Classes are over. Commencement has taken place. Ohio MFA playwrights are getting busy this summer.
Tyler Whidden MFA ’16
Tyler Whidden, MFA Class of 2016, is having a reading of his play, RUN KINGSBURY RUN, at the Ensemble Theatre in Cleveland this weekend.
Inspired by the 1938 events surrounding the catch and release of Cleveland’s Torso Killer, RUN KINGSBURY RUN, tells the story of the men out to save the city form a butcher, and the secrets that refuse to remain buried within the city’s forgotten capillaries.
Saturday, May 10
2pm
2843 Washington Blvd., Cleveland Hts., OH 44118
216.321.2930
info@ensemble-theatre.org
Bilodeau, who came back to visit the MFA Playwrights this spring, translates French plays in addition to currently working on her English written Arctic Cycle plays.
Chantal Bilodeau
This is the American Premiere of HOLY LAND, which has been produced worldwide in Paris, Vienna, Prague, London, Milan, Jerusalem, Rio de Janeiro, Stockholm, Hamburg and Avignon Festival.
A city under siege. The landscape is white, dusty and devastated. Carmen has disappeared at a checkpoint. Her daughter Imen must face the soldier’s house searches alone, a soldier who listens to Stravinsky. In the house next door, Alia, the midwife, prepares her coffee as if nothing else matters while Yad, her husband, gets away from it all by smoking tobacco and drinking arak. The only hope seems to reside in Jesus: the cat. A dark and humorous story of 5 characters hanging on to the banality of day-to-day life, at times to the point of insanity, as a way to transcend the atrocities of war.
You can purchase tickets and find more information about the show here.
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.
There is no “Madness” show this week. Instead the theater department opens AS YOU LIKE IT, which we have been lead to believe was written by William Shakespeare (see Facebook Profile Pic above.)
Not be confused, this is a different play than Joe McKenzie’s AS YOU LIME IT which is a whimsical play about a sweet yet sour romance between two pastry chefs.
AS YOU LIKE IT runs from March 26 – April 5 in the Forum Theater in the RTV Building. $10 admission. $7 for Seniors (elderly not students), and Free for Students (including seniors.) Show starts at 8pm.
You can check out TimeOut’s review of GHOST BIKE here.
GHOST BIKE is produced by hot, young theater company, Buzz22 Chicago.
Buzz 22 Chicago’s synopsis of GHOST BIKE: Ora and Eddie fell in love with Chicago on their bikes. But when Eddie is hit by a car and killed, Ora refuses to let him go. Instead, she rides beneath our city to bring him back, facing off against underworld gods and ghosts -some interested in helping her, some determined to get in her way. The more difficult her journey becomes, the more Ora must question what it is she’s journeying towards. In Ghost Bike, Chicago culture skitches off of Greek, African, and Chinese mythology, sparking a spirited mash-up of underworld and after-life as seen from the seats of fixies, BMX’s and ten-speeds.
Ghost bikes can be found in Chicago and in cities all over the country. Learn more about them at http://ghostbikes.org/chicago.
From their website: “Ghost Bikes are made from bikes and bike parts which are no longer rideable, painted all white, and installed where cyclists were killed by motorists. They are grim but necessary reminders of the hazards cyclists face on our roadways. They remember the victim and raise awareness of the need to combat reckless and aggressive driving and fix our streets to be safer for all users.”
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.
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.)
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!
OHIO 