Category: Current Students

First Year Playwrights win Scripps Innovation Challenge!

March 28, 2017
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · News

The current first year playwrights:Inna Tsyrlin, Katherina Varga and Trip Venturella won the prestigious Scripps Innovation Challenge yesterday and a hefty cash prize! They concocted a creative and fun proposal for the NRC which involved twitter participation, celebrities and cute animals! This is a really exciting example of playwrights making waves in the university and not just within the theater department.

“The 5th Annual Scripps Innovation Challenge is a university-wide student competition to create innovative solutions to real-world media and communication problems. It is open to all Ohio University students, regardless of major. The goal is to harness the creativity of Ohio University students to develop new and innovative products, tools, or strategies that could be the basis for a startup business or a new entrepreneurial venture by an established company.”

Inna Tsyrlin gave me an EXCLUSIVE quote for our blog about their big win:

“We took this challenge on because we wanted to work as a team (ahhh… the days when we were energetic newbies to the program) and also to do something outside of the theatre department. After all the research and hurling one creative idea after another, we tried to come up with something fun; our challenge was to come up with an innovative way for the Natural Resource Defense Council (one of the largest environmental non-profits) to get more donors. We thought about how do we shape our idea and message into a story. Our playwrights’ brains kicked into gear and leaned on the structure of crafting a dramatic narrative to present our idea. And what’s more dramatic than climate change… #sad. We care about the causes of the NRDC and learning about what the non-profit does has been very interesting and inspiring. We were pleasantly surprised that we won, but grateful for the recognition of our work. Also, a big thank you to our fellow playwrights who supported us leading up to the day and during the presentation; to Erik, Charles and Merri for coming along to hear our pitch; and also to the Scripps school who made this competition open to the whole university. ”

Congrats First years and don’t spend it all in one place!

Learn more about this challenge here

Philana has reading at La Mama this month!

February 13, 2017
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · Events · News · Reading

Philana Omortionmwan’s timely and moving play “Before Evening Comes” will be read at the prestigious La Mama Theater in NYC on Monday, February 27th at 7pm. It will be directed by Nephrii Amenii and will be part of La Mamas Experiment Reading Series.

Here is a little bit about the play:

“With his 13th birthday around the corner, Totome is excited to meet “the butcher” and finally become a man. His mother, however, hopes to keep him whole for just a little while longer. Before Evening Comes is a poetic exploration of what becomes of black boys and men in a dystopian future rooted in the belief that the black male body is a threat to public safety.”

Congrats Philana! Check it out if you’re in NYC!!

More Info On event

February 27th, at 7pm, La Mama Gallerua/ 47 Great Jones Street

Click here to get a reservation

More about Philana

Philana Omorotionmwan is originally from Baton Rouge, LA where she was born to a Louisiana Creole mother and a Nigerian father. Production of Philana’s short plays includes THE SETTLEMENT (Ensemble Studio Theatre) and BLACK BOYS DON’T DANCE (Manhattan Theatre Source). BEFORE EVENING COMES was recently developed as part of the 2016 Bay Area Playwrights Festival (Playwrights Foundation) and the Br!nk New Play Festival (Renaissance Theaterworks). Her ten-minute play DIS DA HOOD is currently a finalist for the 2016 Heideman Award. Philana earned her BA from Stanford University where she began writing plays under the mentorship of Cherríe Moraga. Philana is currently pursuing an MFA in Playwriting at Ohio University. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Inc.

First year MFA Playwrights are finalists for Scripps contest!

February 1, 2017
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · News

Our current first year class: Trip Venturella, Katherine Varga and Inna Tyrlin are finalists for the Scripps Innovation Challenge. the OU website describes it as:

The 5th Annual Scripps Innovation Challenge is a university-wide student competition to create innovative solutions to real-world media and communication problems. It is open to all Ohio University students, regardless of major. The goal is to harness the creativity of Ohio University students to develop new and innovative products, tools, or strategies that could be the basis for a startup business or a new entrepreneurial venture by an established company.

The Post recently interviewed them about their project!!

Here is a little sample of that:

The second finalist team, The Players, includes Trip Venturella, Kathrine Varge and Inna Tsyrlin, three first-year graduate playwriting students. They chose to create a team to think outside the box and focus on how their skills as writers can also make a difference.

“We were like ‘wouldn’t it be cool not only to engage a different part of our brains than the artistic playwriting part, but also develop something that might someday be employed to having social good or social benefit,’ ” said Venturella.

Their challenge came from the National Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit organization that promotes wildlife protection. The challenge required looking at today’s media and coming up with an innovative way to educate people about the organization’s mission while also raising money.

“It was a matter of looking at the media itself, like the internet, and saying ‘OK, when people go to the internet, what are most people interested in? What will grab their attention?’ ” Varge said.

Read full article about them here Congrats Katherine, Inna and Trip!!! We hope you win!

Katherine Varga has 10 minute play in Denver!

January 30, 2017
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · News

Katherine Varga has a new short play “Post Truth” going up at Curious Theater in Denver on February 6th! She previously attended their summer program for young playwrights. Congrats Katherine!!

Here is more info on the program:

After our Summer Playwriting Intensive ends, we want to continue our relationships to these emerging playwrights and their work. Each year, we ask alums from the Summer Intensive as well as current playwrights from in-school residencies at Colorado Academy to write 10-minute companion plays inspired by a Curious Theatre Company mainstage production. The pieces are then performed on the set of the play that inspired their play during a staged festival.

This continuation of their journey in writing allows young playwrights the opportunity to hone their craft year-round and receive mentorship and support from Curious.

Info if you want to see it:

ACTS OF REVOLUTION
inspired by The Happiest Song Plays Last by Quiara Alegría Hudes

January 22 & 23 at 7 pm
February 6 at 7 pm
Each evening features different works by our fearless playwrights.

Theater Location: Curious Theater: 1080 Acoma St., Denver, CO 80204

Reservations not required. Donations accepted at the door.

More about Katherine

Katherine Varga is a freelance writer and playwright originally from New Britain, CT. She recently received her B.A. English from the University of Rochester, where she was awarded a Take Five scholarship to study urbanization and the arts. Her plays have been developed at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, New York and Curious Theatre in Denver, Colorado, and read at the 2015 First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival.

Catherine Weingarten has article on Howlround!

January 17, 2017
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · Essays · News

Current playwright Catherine Weingarten just wrote a piece for the theater website Howlround. The piece is called “Creating Complex Female Characters” and discusses female character tropes and ways to break away. It also gives a little bit of writing advice for people who want to make their female characters a little more dynamic!

Here’s an excerpt:

Here is the kind of female character I want to see onstage: the flawed female character, the complex female character, the hot mess in search of something better female character. I want to go to plays and see women who aren’t “perfect” or “strong” but have humanity. In my own plays, I tell stories about myself and the women in my life. I love writing female characters with flaws because that’s real. I don’t want to go to a play about some perfect chick who does her nails and fights crime and has no insecurities (just thinking about that makes me wanna sleep). I write plays about girls who make really really bad choices (like sleeping with their karate teacher or therapist) and then have to figure out what to do next. Also, writing flawed women is way more fun for actresses to play since they have some meat.

Read the whole thing here

More about Catherine

Catherine Weingarten hails from Ardmore, PA also known as the area that inspired the preppy sexy TV show “Pretty Little Liars” and is a NYC friendly playwright. 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 graduated from Bennington College in Vermont where she studied playwriting with Sherry Kramer. Her 10 minute sex fantasy play “Pineapple Upside Down Cake” was a National Semi-Finalist at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Her full length playwriting credits include: staged reading of Are You Ready to get Pampered!? produced at the Dixon Place, Less Than Rent and Last Frontier Theater Conference Playlab series; staged reading of This Car Trip Suckss produced by Piper Theater Productions; and Karate Hottie produced by West of 10th in NYC. 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

Philana has a short play going up in Texas this weekend!

January 13, 2017
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · Events · News

Philana Omorotionmwan’s short play “Carry Yourself with Confidence” is part of the 2017 Fade to Black Reading Series for black playwrights. These short plays will be performed tonight and tomorrow night in Houston.

Here is the blurb about it from their website:

“The Fade To Black Play Festival (created by Shabach Enterprise, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization) has developed an exciting new platform! We are Houston’s first and only play festival to showcase the new works of Black playwrights!

Each year, as we bring more programs to life, the Fade To Black movement grows stronger! Within the span of five years we will have already produced the plays of almost 70 amazing playwrights and utilized the talents of our culturally diverse theatre community of local actors and directors.

Our new reading series is energetic, colorful, edgy and urban! Experience the movement of Fade To Black!”

Congrats Philana!!! Check it out if you’re in Houston!

Click here for tickets

More about Philana

Philana Omorotionmwan was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She uses writing to create images that explore the the intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality. Her short plays have been produced at Ensemble Studio Theater, Manhattan Theatre Source, and Berkeley Rep. Her poems have been published in New Delta Review and African American Review. Philana earned her BA from Stanford University and is excited to be pursing an MFA here at OU. You can find out more about her work at philanaplays.weebly.com.

Natasha Smith selected for Region 2 Conference!

December 21, 2016
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · News

Natasha Smith’18 will be going to the Region 2 Kennedy Center American College Theater Conference in New Jersey this January! Her 10-minute play “Tried” which was originally a Madness at our weekly short play festival, is one of the few plays selected for the conference. Congrats Natasha!! Go represent OU!

More about Natasha

Natasha Smith’s play Catapult was a semi-finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival and received a staged reading with Arizona Theatre Company in 2014, where she served as the Artistic Intern for two years. She has also worked with Horizon Theatre and the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. Natasha’s play In Her Place was produced at Amherst College, where she studied Theater/Dance and English, and won the Denis Johnston Playwriting Award from Smith College. She has taught creative writing in the US and in Kenya, and is a three-time recipient of the Roland Wood Fellowship from Amherst College. www.natashawrites.com

Rachel Bykowski is published on Howlround!

November 13, 2016
by catherineforever666
· Chicago · Current Students · News

Current student Rachel Bykowski has an original article on Howlround called, “Yes, All Men (Need To Listen): Making Rooms for Womanhood in American Theater” that explores why female playwrights need to be heard.

Here’s an excerpt:

“It’s really not surprising to see the gap between male and female playwrights when the majority of the gatekeepers to the American stage are men. A study by the Wellesley Centers for Women and the American Conservatory Theatre show that since 2013 women have never held more 27 percent of leadership positions for the American nonprofit theatre. The study goes on to note only fifteen women served as artistic directors or executive directors in the seventy-four LORT theatres.

With men in the driver seat of the American theatre, can we as women truly tell stories that may cast men as the bad guys? Or is the privileged fragility of the male ego silencing our voices and only allowing women to come along for the ride as long as we behave like good, little girls?”

Read full article here

Congrats Rachel!!

More about Rachel

Rachel Bykowski, a Chicago native, writes plays to raise awareness about social issues. Specifically, much of her writing features women and analyzes gender roles, rape culture, and male privilege. Rachel’s full-length play TIGHT END was selected by the National New Play Network to be workshopped at the Kennedy Center for the MFA Playwrights’ Festival. TIGHT END will be receiving its world premiere production with 20% Theatre Company Chicago in May of 2017. Rachel was one of six graduate students at Ohio University to be awarded a Named Fellowship, The Trisolini. The Trisolini will allow Rachel to work with Ohio University’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department to research violence against women perpetrated by male privilege for the 2016-2017 academic year. This research will be showcased in her thesis play VOODOO DOLL during the 2017 Seabury Quinn Playwrights’ Festival at Ohio University. Other playwriting credits include her full lengths: ORIGINAL RECIPE workshop production (DePaul University,) GOT TO KILL BITCH staged reading (Cock and Bull Theatre,) GLORY VS. THE WOLVES staged reading (20% Theatre Company and Women and Children First Bookstore,) and A GIRL NAMED CHARLIE staged reading (Ohio University). Rachel’s ten minute plays have been produced with various companies around Chicago and the Midwest including 20% Theatre Company, Fury Theatre, Commedia Beauregard, and Actors’ Theatre of Louisville Apprentice Company. Rachel received her BFA in playwriting from the Theatre School of DePaul University and is currently attending Ohio University for her MFA in Playwriting. Rachel is a proud company member and Literary Manager for 20% Theatre Chicago. For more information, check out her website www.rachelbykowski.com

“Frights” Madness coming this Friday!

October 17, 2016
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · Madness · News

“Frights” Madness will be coming this Friday to the Hahne! It is inspired by Halloween coming up and will be produced by first year playwright, Katherine Varga! She has given the seven playwrights in the program different frights for them to translate! This is gunna be a fun and scary night! Pre-game Halloween right and come to Madness this Friday!

The show is Friday, October 21st, 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.

M0re about Katherine

“Particle Collider”Madness coming this Friday!

October 10, 2016
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · Madness · News

The next madness of the school year will be produced by first playwright, Trip Venturella! His prompt is “Particle Collider” Madness! He has asked the playwrights to translate the idea of what happens when two forces collide.

The show is Friday, October 14th, 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 Trip:

Trip Venturella is a graduate of Colby College with a degree in Religious Studies. He has worked with Colby College’s Theater and Dance Department, the human rights group ANHAD: Kashmir, Delhi University in New Delhi, Floating Space Theatre Company in Sri Lanka, and many, many groups in the Boston area. He has done field work on Chams Dance in Sikkim and studied Chhau Dance in Delhi. He currently serves as the Development and Outreach Director of Apollinaire Theatre Company in Chelsea, Massachusetts, where he has overseen the conception of, fundraising for, and buildout of the Riseman Family Theatre and the Chelsea Blackbox Theatre, as well as the production of three years of Apollinaire in the Park: a free, outdoor, bilingual summer theatre production. His original musical “Killer Maples: The Musical!,” a collaboration with the composer Andres Ramos, was produced by Yelling Man Theatre in June of 2016.