Posts By catherineforever666

Bianca Sams reading in Chicago this weekend!

September 24, 2015
by catherineforever666
· alumni · Chicago · News

A Reading of Bianca Sams thesis play “Rust on Bone” will be presented this Sunday, September 27th at noon with Babes with Blade Theater in Chicago! Bianca’s script has been part of their “Fighting Words” New Play Development series for female writers and this is the final reading of her play. Go check it out if you’re in Chicago!!

More info

. The reading will take place at the Heartland Studio space located at 7016 N. Glenwood in Chicago at 12pm. Keep your eyes peeled on our Fighting Words page for future readings. As always: Free food! Free drink! Free theatre!

More about Bianca

As a female playwright of color, she is drawn to stories that question the roles of women, ethnicity, and family in modern society, that deal with the search for self in the collective identity and which explore underlying connective threads of mankind. Bianca weaves hot button social issues into her work because growing up in the politically active San Francisco Bay Area instilled a drive to create art that “holds as it ‘twere a mirror up to nature”. She hopes that through watching a dynamic dramatization of these issues unfold before their eyes, she will engage the audience in a visceral manner that convicts them to do something about it. You can see the fingerprints of her approach in her full length plays, At The Rivers End, Battle Cry, Rust On Bone, Black. Irish., Just Porgy, Rise Phoenix Rise and Summer Nights & Fireflies.

Awards and honors include KCACTF Lorraine Hansberry (2nd place), Rosa Parks Award (2nd place), Kennedy Center/Eugene O’Neill New Play Conference fellow, Jane Chambers Student Playwright Award/Athe (2nd Place), Scott McPherson Playwright Award, The Playwright Center Core Apprentice (2014), Playwright Foundation BAPF (finalist), Eugene O’Neill NPC (semi-finalist), TRI Research Fellowship at Ohio State University, Nashville Rep/Ingram New Works Lab Playwright-in-residence , Warner Brothers TV Writers Workshop, and T. S. Eliot Acting Fellowship.

“Barbie” Madness coming this Friday!

September 21, 2015
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · News

The next madness of the fall semester will be produced by second playwright, Catherine Weingarten! Her prompt is Barbie Madness! She has asked the playwrights to write madnesses inspired by different Barbie dolls!!! Woot woot Barbie rocks!

Show is September 25th, 11pm, in the Hahne Black Box theater. Admission is free. We recommend you get there 45 to 60 minutes ahead of time to assure yourself a seat.

For more information about Madness the fall semester, check out our Madness page.

More about Catherine

Catherine Weingarten hails from Ardmore, PA also known as the area that inspired the preppy sexy TV show “Pretty Little Liars.” Catherine’s comedic plays delve into the societal pressure placed on young women to be both impossibly good looking as well as ridiculously intellectual, humble, kind as can be but sexy. Her plays usually include some hot fantasy sequences which helps attract the common man into the theater! She recently graduated from Bennington College in Vermont where she studied playwriting(with Sherry Kramer) as well as gender, mediation and environmental studies. Her short plays have been done at such theaters as Ugly Rhino Productions, Fresh Ground Pepper, Wishbone Theater Collective and Nylon Fusion Collective. She is currently the playwright in residence for “Realize Your Beauty Inc” which promotes positive body image for kids by way of theater arts. Catherine is thrilled to pursue her MFA at OU and thankful for the awesome opportunity for baller mentorship. catherine-weingarten.squarespace.com

“Silence” Madness coming this Friday!

September 14, 2015
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · News

The next madness of the fall semester will be produced by second playwright, Rachel Bykowski! Her prompt is Silence Madness! She has asked the playwrights to write madnesses with a significant moment of silence that informs the course of the play. Let’s get readyyy to get silent!!!

Show is September 18th, 11pm, in the Hahne Black Box theater. Admission is free. We recommend you get there 45 to 60 minutes ahead of time to assure yourself a seat.

For more information about Madness the fall semester, check out our Madness page.

More about Rachel

Rachel Bykowski was born and raised in Chicago. She writes plays that examine the masks people wear to conceal their true identities to blend into society and explores the repercussions when the masks are ripped off. Her work often includes proactive female characters that raise awareness to issues surrounding women. Rachel received her BFA in Playwriting from The Theatre School of DePaul University. Her playwriting credits include her full length plays: Original Recipe produced by DePaul University; staged reading of Got to Kill Bitch presented by Cock and Bull Theatre in Chicago; and staged reading of Glory vs. The Wolves presented by 20% Theatre Company Chicago and hosted by Women and Children First Bookstore as part of an event to raise awareness about rape culture. Her one act plays include: The Best Three Minutes of My Life produced by Bradley University; Break-Up Court and Pay Phone produced by 20% Theatre Company Chicago; The Invisible Ones produced by Fury Theatre in Chicago; and She Sings For You produced and published by Commedia Beauregard in Chicago. Rachel is also a proud company member of 20% Theatre Company Chicago. She is very excited to continue her writing career and pursuing her MFA in Playwriting under the tutelage of Ohio University. For more information about Rachel, please visit her website at www.rachelbykowski.com

“World War 3” Madness coming this Friday!

September 7, 2015
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · News

The next madness of the fall semester will be produced by third year playwright, Aaron James Johnson! His prompt is World War 3 Madness! He has asked the playwrights to think about everyday wars that happen in people’s lives apart from the political.

Show is September 11th, 11pm, in the Hahne Black Box theater. Admission is free. We recommend you get there 45 to 60 minutes ahead of time to assure yourself a seat.

For more information about Madness the fall semester, check out our Madness page.

More about Aaron

Aaron Johnson hails from the land of cheese in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He received his Bachelor of the Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he majored in English with an Emphasis in Creative Writing and in Theatre and Drama. While not officially specializing in playwriting in his undergrad, Aaron took the only playwriting course offered twice and completed his creative writing thesis as a play instead of fiction or poetry writing which the school usually requires. During his time at UW-Madison, Aaron completed three full length plays, multiple One-Acts, and numerous short plays which were all workshopped and some eventually produced at the university in staged readings. In his Theatre and Drama major he specialized in props and was props master for a number of university shows including Ti-Jean and his Brothers and Eurydice. Working his summers during college as a technical writer, Aaron decided to take a year off from school and work full time but the call of academia was too much for him to resist though as he is currently pursuing his MFA in Playwriting from Ohio University. Aaron’s writing tends to take the complex and unnoticed topics of today’s culture and bring them to light by using them to create dramatic conflict and then ultimate understanding. Using these undiscovered topics and coupling them with a realistic style will grow people’s curiosity and actively induce them to gain knowledge about today’s world. Aaron fells immensely privileged and grateful to be working towards his MFA in Playwriting at OU with such great and inspiring mentors, colleagues, and friends.

“Crash and Burn” Madness coming this Friday!

September 1, 2015
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · Madness · News

The second madness of the fall semester will be produced by third year playwright, Ryan Patrick Dolan! His prompt is Crash and Burn Madness! He has asked the playwrights to focus on plays where characters take big risks to go for something really want.

Show is September, 4th 11pm, in the Hahne Black Box theater. Admission is free. We recommend you get there 45 to 60 minutes ahead of time to assure yourself a seat. Hope the night doesn’t crash and burn(in a bad way) hee hee 😉

For more information about Madness the fall semester, check out our Madness page.

More about Ryan

Ryan Patrick Dolan is a third-year MFA Candidate in the Ohio University Playwriting Program under Charles Smith and Erik Ramsey. He has a B.A. in playwriting from Columbia College Chicago where he studied under playwright, Lisa Schlesinger. He writes dark, comedic plays that explore love and loss, passion and destruction. Stylistically influenced by his years of improvisation, acting, and the Chicago Storefront aesthetic, he challenges the American stereotypes of gender, race, and sexuality.

Dolan’s play, “Daddy’s Little Girls,” was named a National Semifinalist for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival’s 10-minute play competition, the THE GARY GARRISON AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING TEN-MINUTE PLAY. In conjunction with KCACTF, “Daddy’s Little Girls” also garnered him one of the eight, nationwide nominations for the National Partners of American Theatre Playwriting Award which recognizes “best-written, best-crafted script with the strongest writer’s “voice.”” His full-length play,“Moraine,” had a reading at the 2014 Seabury Quinn Jr. Playwrights Festival at Ohio University, and at the Trellis Reading Series at the Greenhouse Theater Center. Moraine is being produced at CIC Theater this March and April in Chicago, and is being directed by Mary Rose O’Connor.

Dolan produced four one-act plays written by three other Ohio University playwrights and himself called “10-4: The Truck Stop Plays” at CIC Theater in Chicago in the Summer of 2014. Dolan’s one-act “Burger King,” was directed by Ashley Neal. Ryan’s play “The Peace of Westphalia” was awarded the first-ever workshop production in the playwriting program at Columbia College. His ten-minute plays have been produced by American Theater Company, and Brown Couch Theater. Ryan was the dramaturg at RedTwist theater for Kimberly Senior’s production of “The Pillowman,” and Keira Fromm’s production of “The Lobby Hero.” Both were nominated for Jeff Awards for “Best Play” and “Best Director.” Ryan is also a 12-year veteran of the Chicago improv scene. He has primarily improvised at iO and Annoyance Theaters, but also has performed and taught workshops at numerous festivals and universities around the country with his groups Revolver and Pudding-Thank-You. He also teaches workshops to Ohio University’s improv group, “Black Sheep.” His acting credits include productions at Steppenwolf Theater’s “Next Up” series, TimeLine Theater, Collaboraction, Strawdog, and Wildclaw Theater.

“Weather Permitting” Madness coming this Friday!

August 24, 2015
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · News

The first madness of the fall semester will be produced by third year playwright, Tyler JC Whidden! His prompt is Weather Permitting Madness! Tyler has asked the playwrights to write plays that are set outside and look at how the inevitable affect characters pursuits of goals.

Show is August 28th, 11pm, in a special location, the Courtyard outside of the Hahne Black Box theater. Admission is free. We recommend you get there 45 to 60 minutes ahead of time to assure yourself a seat. Hope it doesn’t rain 😉

For more information about Madness the fall semester, check out our Madness page.

More about Tyler

Tyler Whidden was born and raised in Cleveland, OH where he grew up the least-talented son of a hockey-first family. After earning his BFA in Playwriting at Ohio University, he began a tragic career as a stand-up comic based out of Seattle, WA. As a comedian, Tyler was labeled by critics and fans alike as, “hilarious,” “tragic,” and “probably stoned.” After years of toiling on the road, he moved to Chicago where he returned to theater, studying and working with Victory Gardens and the Neo-Futurists theaters among many others. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College and worked as Director of Education with the great Ensemble Theatre of Cleveland. His play Dancing With N.E.D. has seen productions in New Jersey, Ohio, and Washington. His family-friendly farce, The Unofficial Almost True Campfire Tales of Put-in-Bay was commissioned by the Put-in-Bay Arts Council as part of their Bicentennial Celebration of the Battle of Lake Erie in the Summer of 2013 and his one-act play, Detour, was part of the “Truck Stop Plays” production in Chicago. He is currently an Instructor at Ohio University and at Southern New Hampshire University and lives in Athens, Ohio, with his beautiful wife, Angie — who is way out of his league — and their beautiful boy, Booker — who is Tyler’s intellectual equal.

Laura Jacqmin nominated for Jeff Award in Chicago!

August 23, 2015
by catherineforever666
· alumni · Chicago · News

Playwriting alum Laura Jacqmin’s play ” Look, we are breathing ” which was done at Rivendell Theater Ensemble the spring of 2015, has just been nominated for a Jeff award!! The Joseph Jefferson Awards (The Jeff Awards) are given annually by a volunteer non-profit committee to acknowledge excellence in theatre in the Chicago area. Founded in 1968, the awards are given in tribute to actor Joseph Jefferson.

From press release: “The list comprises 187 nominations in 36 categories, representing 34 theaters that opened productions between between August 1, 2014 and July 31, 2015. The 47th annual Equity Jeff Awards will be presented Monday, October 5 at Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace.”

Here’s a brief synopsis of Laura’s play: “Those who die young are mourned for their lost potential. But what if Mike, a high school hockey player killed while driving drunk, never really showed much potential? In this searing world premiere, Chicago playwright Laura Jacqmin turns her unblinking eye on the grieving process, as three women in Mike’s life realize that in order to move on, they first have to confront some hard truths about themselves.

Congrats Laura and we hope you win!! You on fire, gurl!

More about Laura

Laura Jacqmin is a Chicago-based playwright and television writer, originally from Cleveland. She’s the winner of the Wasserstein Prize, two NEA Art Works Grants, the Kennedy Center David Mark Cohen Award, two MacDowell Fellowships, an Illinois Arts Council Individual Artist Grant, and has been a finalist for the Heideman Award, the Laurents/Hatcher Prize, the BBC International Playwriting Competition, and the Princess Grace Award. Her play Dental Society Midwinter Meeting was named one of New City Stage’s Top Five Plays of 2010, as well as TimeOut Chicago’s Honorable Mentions: Best Theater of 2010. Her television work includes the forthcoming series “Grace and Frankie” (Netflix) and “Lucky 7” (ABC). She received her BA from Yale University, and earned an MFA in Playwriting from Ohio University.

Plays include Ghost Bike (Buzz22 Chicago), Do-Gooder (16th Street Theater), January Joiner (Long Wharf Theatre), Ski Dubai (Steppenwolf Theatre), Look, We Are Breathing (Sundance Theater Lab), Two Lakes, Two Rivers (O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Royal Court Theatre’s International Residency), and Dental Society Midwinter Meeting (Chicago Dramatists/At Play, remounted 16th Street Theater and Theater on the Lake). Her short play Hero Dad premiered in the 2012 Humana Festival of New Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Her work has been produced and developed by Atlantic Theater Company, Old Vic New Voices, Roundabout Underground, Vineyard Theatre, LCT3, Ars Nova, Cape Cod Theatre Project, Second Stage Theatre, Contemporary American Theater Festival, The 24 Hour Plays Off-Broadway, and the inaugural NNPN University Playwrights Workshop at Stanford University, among others.

Ira Gammerman’s short play featured in Sam French OOB Fest in NYC this week!

August 1, 2015
by catherineforever666
· alumni · Festival · New York · News

Playwriting alum Ira Gammerman’s hilarious and dark short play “Billy Bitchass” will be apart of the 40th Annual Sam French OOB short play fest in NYC. This is a highly prestigious short play fest and out of thousands of scripts, only 30 were selected. The plays will be performed in NYC in front of an industry panel and the top plays will be published with Sam French. Ira’s play will be done this Wednesday, August 5th at 8pm at 13th street theater; it also features an Ohio MFA actress alum, Marissa Wolf!

Check it out of you’re in NY! Ira’s writing is way too funny to exist!

Click here for tickets

More about Ira

Ira Gamerman is an Award-Winning AustraliAmerican PodcastPlaywright. He creates sound and songs using affected electric mandolin and guitar with Anonymous In The Clouds, Battler, and Pronouns. His Dramatic work has been produced by The Kennedy Center, Collaboraction, Short & Sweet Sydney, Source Festival, and The Chicago New Media Summit. In 2006, City Paper voted Ira “Best Playwright Of Baltimore” and in 2009, he was nominated for a New York Innovative Theater Award for best short play. As a Podcaster, Ira writes for Radiotopia’s THE TRUTH (featured on This American Life) where his Collaborative Audio-Play “Biological Clock” won a 2013 Mark Time Award from the Fire Sign Theater for Best Science Fiction Audio Production of the Year. He also co-created and co-hosts DANGEROUSLY UNQUALIFIED: A PODCAST ABOUT LOVE with EST/Youngblood Alumni Playwright Ryan Dowler through BSD MEDIA. Internationally, Ira is Co-Creative Artistic Director of AUSTRALIAMERICAN THEATER CONGLOMORATE: EVERYTHING IS EVERYWHERE (2 Americans 2 Aussies 2 Gals 2 Dudes 2 Goys 2 Jews 2 Legit 2 Quit) with Jessica Bellamy, David Finnigan, and Siobhan O’loughlin. Ira holds a BA in Theater from Towson University, an MFA in Playwriting from Ohio University, and studied Devised theater at the (now defunct) Dartington College Of Art in the UK. As an educator, Ira has taught undergraduate theater at Ohio University and Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn in addition to playwright-mentoring Young Playwrights Festivals at Atlanta’s Horizon Theater and Baltimore’s Center Stage. As a journalist, Ira has been published by Consequence Of Sound, Eleven Magazine in St. Louis (even though he has never actually visited St. Louis), and HowlRound. He was also an extra in Season 3 of The Wire and has the screenshot to prove it if you don’t believe him.

Playwriting Alum Reginald Edmund chosen as part of new Patriot Program!

July 31, 2015
by catherineforever666
· alumni

Ohio alum Reginald Edmund was just selected as an affiliated artist of Merrimack Repertory Theater in Lowell, MA! With the arrival of a new artistic director, Sean Daniels, comes this new exciting affiliated artists “Patriot Program” which has been created to serve over 50 theater artists of all kinds to create new work for the American theater.

Here’s an excerpt from the press release:

Daniels aims to put Merrimack Repertory Theatre and Lowell on the national radar by originating work here that goes onto to have future life in the American Theatre. Part of that means attracting artists to MRT so that it is one of the first places they think of when they have a new project. According to Daniels, “We’re building a national theatre for our town and a local home for these national artists.”

“As we talked to these artists – we kept hearing ‘I’d love to just have a place to come write’, or ‘I’d love to be writing when other writers are there so we gather for dinner for each night and compare notes’ or ‘I’d love to just start with some designers and dream up a project’. This program aims to provide those generative opportunities. As we grow, and have more to offer, these will be the artists we reach out to first.” Read full press release here

Congrats Reginald on this awesome prestigious opportunity! Watch this cool interview with Reginald to find out more about him and his work.

More about Reginald

Reginald Edmund, is a resident playwright of Chicago Dramatists, he was previously a 2009-2010, 2010-2011 Many Voices Fellow playwright. Originally from Houston, Texas, he served Artistic Director for the Silver House Theatre, as well as the founder and producer for the Silver House Playwrights Festival and the Houston Urban Theatre Series. Reggie was the inaugural recipient of the Kennedy Center Fellowship at Soul Mountain Retreat as well as the 2009 National Runner-up for the Lorraine Hansberry and Rosa Parks Playwriting Award, and most recently winner of an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award for his play ‘SouthBridge’. He received his BFA in Theatre-Performance from Texas Southern University, and his MFA in playwriting at Ohio University under the guidance of Charles Smith.

Check out Playwriting Alum Jeremy Motz’s show in the Minnesota Fringe this August!

July 28, 2015
by catherineforever666
· News · Productions

This summer our alumni are up to some fun fun projects! Jeremy Motz’s new original one man show “DING DONG SING SONG” will be having five performances as part of the MN fringe, throughout the month of August! The show is about a failing singing telegram performer, convinced his awful song and dance butchering of “ironic” karaoke hits in ill-fitting costumes is considered “outsider art”.

This will be his third consecutive year writing and performing original solo shows for the MN Fringe; in 2013, his show BOXCUTTER HARMONICA sold out its final performance, and last year’s REWIND-A-BUDDY received positive reviews.

Check out his show if you’re in Minnesota! Sounds a bit too fun to exist 😉

Click here for additional show information, performance times, and ticket information.

More about JeremyJ. Merrill Motz, or Jeremy Motz, or just Motz (rhymes with boats) recently earned a graduate degree in Ohio University’s Professional Playwriting Program, after having spent four years in Minneapolis, where he moved after graduating from Central Michigan University with a BFA in acting. While in the Twin Cities, he acted for Chameleon Theatre Circle, Workhouse, took classes at the Playwright’s Center and The Loft, and appeared as Saul in the original production of Table 12 in the 2010 Minnesota Fringe.

At CMU, his plays Ain’t That A Kick in the Head, Just One, Nobody Flinched Down By The Arcade, and The Roommate were produced by the Alpha Psi Omega one-act festival, with Ain’t That A Kick in the Head and The Roommate selected to be performed at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in 2006 and 2007. The Roommate was commissioned by the University of Wisconsin Fon du Lac to be developed into a full-length production for their 2008 main stage season. His last full-length script, All Gonna Go, received a reading from Swandive Theatre in Minneapolis in 2010. This Spring, his latest (in-progress) script, Reinforce Sincerity, received a reading at the Seabury Quinn, Jr. Playwright’s Festival in Athens, OH. Motz was published in the online crime fiction magazine Plots With Guns in March 2010, and hopes to dabble some more in crime fiction if he can ever find the time.

Motz has performed with Freshwater in the original production of Table 12, Sky Fleeting (as part of both runs of our Dirty Girls Come Clean festival) and Going Down on the Queen of Minneapolis. Motz wrote, produced and performed in Boxcutter Harmonica, a one man show, during the 2013 Fringe, and recently wrote The Beacon From Belle Isle, a modern-day fairy tale about Michigan, which opened our 2013-2014 mainstage season.