News | OHIO | Ohio University MFA Playwriting Program

Spotlight on 2nd Year Liv Matthews

April 18, 2019
by ouplaywrights
· Festival · News · Seabury Quinn, Jr.

The 25th Annual Seabury Quinn, Jr. Playwrights’ Festival is almost here! The featured, Thesis Productions of our Third Year MFA Playwrights debut tonight and run through this weekend, April 18th-20th, and next, April 24th-27th in Kantner Hall on the Elizabeth Evans Baker Stage. To celebrate the opening of the featured productions, and leading up to the festival staged readings on the 25th, 26th, and 27th, we will be featuring daily spotlights on Ohio University’s nine MFA Playwrights.

Name: Liv Matthews

Age: 26

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Hometown: Clermont, Florida

Undergrad: Rollins College (Winter Park, FL)

Favorite Sports team: the 2018-2019 NBA Southeast Division Champions, the Orlando Magic ✨

“Fun fact” related to Here Lies Vivienne Greene: The first woman to operate a funeral home in the United States was Henrietta Bowers Duterte, an African-American woman from Philadelphia. She took over her husband’s business when he passed in 1858. Not only was she a funeral director, but she was an abolitionist whose her funeral home was a stop on the Underground Railroad. She hid runaway slaves either in coffins or disguised them as mourners in funeral processions.

Twitter/Instagram: @Write2Liv

New Play Exchange: Liv Matthews

See Liv’s staged reading of Here Lies Vivienne Greene

Directed by Jeanette L. Buck

4:00 p.m. – Thursday, April 25th, Forum Theater, RTV Building

In 1956, recently certified mortician Vivienne Greene is next in line to inherit the Jackson and Sons Funeral Home from her Uncle Zeke. Before she can take over, Vivienne is presented with one more test mortuary school never prepared her for: after a young boy is brutally attacked, Vivienne must smuggle him out of their small Georgia town before he is found by a local mob. Fearful of losing the funeral home and her own life, Vivienne must look to her past to find that death may be a second chance at life.

#SQPlayFest #SQPlayfest25

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Spotlight on 2nd Year Jean Egdorf!

April 17, 2019
by ouplaywrights
· Festival · News · Seabury Quinn, Jr.

The 25th Annual Seabury Quinn, Jr. Playwrights’ Festival is almost here! The featured, Thesis Productions of our Third Year MFA Playwrights debut and run through this weekend, April 18th-20th, and next, April 24th-27th in Kantner Hall on the Elizabeth Evans Baker Stage. To celebrate the opening of the featured productions, and leading up to the festival staged readings on the 25th, 26th, and 27th, we will be featuring daily spotlights on Ohio University’s nine MFA Playwrights.

Name: Jean Egdorf

Age: 32

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Hometown: Los Alamos, New Mexico

Undergrad: BFA Applied Theatre Technology & Design, English Writing; Metropolitan State University of Denver

Favorite TV Show: Twin Peaks (and I’ve got the tattoo to prove it)

Favorite Play (or, that’s stuck with me the most): Franca Rame’s “A Woman Alone”

“Fun fact” related to The Evolution of Rattlesnakes: When I was a teenager, I really wanted a pet snake (I had a friend who owned snakes, so this didn’t just come out of no where. If you ever get to hold a snake, do it, they’re incredible). I brought it up with my mom once, and she has never shot down an idea faster.

Twitter: @oblondada

New Play Exchange: Jean Egdorf

See Jean’s staged reading of The Evolution of Rattlesnakes

Directed by Dusty Brown

3:30 p.m. – Friday, April 26th, Forum Theater, RTV Building

Rattlesnakes are evolving to lose their rattles. Man has spent so long wiping out the ones that make noise, it’s become a better defense mechanism to remain silent. Denni Erwine is arrested for the murder of the Drybrook County Sheriff. According to their statements, she only struck back against the Sheriff in defense of her neighbor, Louisa Trelawney, but there is more coiled up in the case than either woman is willing to say. To prevent it from striking more than once, is there only one way to deal with a venomous snake?

#SQPlayfest #SQPlayfest25

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Spotlight on 3rd Year Katherine Varga

April 16, 2019
by ouplaywrights
· Festival · News · Seabury Quinn, Jr.

The 25th Annual Seabury Quinn, Jr. Playwrights’ Festival is almost here! The featured, Thesis Productions of our Third Year MFA Playwrights debut this week, April 18th-20th, in Kantner Hall on the Elizabeth Evans Baker Stage. To celebrate the opening of the featured productions, and leading up to the festival staged readings on the 25th, 26th, and 27th, we will be featuring daily spotlights on Ohio University’s nine MFA Playwrights.

Name: Katherine Varga

Age: 26

Pronouns: she/her

Hometown: New Britain, CT

Undergrad: University of Rochester

Favorite play, TV show, movie, album, book, etc: I don’t know how to narrow it down so I’ll say public libraries are my favorite! Sort of related to my play, I loved the novella “My Sister the Serial Killer” by Oyinkan Braithwaite.

“Fun fact” related to Sunny Days:

Last spring, I wrote an article where I interviewed Eve Plumb, best known for playing Jan Brady. Since I had never seen The Brady Bunch before, I watched a few clips on Youtube to help prep for the interview. I was amazed by how inane this show is and yet couldn’t stop watching. Over the summer, watching Brady Bunch clips became my main form of procrastination from writing.

Website: https://katherinevarga.weebly.com

New Play Exchange: Katherine Varga

See Katherine’s thesis production of Sunny Days

directed by Olivia Rocco

8:00 p.m. – April 20th, 24th & 25th, Elizabeth Evans Baker Theater Stage, Kantner Hall

Life is looking sunny for 17-year-old Carly—well, except for the fights with her mom. Her BFF Mike E and his cool mom just moved in with them. The fandom website she made for her celebrity crush is blowing up. And the mysterious fan she’s been talking to online just might be the object of her affections. The one catch – her crush is a serial killer, and his murders are getting closer to her home. Sunny Days explores the gap between our online and offline selves, the cultural effects of toxic masculinity, and how far women will go to save the people they love.

#SQPlayFest #SQPlayFest25
Twitter: @ohioplaywriting

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Spotlight on 3rd Year Trip Venturella

April 15, 2019
by ouplaywrights
· Festival · News · Seabury Quinn, Jr.

The 25th Annual Seabury Quinn, Jr. Playwrights’ Festival is almost here! The featured, Thesis Productions of our Third Year MFA Playwrights debut this weekend, April 18th-20th, in Kantner Hall on the Elizabeth Evans Baker Stage. To celebrate the opening of the featured productions, and leading up to the festival staged readings on the 25th, 26th, and 27th, we will be featuring daily spotlights on Ohio University’s nine MFA Playwrights.

Name: Trip Venturella

Age: 29

Pronouns: He/Him

Hometown: Roxbury, CT

Undergrad: Colby College

Favorite play, TV show, movie, album, book, etc:

Too many! For this play, I really enjoyed reading and watching cyberpunk stuff, especially Mamoru Oshii’s 1995 film “Ghost in the Shell.”

“Fun fact” related to Sibyl:

This show has a lot of projections, which I am very excited about. Owen Lowery – one of our two projection designers – and I have been collaborating on this project since before the script was a gleam in my eye. Projections are normally designed by the projections designers and operated by the stage manager. For “Sibyl,” our projections will be interactive, and they will be processed and operated live backstage. In other words, the movements of the actors will have an effect on the look of the projections, and so, like the show, they will be a little different every night.

New Play Exchange: Trip Venturella

See Trip’s thesis production of Sibyl:

directed by Alan Patrick Kenny

8:00 p.m. – April 18th & 26th, Elizabeth Evans Baker Theater, Kantner Hall
2:00 p.m. – April 27th, Elizabeth Evans Baker Theater Stage, Kantner Hall

Two weeks ago, Sibyl, the love of Les’ life, disappeared, and today Les’ job is to interrogate the last person to have seen her alive. Lucky, Les has a Hepatoscope, a device that allows him to plumb the depths of another person’s mind. But minds are tricky places, and, as Les begins to discover, what we call reality can be trickier still. Sibyl is a dark comedy that blurs the lines between memory, fantasy, and truth.

#SQPlayFest #SQPlayFest25
Twitter: @ohioplaywriting

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Spotlight on 3rd Year Inna Tsyrlin

April 14, 2019
by ouplaywrights
· Festival · News · Seabury Quinn, Jr.

Name: Inna Tsyrlin

Pronouns: she/her

Hometown: Melbourne, Australia

Undergrad: Bachelor of Commerce, Monash Australia

Favorite Play: I Am My Own Wife by Doug Wright

I Am My Own Wife, has taught me that as a writer I shouldn’t ever judge my characters and that one character can be many things.

Favorite TV show: Catastrophe

Favorite Movie: The Godfather

Favorite Book: Eugene Onegin by Aleksander Pushkin

“Fun fact” related to Stitched with a Sickle and a Hammer:

My play is based on a real event, but I haven’t stuck to the facts. The beauty of theatre is you get to imagine/re-imagine what could have been and then bring that to life on stage.

Another factoid: My play, although set in 1944, is responding to the current US-Russian relations and shows just how many connections there are between the two nations. My hope is that my play sparks a curiosity toward Russia beyond the current political and media circus.

New Play Exchange: Inna Tsyrlin

See Inna’s Thesis Production of Stitched With a Sickle and a Hammer

directed by Anne McAlexander

8:00 p.m. – April 19th & 27th, Elizabeth Baker Theater, Kantner Hall
2:00 p.m. – April 20th, Elizabeth Baker Theater, Kantner Hall

Aleksandra, a political prisoner at a GULAG camp and part of the camp’s theatre troupe, is forced to aid Soviet authorities disguise the existence of the camp in front of a visiting American delegation. She prepares for two roles: the character on stage – Nina from Chekhov’s The Seagull – and the role of an actor who isn’t imprisoned. In the face of totalitarian power, inside and outside the camp, Aleksandra must decide whether to comply with the regime that has taken away her freedom or commit an act of counterrevolution.

#SQPlayFest #SQPlayFest25
Twitter: @ohioplaywriting

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Alum Qui Nguyen Featured in L.A. Times

March 30, 2019
by Erik Ramsey
· alumni · New York · News · Press · Productions · Qui Nguyen · TV · world premiere

QuiNguyen2015 On April 5th, at South Coast Rep in Costa Mesa, California, OHIO MFA playwriting alum Qui Nguyen — a pioneer of “geek theatre” — will open his new play Poor Yella Rednecks. The play is a sequel to his highly lauded Vietgone, and commissioned by SCR and Manhattan Theatre Club.

Qui is a co-founder of the Obie Award-winning Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company, known as the first and only professional theatre company to be sponsored by New York Comic Con.

Poor Yella Rednecks is the sequel to Nguyen’s Vietgone, which premiered at South Coast Rep in 2015. Rednecks begins previews Saturday and opens a week later. The plays, co-commissioned by SCR and Manhattan Theatre Club, follow the love story of Nguyen’s mother and father, Tong and Quang, who met in the Fort Chaffee refugee camp in Arkansas after they escaped Vietnam during the fall of Saigon. Poor Yella Rednecks, which Nguyen lovingly nicknamed Vietgone 2, zeroes in on the challenges the couple face as blue-collar immigrants, recently married and starting a family. (L.A. Times, March 28, 2019)

Qui writes for TV and film, in addition to continuing to be one of the most sought after playwrights in the country:

“I started in TV, then I went to Marvel, and then I went back to TV for a while and did AMC and Netflix, and now I’m back in film for Disney,” he says. “I feel like I’m late to the game, so I’m hungry to succeed.” (L.A. Times, March 28, 2019)

Writing for likes of Marvel and Disney hasn’t slowed his pace as a playwright: major theaters such as Center Theatre Group in L.A., Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Atlantic Theater Company and Playwrights Horizons in New York continue to commission him.

For more about Qui’s climb to national recognition:

New York Times profile of Qui in 2016
NBC News on Vietgone in 2017
L.A. Times review of Vietgone at South Coast Rep in 2015

And more about his latest play, Poor Yella Rednecks, opening next week:

L.A. Times review of Poor Yella Rednecks in 2019

What is “Geek Theatre”?

American Theatre takes a stab at defining “Geek Theatre”

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Skye Robinson Hillis’ play AND VASTER, now available at Play4Keeps

March 26, 2019
by Erik Ramsey
· Chicago · News · Productions

Check out 1st Year playwright Skye Robinson Hillis’ full-length play AND VASTER, now available as a recording through Play4Keeps, an off-shoot of the venerable Ashland New Plays Festival! Listen right here, and discover what Play4Keeps is all about.

Skye Robinson Hillis is a playwright, director, and dramaturg in based Chicago. As a playwright, her work has been seen at The Route 66 Theatre Company, Chicago Dramatists, A Red Orchid Theatre, Piven Theatre Workshop, Artistic Home, Prologue Theatre Company, Polarity Ensemble Theatre, 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 (2015), winner of the Ashland New Plays Festival (2015), and winner of the Holland New Voices Award at the Great Plains Theatre Conference (2017). AND VASTER was also named a semi-finalist for The Princess Grace Award. As a director and dramaturg, she has worked for Hartford Stage, Goodman Theatre, Court Theatre, A Red Orchid, Remy Bumppo, Stage Left, and more.

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American Theatre: Charles Smith and his long-time friend & collaborator Chuck Smith

March 1, 2019
by Erik Ramsey
· Chicago · Faculty · News

Check out this piece in American Theatre by OHIO alum Jerald Raymond Pierce about our own Charles Smith and his long-time friend and collaborator Chuck Smith. Apparently Chicago is big enough to feature two award-winning theater professionals named Smith, Charles, yet also small enough that it isn’t often that one is confused for the other… Just one of the many things that makes Chicago unique as a theatre town: Chuck Smith, Charles Smith, and a South Side Friendship.

Charles Smith’s plays have been produced Off-Broadway and nationally by theaters such as Indiana Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, New Federal Theatre, The Acting Company, People’s Light & Theatre Company, Penumbra, Crossroads Theatre Company, Penguin Repertory Theatre, Ujima Theatre Company, The Colony Theatre, St. Louis Black Rep, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Jubilee Theatre, Ensemble Theatre in Houston, Robey Theatre Company, and Berkeley Repertory Theater. His most recent play, Objects in the Mirror, received a developmental production at Goodman Theatre in 2016 and returned as part of the 2016-17 season. (Listen to a discussion of the play on NPR’s Weekend Edition.) His play, Black Star Line, was commissioned by and also produced by Goodman. Nine of his plays received their world premiere productions at Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago. Three of his plays, The Gospel According to James, Sister Carrie, and Les Trois Dumas, were all commissioned and produced by Indiana Repertory Theatre. Les Trois Dumas was also produced by People’s Light & Theatre, and by Independent Theatre in Adelaide, South Australia. His play Pudd’nhead Wilson, commissioned and produced by The Acting Company, enjoyed a twenty-two city national tour before being produced Off-Broadway. His plays Takundaand City of Gold enjoyed tours of the west coast. His work has also been produced for the HBO New Writers Project, the International Children’s Theater Festival in Seattle, and The National Black Theatre Festival. He is author of two Emmy Award-winning teleplays, Fast Break to Gloryand Pequito. His other plays include, Freefall, The Sutherland, Jelly Belly, Young Richard, Cane, and Free Man of Color, which was also produced in Australia, New York, Los Angeles, and around the United States after receiving a Joseph Jefferson Award. He has received the John W. Schmid Award for Outstanding New Work, two Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards, an Illinois Arts Council Governors Award, Princess Grace Fellowship, the Cornerstone National Playwriting Award, the Joyce Award, The National Black Theatre Festival’s August Wilson Playwriting Award, the Theodore Ward National Playwriting Award, two Black Theatre Alliance Awards for New Work, the NBC New Voices Award, and numerous other AUDELCO, Jeff, NAACP, and Black Theatre Alliance award nominations. For more information about his plays, visit http://www.csplays.com.

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Cristina Luzárraga’s LA MUJER BARBUDA wins Inaugural ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition

February 5, 2019
by Erik Ramsey
· alumni · Awards · New York · News

Congrats to alum Cristina Luzárraga (MFA ’18) ! Her play La Mujer Barbuda, part of last year’s Seabury Quinn Jr Festival, was chosen by esteemed judges such as David Lindsay-Abaire, Donald Margulies, and as the inaugural ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition. According to the ScreenCraft announcement:

“We are excited to announce the winner of the 2018 ScreenCraft Stage Play competition. Selected from nearly 700 entries, La Mujer Barbuda by Cristina Luzárraga has been named the winner…

La Mujer Barbuda explores the intersecting lives of two women, separated by time and space, and united in the struggle to thrive as a mother in a man’s world. Maggie is an American airline pilot and new mother. When she tries to pump breast milk in the cockpit, she almost perishes in a plane crash. Magdalena is a 17th-century Italian weaver and new mother. When she suddenly grows a beard and nurses a baby at age fifty-two, she sets off a domestic and civil crisis. The judges responded to the unique premises and gripping scenes as the parallels between the two lives unfurled.”

Cristina was also recently initiated as an EST Youngblood:

Cristina Luzárraga grew up in New Jersey and still resides there, believe it or not. She’s an alum The Second City Conservatory in Chicago, the town where she once (foolishly?) dabbled in comedy performance of all kinds. Her work has been developed at Towne Street Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, The New Colony, and Tantrum Theater. Her full length plays include Critical Distance, Millennialville, and La Mujer Barbuda (2018 Princess Grace Award finalist). Her short plays have been published in anthologies by Smith and Kraus. She co-wrote and adaptation of Aphra Behn’s The Rover that was produced by Ohio University where she recently earned an MFA in playwriting.

Then there’s this, of course, when you need a good laugh…

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Alum Bianca Sams Joins The Kilroys!

December 12, 2018
by Erik Ramsey
· alumni · News

Alum Bianca Sams has been selected as one of the next wave of The Kilroys. The Kilroys describe themselves as “a gang of playwrights, directors and producers in LA and NYC who are done talking about gender parity and are taking action. We mobilize others in our field and leverage our own power to support one another.” From their announcement:

The Kilroys, a collective of playwrights and producers dedicated to furthering the voices of female and trans playwrights, has announced the new members in its coalition. They are Jaclyn Backhaus, Hilary Bettis, Jennifer Chambers, Claudia de Vasco, Emma Goidel, Christina Ham, Jessica Hanna, Monet Hurst-Mendoza, Obehi Janice, Hansol Jung, Chelsea Marcantel, Caroline V. McGraw, Bianca Sams, and Gina Young.

The Kilroys were founded in 2013 by 13 women to tackle the lack of gender parity in the theatre. Their main advocacy effort in that time has been an annual list , inspired by the Black List, of underproduced plays by women, trans, and non-binary playwrights. Another of their activist efforts included sending cakes to theaters around the country whose season lineups had gender parity.

And this from the Kilroy’s website:

New Year, New Kilroys! For the past five years The Kilroys, an LA-based collective of playwrights/producers, continuing the fight to achieve gender balance in the American theater, have been advocating for equal representation on our American stages, and have released an annual list of under-produced plays by woman, trans, and non-binary writers. Despite some measurable progress, we still have a long way to go before we strike that balance. So, as we approach 2019, we are beyond thrilled to introduce a fresh new gang of fearless badass leaders. These women will seize our reins and continue the fight for equality, creating random acts of disruption along the way, while the OG Kilroys will serve as an advisory board supporting the current class.

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