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Posts By Erik Ramsey

Alum Qui Nguyen Featured in L.A. Times

  • March 30, 2019
  • by Erik Ramsey
  • · alumni · New York · News · Press · Productions · Qui Nguyen · TV · world premiere

QuiNguyen2015On April 5th, at South Coast Rep in Costa Mesa, California, OHIO MFA playwriting alum Qui Nguyen — a pioneer of  “geek theatre” — will open his new play Poor Yella Rednecks. The play is a sequel to his highly lauded Vietgone, and commissioned by SCR and Manhattan Theatre Club.

Qui is a co-founder of the Obie Award-winning Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company, known as the first and only professional theatre company to be sponsored by New York Comic Con.

Poor Yella Rednecks is the sequel to Nguyen’s Vietgone, which premiered at South Coast Rep in 2015. Rednecks begins previews Saturday and opens a week later. The plays, co-commissioned by SCR and Manhattan Theatre Club, follow the love story of Nguyen’s mother and father, Tong and Quang, who met in the Fort Chaffee refugee camp in Arkansas after they escaped Vietnam during the fall of Saigon. Poor Yella Rednecks, which Nguyen lovingly nicknamed Vietgone 2, zeroes in on the challenges the couple face as blue-collar immigrants, recently married and starting a family. (L.A. Times, March 28, 2019)

Qui writes for TV and film, in addition to continuing to be one of the most sought after playwrights in the country:

“I started in TV, then I went to Marvel, and then I went back to TV for a while and did AMC and Netflix, and now I’m back in film for Disney,” he says. “I feel like I’m late to the game, so I’m hungry to succeed.” (L.A. Times, March 28, 2019)

Writing for likes of Marvel and Disney hasn’t slowed his pace as a playwright: major theaters such as Center Theatre Group in L.A., Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Atlantic Theater Company and Playwrights Horizons in New York continue to commission him.

For more about Qui’s climb to national recognition:

  • New York Times profile of Qui in 2016
  • NBC News on Vietgone in 2017
  • L.A. Times review of Vietgone at South Coast Rep in 2015

And more about his latest play, Poor Yella Rednecks, opening next week:

  • L.A. Times review of Poor Yella Rednecks in 2019

What is “Geek Theatre”?

  • American Theatre takes a stab at defining “Geek Theatre”

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Skye Robinson Hillis’ play AND VASTER, now available at Play4Keeps

  • March 26, 2019
  • by Erik Ramsey
  • · Chicago · News · Productions

Check out 1st Year playwright Skye Robinson Hillis’ full-length play AND VASTER, now available as a recording through Play4Keeps, an off-shoot of the venerable Ashland New Plays Festival! Listen right here, and discover what Play4Keeps is all about.

_MG_4237Skye Robinson Hillis is a playwright, director, and dramaturg in based Chicago. As a playwright, her work has been seen at The Route 66 Theatre Company, Chicago Dramatists, A Red Orchid Theatre, Piven Theatre Workshop, Artistic Home, Prologue Theatre Company, Polarity Ensemble Theatre, Columbia College, and the City of Chicago’s In the Works Play Lab at the Pritzker Pavillion in Millenium Park. Her play AND VASTER was awarded a residency at the New Works Lab at Stratford (2015), winner of the Ashland New Plays Festival (2015), and winner of the Holland New Voices Award at the Great Plains Theatre Conference (2017). AND VASTER was also named a semi-finalist for The Princess Grace Award. As a director and dramaturg, she has worked for Hartford Stage, Goodman Theatre, Court Theatre, A Red Orchid, Remy Bumppo, Stage Left, and more.

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American Theatre: Charles Smith and his long-time friend & collaborator Chuck Smith

  • March 1, 2019
  • by Erik Ramsey
  • · Chicago · Faculty · News

Check out this piece in American Theatre  by OHIO alum Jerald Raymond Pierce about our own Charles Smith and his long-time friend and collaborator Chuck Smith. Apparently Chicago is big enough to feature two award-winning theater professionals named Smith, Charles, yet also small enough that it isn’t often that one is confused for the other… Just one of the many things that makes Chicago unique as a theatre town: Chuck Smith, Charles Smith, and a South Side Friendship.


Charles Smith’s plays have been produced Off-Broadway and nationally by theaters such as Indiana Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, New Federal Theatre, The Acting Company, People’s Light & Theatre Company, Penumbra, Crossroads Theatre Company, Penguin Repertory Theatre, Ujima Theatre Company, The Colony Theatre, St. Louis Black Rep, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Jubilee Theatre, Ensemble Theatre in Houston, Robey Theatre Company, and Berkeley Repertory Theater. His most recent play, Objects in the Mirror, received a developmental production at Goodman Theatre in 2016 and returned as part of the 2016-17 season. (Listen to a discussion of the play on NPR’s Weekend Edition.) His play, Black Star Line, was commissioned by and also produced by Goodman. Nine of his plays received their world premiere productions at Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago. Three of his plays, The Gospel According to James, Sister Carrie, and Les Trois Dumas, were all commissioned and produced by Indiana Repertory Theatre. Les Trois Dumas was also produced by People’s Light & Theatre, and by Independent Theatre in Adelaide, South Australia. His play Pudd’nhead Wilson, commissioned and produced by The Acting Company, enjoyed a twenty-two city national tour before being produced Off-Broadway. His plays Takundaand City of Gold enjoyed tours of the west coast. His work has also been produced for the HBO New Writers Project, the International Children’s Theater Festival in Seattle, and The National Black Theatre Festival. He is author of two Emmy Award-winning teleplays, Fast Break to Gloryand Pequito. His other plays include, Freefall, The Sutherland, Jelly Belly, Young Richard, Cane, and Free Man of Color, which was also produced in Australia, New York, Los Angeles, and around the United States after receiving a Joseph Jefferson Award. He has received the John W. Schmid Award for Outstanding New Work, two Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards, an Illinois Arts Council Governors Award, Princess Grace Fellowship, the Cornerstone National Playwriting Award, the Joyce Award, The National Black Theatre Festival’s August Wilson Playwriting Award, the Theodore Ward National Playwriting Award, two Black Theatre Alliance Awards for New Work, the NBC New Voices Award, and numerous other AUDELCO, Jeff, NAACP, and Black Theatre Alliance award nominations. For more information about his plays, visit http://www.csplays.com.

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Cristina Luzárraga’s LA MUJER BARBUDA wins Inaugural ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition

  • February 5, 2019
  • by Erik Ramsey
  • · alumni · Awards · New York · News

Cristina LuzCongrats to alum Cristina Luzárraga (MFA ’18) ! Her play La Mujer  Barbuda, part of last year’s Seabury Quinn Jr Festival, was chosen by esteemed judges such as David Lindsay-Abaire, Donald Margulies, and as the inaugural ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition. According to the ScreenCraft announcement:

“We are excited to announce the winner of the 2018 ScreenCraft Stage Play competition. Selected from nearly 700 entries, La Mujer Barbuda by Cristina Luzárraga has been named the winner…

La Mujer Barbuda explores the intersecting lives of two women, separated by time and space, and united in the struggle to thrive as a mother in a man’s world. Maggie is an American airline pilot and new mother. When she tries to pump breast milk in the cockpit, she almost perishes in a plane crash. Magdalena is a 17th-century Italian weaver and new mother. When she suddenly grows a beard and nurses a baby at age fifty-two, she sets off a domestic and civil crisis. The judges responded to the unique premises and gripping scenes as the parallels between the two lives unfurled.”

Cristina was also recently initiated as an EST Youngblood:

Cristina Luzárraga grew up in New Jersey and still resides there, believe it or not. She’s an alum The Second City Conservatory in Chicago, the town where she once (foolishly?) dabbled in comedy performance of all kinds. Her work has been developed at Towne Street Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, The New Colony, and Tantrum Theater. Her full length plays include Critical Distance, Millennialville, and La Mujer Barbuda (2018 Princess Grace Award finalist). Her short plays have been published in anthologies by Smith and Kraus. She co-wrote and adaptation of Aphra Behn’s The Rover that was produced by Ohio University where she recently earned an MFA in playwriting.

Then there’s this, of course, when you need a good laugh…

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Alum Bianca Sams Joins The Kilroys!

  • December 12, 2018
  • by Erik Ramsey
  • · alumni · News

Alum Bianca Sams has been selected as one of the next wave of The Kilroys. The Kilroys describe themselves as  “a gang of playwrights, directors and producers in LA and NYC who are done talking about gender parity and are taking action. We mobilize others in our field and leverage our own power to support one another.” From their announcement:

The Kilroys, a collective of playwrights and producers dedicated to furthering the voices of female and trans playwrights, has announced the new members in its coalition. They are Jaclyn Backhaus, Hilary Bettis, Jennifer Chambers, Claudia de Vasco, Emma Goidel, Christina Ham, Jessica Hanna, Monet Hurst-Mendoza, Obehi Janice, Hansol Jung, Chelsea Marcantel, Caroline V. McGraw, Bianca Sams, and Gina Young.

The Kilroys were founded in 2013 by 13 women to tackle the lack of gender parity in the theatre. Their main advocacy effort in that time has been an annual list , inspired by the Black List, of underproduced plays by women, trans, and non-binary playwrights. Another of their activist efforts included sending cakes to theaters around the country whose season lineups had gender parity.

And this from the Kilroy’s website:

New Year, New Kilroys! For the past five years The Kilroys, an LA-based collective of playwrights/producers, continuing the fight to achieve gender balance in the American theater, have been advocating for equal representation on our American stages, and have released an annual list of under-produced plays by woman, trans, and non-binary writers. Despite some measurable progress, we still have a long way to go before we strike that balance. So, as we approach 2019, we are beyond thrilled to introduce a fresh new gang of fearless badass leaders. These women will seize our reins and continue the fight for equality, creating random acts of disruption along the way, while the OG Kilroys will serve as an advisory board supporting the current class.

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Charles Smith’s Play Discussed on NPR’s Weekend Edition

  • June 3, 2017
  • by Erik Ramsey
  • · Chicago · News · world premiere
objects_01_wide-af9f795118f04eaf31f2c07a9b3a66bce388f8e4-s800-c85
Daniel Kyri plays Shedrick Yarkpai in the Goodman Theatre production of Objects in the Mirror.
Liz Lauren/Goodman Theatre

Charles Smith’s Objects in the Mirror is featured in today’s Weekend Edition by NPR (June 3rd, 2017). Listen at the link below:

http://www.npr.org/2017/06/03/531207534/this-play-was-inspired-by-a-real-refugee-s-shakespearean-dilemma

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2017 Festival Info!

  • April 17, 2017
  • by Erik Ramsey
  • · News

Production Schedule and Mentor Bios


Featured Thesis Productions

Tickets for the Featured Productions are $5 general admission or FREE for OU Students (with valid student ID) through Arts for Ohio; available at the Templeton–Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium box office. 

THE BIG FUCKIN’ GIANT

by Rachel Bykowski, directed by Allison Epperson
8:00 pm – April 12th, 15th, 20th & 21st (Forum Theater, RTV Building)
2:00 pm – April 15th (Forum Theater, RTV Building)

Alright, pussies! You ready? Do you have what it takes to be an Alpha? Think you can pin the Big Fuckin’ Giant? Push! Push yourself to the fucking brink. Until you feel the pain… The night before the NCAA wrestling conference, three fraternity brothers have to prove they are the alphas of the mat and Judy is just the girl to help them. Once you step onto the mat, you can never stop.

This is How You Got Me Naked

by Catherine Weingarten, directed by Ben Stockman
8:00 pm – April 13th, 14th, 19th & 22nd (Forum Theater, RTV Building)
2:00 pm – April 22nd (Forum Theater, RTV Building)

It’s the Dress to Get Laid Party: Jackie is dressed as a sexy trash-bag — aka Looking Good — and ready to hit on her sexy male dancer friend who is a junior so he will LOVE her so hard he can’t even feel his own body!! Is Jackie destined to be another tragic tale about the perils of hookup culture? Or will she be the lucky GF of a dancer who is hot? 😉

Note: There will be a talkback following the performance on Friday April 14th with Professor Thomas Vander Ven about hook-up culture and the sociology of alcohol on campus.  


STAGED READINGS

Staged readings are free and open to the public.

TATTOO ON YOUR ARM

by Inna Tsyrlin
1:00 pm, Thursday April 20th, Elizabeth Baker Theater, Kantner Hall

A mysterious occurrence in the Amazon has left its mark on Ben. Abandoning his work as a fashion photographer, Ben feels compelled to help an ancient tribe save their land; their physical and spiritual home. Can Ben preserve the forest and its purity? To do so, he’ll have to choose between honoring his Peruvian fiancée’s connection to the forest or becoming entangled with a powerful financier.

VESSEL

by Natasha Smith, directed by Anne McAlexander
4:00 pm, Thursday April 20th, Elizabeth Baker Theater, Kantner Hall

Tiana can’t wait to get away from home. When she lands at MIT, she’s got something to prove…but she’s not sure what, exactly. At least her professor thinks she’s got a bright future. And if he says so, then anything is possible, right?

FIREFLIES

by Philana Omorotionmwan, directed by Shelley Delaney
8:00 pm, Thursday April 20th, Elizabeth Baker Theater, Kantner Hall

It’s twilight time.
                                                   And the small, winged things—
                                             like spiders and roaches and fireflies—
                                         have begun to stir and search for light.
                                         Will Then-Self find it before she dies?
                                         Or will Now-Self find other ways to survive?
Fireflies is an exploration of one girl’s longing and search for intimacy through the lives of insects.

I<3 GIRLS

by Katherine Varga
2:00 pm, Friday April 21st, Elizabeth Baker Theater, Kantner Hall

Jessi never intended for her “coming out” audition video to go viral–she just wanted it to help her get the starring role in the school play. But her video has caused her Youtube channel subscriptions to go through the roof. There’s nothing wrong with giving her fans what they want, right? After all, everyone makes things up on the Internet.

SHAHID

by Trip Venturella
1:00 pm, Saturday April 22nd, Elizabeth Baker Theater, Kantner Hall

What are artists responsible for in the face of violence? Shahid imagines the life of Kashmiri-American poet Agha Shahid Ali as he struggles with two losses – that of his homeland, and that of his mother – among the myths and stories of a poietic Kashmir. How do you balance stories of your people, with the stories of your own?

MILLENIALVILLE

by Cristina Luzarraga, directed by Daniel Winters
4:00 pm, Saturday April 22nd, Elizabeth Baker Theater, Kantner Hall

It’s the year 2175, and life’s just dandy—or at least that’s the story’s at Millennialville, a historical museum dedicated to reenacting the life and times of the early 2000s. Thisbe and Oren work at Millennialvile. Thisbe and Oren are in love. Thisbe and Oren need to make a big decision: will one or both them go on Productolife? Also, did penguins have ears? For sake of their relationship, Thisbe really needs to know.


Guest Artists In Residence

Each April three nationally known guest artists are invited to be residence for the Seabury Quinn Jr Playwrights Festival to respond to MFA plays and work with the MFA playwrights.

celise-kalkeCelise Kalke joined the staff of the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta in 2005 where, Director of New Projects, she manages New Play Development, the Alliance/Kendeda Graduate Playwright
Competition, the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab and Alliance Theatre production dramaturgy. She has developed many different kinds of projects from straight plays to musicals to novel adaptations to shows for kids. Before moving to the Alliance she was the Director of the Literary Department at the Public Theater in New York. Celise currently serves as VP of Institutions for LMDA (Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas).

nambi Kelly Nambi Kelley has performed on regional stages across the country, internationally, including many shows at the Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, and has been seen on several television shows, including Elementary, Person of Interest, Madam Secretary, Chicago PD, and will be guest starring on NBC’s Chicago Justice airing this spring. Also an accomplished playwright, Nambi has penned plays for Steppenwolf and Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Lincoln Center in New York, and internationally. Kelley is currently playwright in residence at the National Black Theatre in New York and is working on an adaptation of Toni Morrison’s Jazz to be produced at Baltimore’s Center Stage in May 2017. Her Native Son and short play Dead of Night: The Execution Of (commissioned by The New Black Fest) were both recently published by Sam French and are both slated for several productions across the country next season. www.nambikelley.com

Michael-LeggMichael Legg is the Director of the Professional Training Company. Legg is in his tenth season at Actors Theatre of Louisville, where he’s directed world premieres of plays by A. Rey Pamatmat, Laura Jacqmin, Dan Dietz, Kyle John Schmidt, Marco Ramirez, Carmen Herlihy, Jennifer Haley, and Allison Moore, among others. Legg serves as a guest artist at several universities, including the the University of Idaho, Ohio University, and Texas Tech University. He also teaches for and works extensively with the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and serves as the Artistic Director of the WildWind Performance Lab in Texas, where he’s developed new plays by Brian Quijada, Eva Suter, Brian Bauman, Martyna Majok, Basil Kreimendahl, and Joshua Conkel, among others. Legg holds an M.F.A. in acting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is a proud member of the Actors Equity Association.

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George Brant’s “Grounded” on Broadway

  • April 29, 2015
  • by Erik Ramsey
  • · News

George Brant, a frequent guest artist in the OHIO MFA Playwriting Program, opened his play “Grounded” on Broadway to strong reviews this week. Read the Times review here. [Pictured above: George Brant on the right with MFA alum Bianca Sams, center, and Dennis Zacek in 2013.]

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Chantal Bilodeau Writing in Howlround

  • April 20, 2015
  • by Erik Ramsey
  • · alumni · News

chantalMFA alum Chantal Bilodeau is writing and curating a series for Howlround.com — an online journal focused on exploring where we are headed and what we are doing as dramatists — about Theater and climate change. Chantal has been leading the charge internationally in developing a new play cycle about climate change. See the Howlround essay series here: http://howlround.com/in-search-of-a-new-aesthetic. See more about Chantal’s Arctic Play Cycle here: http://thearcticcycle.org/.

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Sneak Peek of Grace and Frankie

  • April 9, 2015
  • by Erik Ramsey
  • · alumni · News · TV

OHIO MFA Playwriting alums Jackie Reingold (2003) and Laura Jacqmin (2007) recently worked on the writing staff for the soon to be released Netflix series, Grace and Frankie.

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