Category: Events

Mentors for Seabury Quinn announced!!

March 21, 2016
by catherineforever666
· Chicago · Events · Festival · News

Tanya Palmer, Merri Biechler Kara Corthron will be the three mentors that will be giving feedback to the MFA playwrights at the Seabury Quinn Playfest this year! Tanya Palmer is the director of new play development at the Goodman . Laura Jacqmin is an OU alumni and award winning playwright whose work has been featured at the Humana Fest and Williamstown Theater festival! Kara Corthron is a NYC based playwright who is a current resident at New Dramatists and whose work has been featured at New Georges and the Women’s Project Theater. We are so excited about our mentors this year! Check out the Seabury Quinn playfest this April!

More about the mentors!!

Tanya Palmer is the director of new play development at Goodman Theatre, where she coordinates New Stages, the theater’s new play program, and has served as the production dramaturg on a number of plays including the world premieres of Smokefall by Noah Haidle, Robert Falls and Seth Bockley’s adaptation of Roberto Bolaño’s novel 2666, Another Word for Beauty by José Rivera with music by Hector Buitrago, The Happiest Song Plays Last by Quiara Hudes, The Long Red Road by Brett C. Leonard and the Pulitzer Prize–winning Ruined by Lynn Nottage. Prior to her arrival in Chicago, she served as the director of new play development at Actors Theatre of Louisville, where she led the reading and selection process for the Humana Festival of New American Plays. She is the co-editor, with Amy Wegener and Adrien-Alice Hansel, of four collections of Humana Festival plays, published by Smith & Kraus, as well as two collections of 10-minute plays published by Samuel French. Originally from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, she holds an MFA in playwriting from York University in Toronto. She lives in Evanston, IL with her husband and two children.

Kara Lee Corthron’s plays include Julius by Design (Fulcrum Theater), Etched in Skin on a Sunlit Night (InterAct Theatre, Philadelphia), AliceGraceAnon (New Georges), Holly Down in Heaven (Forum Theatre, DC area), Spookwater, Listen for the Light, and Welcome to Fear City. Kara is also the author of the young-adult novel, The Truth of Right Now, forthcoming from Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse, January 2017—the first of a two-book deal. Awards/Honors: member of New Dramatists (class of 2022), 2014-2015 Naked Angels/New School Issues Project Resident Playwright, Boomerang Fund for Artists Grant, Berkeley Rep 2014 Ground Floor Lab Residency, 2012-2014 Women’s Project Lab Time Warner Foundation Fellowship, The Vineyard Theatre’s 3rd Annual Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, the Princess Grace Award, two NEA grants, the Helen Merrill Award, Lincoln Center’s Lecomte du Nouy Prize (three-time recipient), the Theodore Ward Prize, the New Professional Theatre Writers Award, four MacDowell fellowships, residencies at Skriðuklaustur (Iceland), Djerassi, Hawthornden (Scotland), the Millay Colony, and Ledig House, and Fulcrum Theater (a company Kara helped launch with its inaugural production) received a 2013 Obie Grant. Her work has been sometimes produced and mostly developed at places like the African Continuum Theatre (DC), Ars Nova, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Berkeley Rep, CenterStage (Baltimore), Electric Pear, E.S.T., Haulbowline Theatre Group (Cork, Ireland), Horizon Theatre (Atlanta), the Kennedy Center, Midtown Direct Rep, Naked Angels, New Dramatists, New Georges, The Orchard Project, P73, Penumbra, PlayPenn Conference, The Shalimar, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference (Guest Artist, 2012), South Coast Rep, TheatreWorks (Palo Alto), the Vineyard Theatre, Voice & Vision, and the Women’s Project. TV: writer for NBC’s Kings (2008-2009). Kara’s also working on a graphic novel with cartoonist, Shawn Ferreyra. She has taught at various institutions including Primary Stages’ Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA), Ohio University, NYU-Tisch, Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, and Temple University. Juilliard alumna, New Georges Affiliated Artist, and member of Interstate 73 (2007-2008), the Ars Nova Play Group (2010-2011), ‘Wright On! Playwrights Group (co-founder), Blue Roses Productions, the Dramatists Guild and the Writers Guild of America. www.karaleecorthron.com

*Ohio University Alumnus, Laura Jacqmin, was scheduled to appear, but was unable due to illness. We hope to have her back for a future Seabury Playwrights’ Fest!

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Merri Biechler’s new play coming to the Hahne this month!!

January 12, 2016
by catherineforever666
· Events · News · Productions

OU Alum Merri Biechler’s new play “Tammy Faye’s Final Audition” is coming to the Hahne this month! The show was previously at the Cincinnati Fringe Fest, Centenary Stage Company and Capital Fringe. Here’s a little bit about the show: Tammy Faye Bakker was the sweetheart of Christian TV in the 70’s and 80’s, until it all came crashing down. As she nears the end of her life, she attempts a comeback. In a fevered dream, she enlists the men in her life to audition for one final TV show.

The show is produced by Brick Monkey Theater and features current OU Acting Faculty as well as direction by Dennis Delaney. Check it out!!

More Info

January 14-23, 2016

The Hahne Theater
Kantner Hall at Ohio University
Athens, Ohio

Thursday, January 14 at 8pm preview
Friday, January 15 at 8pm
Saturday, January 16 at 8pm
Sunday, January 17 at 2pm
Wednesday, January 20 at 8pm
Thursday, January 21 at 8pm
Friday, January 22 at 8pm
Saturday, January 23 at 4pm and 8pm

To reserve and purchase tickets, visit: http://tammyfayeathens.bpt.me
or http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2478488

More info here

More about Merri

MERRI BIECHLER, Managing Director of BMTE, is a playwright whose plays include Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver (Jane Chambers Student Playwriting Award, Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition finalist, Princess Grace Award finalist, WordBRIDGE Playwrights Laboratory participant, and the recipient of over $30,000 in grants to use the play as a teaching tool for medical students); Real Girls Can’t Win! (nominated by the Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens Theater for the Stavis Playwriting Award; workshopped at VG, and Centenary Stage Company); Dolley Madison and the Secret History Club (Kennedy Center/White House Historical Association commission); Bombs, Babes and Bingo (Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission finalist, P73 Playwriting Fellowship finalist); The Bathtub Play (Jane Chambers Student Playwriting Award); and Brace for Impact (Cleveland Public Theatre). As a professional actor, Merri studied acting with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in NYC and at his home on the island of Bequia, West Indies. She was a founding member the Edge Theater with fellow North Carolina School of the Arts classmates Peter Hedges, Mary-Louise Parker and Joe Mantello, and acted in more than a dozen new plays with the company. She appeared Off-Broadway inTony ‘n Tina’s Wedding, has been seen in the films He Said, She Said,Man of the Year and The Thing Called Love, and in guest starring parts on TV in E.R., Judging Amy, Murphy Brown and Love and War. She worked at ABC Television for three years writing scripts and treatments for its Movie-of-the-Week division. Merri is a member of the Writers Guild of America, Actors Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, and a member of the once glorious, and now defunct, Circle Rep Lab.

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Reginald Edmund has play featured in NuVoices Festival

January 10, 2016
by catherineforever666
· Events · News

Alumni Reginald Edmund has his new play “Daughters of the Moon” featured in the prestigious 2016 NuVoices Festival. The festival starts next Thursday 1/14 and runs through Sunday 1/17!

Their site states, “Get ready for nuVoices and chill through 5 great shows. This festival will include two script-in-hand reading of each of the festival participants. nuVoices was created by Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte to honor and encourage emerging playwrights of the American Theatre, as well as develop the next generation of regional artists. The nuVoices Festival is a springboard to catapult new plays to the national stage through our existing relationship with the National New Play Network. This year’s festival will be held January 10th – 17th, 2016.”

Congrats Reginald!!

MORE INFO

The first play in Mr. Edmund’s “City of the Bayou” Collection, The Daughters of the Moon follows a runaway slave girl and a former plantation mistress wanted for murder as they embark on a perilous journey North towards freedom, guided by an Ancient African Goddess.

Run Time ~ 1 hour 30 minutes

Performances:
Thursday 1/14 @ 9:00 PM
Saturday 1/16 @ 12:00 PM

650 E Stonewall St
Charlotte, NC 28202

For more info on the festival click here

More about Reginald

Playwright Reginald Edmund, is a Chicago Dramatists Resident Playwright and an Artistic Associate at Pegasus Theatre-Chicago, he was a 2010-2011 Many Voice Fellow with the Playwrights’ Center. His play Southbridge was runner up for the Kennedy Center’s Lorraine Hansberry and Rosa Parks National Playwriting Awards, and most recently named winner of the 2010 Southern Playwrights’ Competition and the Black Theatre Alliance Award for Best New Play. His nine play series titled ‘The City of the Bayou Collection’, include The Ordained Smile of Sadie May Jenkins, Southbridge, Juneteenth Street, The Redemption of Allah Black, and White America and others were developed at esteemed theaters including Ensemble Theatre of Houston, Playwright Center-Minneapolis, Pangea World Theatre, Bedlam Theatre, Wordsmyth Theatre, Yaddo, and the MacDowell Colony. Reginald Edmund received his BFA in Theatre- Performance from Texas Southern University and his MFA in Playwriting from Ohio University in ‘09.

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Two OU artists featured in 20% Theater’s New Works Series!

January 9, 2016
by catherineforever666
· alumni · Chicago · Current Students · Events · News

Two OU affiliated artists will have plays workshopped in Chicago this month with the awesome 20&% Theater Company! Current second year playwright, Rachel Bykowski’s first year full-length play “Tight End” as well as OU alum Sarah Bowden’s play “Lively Stones.” Rachel is the literary manager for this awesome women’s theater company and helped develop this new works series!

The plays will be featured in 20% Theatre Company Chicago Dark Room New Play Development Series. 20% theater writes about this exciting event: “The artists of 20% Theatre strive to create a home for strong female voices in the field, thus strengthening the presence of women in the Chicago theatre community; and we feel our Dark Room is a vital part of this mission. Our fourth annual new play workshop will feature two plays by a couple of awesome local lady playwrights. Join us to hear a reading of these new works and provide feedback for the playwrights on the development of their scripts.”

Here is a synopsis for the two plays! Rachel’s play “Tight End” was presented last year at the Seabury Quinn Festival: Ash (believe me, you do not want to call her “Ashley”) Miller’s dream is to catch the winning touchdown pass for the Westmont High Titans’ Homecoming game. Football is in her blood, but in order to make the team, Ash will have to prove she is one of the guys even if that means sacrificing her body for the love of the game.

Sarah’s play “Lively Bones” is about this: Tired of delivering babies and doling out witch hazel in her living room, midwife Anne Hutchinson pines for Planned Parenthood: circa 1636. When Massachusetts founder John Winthrop announces his plans to run for governor, Anne agrees to support his election — if he’ll grant her the land to build a women’s clinic in Boston. Amid mounting campaign promises, she becomes one pebble in a full bucket, and Anne must figure out how to lay her clinic’s cornerstone while stemming the suspicions of the colony’s most important citizen.

If you are in Chicago January 27th – 30th, come check out our new works! Congrats to these two talented women!!

More details on the event

January 27th – 30th @ 7:00

Mrs. Murphy & Sons Irish Bistro (3905 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago)

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 Onesproduced 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.

More about Sarah

Sarah Bowden is a playwright, raised right, who writes about kryptonite. Her plays have been produced in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, and Stockholm. Her work has been developed and presented by the Painted Bride Art Center, the Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre, the Nylon Fusion Theatre, Monkeyman Productions, the Chicago Madness Collective, the Dandelion Theatre Company, and Ohio University. Her full-length The Magnificent Masked Hearing Aid was listed as a semi-finalist in several theatre festivals, including the Capital Repertory Next Act! New Play Summit, the Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte’s nuVoices Festival, the Activate Midwest New Play Festival and the Elgin Cultural Commission Page to Stage Program. The script received Honorable Mention in the American Blues Theater Blue Ink Playwriting Award. Sarah has won the White-Howells English Prize for Drama and the Margaret W. Baker Prize for Fiction, was a semi-finalist for the Stage Left Theatre Playwright Residency, and has developed her work as a finalist in the International Thespian Festival’s Playworks program. She has completed internships with Chicago Dramatists, Northlight Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, the Wilma Theater, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and the Adirondack Theatre Festival. Sarah holds an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Ohio University and B.A. in directing and creative writing from Beloit College, and teaches theatre and composition at Benedictine University and Prairie State College.

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Mark Chrisler’s new play “Endangered” in Chicago this Winter!

December 29, 2015
by catherineforever666
· alumni · Events · Festival · News

OU Alumni Mark Chrisler’s new play, ENDANGERED will be in Chicago this January and February! The play will be apart of the 27th annual Rhino fest in Chicago and will be produced by Prop Thtr. The play also features an OU acting alumni, Heather Chrisler!

Here is the play synopsis for ENDANGERED: Dave lives with his mother. He plays a lot of video games. And he’s been transformed into an unstoppable, marauding, murderous rhinoceros. Having exhausted all other plans to stop him, the government turns to Lillian Mountweasel, Dave’s former high-school crush. Her mission: date him. A play about the horny, the horned and the horrible.

Here is a brief summary about the festival: This year’s Rhinoceros Theater Festival will be based solely around the work of Eugene Ionesco, particularly his 1959 play, Rhinoceros, to be staged in a full production by Curious Theatre Branch co-founder Beau O’Reilly, with six weeks of new theatrical work by invited artists and companies that will engage with and reconsider this elusive writer of Absurdist theater.

Each year, Curious Theatre Branch curates and produces the Rhinoceros Theater Festival, which provides production and exhibition opportunities to hundreds of artists, drawing thousands in attendance each year. The longest-running multi-arts fringe festival in Chicago, the Rhino features works in theater and performance from Chicago companies and national artists alike.

If you are in Chicago, go check out this awesome new play! Congrats Mark!

DATES AND VENUE

When

7 p.m. Saturday, January 23
7 p.m. Saturday, January 30
7 p.m. Saturday, February 6
7 p.m. Saturday, February 13
7 p.m. Saturday, February 20
7 p.m. Saturday, February 27

Where

Prop Thtr • 3502 N. Elston, Chicago

To get more info and tickets to the show click here !!!

More about Mark

Mark Chrisler’s plays have been produced and developed at ACT, The Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, The Stella Adler Studio, The San Francisco Playhouse, Ilkhom Theatre, The Side Project, Prop Thtr, The New York International Fringe Festival, Curious Theatre Branch and many more. He received his MFA in dramatic writing from Ohio University and his BA in theater arts from Northern Illinois University. He is the recipient of many awards and honors, including a Newberry Library Fellowship, a special Orgie Award, a NAPAT New Play Award and the Best Emerging Playwright of 2010 award from The Chicago Reader. He lives in Chicago with his wife, where he serves as a resident playwright for Found Objects Theatre Group, an Artistic Associate for Prop Thtr and teaches playwriting for Silk Road Rising Theatre. His plays are available through Broadway Play Publishing and Smith & Kraus.

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Ohio Alum John Hendel will appear on Jeopardy tomorrow!

July 14, 2015
by catherineforever666
· Events · News

So I recently chatted with a friendly Ohio alum who is about to make his jeopardy debut!! John Hendel is a talented actor/playwright whose work always has a fun sense of humor and probing trashy questions about the world. Let’s learn a little bit about him and then WATCH HIM ON JEOPARDY! Woot woot!!

What made you interested in OU’s playwriting program?

I didn’t realize I was a playwright until I went to OU. I originally went for Theater Performance, getting into the BFA studio. Meanwhile, I took prerequisite playwriting classes, enjoyed them, found that I had a talent for it, and joined the BFA playwriting program as well. Erik was very open to training me on my time, understanding my focus was elsewhere. But as I went through the Performance program, I grew less and less enchanted with acting as a career. What I was in reality was a writer, not an actor. I don’t know if I would have come to that conclusion so quickly and so thoroughly had I not been at a school so inclusive with its playwriting program and with such strong ties between the actors (both BFA and MFA) and the playwrights (both BFA and MFA).

What kind of stories are you drawn to?

I like stories about stupid people, sort of like the old joke, “If sense were really common, everyone would have some.” I’m most fascinated by characters who make it through their days and lives behaving illogically and irrationally. My BFA final project about two married murderers came from watching too much Fox News, for instance. I also enjoy the Kitestab style of storytelling. A Kitestab is the combination of a written monologue and archival video footage, the two of which are completely unrelated, the combination of which is is it’s own separate entity. It is a very cool experiment I suggest for all writers.

3.What was the transition from OU to real life like?

Transitioning out of OU was/is finding where my place is in the world as a playwright. The general notion of College was that I take that degree and I make a career out of it, but that’s not how playwriting has worked for me. Instead, it’s about living and being a playwright. It was about accepting that my career and my wages don’t have to go hand in hand. Playwriting became more of a reality, like death or taxes, something inescapable.

What’s your fave candy and what do you think that says about you(as a writer or person or both)

Gummi Worms, sour ones if I’m feeling indulgent. Such a unique idea, such an odd evolution. Edible bears are bit strange to begin with, but how did worms come from that? It would seem almost lazy, like a mistake in the factory, but clearly some thought goes into it, splitting the gummi worms into two alternating flavors. Worms? Worms. (side note: while I was at OU, the best sour gummi worms were to be found at the Court St. BP station).

Can you tell me a little bit about your upcoming Jeopardy appearance and how you got involved?

I’ve been a Jeopardy fan all of my life, and have been applying to be a contestant ever since my first year at OU. It’s an online test and they will never tell you how you did. The only thing you know is if they contact you. They contacted me last year for an in-person audition. Few months later, I get called in as a Southern California alternate (since we don’t have to travel, we get brought on as alternate candidates). I didn’t make it that time, but I was guaranteed a spot. I returned to the studio in April and it was a dream come true. Alex Trebek actually saying my name, getting to buzz in, getting things right, getting things wrong. It really is a blur. The hardest part has been keeping the secret of how I did, but it’s been fun misdirecting people into guessing how I did.

Do you have any tips for OU theater students on things to take advantage of in the program?

Take advantage of the free facilities at OU and create your own work. When you’re surrounded by eager artists and simply need to sign up for a space, create and produce. Self-production is such a huge part of the theater world, there’s no good reason to not take advantage of facilities when they’re right in front of you.

Tune in Wednesday night to see John!! Click Here for more Jeopardy info. Also while you are waiting to watch him on Jeopardy, read a little of his work!! This is an excerpt from his short play “Why Leopards Whittle”

A tree, stage right. Seated on a rock, stage left, is GUS, a leper. He is whittling. Another leper in the colony, JAMES enters. They are both wrapped in tatters, more Ben-Hur than Molokai.

JAMES

What are you doing?!

GUS

Whittling. Don’t think we’ve met. I’m Gus.

JAMES

Where did you get that wood?!

GUS

That tree over there.

JAMES

You tore from The Savior!

GUS

That tree?

JAMES

Stop it! That’s our sustenance! Do you see anything else

living?? Do you think we get water from these rocks??

GUS

No, but I can’t believe we get water from a tree.

JAMES

We do! Stop whittling, you fool!

GUS

Do you know how long it took me to fashion a blade out of this

rock?

JAMES

I don’t care! Stop blaspheming.

GUS cuts off his finger.

GUS

Aw, dammit to fuck!

JAMES

You see? You are being punished.

GUS

Fucking hell, do you have a spare rag, friend?

JAMES

Serves you right.

GUS

This is a lot more painful than it looks. Can you please help?

JAMES

Maybe it’s a sacrifice.

GUS

Are you even listening?

JAMES puts his foot on GUS’s finger.

JAMES

You have cursed yourself. The Savior is angry.

GUS

“The Savior” is a tree that doesn’t grow leaves even though it’sJuly. Can you please get my finger?? Is anyone here a surgeon?

End of Excerpt!

More about John

John Hendel is a playwright out of Los Angeles. His plays have been seen in the Hollywood Fringe Festival, the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, and the NY Artists, Unlimited International CringeFest. He is a multi-time participant at the Last Frontier Theater Conference in Valdez, AK, as both a playwright and an actor. He writes online at offthehendel.com, where he also practices the art of the Kitestab.

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Bianca Sams play “Rust On Bone” will receive a reading in Chicago with Babes with Blades this weekend!

July 7, 2015
by catherineforever666
· alumni · Chicago · Events · News

Alumni Bianca Sams thesis play Rust on Bone will be read as part of Babes With Blades Fighting Words Series. The reading will take place this Sunday, July 12th at Noon in Chicago! !!! There will be another developmental reading with the company this September!

Babes with Blades is an awesome woman friendly company that strives to work with female playwrights and tell story stories with strong female protagonists! Here is their mission: Babes With Blades Theatre Company uses stage combat to place women and their stories center stage. Through performance, script development, training, and outreach, our ensemble creates theatre that explores the wide range of the human experience, and cultivates broader perspectives in the arts community and in society as a whole. Congrats Bianca on this awesome development opportunity!! If you’re in Chicago, you best check it out!!

Details

Babes with Blades Theater

Sunday, July 12th, 12pm

Heartland Studio 7016 N. Glenwood

More info on the Fighting Words Series with Babes with Blades

Playwrights selected for the Fighting Words program will receive a set of three readings to facilitate the development of their script. Each play will be assigned a director who will take part in the development process from the start. All readings and moderated talk backs are videotaped and given to the playwright to aid with rewrites.

The first reading is internal and is attended by company members and the director; the playwright is invited but not sponsored. The second reading is an advertised public reading; the playwright is invited but not sponsored. The final reading is an advertised public reading with one choreographed fight and a reception following the moderated talk back; the playwright’s travel expenses will be sponsored up to $400 to attend. The playwright is given approximately two months between drafts for revisions with a schedule provided at the time of selection.

BACKGROUND: Many scripts have completed the Fighting Words program since its inception, and several have gone on to full productions with the Babes.

R.L. Nesvet’s The Girl in the Iron Mask was selected for BWBTC’s 2006-07 season and was produced at the Raven Theatre, March – April 2007. Jennifer L. Mickelson’s The Last Daughter of Oedipus was produced at the Lincoln Square Theatre in August – September 2010, as the opening show in BWBTC’s 2010-11 season. Barbara Lhota’s The Double launched BWBTC’s 2011-12 season with a production in fall 2011. Reina Hardy’s Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride opened BWBTC’s 15th Anniversary season, 2012-13, in fall 2012. Eric Simon’s Bo Thomas and the Case of the Sky Pirates and Aaron Adair’s L’Imbecile premiered during BWBTC’s 2013-14 season.

More about Bianca

If the theater is a cultural and social crossroad in our society — a place where disparate ideas and values meet, collide and diverge again, — then Bianca’s plays are violent intersections that force audiences to face their own complex love affair with misery. She writes plays to create understanding between people of all cultural backgrounds by asking them to wrestle with the traumatic things in life that can simultaneously pull us apart and hold us together as humans. ” Because, let’s face it, no matter your cultural or sociopolitical background, shit happens and that fact makes pain a great equalizer.” Bianca’s work examines what happens when characters meet at these perilous crossroads in their lives.

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. Click HERE for a copy of Bianca’s Artistic Statement.

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Mentors Announced for the Seabury Quinn Playwrights Fest!

March 24, 2015
by catherineforever666
· alumni · Events · Festival · News

We are proud to announce that The Visiting Mentors for the 2015 OHIO UNIVERSITY SEABURY QUINN, JR. PLAYWRIGHT’S FESTIVAL are: Steppenwolf’s Literary Manager and OU MFA Playwriting alum, Aaron Carter, Director of the Apprentice Company at Actors Theater of Louisville, Michael Legg and Executive Director of Indiana Repertory Theater, Janet Allen.

The festival will run April 23rd to the 25th.

Full Bios below:

Michael Legg is in his eighth season as Director of the Apprentice/Intern Company at Actors Theatre of Louisville, where he¹s directed world-premieres of plays by A. Rey Pamatmat, Laura Jacqmin, Dan Dietz, Kyle John Schmidt, Marco Ramirez, Carmen Herlihy, Alison Moore, and many others. Before coming to Actors, he spent three years as a theatrical agent in New York and his former clients can still be seen on Broadway, in television/film, and in regional theatres across the country. Prior to his time in New York, he spent seven years teaching and directing and has recently served as a guest artist at several universities, including the University of Central Florida, the University of Idaho, and Ohio University. He also serves as the Artistic Director of the Wildwind Performance Lab in Texas and has taught for and worked extensively with the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival. He holds an M.F.A. in acting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is a proud member of Actors Equity.

Janet Allen is currently the Executive Director of Indiana Repertory Theater. Creating world-class professional theatre for Central Indiana audiences of all ages has remained a career-long passion for Janet Allen. She began at the IRT in 1980 as the theatre’s first literary manager–dramaturg. After four years in New York City, she returned to serve ten years as associate artistic director under mentors Tom Haas and Libby Appel. She was named the IRT’s fourth artistic director in 1996. Janet studied theatre at Illinois State University, Indiana University, and Exeter College, Oxford. As a classical theatre specialist, she has published and taught theatre history and dramaturgy at IUPUI and Butler. Janet’s leadership skills and community service have been recognized by Indianapolis Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” Award, the Network of Women in Business–IBJ’s “Influential Women in Business” Award, Safeco’s Beacon of Light in Our Community Award, a Distinguished Hoosier Award conferred iby Governor Frank O’Bannon, Girls Inc.’s Touchstone Award for Arts Leadership, and the Indiana Commission on Women’s “Keeper of the Light” Torchbearer Award.

Aaron Carter is currently the director of new play development at Steppenwolf Theater Company where he has served as dramaturg on such projects as The Way West by Mona Mansour, and Airline Highway by Lisa D’Amour. Previously, he served as the Literary Manager at Victory Gardens Theater where he played a key role in the IGNITION Festival, and was involved in the production of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, Year Zero, Love Person and Living Green, among others. As a new play developer and dramaturg, Aaron has worked with many theaters and labs including WordBRIDGE, the Kennedy Center, Timeline Theater, Route 66 and Chicago Dramatists. Aaron also teaches courses in playwriting, dramaturgy and dramatic literature at Northwestern University, De Paul University, Roosevelt University and Grinnell College. As a playwright, Aaron’s work focuses on race, faith and obscure performance skills. Aaron’s play Gospel of Franklin was part of First Look 2013 at Steppenwolf. His latest play is Start Fair.

For more Info on the 2015 Seabury Quinn Jr. Playwrights Festival, Click here

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Bianca Sams ’14 has a reading of “Rust On Bone” at Available Light Theater this January!

January 5, 2015
by catherineforever666
· alumni · Events · News

We are thrilled that Bianca Sams ’14 will be apart of Available Light’s cool new play development series called “The Next Stage Initiative.” Bianca’s thesis play “Rust on Bone” is one of the six pieces that will be read this January in Columbus, Ohio. The dates are January 8th through the 17th and you can buy tickets here

Since graduating from Ohio University, Bianca Sams has garnered many achievements such as being a member of Tennessee Rep’s prestigious writing group and Warner Brother’s TV Writing Workshop for Emerging writers.

More Info about the Reading:

The Studio 2 Theatre will become a hothouse for new works in January! Be part of the growth & nurturing of some soon-to-be great plays.

If you’ve been following AVLT for a while, you know that we’ve a vested interest in daring, new plays. We’ve presented dozens of free readings over the years, and the Next Stage Initiative is the logical step into the future.

The Next Stage Initiative returns in January 2015 with 6 hot playwrights and their works in progress. Included this year will be Jen Schlueter of the much-loved for/word company and her new adaptation (developed with the AVLT ensemble) of Cervantes’ Don Quixote, which will will be fully produced by AVLT later this season.

Recommended if You Like: Exploration, risk, and experimentation

January 8 — 17, 2015
Riffe Center Studio Two
77 South High St.

Columbus, Ohio.

Pay What You Want

There will be a casual, post-show conversation with the cast and crew after every performance. Playwrights will be included as indicated below. Read more about this event here

About Bianca

BIANCA SAMS, was born in Berkeley, California, into a close knit family. Growing up as the middle child in group of rambunctious and outspoken children was the best training ground for performing. Early on Bianca learned to fend for herself on the stage of life,

Bianca considers herself a “Renaissance Woman”. At every turn, she has been driven to be a well-rounded student, athlete, and artist. A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, she has earned the distinction of being Tisch’s first ever Triple Major [Acting, Dramatic Writing (Play and Screenwriting), Africana Studies, and an undeclared minor in Journalism]. She also ran on the NYU Track Team and was named Female Athlete of the Year.

At NYU, she studied at the Strasberg Theater Institute, which included intensive dance, voice, singing, and movement training. She also spent 6 months in London studying Shakespearean verse at the prestigious Royal Academy for Dramatic Arts (RADA). She also began her journey as a Writer at NYU. Bianca’s writing professors included Richard Wesley, Charles Smith, Kara Lee Corthron, Erik Ramsey, Beth Turner, George Malko, John Guare, and Kenneth Lonergan.

She received her MFA in play writing at Ohio University with Charles Smith. Her written work “ is like a New York Times article written in modern beat poetry”. She describes her plays as “ lyrical in nature, dramatic by design, inspired by found stories out of today’s headlines or the pages of history”. When asked who her artistic role models were she says “ If Whoopi Goldberg, Tennessee Williams and Sam Shepard could artistically have a love child together…that would be me”. 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 Writers Workshop, and T. S. Eliot Acting Fellowship.

In addition, she has done community service in Belfast, Northern Ireland, taught theater to children at the Historical Karamu House in Cleveland, and worked at the Joseph Papp Public Theater in NYC. She also received the prestigious T. S. Eliot Acting Fellowship, a one month exchange with American and British Artists. This led to Bianca becoming a member of Old Vic New Voice in New York City in partner with Old Vic London headed by Kevin Spacey.

Her Theater credits include Ruined (Sophie), In The Continuum (Abigail), Voiceover spots for Bank of America and Crescent Jewelers, on-camera commercials for Suzuki Motors, and print ads for Always, Microsoft, and Hewlitt Packard. She can currently be seen in the feature film RENT, which is available on DVD at video stores nationwide. CHECK OUT HER ONLINE COOKING SERIES: WWW.FINGERLICKINKITCHEN.COM

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Play Reading by alum Jason Half in the Hahne this upcoming week!

November 28, 2014
by catherineforever666
· alumni · Events · News

EVENT: Public staged reading of SUNDIAL, a new play about coal mining and communities
Thursday, December 4 at 7:00 p.m. in Athens, Ohio

The Dramatists Guild’s First Thursdays Reading Series presents a public staged reading of Sundial, a play about West Virginia coal mining and the communities affected by it. The new work will be presented at the Hahne Theater in Kantner Hall (Ohio University Campus, Athens) at 7:00 p.m. Thursday, December 4. Admission is free.

In Sundial, a West Virginia elementary schoolteacher pushes to change the policies of the coal company that are affecting her town. But her position proves complicated, as her neighbors, friends, and family work for – and benefit from – the coal business.

Inspired by the events of Marsh Fork Elementary and the mountaintop removal process occurring beside it, the new play explores the relationship and responsibilities between corporation and community.

While a graduate student at Ohio University, writer Jason Half received a grant, the Anthony Trisolini Award, to begin research for a play that would explore the subject of coal mining and its effects on Appalachian communities. An earlier draft of the script had a public reading in June, presented at the Mid-Ohio Valley Players Theatre in Marietta.

“I don’t want this play to take sides,” said Half. “Instead, I hope Sundial makes the audience ask questions about the best way a town can work with a business that has both benefits and risks.”

Jason Half is an Ohio-based writer who has taught scriptwriting at Marietta College and through the Colony Theater and the Ohio Arts Council. Recently, his work has received public presentations in Chicago and Pittsburgh. He is the recipient of the 2010 Scott McPherson playwriting award. He currently teaches composition and literature courses at West Virginia University at Parkersburg.

This is Half’s first full-length script set in the Mid-Ohio Valley. The honesty and quiet passion of the West Virginia characters came alive for Half as they confronted challenges to family, work, and land in the play, he said.

The reading will be directed by Ohio University graduate student Ryan Holihan. Student and faculty actors will perform a variety of roles as parents, miners, teachers, officials, protestors, and supporters in the play.

“I’m excited to bring this story to an audience affected by these issues,” Half said. “It’s a story that will speak to everyone in this area who sees it.”

More about Jason Half

Jason Half has been telling stories for two decades. A graduate of Ohio University’s M.F.A. Playwriting program, Jason’s stage plays have had readings in Chicago and Pittsburgh and performances in Maine, Ohio, and Wisconsin. He is the recipient of the 2010 Scott McPherson Playwriting Award and, as writer and director, his film The Ballad of Faith Divine won the Best Feature award at 2009’s Colony Film Festival. In 2011, Jason’s sitcom pilot My Advice was a finalist in a national
script contest and was optioned by a New York City production company. Jason has taught film, theater, and composition courses at Marietta College, Washington State Community College, and West Virginia University – Parkersburg.

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