Category: alumni

Sarah Bowden has a new play in Chicago!

September 12, 2016
by catherineforever666
· alumni · Chicago · Events · News

Check out alum Sarah Bowden’s new play in Chicago this week!

Below is an announcement about it by Rachel Bykowski, current third year playwright and Literary Manager of 20%theater:

“I’m sure some of you have heard that my theatre company 20% Theatre Company Chicago is doing something a little different this season. For our 14th season, we are featuring 20 new plays written by 20 emerging female playwrights. We just wrapped up our Snapshots 10-minute play festival in August and are now kicking off our workshop presentation series with the new play Lively Stones by Sarah Bowden.

Sarah is a fellow Ohio MFA Playwriting alum and currently living in Chicago. When Sarah first shared with me her script for Lively Stones I was blown away by her heartbreaking subtleties in this insightful play as Sarah’s characters demonstrate how no matter if it is the 1600’s or the 2000’s, we as women are still in a battle for the right to have control over our own bodies.”

Here is more about the play: 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. Lively Stones was a participant in the 2016 DarkRoom.

Congratss Sarah! Come see the Workshop Presentation of Lively Stones starting September 14th!

Details

September 14th – 17th, 2016

Berry United Methodist Church (4754 N. Leavitt), Chicago, IL

Wednesday – Saturday at 8:00.

More about Sarah

Sarah Bowden is a teaching artist, whose 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 Greenhouse Theater Center, the Chicago Madness Collective, 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 finalist in the Route 66 Theatre Test Drive Workshop, and a semi-finalist for the Stage Left Theatre Playwright Residency. She 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.

Qui Nguyen has some exciting news!

September 7, 2016
by catherineforever666
· alumni · News · Productions · Qui Nguyen

OU Alum Qui’s career has been blowing up like a rocketship! First of all his hit play “Vietgone” will be coming to Manhattan Theater Club in NYC for its NYC world premiere. Read an article about his new play here

He also now Just finished writing/shooting upcoming Syfy TV show “Incorporated“(which goes on air November 30th) and also just got a job as a writer for Marvel Studios!

Congrats Qui!

Go see Vietgone!

NY premiere play by Qui Nguyen
Directed by May Adrales
With: Jon Hoche, Jennifer Ikeda, Raymond Lee, Samantha Quan, Paco Tolson

Previews Begin: Oct 4, 2016

A modern twist on the all-American love story, Vietgone by Qui Nguyen (She Kills Monsters) is the classic story of boy meets girl—except this boy and girl are refugees from the Vietnam War, newly settled in a relocation camp inside Middle America. Borrowing elements from the world of up-to-the-minute popular culture to recreate the playwright’s own parents’ meeting, Vietgone skips through time and around the globe to present a fresh theatrical take on a moving account of one real family’s history.

Vietgone is produced in association with South Coast Repertory.

Location: MTC Stage I at City Center
Oct 4 – Dec 4, 2016
Buy tickets here

More about Qui

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 called “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 (South Coast Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Seattle Rep), She Kills Monsters (The Flea, Buzz22 Chicago/Steppenwolf, Company One); Begets: Fall of a High School Ronin (Waterwell); War is F**king Awesome (Sundance); Krunk Fu Battle Battle (East West Players); Bike Wreck (EST); Trial By Water (Ma-Yi Theater); Aliens vs Cheerleaders (Keen Teens); Soul Samurai; The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G (Ma-Yi Theater & Vampire Cowboys); and the critically acclaimed Vampire Cowboys productions of Six Rounds of Vengeance, Alice in Slasherland; Fight Girl Battle World; Men of Steel; and Living Dead in Denmark.

Two exciting summer projects by alums!

August 1, 2016
by catherineforever666
· alumni · News · podcast

Both Chanel Glover and Jacquelyn Reingold are up to awesome things this summer! Jacqueline has a new TV show on CBS called “BrainDead” and Chanel has a new podcast “Overqualified and Drunk” that’s now available on ITunes! Enjoy the rest of your summer with some OU flavor, download and record these things today!!

To download Chanel’s podcast click here

Description

Two Overqualified & Drunk black lesbians living in New York City talk spirituality, lesbian love (or nah), and the two things that bind them together, music and booze. Thirty-something year-old Chanel and twenty-something year-old Chloe (going on 50) discuss what ultimately makes them ‘overqualified’ and drunk. Disclaimer – this is raw, extremely jaded and uncut. If you want to tell us why you’re overqualified and drunk or just want to hit us up, you can reach us at: Twitter: @ODChanelChloe Instagram: @ODChanelChloe

More about “BrainDead”

BrainDead” is a comic-thriller set in the world of Washington, D.C. politics that follows Laurel, a young, fresh-faced Hill staffer who discovers two things: the government has stopped working, and bugs are eating the brains of Congress members and Hill staffers. The daughter of a Democratic political dynasty who left Washington, D.C. to become a documentary filmmaker, Laurel is pulled back into THE FAMILY business when her brother, Luke, the Democratic whip Senator from Maryland, needs her help running his Senate office. On the Hill, Laurel becomes unlikely friends with Gareth, the smart, hardworking Legislative Director to a top Republican, Senator Red Wheatus.

Ronnie Koenig has article in the NY Times!

July 29, 2016
by catherineforever666
· alumni · News · Publications

OU Playwriting alum Ronnie Koenig has a feature in the NY Times called “When Friends Get a Home Together” The fascinating and fun article about real estate looks at different groups of friends who have bought houses together and their reasons for doing it. Congrats Ronnie!

Here’s a little excerpt:

For some New Yorkers who have been priced out of New York City’s real estate game, pooling resources with friends and siblings has become the quickest path to homeownership. And while sharing a front door can put even the best relationships to the test, some are finding it’s worth the risk.

For Laurie Savage, a writer and restaurant server, and her husband, Garette Henson, a filmmaker, both 36, the arrival of their son, Fox Henson, almost 2, sparked the idea of buying real estate with a friend. That friend was Alix Frey, 37, whom they had met when they were all students at Sarah Lawrence College.

The group recently moved into a three-story two-family townhouse in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Ms. Frey, the director of the Blum & Poe gallery in Manhattan, occupies the top level while the couple have the lower level, including the basement and the backyard. The parlor level is divided between the Savage/Hensons and Ms. Frey.

More about Ronnie

She began writing freelance articles for Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Penthouse and iVillage. Her work has also appeared in The Atlantic, Self, Men’s Health, Parents, American Baby, Babble, AOL Moviefone, The Saturday Evening Post and American Way (in your seatback pocket!). Her weekly column for amNY newspaper entertained subway riders and she’s the co-author of Naughty New York: A Lady’s Guide to the Sexy City and Penthouse Presents: Working Stiff.

She has been a well-spoken guest on Fox News, The O’Reilly Factor, CBC Radio One and Sirius XM. She performed on the NYC stage at Ars Nova, 92nd St. Y and the East Village’s Kraine theatre. She was fortunate enough to teach a comedy writing class at Gotham Writer’s Workshop and She’s lectured at colleges across the US.

Jeff Chastang’s play in the Alabama Shakespeare Fest!

July 25, 2016
by catherineforever666
· alumni · Awards · News · Productions

Recent alumni Jeff Chastang has been racking up some exciting accomplishments with his play Dauphin Island, which had a production at OU. At OU people were super impressed by the plays fascinating and troubled characters and the smooth storytelling. The play was previously developed through the Southern Writers’ Project and will be presented at Alabama Shakespeare Festival this April ! Look at those OU plays out in the world!

The play has also won the prestigious Edgerton Foundation New Play award for 2016-17. Broadway World writes about this award,” the Edgerton Foundation has distributed New Play Awards every year since 2006, inviting hand-picked theaters “with a strong and consistent track record of producing new work” to apply. Awards provide new plays by American playwrights with an extended rehearsal period, allowing for a more thorough development process than many new plays are afforded.”

Congrats Jeff!

Go see the play!

March 23rd, 2017-April 9th, 2017

A world-premiere production by Jeffry Chastang, developed by the Southern Writers’ Project in which suspicion and fascination dovetail when (en route from Detroit to a new job on Dauphin Island) Selwyn Tate interrupts the self-imposed isolation of Kendra in the Alabama woods — dramatizing the risks involved when two displaced souls intertwine.

Location: 1 Festival Drive
Montgomery, AL 36117

Buy tickets here

More about Jeff

Michigan-born Jeffry Chastang was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Roger L. Stevens Award for his first play FULL CIRCLE, which was produced by Detroit’s Plowshares Theater Company. Plowshares also produced his second play …CONTINUED WARM, which was named Best New Play by the Oakland Press. He was commissioned by the Alabama Shakespeare Festival (ASF) to write BLOOD DIVIDED, a play marking the sesquicentennial of the Civil War in Montgomery, Alabama. BLOOD DIVIDED also received an Edgerton Foundation New Plays Award. Jeffry’s play PREPARATIONS was developed in ASF’s Southern Writers Project. As an actor his professional credits include FENCES, THE OLD SETTLER and A SOLDIER’S PLAY.

Ira Gamerman has new short play at Serials in NYC this month!

July 14, 2016
by catherineforever666
· alumni · New York · News

Alum Ira Gamerman has gotten a new short play “Jeffs Jewish Dating Service” in the highly competitive “serials” live theater competition series produced by the in-house acting troupe, the Bats, at the Flea Theater in NYC.

Here is how they describe this fun play competition on their website:

#serials@theflea is a raucous late night play competition featuring The Bats and some of NYC’s hottest young playwrights and directors. This event, which runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 11:00pm includes 1 FREE beer with the purchase of a ticket. All tickets are only $12.

In #serials@theflea, five teams of Bats perform original ten-minute episodic plays. The audience votes for its three favorite plays, which return the next week with a new installment. The teams with the two least popular stories must likewise come back the following week, but with entirely different serialized plays.”

Ira’s play runs this Thursday through Saturday (14th-16th) and next Thursday-Saturday(21st-23rd). Buy tickets here!! Congrats Ira!

More about Ira:

IRA LAWRENCE GAMERMAN is a Baltimore-bred AustraliAmerican Playwright, Podcaster, Script Consultant, Screenwriter, Musician, and Educator based in NYC.

Ira’s theatrical work has been performed at The Kennedy Center, Samuel French OOB, Ensemble Studio Theater, Short & Sweet Sydney, Collaboraction (at the Steppenwolf Garage), F*It Club, Source Festival, Single Carrot, The Australian Broadcast Corporation, and The Chicago New Media Summit (among many other places around the globe). In 2006, City Paper voted Ira “Best Playwright Of Baltimore”. In 2009, Dated: A Cautionary Tale For Facebook Users was a New York Innovative Theater Award nominee for best short play. Ira has received playwriting grants from the Maryland State Arts Council and Chicago Union League. BILLY BITCHASS will be published in THE BEST 10 MINUTE PLAYS OF 2016 by Smith & Kraus.

Ira holds a BA in Theater from Towson University, an MFA in Playwriting from Ohio University, and studied Devised theater at the (now defunct) Dartington College Of Art in the UK. He is a script consultant for Serbian Filmmaker Milica Zec (Sundance New Frontiers 2015). Ira has been published by Consequence Of Sound, High Times, Eleven Magazine, and Howlround. His work on The Wire remains his favorite acting gig to date.

Two Alums are up to exciting things this summer!

July 13, 2016
by catherineforever666
· alumni · News

Both Jacquelyn Reingold and Leean Kim Torske have exciting summer news! Reingold has a new TV show which she is writing/producing called “BrainDead” currently on CBS. It premiered Monday, June 13th at 10PM on CBS and is currently running. It was created by the “Good Wife” creators and ,” it centers on the Capitol in Washington, D.C., where alien bugs infect members of Congress.”(Wikipedia)

Leean Kim Torske just started a new theater company in Chicago with Mary Rose O’Connor called The Blue Ring.” The company is working with a lot of exciting new writers, including OU alum Mark Chrisler. Their Fractured Atlas page reads, “The Blue Ring produces plays about characters who are lacking in resources, experience, or information and are working through issues reflective of current events. Our name is inspired by our spirit animal, the blue ringed octopus, which is beautiful, malleable, slightly unexpected, and through evolution has become deadlier over time.” The Blue Ring has a fundraiser this Sunday night, July 17th in Chicago, go check it out!

More about Leean

Leean Kim Torske is a Chicago-based Korean/Norwegian-American playwright and dramaturg from the great state of Wyoming. She earned her MFA in Playwriting from Ohio University and her MA in Literary Studies from the University of Wyoming. Her play Pity Party is featured in Smith & Kraus’s anthology 105 Five-Minute Plays for Study and Performance, publication fall 2016. She is the co-founder and co-Artistic Director of The Blue Ring in Chicago, IL. Leean has been an Artistic Engagement Associate with Steppenwolf Theatre Company since June 2012.

More about Jacquelyn

Jacquelyn Reingold writes for theatre and television. She is currently a writer/producer for BRAINDEAD, created by Robert and Michele King, airing on CBS starting June 2016. She wrote for Netflix’s GRACE AND FRANKIE, created by Marta Kauffman and Howard J. Morris, starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston. Other TV writing includes: NBC’s SMASH (Executive Producer, Theresa Rebeck), HBO’s Peabody Award winning IN TREATMENT (Executive Producer, Warren Leight), writing the “Mia” episodes for Emmy nominated Hope Davis and Gabriel Byrne. Recent plays include: I KNOW in Ensemble Studio Theatre’s One-act Marathon and UP AND DOWN for Christine Jones’ Theatre for One. Other plays include STRING FEVER at Ensemble Studio Theatre, starring Cynthia Nixon and Evan Handler, also produced at Playhouse West in California, and in Washington DC at Theatre J. She wrote an episode of the serialized play, CEDAR CITY FALLS, created and produced by Liz Tuccillo. Her one-acts THEY FLOAT UP, and A VERY VERY SHORT PLAY were produced in ’10 and ’08 at Ensemble Studio Theatre. Another one-act 2B (OR NOT 2B) was produced at The Actors Theatre of Louisville in 2009. Her full length play, A STORY ABOUT A GIRL was part of the JAW Playwrights Festival at Portland Center Stage, Oregon, and was workshopped at The Williamstown Theatre in ’13. Her other plays: GIRL GONE, 2B (OR NOT 2B), ACAPULCO, FOR-EVERETT, DEAR KENNETH BLAKE, DOTTIE AND RICHIE, TUNNEL OF LOVE, JILEY & LEDNERG, JOE AND STEW’S THEATRE, LOST AND FOUND, A.M.L., and FREEZE TAG have been produced or workshopped in New York at the MCC Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Naked Angels, HB Playwrights Theatre, the Drama League at HERE, All Seasons Theatre, Atlantic Theatre, and the Working Theatre; in Los Angeles; at theatres across the country; in London, Berlin, Belgrade, New Zealand, Australia, and Hong Kong.

Read Jason Half’s Fascinating article on voice!

May 25, 2016
by catherineforever666
· alumni · Essays · News

Read Jason Half’s short, thoughtful article on the writing process and voice here!

Here is a little excerpt:

Writers might not spend a lot of time considering and defining their individual creative voices, and that’s probably a good thing. As often with the writing process, overthinking and overanalyzing can become a liability. But taking a few minutes to identify your own artistic voice may strengthen your future writing and offer a new perspective on previous work.

On the surface, a creative voice seems like an easy feature to spot. Stephen King’s voice is markedly different from Raymond Chandler’s, and Agatha Christie’s voice would likely not be mistaken by faithful readers with those of P.D. James or Ruth Rendell. Some of the elements defining voice are obvious signifiers, like narrative style or tone or type of story. Algorithms could be built, using word choices and genre structures and character types, which could reliably identify the data-driven aspects of voice. This one must be Charles Dickens. Hello there, Shakespeare.

More about Jason

Jason Half is a graduate of Ohio University’s M.F.A. Playwriting program. His stage plays have had readings in Chicago and Pittsburgh and performances in Maine, Ohio, and Minnesota. 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. His one-act play LOCKED ROOM MISERY has received productions at Marietta College and Washington State Community College in southern Ohio. Recently, two television scripts have been finalists in national screenwriting contests. Jason has taught film, theater, scriptwriting, literature and composition courses at colleges in West Virginia and southern Ohio.

Qui Nguyen wins Steinberg Critics Prize!

April 11, 2016
by catherineforever666
· alumni · News · Qui Nguyen

OU Alum Qui Nguyen just won the Steinberg Critics prize at the Humana Festival for his play “Vietgone”, which premiered at the Humana and then went to South Coast Rep!

Dc Theatre Scene writes, “Out of six finalists, Nguyen received the award for his play Vietgone, a comedy rooted in his family’s flight from Vietnam that slowly explores the dark corners of its characters. The judging panel, made up of members of the American Theatre Critics Association from across the United States, gave the award to Vietgone for its “vivid, specific voice” along with its “wonderful sense of humor and compelling stakes.”

The Steinberg/ATCA Award honors Nguyen and Vietgone by recognizing him as an outstanding playwright who premiered a play in regional theaters outside of New York City in 2015. But as significantly (and perhaps more so), the Steinberg/ATCA Award is a financial award, and the largest of its kind, granting its winner $25,000.”

Congrats Qui on this awesome honor! Read an article about his big win here

More about Qui

Qui Nguyen is a playwright, TV writer, and Co-Founder of the OBIE Award-winning Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company of NYC. He and his work, known for its innovative use of pop-culture, stage violence, puppetry, and multimedia, has been called “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 (South Coast Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Company, Manhattan Theatre Club), She Kills Monsters (The Flea, Buzz22 Chicago/Steppenwolf, Company One); War is F**king Awesome (developed in the Sundance Theatre Lab); Krunk Fu Battle Battle (East West Players); Bike Wreck (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Trial By Water (Ma-Yi Theater); Aliens Versus Cheerleaders (Keen Teens); Soul Samurai; The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G (Ma-Yi Theater & Vampire Cowboys); and the critically acclaimed Vampire Cowboys productions of Alice in Slasherland; Fight Girl Battle World; Men of Steel; and Living Dead in Denmark.

Neal Adelmans new play “I, Custer”in New Mexico!

March 12, 2016
by catherineforever666
· alumni · News · Productions

Recent OU Alum Neal Adelman has a new play at Las Cruces Community Theater in New Mexico. “I, Custer” is a one woman play that deconstructs and wakes up Custers last stand. The Las Cruces Sun News writes, “Tony Award-winning playwright and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Mark Medoff, who selects and directs a student play each year at Las Cruces Community Theatre, chose Adelman’s work for the 2016 Mark Medoff Directorial Project Award.”

The review goes on to compliment the production, “Neal Adelman’s lyrical, poetic, “I, Custer” script brings to mind Greek odysseys and the evocative rhythms of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Song of Hiawatha.” And that’s quite a feat considering the play’s thoroughly modern, gender-bending millennial perspectives, and the often scatological, racist and sexist commentary from its controversial protagonist. Check out the full review here

Congrats Neal on your awesome new play!

Go see it!

I, Custer” runs through March 20, with Friday and Saturday performances at 8 p.m.; Sunday performances at 2 p.m. at LCCT. For tickets, at $12, $11 for students, seniors and military, and $10 for children 6 and under and groups of 10 or more, visit lcctnm.org or call 575-523-1200.

If you go

What: “I, Custer” by Neal Adelman

When: Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through March 20

Where: Las Cruces Community Theatre, 313 N. Main St.

How much: $10 to $12

Info: lcctnm.org, 575-523-1200.

More about Neal

Neal Adelman was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas. He writes plays and short stories. His one act play TARRANT COUNTY received an NPP workshop and was a 2014 KCACTF John Cauble Outstanding Short Play National Finalist; his fiction has appeared in Puerto del Sol and Caldera Culture Review. When he’s not writing, he’s either fishing or trying to start a rock and roll band. He is a recent graduate of Ohio University and currently lives in New Mexico.