New York | OHIO

Ira Gamerman & Ryan Dowler Have Rocking Pod(casts)

Ira Gamerman & Ryan Dowler, both Ohio MFA Alums, are making some waves in the NYC podcast scene (which is the world’s scene. Thanks, Internet!)

April 1st is the New Episode of “Dangerously Unqualified: A Podcast About Love” which is a non-fictional dating podcast, where Dowler tries to solve all of Gamerman’s romantic problems. It’s engineered and recorded by BSD Media which is a production company made up of OU Tech Theater Alums: Adam Suntken, Evan Schmidt, And Lisa Ahman.

I think Dowler figures out all of Gamerman’s problems in the premiere episode, but it’s called “Ryan and Ira Go To Jail.” So perhaps you should listen and decide for yourself.

You can subscribe to Dangerously Unqualified at from Steve Jobs consciousness at: https://itunes.apple.com/la/podcast/dangerously-unqualified-podcast/id661314049

Gamerman also has won an award writing for The Truth, which is an audiofiction/ modern radioplay podcast. The Truth recently joined PRX’s Radiotopia, which is a new network featuring the best and most creative podcasts (99% Invisible, Theory Of Everything, Etc). So far Gamerman has written two stories for The Truth with a third on its way.

His first one “Sweets For The Cheat” was nominated for an Audio Verse Award for “Best Short Form Self-Contained Original Piece Of The Year”

His second play is called “Biological Clock“:

Ira’s favorite Athens, Ohio culinary favorites from his time in the MFA program are O’Betty’s, Millers Fried Chicken, and Kiser’s BBQ. Those are my favorite ones too. That means he’s a genius. Dowler’s favorite eateries have all closed, but I’m not going to tell him that.

OU’s Reingold’s Just Hanging with Ives & Guare. Recording Plays 2Nite. NBD.

Ohio MFA alum, Jacquelyn Reingold, will have her play “2B (Or Not 2B”) performed and recorded tonight at BRIC’s Playing On Air. Two other short plays written by David Ives and John Guare will also be produced.

POA is “public radio’s showcase for contemporary short plays…Broadcast across the nation, the show brings a mix of short works written and performed by Tony-, Pulitzer- and Emmy-Award winning theater artists.” This is the first time the show has been recorded in front of a live audience.

From BRIC’s website, this is tonight’s lineup with play synopses.

2B or Not 2B by Jacquelyn Reingold: Dumped again by yet another ex, a woman gets a royal proposal.
A Day for Surprises by John Guare: A librarian comes to terms with love, loss, and a stone lion.
St. Francis Preaches To The Birds by David Ives: In the desert, a pair of vultures pick on the great saint – but nothing brings him down.

It’s tonight, Monday, 3/31, at 7:30PM at the BRIC House Ballroom. Doors open at 7pm.

Tickets are $15 in advance, and $18 at the door. You can buy tix on BRIC’S webpage.

Location: 647 Fulton Street
(Enter on Rockwell Place)
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(Take the 2/3/4/5 to Nevins or B/Q/R to DeKalb).

Chrisler’s “Worse Than Tigers” Reading at Stella Adler Studio Tonight

Alum Mark Chrisler has a reading of his play “Worse Than Tigers” at the Stella Alder Studio tonight in NYC at 7pm. It’s at 31 W. 27th Street, New York, NY.

It’s part of “The First Breath Play Reading Festival” taking place all week at the studio.

(In Ohio, nothing is worse than Kamchatka. It’s better to be in NYC to see this reading. )

92Y to Host New Eric Coble Broadway Play Discussion

OU Alum Eric Coble‘s new Broadway play THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN is being produced by 92Y. Academy Award winner, Estelle Parsons, and Tony Award winner, Stephen Spinella, co-star in the Broadway Debut, which opens in the Booth Theater on April 1st.

92Y is holding a pre-opening discussion with Coble, Parsons, and Spinella on Wednesday, March 19th, at 8:15pm.

Check out Coble’s website: http://ericcoble.com/

For more information about THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN check out the show’s website.

Alum Cecilia Copeland News: Published Plays, Howlround, Awards & Productions

February 13, 2014
by rpdolan
· Awards · Events · New York · News · Productions

OU Alum Cecilia Copeland has been very busy in New York.

She was named a “Person of the Year” for 2013 by Indie Theatre Now! OU MFA Playwright, Qui Nguyen, also held this distinction in 2004. (Link to Indie Theatre Now Announcement.)

Indie Theater Now has also published her play “Light of Night,” and it’s available to purchase. Other plays by OU Playwrights available on Indie Theater Now include: Jeni Mahoney and Qui Nguyen.

“Light of Night” will also be produced by Venus Theatre in Laurel, MD this coming spring. It is the second production of this play that was first penned at OU and the first regional production. (Youtube Promo Video.)

NoPassport’s 30/30 Scheme will have Cecilia’s play, “Tiene Duende (It Has Soul)” Read on March 31 in Texas, and it’s directed by OU MFA Director Vanessa Mercado-Taylor. ( Interview with NoPassport Press.)

Cecilia Copeland’s play, “Light of Night” was named one of the 101 Plays by the New Americas, Latino Plays in the American Cannon you should know on HowlRound, by Tlaloc Rivas. (HowRound Article.)

Her article “Contradiction & Compromise: My Uncle & The Next Time” was published in HowlRound in conjunction with her play, “The Next Time” in the Gun Control Plays Collection. (HowlRound Article.)

She was Interviewed and Featured in the Huffington Post for her play, “The Next Time” along with Neil LaBute, Caridad Svich and others. (Link to Huffington Post Article.)

Congrats Cecilia!

Alum Mark Chrisler’s “Worse Than Tigers” Garners Two Accolades.

MFA Alum, Mark Chrisler‘s play WORSE THAN TIGERS has garnered two accolades. It’s been selected for The Stella Adler Studio’s First Breath Festival in New York. (The site for the festival isn’t full operational yet, but the link is to the main site.)

The play was also semi-finalist for The New American Voices Festival put on by the The Landing Theater in Houston!

MFA Alum’s Work to Debut on Broadway

Ohio University MFA Alum, and frequent MFA Festival Guest Eric Coble will be opening his play “The Velocity of Autumn” on Broadway on April 21st, 2014 with previews set to begin April 1. The play opened Arena Stage’s 2013-14 season this year starring Estelle Parsons and Steven Spinella. For more: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/185424-The-Velocity-of-Autumn-Starring-Estelle-Parsons-and-Stephen-Spinella-Will-Play-Broadways-Booth-Theatre?tsrc=hpt2

Eric Coble Takes ‘Velocity’ to Broadway

Eric Coble

Eric Coble, OU alum, is heading to Broadway in 2013 with his play THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN. Led by director Molly Smith, artistic director of Arena Stage in Washington, DC, the play marks the Broadway debut for the Ohio-based writer. Featuring Academy Award winner Estelle Parsons and two-time Tony winner Stephen Spinella, the 90-minute dramatic comedy bows in Spring 2013.

Read the Playbill.com article for more details.

OU was thrilled to welcome Eric as a guest artistic mentor during the 2012 Seabury Quinn, Jr. Playwrights Festival. His play have been produced Off-Broadway, throughout the U.S., and on several continents, including productions at Manhattan Class Company, The Kennedy Center, Playwrights Horizons, Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival, the Denver Center, New York and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, Alliance Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Repertory, Florida Repertory Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Asolo Repertory, Coterie Theatre, Curious Theatre, Actors Theatre of Charlotte, Oregon Children’s Theatre, People’s Light and Theatre Company, Stages Repertory Theatre, Great Lakes Theater Festival, and The Contemporary American Theatre Festival.

Learn more about Eric at ericcoble.com.

‘The Art of Painting’ at NYFringe

Third-year playwright Mark Chrisler is currently performing his one-man show THE ART OF PAINTING at the New York International Fringe Festival. The show, which centers around the titular painting, is being presented by Found Objects Theater Company through August 25th.

Critics are calling the show “masterful,” “provocative,” with “startling eloquence and intellectual depth.” You can reviews for Mark’s show at backstage.com and nytheatre.com.

Mark returns to Athens shortly after his NYFringe run to complete his MFA. You may have seen Mark’s work at the 2011 or 2012 Seabury Quinn, Jr. Playwrights’ Festival where he presented EXPECTING and TAKING UP SERPENTS, respectively.

Learn more about Mark and his work at www.markchrisler.com.

Qui Nguyen’s AGENT G Begins Off-Broadway Previews

Before he returns to Ohio University to stage a brand new play this Spring, alumnus Qui Nguyen is pairing his celebrated Vampire Cowboys with the Drama Desk and OBIE Award winning Ma-Yi Theater to present The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G, which begins previews Off-Broadway tonight at the Beckett Theatre. A previous version of the show played to sold-out houses last season, when the New York Times called it “Ambitious Entertainment! Complex! An impressive feat!” The show has also been called “Wonderful! Funny! Eye-opening! A Critic’s Pick!” by Timeout New York. According to the Vampire Cowboy’s website, the Ma-Yi collaboration features a revamped script, new fights, new cast members, and a brand new song by Nguyen & Shane Rettig. More information about the production is listed below. Nguyen is a playwright, screenwriter, and Co-Artistic Director of the OBIE Award-winning Vampire Cowboys. His scripts include the critically acclaimed Vampire Cowboys productions of The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G; Soul Samurai; Alice in Slasherland; Fight Girl Battle World; Men of Steel; Living Dead in Denmark; Stained Glass Ugly; A Beginner’s Guide to Deicide; and Vampire Cowboy Trilogy. Other scripts include She Kills Monsters (The Flea); Bike Wreck (Ensemble Studio Theatre; Metropolitan Playhouse); Aliens Versus Cheerleaders (Keen Teens); the Off-Broadway production of Trial By Water (Ma-Yi Theater/Queens Theatre in the Park); and the hip-hop musical Krunk Fu Battle Battle (East West Players). His plays are published by Broadway Play Publishing, Playscripts.com, and can be found in the anthologies, SAVAGE STAGE and PLAYS & PLAYWRIGHTS 2005. Nguyen is a proud member of New Dramatists, The Ma-Yi Writers Lab, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and The Playwrights Center.

About Agent G:
It’s been 10 years since Agent G has last been in Vietnam where his family and friends were all viciously slain. He’s now come back looking for answers and a good bit of revenge, however forces are at hand trying to stop him as well as the playwright from finishing this brutal task.
February 7 – March 4, 2012
At THE BECKETT THEATRE
Theatre Row
410 West 42nd St (Btw 9th & 10th)
Buy tickets here.
Use the code TRVC25 to get $25 tix (regular price: $35). The code is only good until FEB 14!