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The 2009 Seabury Quinn, Jr Playwrights Festival Info

The 2009 festival was a great success: http://www.ohio.edu/outlook/08-09/May/620.cfm.

Short Plays by 2007 Alum at Source, Sam French & Public Theater:

Laura Jacqmin’s (MFA ’07) ten-minute play AIRBORNE will be featured in D.C.’s 2009 Source Festival in Washington, D.C. this June. The play has also been accepted into the 34th Annual Sam French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, and will compete with 39 others (for publication and licensing by Samuel French) at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater in NYC this July:http://samuelfrenchoobfest.blogspot.com. In addition, her short play PUSSY was just produced at the US/UK Cabaret: Mis/conceptions at The Public Theater (presented by The Old Vic and The Public Theater) in New York City, directed by Colette Robert.

1st Year MFA’s Play a Finalist for Seven Devils

Cecilia Copeland’s play Raising the Stakes was recently named a finalist for the Seven Devils Playwriting Conference. For more on Seven Devils: http://www.idtheater.org/7devils/.

Formby’s Play to be at Source Festival

Dana Lynn Formby’s play Armed with Peanut Butter, the 2009 National 10-minute Play Award-winner, will be produced at the Source Festival in Washington DC this summer. The Source is one of top new play festivals in the country. http://www.sourcedc.org/

Formby Named Finalist for Kendeda

Third year MFA Dana Lynn Formby has been named a finalist for the 2009 Alliance Theatre Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition. From the Alliance web site: “The Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition (GPC) is a one-of-a-kind national competition that transitions student playwrights to the world of professional theatre… Each year, approximately 30 graduate playwriting programs across the country are invited to have their final-year students submit a play to the competition. An in-house panel of readers at the Alliance Theatre reads and evaluates the scripts, and selects a slate of finalists to be advanced in the competition. Those scripts are sent to a national panel of three theatre artists for judging.” The other four finalists this year include MFA writers from NYU, Cal Arts, Julliard and the New School. As a finalist for her play The Small of Her Back, Formby will receive a reading at the Alliance Theater as well as readings in New York City as part of the Alliance’s annual fall reading series to introduce the playwrights to the New York theater industry. This marks the second time in three years an OU playwright has been a Kendeda Finalist; 2007 alum Merri Biechler was a finalist in 2007.http://www.alliancetheatre.org/newplay.aspx?id=34

Formby Named National 10-Minute Play Winner

Third year MFA Dana Lynn Formby has been named the 2009 National 10-minute Play Award-winner for her play Armed with Peanut Butter by the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. The play received a staged reading at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC during the national festival on April 18th. Formby’s accomplishment marks the third time in five years that an OU playwright has been selected as a national finalist.

Formby Invited to 2009 WordBRIDGE Playwrights Lab

Third year MFA Dana Lynn Formby has been invited to workshop her play “Corazon de Manzana” at the WordBRIDGE Playwright’s Lab this coming June. During the lab she will have two weeks of rehearsals with professional actors, director and dramaturg. Three OU MFA playwrights were selected as semi-finalists this year — Formby, David Robinson and 2007 alum Merri Biechler. For more on WordBRIDGE: http://wordbridge.org/.

Jacqmin to be Produced at Steppenwolf

2007 MFA Alum Laura Jacqmin’s new play SKI DUBAI will be produced in Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s 5th Annual First Look Repertory of New Work this summer, directed by Lisa Portes. The play will receive four and a half weeks of rehearsal followed by 9 public performances. (http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2009/03/26/announcing-the-5th-annual-first-look-rep-2/) Additionally, her short play SPACE appears in 24 x 24: The 24 Hour Plays Anthology, now available through Playscripts, Inc. Her short play MENUS was just produced by Painted Filly Theatre Company in Dublin, Ireland.

Update: First Year MFA at Capital Stage and Babes With Blades

Current 1st Year MFA Playwriting student Reina Hardy’s full-length play, “Erratica,” will have its professional premiere at Capital Stage Theatre in Sacramento on July 11th, 2009. Capital Stage, which has been called the city’s “Best Professional Theatre,” selected “Erratica” for a full production when it appeared as part of the inaugural Playwrights Revolution Festival in June 2008. For more info: http://www.capstage.org/thePlaysSeason0809.htm andhttp://www.capstage.org/specialProgramsPlaywrightsRevolution.htm. Additionally, Reina’s play “Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride” will be workshopped at “Babes with Blades” in Chicago this summer: http://www.babeswithblades.org/plays.htm. (“Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride” received honorable mention at the KC/ACTF Region 3 festival this past January.)

2003 MFA Alum Jacquelyn Reingold’s Episodes of HBO Show

The first IN TREATMENT of Season 2 will air on HBO, this Sunday, April 5th, 9:00 pm, written by MFA alumnus Jackie Reingold. The show stars Gabriel Byrne and Hope Davis, directed by Paris Barclay. Reingold wrote the “Mia” episodes, which will air on Sundays at 9:00 for the next seven weeks. If you’re curious about the show, check out the website: http://www.hbo.com/intreatment/. The other writers include: Keith Bunin, Warren Leight, Marsha Norman, and Sarah Treem.