.com for more info and tickets.

5/24-26/07
Seabury Quinn Jr MFA Playwrights' Festival!

5/24/07
3rd-year MFA Play Wins Another Major Award and Earns More Grant Money:
In addition to being a Kendeda Finalist with readings in New York and Atlanta, and an participant in the upcoming WordBRIDGE Playwrights Lab, Merri Biechler's play Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver has been named the winner of the 2007 Jane Chambers Student Playwriting Award.  It will have a reading at the annual conference of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education this July in New Orleans. 

Also, Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver Palliative Educational Program has just this week been named as the recipient of an Ohio University Research and Scholarly Affairs Committee grant in the amount of $6,500.  This grant will be used to develop the play as part of an educational program to teach end-of-life and caregiving issues to medical students.  (With this grant OU MFA Playwrights have now pulled in nearly $60,000 in funds to support and develop their new plays in the last two years alone.)

5/17/07
2004 MFA Alum Pens Season Finale of Law and Order: Criminal Intent
Jacquelyn Reingold's final episode of the season will air will air Monday, May 21 and Tuesday, May 22, at 9PM on NBC. (Directed by Norberto Barba, the actors include: Eric Bogosian, Erik Jensen, Leslie Lyles, Julianne Nicholson, Chris Noth, Brooke Tansley, Alec Von Bargen, Kelli Williams, and a bunch more.)

5/16/07
Festival Studio Production Opens:
The studio production of 3rd-year MFA Merri Biechler's Real Girls Can't Win opens this week. It runs from May 16-18  this week, as well as May 24-26 next week during the official festival. The show begins at 8:00 pm in the Hahne Theater at Kantner Hall. Tickets are $7.00.

5/14/07
3rd-year MFA Invited to "The 24 Hour Plays: Old Vic New Voices":
3rd-year Laura Jacqmin has been selected to participate in The 24 Hour Plays: Old Vic New Voices at the Atlantic Theater in New York this year. Here is a description of the program from their submission materials: "The 24 Hour Plays: Old Vic New Voices involves workshops with seasoned theater practitioners, an additional workshop with Kevin Spacey, and a chance to produce The 24 Hour Plays with their peers.  Due to Kevin's involvement in Moon for the Misbegotten in New York, we have rapidly moved up our schedule for the inaugural New York version to this Spring and Summer, with a July 2 performance at the Atlantic Theater, one of Off Broadway's most celebrated stages."

5/11/07
2nd-year MFA Earns SEA Grant Money:
2nd-year playwright Joseph Gallo as been awarded the SEA grant for 2007-08 in the amount of  $5,500. This brings the total grant money earned by OU MFA playwrights, in support of writing and developing their new plays, to over $52,000 since 2005.

5/4/07
1st-year MFA at Karamu House Theatre's ArenaFest:
1st-year MFA Reggie Edmund's play Redmption of Allah Black will be given two staged readings at Karamu Theater in Cleveland. The first reading is on Wednesday, May 16th at 6pm and the second on Tuesday, May 22nd at 6pm at the Karamu House Theatre's ArenaFest.

4/29/07
3rd-year MFA to Attend WordBRIDGE Playwright's Lab:
Merri Biechler's play, Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver, has been invited as one of only four MFA plays nationally to be workshopped at WordBRIDGE play lab this summer, June 9th-24th. Originally conceived by founders Rich Rice of Eckerd College, and David Kranes, founder of the Sundance Playwriting Lab, WordBRIDGE is now hosted by Clemson University in conjunction with Generous Theater Company. (Erik Ramsey, Asst Professor in the OU MFA Playwriting Program, is a three-time alum of WordBRIDGE and returns this year to work as a "dramatic engineer" on two invited plays.) For more about WordBRIDGE visit their web site: wordbridge.org

4/27/07
3rd-year MFA Produced in the Mainstage Season at OU School of Theater:
Laura Jacqmin's thesis play Happyslap opened on the Baker Mainstage on friday night. It runs through Saturday, May 5th. For tickets or information call 740.593.4800. For an article discussing the timely issues the play addresses, visit the Athens News website: Click Here.

4/24/07
Recent Alum at Victory Gardens and Collaboraction:
Recent alum Christopher De Paola is currently understudying the role of Manny in the Victory Gardens' world premiere production of "Cynical Weathers" by Douglas Post.  He will be performing the role on May 8th.  Chris has also been recently cast in the play "Autobiography" as part of Sketchbook, the 7th annual festival of short plays produced by Collaboraction and performed at the Steppenwolf Garage. Sketchbook 7 will run May 31 to July 1st.  (To see Chris's recent writing accolades, scroll down a little to his latest commission and his TV show.)

4/11/07
3rd-year MFA Published:
Two monologues from 3rd-year Laura Jacqmin's short story West of the Moon are being published in the forthcoming Smith & Kraus anthology titled 221 ONE-MINUTE MONOLOGUES FROM LITERATURE (pub. date Autumn 2007). The titles of
the monologues are "Down There" and "Pack Job."

4/2/07
Recent Alum Commissioned:
Pearson Scott Foresman, the world's leading elementary educational publisher, has commissioned 2006 MFA Christopher De Paola to write a play for 6th graders to be published in their new reading anthology. (See his recent work with children's televsion programming below.)

3/31/07
Recent Alum Creates TV Show in Chicago (part 2):
Recent MFA alum Chris DePaola's "Green Screen Adventures", a children's TV show, will air in Chicago on Saturday March 31 at 7 a.m. on WCIU. The concept of the show is that actors and writers take stories written by elementary school students and adapt those stories for TV. Children can see their work come to life on TV and get excited about writing and drawing. The target audience is 1st-4th grade.  Chris serves as a writer and performer. To see a clip, visit:
http://www.wciu.com/video/featured_video.aspx?VideoName=greenscreen.flv

3/28/07
1st-year MFA Earns Staged Readings at Houston Theaters:
1st-year playwright Reginald Edmund's play The Redmption of Allah Black will be read at the Country Playhouse New Play Reading Series on April 8th and his play Juneteenth Street will have a staged reading at Ensemble Theater in Houston on April 11th.

3/28/07
3rd-year MFA to be Produced by Side Project in Chicago:
3rd-year MFA Laura Jacqmin's BUTT NEKKID will be produced by The Side Project in Chicago in the 2007-2008 season. Dates have yet to be announced.

3/22/07
MFA Alum Joins "Brooklyn Rail" as Theater Editor:
Justin Boyd (MFA 2003) has joined The Brooklyn Rail as co-editor of its Theater section. The March issue includes an article that quotes OU MFAs Qui Nguyen and Robert Ross Parker talking about Vampire Cowboys' latest production Men of Steel. www.brooklynrail.org/2007-03/theater

3/15/07
3rd-year MFA to be Produced by Chicago Dramatists:
Each year Chicago Dramatists chooses three of its member plays to be professionally produced. The new sea