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

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.

Special Talkback April 14th at “This is How You Got Me Naked” with Professor Vander Ven!

Professor Vander Ven who works within the Sociology Department of OU will be featured at a special talkback on Friday April 14th for “This is How You Got Me Naked,” by Catherine Weingarten. He wrote a book called “Getting Wasted: Why College Students Drink Too Much and Party Too Hard,” which discusses the benefits and behavioral patterns of college drinking culture. There will be a discussion of how this real world research fits in with some of the big ideas about hookup culture and college party culture in Catherine’s play. Come check it out and YOU can be part of the conversation too!

Listen to this awesome NPR interview with Professor Vander Ven about his book!

The Talkback will be:

Friday April 14th, after the 8pm performance of “This is How You Got Me Naked”, Forum Theater

This is How You Got Me Naked

by Catherine Weingarten
Directed by Ben Stockman

8:00 pm – April 13th, 14th, 19th & 22nd;
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?

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.

Click here for more info on Seabury QUinn

Prof Erik Ramsey’s Latest Post on Plotwrench

“How much do your characters talk about themselves?” asks Erik Ramsey in his latest post at plotwrench. Research shows that we, as people, talk about ourselves more than we think. How does this translate to our characters and how can we use this knowledge to shape our fictions?

Read the entry here.

Aaron Carter’s Play Debuts in Steppenwolf’s First Look.

August 2, 2013
by rpdolan
· Chicago · Faculty · News · Productions · world premiere

This month, alum Aaron Carter’s THE GOSPEL OF FRANKLIN can be see at Steppenwolf (starting tonight!). Aaron’s play is part of Steppenwolf’s First Look Season. OU’s own Associate Professor of Playwriting Erik Ramsey is on board as the dramaturg. Break legs to all involved! Congratulations, Aaron! Visit the link to find all performance dates and to purchase tickets.

For more information check out the play’s page on Steppenwolf’s website.

Erik Ramsey’s New Post Advocates Computer-Aided Play Development

Digital dramaturgy? Film Crit HULK smashes it, and rightly so. But plotwrench.org makes a case for computer-aided play development:

Hulk Smash Digital Development