If there were ever a field that should build solidarity but doesn’t, theater would be it. Playwrights are encouraged to compete for the privilege of association. Our bios are lists of institutions from which we borrow value; each name grants you permission to call yourself an artist. The structure of the industry invites exploitation and mistreatment. It limits the art we choose to make, as well as our relationships to one another.
Each insular world—no matter how small or seemingly insignificant—is beholden to the larger one, and reinforces the injustices that shape it. Last summer, hundreds of people pointed out the obvious: the theater world is systemically racist. Theaters scrambled to respond, and continue to come up short, as they tend to believe that a diverse staff and a diverse roster of plays are an end in itself. If this were true, We See You White American Theater would have a list of demands that is less than 30 pages long. These demands paint a pretty extraordinary picture of racism, exclusion and exploitation, but alongside it appears a tantalizing negative image. For me, it begs the question: Why are we asking institutions to be less racist, less sexist, less ableist, less greedy, instead of building the kind of inclusive structures we actually want?
Read alum Molly Hagan’s full essay on Theater and “mutual aid” here.
Category: News
Molly Hagan on Theater and Mutual Aid
Laura Jacqmin – 2021 PlayFest Mentor
Laura Jacqmin is a Los Angeles-based writer for television, video games, and the live theater, originally from Cleveland. She’s currently a writer-consulting producer on the forthcoming Peacock/NBCU/USA show, “Joe Exotic” (based on the Wondery podcast, starring Kate McKinnon). Previously, she was a writer-co-executive producer on the forthcoming Netflix series, “One Piece” (based on the longrunning manga series by Eiichiro Oda). Her first feature film, “We Broke Up,” co-written with Jeff Rosenberg and starring William Jackson Harper and Aya Cash, is playing in select theatres and opens on VOD on April 23rd.
Other television: “Get Shorty” (EPIX); “Grace and Frankie” (Netflix); “Lucky 7” (ABC). Video Games: “Life 2.0” (FoxNext/Fogbank); “The Walking Dead, Season 3” and “Minecraft: Story Mode” (both with Telltale Games), as well as contract work for Ad Hoc and Scopely. She received her BA from Yale University, and earned an MFA in Playwriting from Ohio University. Founding member, The Kilroys.
Plays: Residence (40th Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville); January Joiner (Long Wharf Theatre); Ski Dubai (Steppenwolf Theatre); A Third (Finborough Theatre London); Look, we are breathing (Rivendell Theatre Ensemble; Sundance Theatre Lab); Dental Society Midwinter Meeting (Williamstown Theatre Festival; Chicago Dramatists/At Play, 16th Street Theater); Ghost Bike (Buzz22 Chicago). Awards: Wasserstein Prize, two NEA Art Works Grants, ATHE-Kennedy Center David Mark Cohen Playwriting Award, two MacDowell Fellowships, Illinois Arts Council Individual Artist Grant.
Laura will be providing feedback for the following play:
A Woog Among the Waves by Steven Strafford (Thurs. 4/22 @ 12:30pm)
Spotlight On: Skye Robinson Hillis (OU MFA ’21)
As we begin the 27th Annual Seabury Quinn, Jr. Playwrights’ Festival, we’ll be giving the spotlight to our third-year MFA playwrights. Third-year writers graduate soon after their thesis productions headline the festival.
by Steven Strafford
Skye Robinson Hillis is good with words. Whether it be in her plays, or a well-crafted joke over Zoom chat or text message, she knows how to string the words together for great effect. (Often making the writer of this article laugh out loud. And a personal side note: Skye was extremely helpful to me in my adjusting to life in Athens. She always made time for my questions. I am grateful for the care she showed for me. I will miss her jokes and insightful help on my work.)
Skye’s play, The Martha Mitchell Effect is one of our two featured productions this year.
We thought it might be fun to let Skye, in her own words, answer a few questions in interview format for her spotlight piece.
Here is that interview:
Where are you from? What parts of “home” show up in your writing?
Born and raised outside Boston, but also partially raised in southeastern Pennsylvania, and after moving there in 2008 for school, I now consider Chicago home. Basically zero parts of home show up in my writing because I usually prefer to write outside my own personal experience.
What first made you want to write plays?
Dialogue. I tried to be a screenwriting major for a while in undergrad until I learned that nobody cares what your characters have to say in film, only what they do and how it looks.
What is it you hope people leave the theater thinking about with your work and/or specifically this play?
Who are your inspirations? Playwrights? Other writers?
Noel Coward, Edward Albee, Lillian Hellman, Pinter, Tracy Letts, Sarah Ruhl.
What’s a favorite theatrical moment for you as an audience member? A moment that stays with you?
All of the Goodman’s Camino Real directed by Calixto Bieto.
What was the inspiration for your featured play this year?
About two years ago I was listening to the Slow Burn podcast, the first season of which is about Watergate, which is where I learned about Martha Mitchell. I’ve been low-key obsessed with the notion of gaslighting for years and especially the gaslighting of woman of note, so from that point on I couldn’t stop thinking about her. This led to a women of Watergate rabbit hole that I still have not climbed out of.
Skye’s bio:
Skye Robinson Hillis (she/her) is a playwright/director/teacher/dramaturg based in Chicago. A two time semi-finalist for the Princess Grace Award, her work has been seen at the Kennedy Center’s ACTF, Creede Repertory, The Route 66 Theatre Company, Chicago Dramatists, A Red Orchid Theatre, Piven Theatre Workshop, Artistic Home, 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 in 2015, winner of the 2015 Ashland New Plays Festival, and winner of the Holland New Voices Award at the Great Plains Theatre Conference in 2017. As a director/dramaturg, she has worked for Hartford Stage, Goodman Theatre, Court Theatre, A Red Orchid, Remy Bumppo, Stage Left, and more. Her other plays include BURY THE REST, ESCAPE VELOCITY, THE ORDINARINESS OF EVERYTHING ELSE, THE RUNNING MATE, INTO PLACE, and SELFISH.
The Martha Mitchell Effect: In his infamous interview with David Frost, Richard Nixon said that “without Martha Mitchell, there would be no Watergate.” And yet the name Martha Mitchell, once ubiquitous, has faded into the background of history. Bringing her story to the forefront, The Martha Mitchell Effect illustrates the world of the courageous women involved in breaking the Watergate scandal and explores their lasting impact on this country today.
Reserve tickets now for this streaming production at The Martha Mitchell Effect website for April 16, 17, 22, 24. And be sure to check out the full slate of new MFA plays streaming during the festival here.
Spotlight On: John Hendel (OU MFA ’21)
As we begin the 27th Annual Seabury Quinn, Jr. Playwrights’ Festival, we’ll be giving the spotlight to our third-year MFA playwrights. Third-year writers graduate soon after their thesis productions headline the festival.
by Steven Strafford
John Hendel’s play, Be Head is one of our two featured productions this year.
John Hendel is a mensch. For people who don’t know Yiddish, a mensch is a person of integrity and honor. John Hendel not only wants his play to be great, he really wants your play to be great. He is, at his very nature, a helper. Add to that, his ability to consistently turn out off-beat, humorous, sometimes unsettling pieces that always challenge the intellect, and you’ve got an amazing member of the playwriting program. You’ve got John Hendel.
If that wasn’t enough, this year John has been lead producer of PlayFest. He has shepherded the playwrights through a brand new online format. He has solved problems on the fly, and while putting out fires and building an impactful event for the playwrights and all involved, he has created a wonderful play for you all to enjoy. He is the embodiment of what this program strives to be: a community of playwrights who come together to buoy each other up while discovering an executing our own voice in theatrical writing. John will be missed.
John’s bio:
John Hendel is a playwright most recently from Los Angeles. His plays include Pulling Off Procreation (Or Is It Wrong to Keep Fucking if the Baby Starts Crying?) (2013 Cincinnati Fringe Festival, winner: Founders’ Pick of the Fringe), Wearhorse (2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival), Fame Confusions and The Greatest Play Ever (If You Don’t Think So, You’re a Basket of Farts) (NY Artists Unlimited International Cringe Fest, 2009 and 2010, respectively). He has twice been a PlayLab writer at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, AK. His work online includes his 64 Plays in 64 Days project, as well as writing about movies and television. He received his Playwriting BFA from Ohio University.
Be Head:
Hear ye, hear ye, and huzzah! The king has been executed! Allegra, a peasant, has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join the new Revolutionary Council. All she must do is eradicate the monarchial spirit by destroying the king’s head. But Allegra’s ambitions and desire to be heard make sharing power difficult, especially with the daffy elites who lopped the king’s head off. Through dreams, necromancy, and the occasional iambic pentameter, BE HEAD explores whether any old time is the right time for revolution.
Reserve tickets now for this streaming production at the Be Head website for April 15, 17, 23, 24. And be sure to check out the full slate of new MFA plays streaming during the festival here.
2nd-Year Playwright Ivan Mosley in Ohio University Graduate Research Series
Second-Year playwright Ivan Mosley will present “How to Be Good & Black: The Legacy of the Black Codes” through the Graduate Research Series (GRS) hosted virtually through Ohio University Libraries!
Ivan’s work is being recognized for its rigor, interest, and thoughtful use of library resources. Ivan will be introduced by the Dean of Libraries, Neil Romanosky, and have time to share his process with a live audience with time for questions and discussion.
Ivan’s presentation, “How to Be Good & Black: The Legacy of the Black Codes”, is scheduled on April 16th from 2:00-3:00pm, and can be joined via Teams at the following link: http://bit.ly/GRS_Mosely.
MFA Alumni Update: Qui Nguyen
Qui Nguyen (’02) is a screenwriter of Disney’s 2021 animated feature, Raya and the Last Dragon!
From Walt Disney Animation Studios:
Long ago, in the fantasy world of Kumandra, humans and dragons lived together in harmony. But when sinister monsters known as the Druun threatened the land, the dragons sacrificed themselves to save humanity. Now, 500 years later, those same monsters have returned and it’s up to a lone warrior, Raya, to track down the last dragon in order to finally stop the Druun for good. However, along her journey, she’ll learn that it’ll take more than dragon magic to save the world—it’s going to take trust as well. From directors Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada, co-directors Paul Briggs and John Ripa, producers Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho, and featuring the voices of Kelly Marie Tran as Raya and Awkwafina as Sisu.
See Raya and the Last Dragon in theatres or on Disney+ Premier Access now!
Qui Nguyen is a playwright, TV/Film writer, and Co-Founder of the OBIE Award-winning Vampire Cowboys of NYC. His work, known for its innovative use of pop-culture, stage violence, puppetry, and multimedia, has been lauded as “Culturally Savvy Comedy” by The New York Times, “Tour de Force Theatre” by Time Out New York, and “Infectious Fun” by Variety.
Scripts include Vietgone (2016 Steinberg Award, 2016 LADCC Ted Schmidt New Play Award, 2016 Kennedy Prize Finalist); She Kills Monsters (2013 AATE Distinguished Play Award, 2012 GLAAD Media Award nom); War is F**king Awesome (Frederick Loewe Award); Soul Samurai (2009 GLAAD Media Award nom); Begets: Fall of a High School Ronin; Krunk Fu Battle Battle; Bike Wreck; Aliens vs Cheerleaders; and the critically acclaimed Vampire Cowboys productions of The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G, Six Rounds of Vengeance, Alice in Slasherland, Fight Girl Battle World, Men of Steel, and Living Dead in Denmark.
More at quinguyen.com.
Save the date: the 2021 Seabury Quinn Jr. New Play Festival is April 22, 23, 24!
Heads up, people! Join us this year from Thursday, April 22 through Saturday the 24th as our two third-year MFA playwrights debut their thesis plays, plus we stage five other new MFA plays by our first and second-year writers. (Note: preview performances of the thesis plays will be available a week earlier.) Look for a full schedule of events coming soon!
MFA Alumni Update: Joseph Gallo
Mile Square Theatre presents Joseph Gallo’s (’08) podcast play, Playbill Gallery (a love story) starting Friday, March 5th.
From Mile Square Theatre:
In February of 2020, Gallo’s compilation of more than 250 Playbills, made-up entirely of shows he had seen on Broadway and Off-Broadway, opened as part of an art exhibit held at the Benjamin J. Dineen, II and Dennis C. Hull Gallery in Jersey City.
An accompanying solo play used the Playbills to collectively tell the story of a life in the theatre, and to highlight the unique journey that each live theatre experience brings.
The Playbills, and additional performances by Gallo, were slated to be on display at MST in 2021. But because of these trying times, The Playbill Gallery (a love story) has been re-worked as a Podcast, featuring a sound score by our resident designer Michael Blaskewicz, with the help of 16 additional voices.
With our theatrical spaces shuttered, this bittersweet homage to a lifetime of theatre-going taps into the current longing that every theatre-goer and every theatre-maker is experiencing.
The Playbill Gallery (a love story) could not arrive at a more critical time!
For more information, please check out: https://www.milesquaretheatre.org/shows-events/the-playbill-gallery/
MFA Alumni Update: Jordan Ramirez Puckett
Tantrum East Theatre presents Jordan Ramirez Puckett’s (’20) play En Los Sombras in a live reading tomorrow, Friday, February 26th at 7:00 p.m. eastern! If you can’t make the live reading, it will be recorded and streamed through Tuesday, March 2nd.
For more information, please check out: https://www.classy.org/event/en-las-sombras/e324814
En Los Sombras: Listen closely because I am going to tell you an ancient tale. At a time when people were nothing more than pawns for gods and shadows, the Sun God disappeared leaving the world in darkness and in danger. When their own mother’s life is threatened, young Xenia and Luz must take the trial of the gods, risking their lives for the chance to become deities themselves. And why do you need to hear this story? Because time is cyclical, and what happened in the past did happen again and is happening now.
With this play, Jordan was the recipient of the 2019 Trisolini Fellowship.
MFA Alumni Update: Laura Jacqmin
Laura Jacqmin (’07) spent 2019 and 2020 writing for the forthcoming Netflix series, ONE PIECE (based on the longrunning manga series by Eiichiro Oda) and the forthcoming NBCU/Peacock/USA series, JOE EXOTIC (based on the Wondery podcast, starring Kate McKinnon). Her first feature, WE BROKE UP (co-written and directed by Jeff Rosenberg, also an OU alum), starring William Jackson Harper and Aya Cash, will be released in 2021. Also, all three seasons of GET SHORTY are now available free with Amazon Prime.
