alumni | OHIO | Page 8

Bianca Sams wins prestigious Warner Brothers TV Workshop Fellowship!

Congratulations to 2014 alum Bianca Sams, who has earned entry into the very competitive Warner Brothers TV Workshop!

From the WB TV Workshop website: http://writersworkshop.warnerbros.com/

“For over 30 years, the Warner Bros. Television Writers’ Workshop has been the premier writing program for new writers looking to start and further their career in the world of television. The list of graduates who have gone on to do great things is long: Terrance Winter (Boardwalk Empire), Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives), Greg Garcia (My Name Is Earl) and Felicia Henderson (Soul Food) to name a few.

Every year, the Workshop selects up to 10 participants out of almost 2,000 submissions and exposes them to Warner Bros. Television’s top writers and executives, all with the ultimate goal of earning them a staff position on a Warner Bros. produced television show.”

Qui Nguyen’s “She Kills Monsters” is coming to Available Light Theater in Columbus, Ohio!

September 29, 2014
by catherineforever666
· alumni · News · Productions · Qui Nguyen

Ohio MFA Playwriting Alum, Qui Nguyen’s play “She Kills Monsters” has an upcoming production at Available Light Theater this December in Columbus, Ohio!

Qui Nguyen, a co-founder of the NYC based theater company “Vampire Cowboys Theater”, has had his work produced at such venues as The Flea, South Coast Rep and the Playwrights Center in Minnesota.

Available Light Theater says in their missions statement that they: “Engage our community by staging provocative works that examine our culture, expose its shortcomings, and reveal the beauty of humankind.” The production runs December 4th through the 20th and there are a limited number of pay what you can seats. Go see it!

More Info on Production:

She Kills Monsters is an ingenious trip into the world of fantasy role-playing games, as played by Tilly Evans, a lonely, geeky, and gay Ohio teenager who takes refuge in her action-packed imaginary world.

It’s a tribute to the power of stories, packed with homicidal fairies, raunchy ogres, bloodthirsty cheerleaders, and more 1990s pop culture references than you can shake a thigh-master at.

Recommended if You Like: Skyscrapers of the Midwest, God’s Ear, Dungeons & Dragons

Robin & Peter Hersha present…
SHE KILLS MONSTERS
by Qui Nguyen
Directed by Ian ShortDecember 4 — 20, 2014
Riffe Center Studio Two
77 South High St.

Click here for even more info.

Chanel Glover is now a part of the terraNOVA Collective GroundBreakers Playwrights Group!

September 25, 2014
by catherineforever666
· alumni · Chanel Glover · New York · News

Chanel Glover, a recent OU playwriting alum, has just been accepted into terraNOVA Collective’s “Groundbreakers” playwright group, a prestigious NYC based playwriting group for emerging writers!

Their site states that, “Groundbreakers Playwrights Group is an 18-week playwriting intensive, through which terraNOVA Collective develops work in early stages of development. The work developed through the program is presented to industry and general audiences as part of the New Play Series in winter 2015.”

We are very excited for Chanel and can’t wait to see all the fabulous things she will do in NYC!

Info from Press Release:

terraNOVA Collective, under the direction of Producing Artistic Director Jennifer Conley Darling, continues to develop work with and nurture playwrights in its 2014-15 season. Now in its 12th season, terraNOVA Collective is delighted to work with 10 playwrights this year, presenting new work by ALEXANDRA COLLIER, STEVE DIUBALDO, ANDREA LEPCIO, and CHRISTINA MASCIOTTI, as well as developing six brand new plays with emerging and mid-career playwrights selected for the 6th annual Groundbreakers Playwrights Group. The selected playwrights are ELIZA BENT, EMILY BOHANNON, CHANEL GLOVER, GEORGETTE KELLY, DAN KITROSSER, and ENRIQUE URUETA.

Jennifer Conley Darling says, “The 10 playwrights we will work with this season embody the vision and goals under which terraNOVA thrives – – risk-taking, insightful, form-bending, disciplined, and all around brave, big-hearted, passionate creators. We’re thrilled to showcase work in all stages of development from early drafts through to production.”

Click here for more info on the group

Alum Ira Gamerman Fights Zombies

September 12, 2014
by Erik Ramsey
· alumni · Essays · New York · News · podcast · Publications

Ira Gamerman, 2012 MFA Playwriting alum, has penned another provocative HowlRound piece. Read it. It may save your life in the current zombie apocalypse: http://howlround.com/bardcore-will-never-die-but-you-will. HowlRound is an important national journal focused on examining what role new live theater plays in our contemporary world; a previous HowlRound piece he wrote can be found here.

Gamerman also has won awards as a regular writer for The Truth, a popular audio-fiction-radio-play 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).

OU mention in “Dramatists” Magazine!

September 10, 2014
by catherineforever666
· alumni · Current Students · Madness · News

OU’s MFA Playwriting program is profiled in the September/October issue of The Dramatist, the Dramatists Guild’s magazine.

The article focuses on various aspects of the program, but particularly how unique “Madness” is, and how writing a short play every week is a great benefit for the writer to get to work, putting less pressure on the muse. The article says “OU might be one of the best kept secrets in graduate training for playwrights.”

Ohio Playwriting Profiled in The Post

September 4, 2014
by Erik Ramsey
· alumni · Awards · Current Students · News · Productions

rustOnBone — Thomas Daniels and Shambrion Treadwell in Bianca Sams’s RUST ON BONE

Some nice local coverage of the MFA playwriting program: OU Playwrights’ Work Lives Outside the Classroom.

http://www.thepostathens.com/culture/article_20112344-3399-11e4-9170-0017a43b2370.html

Bianca Sams receives the Tennesse Rep Ingram New Works Fellowship!

Recent MFA grad, Bianca Sams is apart of the 2014-15 New Works Fellowship at Tennessee Rep! This prestigious opportunity is given to 4 playwrights per year and includes development help on a new play, a public reading and workshops with professional theater artists.

Fun fact!(tell all your friendsss) Jeremy Sony(another OU alum) received this fellowship last year!

For more info on this Fellowship

Mark Chrisler’s THE ART OF PAINTING is “Recommended” by the Chicago Reader

Mark Chrisler, Ohio MFA Alum, opened his play, THE ART OF PAINTING, in Chicago this past weekend with his theater company, Found Objects Theatre. It’s running with another one-act, Chris Bower’s Notes to Molly, and the evening is billed as “Painting Molly.”

The Chicago Reader gave THE ART OF PAINTING it’s “Recommended” stamp of approval. “Playing the instructor, Chrisler builds a sense of unreliability and mystery, and the twists that follow are a refreshing reminder of the vivid worlds a one-man show can create onstage.”

The play runs through August 31st; Friday and Saturday at 8pm, and Sundays at 7pm.

Click here to purchase tickets.

Ohio MFA Playwrights Open One-Act Plays in Chicago

August 7, 2014
by rpdolan
· alumni · Chicago · Current Students · News · Productions · world premiere

Three current MFA Playwrights and one recent alumnus are opening 10-4: THE TRUCK STOP PLAYS at CIC Theater in Chicago on Friday, August 8th. The plays run through August 30th.

Ryan Patrick Dolan ’16 enlisted three other playwrights Neal Adelman ’15, Tyler Whidden ’16, and recent grad, Anthony Ellison ’14, to write one-acts to take place at a truck stop. The result is four dark comedies with strong, funny female characters.

The directors are four women from the Chicago theater scene: Karisa Bruin, Jeri Frederickson, Ashley Neal, and Mary O’Connor. Each director cast the plays with Chicago actors.

Recent Ohio University student, Cat Abood (pictured above in red), appears in Anthony Ellison’s play. Ellison coached Abood in Ohio University’s improv group, Black Sheep.

More information appears on the play’s website: truckstopplays.wordpress.com or CIC’s website.

Bianca Sam’s “Rust On Bone” Wins 2nd for Athe’s Jane Chambers student award

OU Alumnus, Bianca Sams ’14, won 2nd place for Athe’s Jane Chambers student award.

“The Jane Chambers Student Playwriting Award recognizes plays and performance texts created by women that present a feminist perspective and contain significant opportunities for female performers. This competition is open to both graduate and undergraduate students. The Jane Chambers Award for emergent playwrights encourages diversity of style and content. All forms of drama are accepted, including solo performance work. Your play will be recognized at the Women and Theatre Program’s Pre-Conference in Scottsdale, AZ on July 24th and a synopsis and information about your work will be posted to the WTP website.”