Ohio University MFA Playwriting Program
Ryan Patrick Dolan (MFA 2016) will be performing with his improv teams, Revolver and Pudding-Thank-You, this weekend in New York at UCB Theater‘s “Del Close Marathon.”
Dolan is a 12-year veteran of the Chicago improv scene and has been performing with both teams for about 7 years.
Revolver show info:
DCM UCB EAST Fri 7:00 pm – Fri 7:30 pm 153 E. 3rd St. at Avenue A
Pudding-Thank-You show info:
New York Theatre Workshop Sat 7:00 pm – Sat 7:15 pm 83 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003
OU BFA Alum, Molly Hagan, had her play, SWING OF THE SEA, published by Samuel French. It was Molly’s undergrad “thesis” play at Ohio. It was produced at Arcadia University in December 2011, and it won the KCACTF Harold and Mimi Steinberg National Student Playwriting Award in 2012. Before that it had readings in New York, Louisville and at Ohio University.
Samuel French’s Synopsis: Boots, a girl who wears yellow rain boots even when it’s not raining, and a boy called Eggs take a journey through memory and imagination following the sudden death of their friend, Peter. As Eggs dreams of asking Boots to the upcoming Favorites Dance, Boots loses herself in a world of fallen leaves, consumed by her quest to remember the last words Peter said to her before he died. The Swing of the Sea is a play about growing old without aging that examines the way fantasy and memory converge when we lose someone we love.
You can follow Molly on twitter at @mollyhagan_.
Dana Lynn Formby‘s play, AMERICAN BEAUTY SHOP, will have a reading at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater’s 9th Annual First Look of New Work, Friday, August 8 at 2:30pm. It’s being directed by Marti Lyons.
Formby is a OU MFA Alumnus currently living in Chicago and a founding member of Mortar Theater.
The synopsis of AMERICAN BEAUTY SHOP from Steppenwolf’s site: It’s hard to pull yourself up by your bootstraps in this economy—Sue should know. It’s harder when you’ve got kids, even whip-smart, talented ones like Judy. Sue has big dreams for both her basement beauty shop and her daughter, who’s anxiously waiting for a letter from Berkeley that could change her life. Armed with tough love, combative humor and an uncompromising work ethic, Sue is struggling to balance her own livelihood and Judy’s future. A heartfelt play about the true cost of dreams.
Steppenwolf’s “mission of First Look Repertory of New Work is to develop plays for future production at Steppenwolf and other theaters across the country. First Look provides a home for three playwrights each season to develop new plays, and presents developmental productions in rotating repertory, accompanied by readings and special events.”
Bianca Sams’ play “Rust on Bone” was one of four plays chosen for the Gulfshore Playhouse’s 2nd Annual New Works Festival in Naples, Florida. Sams, OU MFA ’14, will work with actors and director for a week before a staged reading of her play the weekend of the festival, Sept 4-7, 2014.
A public staged reading of SUNDIAL, a new play by MFA alum Jason Half about coal mining and the communities affected by it, will be presented on Friday, June 6, 8:00 p.m and Saturday, June 7 at 8:00 p.m. at Mid-Ohio Valley Players in Marietta, Ohio.
In SUNDIAL, a West Virginia elementary schoolteacher pushes to change the policies of the coal company that are affecting her town. But her position is complicated, as neighbors, friends, and even her family work for – and benefit from – the coal business. Inspired by the events of Marsh Fork Elementary and the mountaintop removal process occurring beside it, the new play explores the relationship and responsibilities between corporation and community.
While an MFA candidate at Ohio University, writer Jason Half received the coveted Trisolini Fellowship to begin research for a play that would explore the subject of coal mining and its effects on Appalachian communities. The MOVP reading will be the play’s first public presentation. “I don’t want this play to take sides,” said Half. “Instead, I hope Sundial makes the audience ask questions about the best way a town can work with a business that has both benefits and risks.” The honesty and quiet passion of the West Virginia characters came alive for Half as they confronted challenges to family, work, and land in the play, he said.
Jason Half is a Marietta-based writer who has taught scriptwriting at Marietta College and through the Colony Theater and the Ohio Arts Council. Recently, his work has received public presentations in Chicago and Pittsburgh. He is the recipient of the 2010 Scott McPherson playwriting award. This is Half’s first full-length script set in the Mid-Ohio Valley. The reading will be performed by veteran actors from the Marietta community. Amanda Anderson, Andy Felt, Mollie Jarrell, Beth Lane, Dyrk Lang, Andrew Pomerleau, and Dawn Weidner perform a variety of roles as parents, miners, teachers, officials, protestors, and supporters in the play.
“I’m excited to bring this story to an audience affected by these issues,” Half said. “It’s a story that will speak to everyone in this area who sees it.”
Public staged reading of SUNDIAL by Jason Hall
Mid-Ohio Valley Players, 229 Putnam St., Marietta, Ohio
8:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday, June 6th and 7th
No fear, suckahs. We have brand new play submission opportunities on our Opp-Log calendar.
The Playwrights’ Center (PWC) announced this year’s core writer’s and Jerome Fellowship recipients last week. Qui Nguyen was named a Core Writer, and Bianca Sams was named a Core Apprentice.
Nguyen was one of eight new writers to join the group of 25 Core Writers. “The Core Writer program brings a diverse range of playwrights to the Center for play development workshops in collaboration with prom is the Co-Artistic Director of the Nguyen is an OBIE Award-winning Vampire Cowboys of NYC. His plays include “She Kills Monsters,” “Soul Samurai,” “Alice in Slasherland,” “The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G,” and the musicals “Krunk Fu Battle Battle,” “War is F**king Awesome” and “Samantha Rai and the Shogun of Fear.” He is a proud member of The Playwrights’ Center, New Dramatists, Ensemble Studio Theatre and The Ma-Yi Writers Lab. His company, Vampire Cowboys, often considered the pioneers of “Geek Theater,” holds the unique distinction of being the first and only professional theater organization to be sponsored by NY Comic Con.inent directors, actors, dramaturgs and designers. Over the three-year term with the Playwrights’ Center as an artistic home, selected work by Core Writers is showcased in the community through the PlayLabs festival and the Ruth Easton New Play Series.”
Sams, a MFA graduate this year, was one of five playwrights named a Core Apprentice. That program”pairs student playwrights with a mentor and offers play development support.”
Sams is an Actor/Writer/Producer based in New York City. She is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School, where she earned the distinction of being Tisch’s first ever Triple Major (Acting, Dramatic Writing, Africana Studies). At NYU she studied acting through the Strasberg Film Institute and Royal Academy Dramatic Arts (RADA) London, England. Her writing mentors at NYU included Richard Wesley, Beth Turner, George Malko, John Guerre (Honors), Kenneth Lonergan (Honors) and Daniel Goldfarb. Since graduating her work has been seen at Karamu House, Cleveland Public Theater, Old Vic Theater London and Public Theater in New York. She has performed as an actor at Cleveland Public Theater, Florida Studio Theater, Old Vic London, Public Theater NY, and can be seen on film in Rent directed by Chris Columbus. She is a full member of the Old Vic New Voices Network New York under Artistic Director Kevin Spacey. She has produced several ten minute play festivals in New York and Los Angeles, and is moving into full length off broadway theater. She is recent graudate from the MFA in Playwrighting at Ohio University with Charles Smith. For more information go to www.biancasams.com.
The Playwrights’ Center is “one of the nation’s most generous and well-respected theater organizations, the Playwrights’ Center focuses on both supporting playwrights and promoting new plays to production at theaters across the country. The Center has helped launch the careers of numerous nationally recognized artists, notably August Wilson, Lee Blessing, Suzan-Lori Parks, Jordan Harrison, Carlyle Brown, Craig Lucas, Jeffrey Hatcher, Melanie Marnich, and Kira Obolensky. Work developed through Center programs has been seen nationwide on such stages as the Yale Rep, Woolly Mammoth, Guthrie, Goodman, and many others.”
“Worse Than Tigers” will have a reading at Seattle’s New Century Theatre Monday, May 19th, at 7:30pm. It’s written by alum, Mark Chrisler, and directed by another OU alum, Emily Penick.
This Sunday night, May 11, a reading of OU Alum Jeremy Sony’s new play ‘Pathogenesis’ will be streamed live on the internet thanks to HowlRoundTV’s Livestream channel, http://www.livestream.com/newplay/ (visit the link and look for Upcoming Events).
Sunday, May 11
5pm PDT / 7pm CDT / 8pm EDT
This reading is part of the Ingram New Works Lab at Tennessee Repertory Theatre in Nashville, where Sony has been developing his new play during the 2013-2014 season.
You can also read more about ‘Pathogenesis’ on Sony’s website at http://www.jeremysony.com/plays.html
Playwrights. We were busy. We meant to call, but we had festivals, and finals, and graduation.
We’re back and we have more submission opps for you for May and beyond.
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