Rachel Bykowski interviewed about her Seabury mainstage play “The Big Fuckin’ Giant”

April 11, 2017
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · Events · News

Hi everyone!

Welcome to our interview series with the current rockin MFA playwrights, leading up to Seabury Quinn! This year the interview series will be a little different since different pairs of writers interviewed eachother! These pairs of writers were chosen by the head of the program to be “writing partners” and give each other feedback on each others plays throughout the spring semester.

This interview is questions for Rachel by second year playwright, Natasha Smith. Rachel Bykowski is a third year playwright and wrote the mainstage play “The Big Fuckin’ Giant! Also watch out for all of the other interviews with our other writers!

Natasha Smith: A lot of your work explores sports culture and performing masculinity. How did you get interested in writing about those topics?

Rachel Bykowski: Sports have always been a part of my life. While I might not be an “athlete,” I was raised in the sports culture thanks to my brother and father. ESPN is constantly playing in background of my family’s home. I grew-up going to Wrigley Field and watching the Cubs play and booing the Sox. In the summer, my family’s dinner time is catered around the Blackhawks playoff schedule and the same goes for the Bears in the winter. And finally, Michael Jordan will forever be the Greatest Of All Time (sorry, not sorry, Lebron). Talking sports, stats, rotations, scores, and drafts was a way to bond in my family. I am very attracted to the community that is created when people are united behind the same team.

Natasha: Tell me about your rehearsal process. What have you learned through rehearsing this play? Any surprising challenges or nuggets of wisdom?

Rachel: The rehearsal process is a reminder of the reason I love theatre: it’s a collaboration. As a playwright, I feel I spend a lot of time alone working on my play. After days, weeks, or months staring at my lap top, the rehearsal process begins, and I feel like I can breath again. For BIG FUCKIN’ GIANT’s rehearsal, I was very lucky to be surrounded by talented artists who believed in the script and trusted me as a writer. One of the things I learned during the rehearsal process is, as a playwright, I am surrounded by other artists who are giving their time and creative energies to bring my words to life. From the director and actors, to the designers, to the dramaturg, and the stage management team, my words mean absolutely NOTHING without them. For this reason, I owe them. I owe it to them to show up on time, meet my deadlines, be attentive, and turn in my best possible work. I also owe it to them to bring a professional, collaborative atmosphere to the room. I leave my ego and personal problems at the door and show up ready to listen to questions and take notes. I think one of the challenges of the rehearsal process is learning how to listen to these questions and take criticisms without losing YOUR voice and vision of the play. As a writer, I am not going to make everyone happy, but I need to write something that feels true to me.

Natasha: You’re graduating! Looking back on your three years here, what aspects of the program have changed you the most as a person? What will you miss the most?

Rachel: OMG! I AM graduating! (hahalolidon’twanttoleave). This has seriously been the fastest and longest three years of my life. Making the decision to attend graduate school was an enormous personal and professional choice. I advise anyone who is thinking about attending grad school to take a beat, breath, and really consider why you want to go. Grad school is not for everyone. Some people need the rigorous program of academia and others do just fine without it. Ohio University’s program offered me many professional opportunities that I do not believe I would have achieved without it. I am more confident in my voice as a writer and have an expansive portfolio of work. I think one of the things I will miss the most is the program supporting me and letting me know that my voice matters. As a playwright (and person) you really don’t hear that too much. This program gave me the confidence in my voice to say the things I kept quiet in my heart, taught me how to put it on paper, and bring my truths to life on stage.

Natasha: Rape culture is a huge subject to take on, and your play evolved quite a bit from its inception to now. What was it like proposing an idea for a play long before you actually wrote it, then drafting the actual script?

Rachel: Rape culture IS a huge subject, but I feel if you approach it with honest stories from your perspective, it becomes a lot easier to tackle. However, one of the hardest things I had to learn was just that: how to tell a story. Often when I write, I start with big subject matters, but people come to theatre to hear a story.

When I proposed THE BIG FUCKIN’ GIANT, it had a completely different title and NO STORY. I knew that I wanted to discuss white, male privilege and how it contributes to violence against women. I personally believe the “no means no” argument has been discussed to the point of exhaustion and waiting until AFTER the violence occurs is too late. I wanted to write a play that reveals the preconditioning groups of young men partake in together that leads to violence. This is often disguised as “locker room talk” or “boys just being boys.” However, it has severe repercussions for women.

When developing the story, I knew I wanted an all white, male cast on stage since they represent the most privileged group in America. In addition, I wanted them to be athletes. Just like a white, male senator (or our current President), athletes are almost untouchable by law. They get away with countless forms of violence against women and still get rewarded with big contracts and trophies…why?!?!?! With these components in mind, I started to construct a story about three, white, male college athletes in the basement of their fraternity. What is important to them? What do they talk about? What are their dreams? How do they view the world? How do they view women?

I found there is a correlation between how they view the world and how they view women. It is because of this reason, despite all my rewrites and drafts one thing remained the same: Judy. Judy is the ONLY female representation we see on stage. Judy also helps me create and keep aesthetic distance for the audience. I believe how the characters in the play treat Judy in their basement speaks volumes to their behavior in the outside world.

Now that Rachel is your new BFF in your head, go see her production!

DETS

The Big Fuckin’ Giant

by Rachel Bykowski
Directed by Allison Epperson

8:00 pm – April 12th, 15th, 20th & 21st;
2:00 pm – April 15th, Forum Theater, RTV Building

Alright, pussies! You ready? Do you have what it takes to be an Alpha? Think you can pin the Big Fuckin’ Giant? Push! Push yourself to the fucking brink. Until you feel the pain. See your opponent standing there across the mat. Want to take him down? The night before the NCAA wrestling conference, three fraternity brothers have to prove they are the alphas of the mat and Judy is just the girl to help them. Once you step onto the mat, you can never stop.

Tickets for the Featured Productions are $5 general admission or FREE for OU Students (with valid student ID) through Arts for Ohio; available at the Templeton–Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium box office.

More about Rachel

Rachel Bykowski, a Chicago native, writes plays to raise awareness about social issues. Specifically, much of her writing features women and analyzes gender roles, rape culture, and male privilege. Rachel’s full-length play TIGHT END was selected by the National New Play Network to be workshopped at the Kennedy Center for the MFA Playwrights’ Festival. TIGHT END will be receiving its world premiere production with 20% Theatre Company Chicago in May of 2017. Rachel was one of six graduate students at Ohio University to be awarded a Named Fellowship, The Trisolini. The Trisolini will allow Rachel to work with Ohio University’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department to research violence against women perpetrated by male privilege for the 2016-2017 academic year. This research will be showcased in her thesis play VOODOO DOLL during the 2017 Seabury Quinn Playwrights’ Festival at Ohio University. Other playwriting credits include her full lengths: ORIGINAL RECIPE workshop production (DePaul University,) GOT TO KILL BITCH staged reading (Cock and Bull Theatre,) GLORY VS. THE WOLVES staged reading (20% Theatre Company and Women and Children First Bookstore,) and A GIRL NAMED CHARLIE staged reading (Ohio University). Rachel’s ten minute plays have been produced with various companies around Chicago and the Midwest including 20% Theatre Company, Fury Theatre, Commedia Beauregard, and Actors’ Theatre of Louisville Apprentice Company. Rachel received her BFA in playwriting from the Theatre School of DePaul University and is currently attending Ohio University for her MFA in Playwriting. Rachel is a proud company member and Literary Manager for 20% Theatre Chicago. For more information, check out her website http://www.rachelbykowskiplays.com

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Seabury mentor Nambi Kelley has play at Yale Rep next season!

April 9, 2017
by catherineforever666
· Festival · News

Seabury Quinn mentor Nambi Kelley has her adapted play “Native Son” in Yale Rep’s new season. Playbill writes, “Also in the fall, Yale Rep. will stage Nambi E. Kelley’s Native Son, adapted from the novel by Richard Wright. Kelley’s acclaimed drama about freedom, oppression, and justice in Chicago’s South Side during the 1930s will play November 24–December 16.”

Nambi Kelley will be on OU’s campus from April 20th-22nd and will also be featured with the other mentors at the lunchbag that Friday.

Congrats Nambi! Can’t wait for you to get here!

Read about it on Playbill!

More about Nambi

Nambi Kelley has performed on regional stages across the country, internationally, including many shows at the Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, and has been seen on several television shows, including Elementary, Person of Interest, Madam Secretary, Chicago PD, and will be guest starring on NBC’s Chicago Justice airing this spring. Also an accomplished playwright, Nambi has penned plays for Steppenwolf and Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Lincoln Center in New York, and internationally. Kelley is currently playwright in residence at the National Black Theatre in New York and is working on an adaptation of Toni Morrison’s Jazz to be produced at Baltimore’s Center Stage in May 2017. Her Native Son and short play Dead of Night: The Execution Of (commissioned by The New Black Fest) were both recently published by Sam French and are both slated for several productions across the country next season. www.nambikelley.com

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Trip interviewed about his play “Shahid” at Seabury Quinn!

April 8, 2017
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · Festival · News

Hi everyone!

This interview is questions for Trip by second year playwright, Cristina Luzarraga. Trip Venturella is a first year playwright and wrote the play “Shahid” which will be presented Saturday, April 22nd at 1:00pm!! Also watch out for all of the other interviews with our other writers!

Cristina Luzarraga: Your play for festival “Shahid” chronicles the life of Kashmiri poet Agha Shahid Ali. What drew you to his work and inspired you to write this play?

Trip Venturella: I fell in love with his work while in Kashmir right after college. The occupation and militancy caused a huge amount of suffering among Kashmiris, and Agha Shahid Ali became a voice for them through his poetry. Working with a human rights organization there, and reading the way he responded to some of the history I was learning, re-framed the way I thought about art in conflict areas. Furthermore, he wrote some of his best work at a time of great personal suffering. I was intrigued by how he was able to write such powerful poetry in the face of all of that. He also went through a few transformations as an artist in his last two books, The Country Without a Post Office and Rooms are Never Finished. His poetry became more personal, more political, and more formal all at once. I was interested in his evolution as an artist, and the way that that evolution was driven by his experiences.

Cristina: “Shahid” is a drama about grief and war. But you also write broad comedies with intriguing titles like “Killer Maples: The Musical.” How do you navigate between these different modes of writing? Also, are maple trees the enemy?

Trip: I try to let the distinction between comedic and dramatic/tragic stay in service of the material, but I’m definitely drawn to comedy. With “Shahid” I wanted to challenge myself by writing something that didn’t involve any fart jokes, hilarious mishaps, or puns. Or killer maples. So some of the devices I usually use to keep the audience interested didn’t necessarily apply when writing it. I had to use other tools. I also wanted to write a language play, and I tend to lean heavily on language in drama, which pushes it into more lyric forms. When you’re working with lyricism the other challenge becomes maintaining clarity. You don’t want the actors to get bogged down by the things that they’re saying, and you don’t want the audience to feel like they’re watching an audiobook, or even worse, a poetry slam.

I think, for me, the distinction really comes down to how you deliver the “payoff,” in other words what you want the audience to realize after a certain scene, or turn of phrase, or whatever. Comedy, I think, tries to achieve it through incongruity and play, whereas drama uses more irony and foreshadowing. But the distinction is really between, I don’t know, a Bordeaux and a California Merlot: they’re both pressed from the same grape.

Are maple trees the enemy? It may seem that way at first, but after an hour of song and dance, we learn that perhaps those who seem like enemies at first are in fact our friends, and the greatest struggle of all is with ourselves.

Cristina: You often employ wordplay in your work, and “Shahid” is a play about a poet. Why is drama your chosen medium, and not say, poetry or cryptic crossword puzzles?

Trip: I think it’s a power trip for me to have people walking around onstage doing what my words tell them to do – I’m not going to lie, that’s a huge part of it. I’ve always loved language, but more specifically, I’ve always loved language spoken aloud. Getting my language out into the world is a huge motivator.

Plays are also lots of fun to write! When I stumble on something I want to write, I tend to think in dialogue and dramatic situations. When I do write poems, I’m usually making an effort to explore a part of myself or an emotion that I don’t entirely understand, something that isn’t familiar, the self that keeps himself hidden. The self that walks around every day, wears dirty socks because he’s lazy, swears when he can’t find parking: that part of myself generates dramatic situations more-or-less spontaneously. I’ll start chuckling like a maniac in the middle of the day, then go off to my room and start scribbling down dialogue. Finally, I like theatre people! Poets tend to be quiet, private people. I’m a loud, social person. I like working with actors, directors, and designers. So, if I want to keep working with them, I have to keep writing plays! I’ve never considered crossword puzzles! Sending my resume to the NYT right now: 1 across, 6 letters, first letter ‘H,’ “Jobseeker’s plea.”

Cristina: In your play “Shahid,” the poet journeys through the underworld to deliver an important letter. What’s the longest trek you’ve ever made? And, per Dante, who’s in the lowest ring of hell?

Trip: The longest trek is usually from my bed to my alarm clock every morning. Ha! That was a joke and I’m hilarious. I’ve done a lot of long through-hikes, one of the best was Mt. Rainier last summer. I also did a huge hike when I was a junior in college through Sikkim. I was studying a type of Buddhist monastic dance, so I visited a few monasteries along a pilgrimage route. I’m sorry to say I didn’t attain enlightenment. However, I think that restlessness is something I’ve taken into the play (and a lot of my work), as Shahid’s movement from grief to reconciliation is imagined as a journey a la Dante.

Who’s in the lowest ring of hell? Now, that can be interpreted two different ways: who’s the Devil, but also who are the betrayers. I don’t know the answer to either of those – I guess we’ll have to wait to see if Michael Flynn testifies.

Cristina: You’re a good ole boy from New England. I’m a mean ole girl from New Jersey with anti-Boston prejudices. This isn’t a divide on the scale of India and Pakistan, but still, how might we bridge this cultural chasm?

Trip: We can’t. Go Sox. Free Brady.

Now that Trip is your new early career playwright crushhh, go see his play!

DETS

SHAHID by Trip Venturella 1:00 pm, Saturday April 22nd, Elizabeth Baker Theater, Kantner Hall What are artists responsible for in the face of violence? Shahid imagines the life of Kashmiri-American poet Agha Shahid Ali as he struggles with two losses – that of his homeland, and that of his mother – among the myths and stories of a poetic Kashmir. How do you balance stories of your people, with the stories of your own?

More about Trip

Trip Venturella is a graduate of Colby College with a degree in Religious Studies. He has worked with Colby College’s Theater and Dance Department, the human rights group ANHAD: Kashmir, Delhi University in New Delhi, Floating Space Theatre Company in Sri Lanka, and many, many groups in the Boston area. He has done field work on Chams Dance in Sikkim and studied Chhau Dance in Delhi. He currently serves as the Development and Outreach Director of Apollinaire Theatre Company in Chelsea, Massachusetts, where he has overseen the conception of, fundraising for, and buildout of the Riseman Family Theatre and the Chelsea Blackbox Theatre, as well as the production of three years of Apollinaire in the Park: a free, outdoor, bilingual summer theatre production. His original musical “Killer Maples: The Musical!,” a collaboration with the composer Andres Ramos, was produced by Yelling Man Theatre in June of 2016.

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Special Talkback April 14th at “This is How You Got Me Naked” with Professor Vander Ven!

April 8, 2017
by catherineforever666
· Events · Faculty · News

Professor Vander Ven who works within the Sociology Department of OU will be featured at a special talkback on Friday April 14th for “This is How You Got Me Naked,” by Catherine Weingarten. He wrote a book called “Getting Wasted: Why College Students Drink Too Much and Party Too Hard,” which discusses the benefits and behavioral patterns of college drinking culture. There will be a discussion of how this real world research fits in with some of the big ideas about hookup culture and college party culture in Catherine’s play. Come check it out and YOU can be part of the conversation too!

Listen to this awesome NPR interview with Professor Vander Ven about his book!

The Talkback will be:

Friday April 14th, after the 8pm performance of “This is How You Got Me Naked”, Forum Theater

This is How You Got Me Naked

by Catherine Weingarten
Directed by Ben Stockman

8:00 pm – April 13th, 14th, 19th & 22nd;
2:00 pm – April 22nd, Forum Theater, RTV Building

It’s the “Dress to Get Laid” Party: Jackie is dressed as a sexy trash bag, aka Looking Good, and ready to hit on her sexy male dancer friend who is a junior so he will LOVE her so hard he can’t even feel his own body!! Is Jackie destined to be another tragic tale about the perils of hookup culture? Or will she be the lucky GF of a dancer who is hot?

Click here for more info on Seabury QUinn

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Cristina interviewed about her Seabury play “Millenialville”!

April 7, 2017
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · Events · Festival · News

Hi everyone!

This interview is questions for Cristina by first year writer Trip Venturella. Cristina Luzarraga is a second year playwright and wrote the funny, dystopian-ish play, “Millenialville” which will be presented Saturday, April 22nd at 4:00pm!! So go see THAT and also watch out for all of the other interviews with our other writers!

Trip Venturella: You use humor a lot in your plays, and you have a comedy background. What disturbing thing happened in your childhood to push you to adopt humor as a coping mechanism?

Cristina Luzarraga: I had the terrible misfortune of growing up with thick eyebrows in an era (late 90s/early 2000s) when pencil thin brows were de rigueur. There were some incidents of overzealous plucking from which my self-esteem never recovered. But it’s all for the best. If Cara Delevingne was around when I was twelve, I’d probably be a lawyer.

Trip: So your play for the festival, Millennialville, is set approximately 100 years from now. It’s about a bunch of people who work at a theme park devoted to our time period. As they learn the truth about “Millennial Times,” the scales fall from their eyes about the times that they live in. It’s a very cool concept. What got you excited to write this? What has been the most fun for you during the process writing this play?

Cristina: I was inspired by the short stories of George Saunders and my experiences at places like Medieval Times and Colonial Williamsburg. Saunders has written several terrific stories about theme parks dedicated to different eras (Pre-historic, Civil War, Middle Ages), and I got to thinking: what would be an interesting epoch to recreate? I decided on the American West and wrote a pilot for a show called Westworld. Maybe you’ve heard of it.

Anyway, after I was sued for copyright infringement, I decided there’s no time like the present, and stumbled upon a thought experiment: How might future generations portray today? If the world were to fall apart in the next decade or so (which doesn’t seem implausible), Millennialville might be our resulting legacy, a theme park about today that’s as accurate as Medieval Times is, which is to say, not very.

It’s been fun to think about our world from a point of historical distance. What are the defining characteristics of our place and time that will be perceived as backwards in the not so distant future? Musing on that question, I’ve come up with answers both silly and serious. For instance, it’s weird to me that our country still uses still toilet paper. (Bidets are better for so many reasons!) On a more important note, it’s weird if not depressing that in this era of a shrinking middle class, it has become increasingly difficult to strike a balance between doing meaningful work and raising a family. Millennialville focuses on the latter issue but still has plenty of toilet paper observations to keep things light.

Trip: Millennialville is post-apocalyptic, but it also has a lot to say about where we’re at right now as a people/nation/planet. Once the apocalypse comes and a future society is digging through our detritus, what about our time and place do you hope they take away from your play?

Cristina: If my play survives the apocalypse, I’d be shocked. But I hope future historians recognize that there were a lot of people out there who were very worried about the future. If climate change and unfettered capitalism turn out to be our undoing, it’s not like there weren’t millions of Cassandras. I wonder if the dinosaurs were worried about comets. Maybe they were, and the small-handed Trumps––err, I mean T-Rexes––were too busy preying on the weak to avert disaster.

Trip: One day you’re young, wild, and free. Then all of a sudden 30 years have passed, your kids are gone, and you realize you hate your spouse. Your job as a car dealer has hit the skids. Ya can’t… sorry, sorry, I’m just venting here. It’s been tough since Snookums, my cat, died. As you can see, I’m just an average guy. Why should I come and see your show?

Cristina: You should come see Millennialville because although this play can’t replace your cat, it can instill in you a newfound appreciation for penguins, which really are the cats of Antarctica. I caution saying more, but this is a play in which cute penguins play an outsized role. Also, Millennialville is both funny and profound (or at least trying to be) and really, what more could you want?

Now that Cristina is your spirit animal, go see her play!

DETS

MILLENIALVILLE
Written by Cristina Luzarraga
directed by Daniel Winters
4:00 pm, Saturday April 22nd, Elizabeth Baker Theater, Kantner Hall

BLURB: It’s the year 2175, and life’s just dandy—or at least that’s the story’s at Millennialville, a historical museum dedicated to reenacting the life and times of the early 2000s. Thisbe and Oren work at Millennialvile. Thisbe and Oren are in love. Thisbe and Oren need to make a big decision: will one or both them go on Productolife? Also, did penguins have ears? For sake of their relationship, Thisbe really needs to know.

More about Cristina

Cristina Luzarraga was born and raised in Short Hills, New Jersey, save for a few teenage years spent in London, England. She graduated in 2011 from Princeton University with B.A. in Comparative Literature. Subsequently, she moved to Chicago where she studied sketch writing and improvisation at iO Theatre and The Second City Conservatory and performed stand-up comedy at Zanies and elsewhere. Her full-length play Due Unto Others was produced by Princeton’s Lewis Center for the Arts. Her short plays Hippo Woman and Baker’s Three were produced at Greenhouse Theater in Chicago.

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Katherine Varga interviewed about her Seabury play “I <3 Girls"

April 6, 2017
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · Festival · News

Hi everyone!

This interview is questions for Katherine by third year playwright Catherine Weingarten. Katherine Varga is a first year playwright and wrote the super fun play “I ❤ Girls” which will be presented Friday, April 21st at 2:00pm!! Also watch out for all of the other interviews with our other writers!

Catherine Weingarten: In your work you are drawn to writing about characters communicating through the internet and through social media. Although interestingly enough you are not on Facebook or most platforms. So first of all what draws you to those subjects? And second of all, why do you reject those platforms yourself? :p

Katherine Varga: When people wrote about smartphones / the Internet / video chatting before my lifetime, they were most likely writing science fiction. As a millennial, these technologies have always been a part of how I interact with the world. So when I think about communicating, I take for granted the ability to get to know someone who is not in the room with you. As an introvert I love the fact that these technologies give you the chance to be social while being alone. But with these opportunities come restrictions, masking, and isolation. I’m interested in how our devices shape how we see each other and how we see ourselves.

I did have a Facebook for many years, and I’m still close friends with many people I originally met through Facebook. My decision to deactivate my account was a result of the realization that I was using Facebook as a destructive procrastination method: I would spend hours mindlessly scrolling through the newsfeed or old pictures and then feel like I never had time to do the things I wanted to do. So I deactivated my account. I’m sure I’m missing out on lots of great networking and Internet content, but most of the time I don’t think about Facebook. I like that if I have something to share, I tell people personally and engage in a conversation with them, rather than just posting it to my wall. And I like that I have a bit of distance from social media, so I can give more of an observer’s perspective when I write about it.

I don’t reject all social media; I’ve gotten really into SnapChat(@Kvargz) so if anyone wants to see too many pictures of Nugget the cat, add me!

Catherine: “I ❤ Girls” has such intriguing subject matter! Can you talk about what inspired you to write “I ❤ Girls”?

Katherine: In high school I loved watching Youtube celebrities like VlogBrothers and CommunityChannel and was fascinated by the online communities that formed around them, as well as the fact that people could reach millions of people just by making videos in their basement. I don’t have the personality for vlogging (like many people, I hate hearing the sound of my voice) so I wanted to write a play that would give myself (and the audience) the chance to live vicariously through a Youtube celebrity.

Catherine: You are a first year playwright! Can you talk about the process of being part of Ohio U’s full length play workshop class for the first time and hearing your play out loud and getting feedback from your classmates? How did it help inform your process as a writer?

Katherine: Yes I am! I love that our workshops consist of a staged reading of the play. I’ve been in workshops where everyone reads the play on their own and then come together to discuss it, but collaborating with actors and hearing the piece aloud is a lot more useful. I can be a perfectionist, so having the two workshops this semester forced me to complete two full drafts on a deadline and share them before I thought they were ready. Everyone in the program gives really insightful feedback, which made my revision process more focused.

Catherine : Katherine, you deserve a vacae cause you work hard!! IF you could go to Disney World with any character in your play, who would it be and why?

Katherine: Definitely Sam[the main character’s cool lesbian friend]! She would insist on trying all the intense thrill-seeking rides but wouldn’t make fun of me if I wanted to ride something like Dumbo. And while we waited in lines for attractions, she would want to engage in conversation about all the racism/misogyny/homophobia embedded in Disney movies and media. Roller coasters and cultural criticism; what more could a girl want?

Catherine: What kind of art excites you? Are there certain stories you’re always drawn to as a viewer?

Katherine: I try to write about the things that excite me: young people finding themselves, new ways of communication, the power of friendship and community. I’m also a total nerd so I love narratives that are influenced by or in dialogue with scientific fields, literary works, philosophical ideas, etc.

Catherine : Your main character does some pretty embarrassing stuff in your play which is very fun to watch as a viewer: What’s your most embarrassing moment?

Katherine: One time a friend and I were in Stratford-upon-Avon and saw a dashing Royal Shakespeare Company actor on the streets. We immediately turned into 13 year olds seeing Justin Bieber—giggling and gesturing to each other and pointing and then running away when he saw us. We got to the end of the street and then my friend was like, “We’re probably not going to come across an RSC actor in America. We should at least go say hi.” So we turned back around and walked up to him as if he hadn’t just seen us freaking out over him and very calmly were like, “Hey, weren’t you in Henry IV Part 1 last night?” He had the generosity to ignore the fact that we had completely embarrassed ourselves a few minute before and talked to us like adults and not fan-crazed adolescents.

Catherine : If you could be youtube famous for anything, what would it be and why?

Katherine: I would love to be Youtube famous for teaching people a fast and easy way to make truly excellent bagels in their own kitchens. But alas, that is a skill I lack.

Now that you like Katherine way too much and want to hang with her every day, go see her play!

I GIRLS
(Free admission, no reservation needed)
Written by Katherine Varga
2:00 pm, Friday April 21st, Elizabeth Baker Theater, Kantner Hall
Jessi never intended for her “coming out” audition video to go viral–she just wanted it to help her get the starring role in the school play. But her video has caused her Youtube channel subscriptions to go through the roof. There’s nothing wrong with giving her fans what they want, right? After all, everyone makes things up on the Internet.

More about Katherine

Katherine Varga is a freelance writer and playwright originally from New Britain, CT. She recently received her B.A. English from the University of Rochester, where she was awarded a Take Five scholarship to study urbanization and the arts. Her plays have been developed at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, New York and Curious Theatre in Denver, Colorado, and read at the 2015 First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival.

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Catherine Weingarten interviewed about her Seabury Quinn Mainstage Play “This Is How You Got Me Naked”!

April 5, 2017
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · Festival · News

Hi everyone!

This interview is questions for Catherine by first year playwright Katherine Varga. Catherine Weingarten is a 3rd year MFA playwright and wrote one of the 2 mainstage plays, “This is How You Got Me Naked” Check out the interview below and then see her play!! Also watch out for all of the other interviews with our other writers!

Katherine Varga: “This Is How You Got Me Naked” is inspired by your time at Bennington College. Can you tell me more about your experiences there, and how they inform the play? Did you ever go to a Dressed to Get Laid Party?

Catherine Weingarten :My high school was pretty preppy so when I got to Bennington for the first time it felt like a weird, artistic hipster commune of awesomeness. It was the first place I really felt like I could be myself: that I could like learning, that I could make plays about chicks eating cake. It really set me free in a way and I owe a lot of who I am as an artist to Bennington. At Bennington everyone is an artist in some way and is always talking about their work; which is kinda trashy/funny sometimes (when their work is insanely odd like studying hair??) but also super freeing.

Hahah ahh I went to the Dress to Get Laid party twice! The time it was the most intense was when I was a freshman cause I just got to Bennington and had no romantic experience at all and was a hyper-prude; so the party was completely overwhelming, similar to how Jackie feels, the protagonist in my play, when she first gets to the party. I remember I had a crush on this guy who wrote poetry and smoked at me and I really wanted to hookup with him, but it didn’t really happen because he was dressed ironically as a box so I couldn’t really dance with him or get too close.

Katherine: You are a third year playwright, and a co-producer, so I consider you an expert on the Seabury Quinn Festival! What’s your favorite part of the festival? Do you have any wise words for those of us new to the festival?

Catherine: My favorite part of the festival is how much of a binge fest it is! You get to see like 3 of your classmates readings in one day and also get to hear fun, insider critique from random famous-ish people. Ohio’s MFA program is so incredibly rigorous, so by the end of the semester it’s fun to just kick back and celebrate eachother’s work and drink a bit too much after all the readings are done.

In terms of advice for newer mini Ohio playwrights like you Katherine, who is interviewing me, I would say really take advantage of your rehearsal period to learn a lot about your play. Be curious and ask questions and let your actors help you uncover who your characters are and what they need. It can be tempting to just shut down during rehearsals and start critiquing quality of the work, but I would just say try to be open and just realize how lucky you are to have high class, good looking actors working on your stuff and helping you figure it out!

Katherine: Tell me more about what it’s like writing for a full production! Has working with actors / designers changed your writing process?

Catherine: Writing for a full production is so different! First of all it’s like getting Jillian Michaels to give your play a fricking beat down! Your play will change because you will be tailoring it for a group of actors and also it needs to be workable with a small budget, which playfest has. Also sometimes when you do a reading, you don’t worry about how changing a line affects an actor but if it’s going into production that line could affect a costume decision or a piece of blocking. It’s all so interconnected in a great, hippy kinda way.

I don’t know really if it’s changed my writing process, but it definitely does it for me! I can get very in my head about whether something working and when you’re in rehearsals you get instant feedback. Its way less lonely! I also am happy that all my actors are supa supa smart and thoughtful and are not scared to ask me questions about their characters choices and their through lines.

Katherine: You write a lot about relationships with older men, especially men who are authority figures, and now your boyfriend is directing your play! Is having your boyfriend-as-director as hot as it would be in a Weingarten play, or does the work come first?

Catherine: Ooo saucy question! Hah yes, guilty as charged I do love writing about older men and my BF is 5 years older and also currently directing ma play.

It sometimes can be hot since we are doing something new together and are both terrified and excited. But also sometimes the work comes home and I almost throw 20 mirrors at him cause I didn’t like one of his blocking choices. So there’s some hotness and intimacy, and also some danger since it’s my thesis and I want it to not suck. I think it can be risky working with a love interest on a project, but I didn’t get into theater to be safe 😉

I feel lucky though that I get to work with Ben on this project, since we both have a similar aesthetic and love trashy, strange comedy. Also he just has a way of making actors feel comfortable and let their guards down.

Katherine: People are always talking about the need for writers to create “strong female characters.” Your protagonist Jackie is fun, artistic, and determined, but also unsure of herself and completely boy-crazy. Is she a strong female character? Can you tell me more about your philosophy concerning writing women? And maybe point me to a cool Howlround article on the topic? 😉

Catherine: Hah this is a good interview Katherine! I really can tell you actually write for a newspaper!

I don’t think Jackie is a strong female character because I don’t really write strong female characters. I want to write real, flawed, complex chicks! Jackie is actually based on me and I would consider myself passionate and determined etc but at the same time sometimes I make the drunkest choices and get completely lost, which can be funny in retrospect. I love writing about chicks who get into a lot of trouble and have to find a way out of it; who make crazy bad choices. I just think the idea of a “strong” character sounds kinda flat and insanely boring to me. Like I’m asleep just thinking about it.

One thing I try to do as a writer is to create more outsider chick roles for actresses who don’t fit the “hot blond ingénue type.” It’s really great to work with Kristin Yates on this part because she’s a little black firecracker who has the most insane comedic timing and also an innate innocence and nerdiness. I love finding actresses like her who are a little different and weirder than the typical random hot chick actress.

Haha here is the Howlround article I recently wrote about the case against strong female characters: http://howlround.com/creating-complex-female-characters

Now that Catherine is your new OBSESSION, go see her play!

This is How You Got Me Naked

by Catherine Weingarten
Directed by Ben Stockman

8:00 pm – April 13th, 14th, 19th & 22nd;
2:00 pm – April 22nd, Forum Theater, RTV Building

-There will be a special talkback on Friday April 14th with Professor Thomas Vander Ven about hooking up and drinking culture in life and in the play.

More about Catherine:

Catherine Weingarten hails from Ardmore, PA also known as the area that inspired the preppy sexy TV show “Pretty Little Liars” and is a NYC friendly playwright. Catherine’s comedic plays delve into the societal pressure placed on young women to be both impossibly good looking as well as ridiculously intellectual, humble, kind as can be but sexy. Her plays usually include some hot fantasy sequences which helps attract the common man into the theater! She graduated from Bennington College in Vermont where she studied playwriting with Sherry Kramer. Her 10 minute sex fantasy play “Pineapple Upside Down Cake” was a National Semi-Finalist at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Her full length playwriting credits include: staged reading of Are You Ready to get Pampered!? produced at the Dixon Place, Less Than Rent and Last Frontier Theater Conference Playlab series; staged reading of This Car Trip Suckss produced by Piper Theater Productions; and Karate Hottie produced by West of 10th in NYC. She is currently the playwright in residence for “Realize Your Beauty Inc” which promotes positive body image for kids by way of theater arts. catherine-weingarten.squarespace.com

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Inna Tsyrlin interviewed about her Seabury Quinn Play!

April 4, 2017
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · Events · Festival · News

Hi everyone!

Welcome to our interview series with the current rockin MFA playwrights, leading up to Seabury Quinn! This year the interview series will be a little different since different pairs of writers interviewed each other! These pairs of writers were chosen by the head of the program to be “writing partners” and give each other feedback on each others plays throughout the spring semester.

This interview is questions for Inna Tsyrlin by second year playwright Philana Omorotionmwan. Inna Tsyrlin is a 1st year MFA playwright and her play Tattoo On Your Arm is Thursday April 20th at 1pm in Baker! Check out the interview below and then see her play!! Also watch out for all of the other interviews with our other writers!

Philana Omorotionmwan: Your first-year play (and a few of your Madnesses) explores issues related to preserving environment. What makes you interested in these issues?

Inna Tsyrlin: We share this planet, but we humans have created the most negative impact on Earth. We take from Earth, giving almost nothing back. I’m guilty of this too. It is a constant moral dilemma that I have, about how much of a footprint I’m leaving. I’m trying to explore this in my work to make sense of it, but I doubt I will come to an answer that feels satisfactory. It’s like when you feel good about yourself for not buying bottled water because plastic bottles are bad for the environment, but when you’re feeling lazy you get into your car and drive half a mile for your pizza instead of walking. How do we live in harmony with our surroundings and yet still live in this modern civilization? I don’t have the answer, I just spend a lot of time thinking about it, and this is what’s coming out in my writing.

Philana: Your play is currently titled Tattoo on Your Arm. How did that image first come to you?

Inna: Tattoos often represent something important or special to people who have them, and for one of my characters, her tattoo represents her connection to the Amazon rainforest. The tattoo is of the Inca god, Virachocha, who is the creator of all things. In my play, this is a reminder that there is something greater than humans, be it a god or nature. The image itself is very interesting, a figure of a man wearing the sun for a crown and holding thunderbolts in his hands, while his eyes are filled with rain tears. For me there is a duality in this image: humans trying to both conquer and find a way to live in harmony with nature (I hope we’re trying to live in harmony with it).

Philana: You’ve spoken before about being very interested in exploring ideas in your work, perhaps more so than plot or character. What has your process been like trying to strike a balance between ideas and plot while writing Tattoo On Your Arm?

Inna: I don’t know if I’ve reached a balance. Too early to say. One of the reasons I came to grad school is to try to find a way to express ideas and not sound didactic or arrogant or that I know more than my audience, because I don’t. What I am grateful for, in regards to plot, is that it keeps me grounded. It keeps me thinking about how to engage the audience with the story so that those ideas have a place and express something honest rather than opinionated. We can’t see or touch ideas. So plot makes me think about, how to give those ideas physical manifestations so that they feel relatable and perhaps even universal.

Philana: What’s it like being an Australian playwright living in America?

Inna: Culturally there are differences that have proven to have some challenges. For example, Australians are pretty self-deprecating while Americans are… not (I’m trying to be politically correct). For most Americans, I’ve met Australia seems like an exotic destination; while for Australians, America is just a destination, but we still all come here. Australians come to America and all you hear from us is “oh… it’s like in the movies”. In Australia, Americans are enthusiastic about everything, even if it’s experiencing an American thing/creation but doing it in Australia; e.g. drinking Starbucks (I was in Sydney airport once when I overheard a group of Americans cheering joyously at the sight of Starbucks).

I’m really grateful that as an Australian, and because America thus far has pretty friendly political relations with Australia, the transition to life here has been relatively smooth. As we all know, it isn’t the same for all cultures and nationalities. So if I have to role my “r” when I ask for a glass of water, I’m happy to do it because I do really like being here.

Philana: Part of the writing process is re-writing. This can be painful at times, but it can also be a way to either challenge yourself or find something new to discover in your initial idea or draft. How do you approach re-writing? What gets you through it?

Inna: I try not to re-write until I have the first draft down. Then I begin working out how do I dig deeper into the story. Some re-writing is painful and as one writer told me, it’s like you are amputating a limb. On the days I’m doing the amputation I try to do it in small hits; re-write two scenes and stop. Other days, I re-read my work and I see the beginning of an interesting idea or image and get excited to explore it more. I give myself permission to write about that idea/image without thinking about the whole story. Then I go back and try to see if there is anything useful in that burst of energy to use in my overarching story.

Generally, I’m trying to cut down words, ideas, and story lines. Deadlines are usually the things that get me through. Also the sense of responsibility that if I have people in the room that are giving up their time to read my work, I at least have to give them a finished draft, which doesn’t mean it’s a good draft, it only means there is some type of resolution in the story.

Now that Inna is your fave Australian playwright, go see the reading of her new play at Seabury!

Dets

TATTOO ON YOUR ARM
Written by Inna Tsyrlin
1:00 pm, Thursday April 20th, Elizabeth Baker Theater, Kantner Hall

A mysterious occurrence in the Amazon has left its mark on Ben. Abandoning his work as a fashion photographer, Ben feels compelled to help an ancient tribe save their land; their physical and spiritual home. Can Ben preserve the forest and its purity? To do so, he’ll have to choose between honoring his Peruvian fiancée’s connection to the forest or becoming entangled with a powerful financier.

More about Inna

Inna Tsyrlin is currently pursuing her MFA in Playwriting at Ohio University after taking classes at HB Studio (New York City) and at Primary Stage (ESPA, New York City). Inna’s one act plays performed in New York City, include: I (heart) Subway (2014) and Happy Anniversary (2014) (Emerging Artists Theater: New Works Series); My Wife (HB Playwrights Foundation shorts series); Principal’s Office (semi-finalist of Manhattan Repertory Spring 2014 One Act Competition); Fat (Mount Carmel Theater Winter 2014 New Works program). Her one acts, Coffee and Murakami (2014) and Bentley (2013) have had staged readings as part of the Jack & Julie Project at HB Studio; while she has also had readings (2015) for Lama Theatre Company, and a reading of her full-length Animals (2015) in New York City. Apart from plays, Inna has written and produced shot films, reviewed Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway plays for stagebuddy.com, and contributed to Australian lifestyle publications. Her work tends to focus on exploring darker and unusual aspects of relationships and how these reflect in our current social and political environment, with particular attention to freedom and identity.

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“CUNext Tuesday” Madness coming to you Friday!

April 3, 2017
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · Madness · News

The final madness of the semester will be produced by third year playwright, Rachel Bykowski! Her prompt is “C*U*N*extT*uesday” She wants to create: A night of awakenings. Celebrating women in all our forms. Taking back our bodies, sexualities, and identities, and defining them on our terms.

Show is April 7th, 11pm, in the Hahne Black Box theater. Admission is free. We recommend you get there 45 to 60 minutes ahead of time to assure yourself a seat.

For more information about Madness, check out our Madness page.

More about Rachel:

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Philana interviewed about her Seabury play “Fireflies” !

April 1, 2017
by catherineforever666
· Current Students · Festival · News

baby philana.png

Hi everyone!

The first interview is questions for Philana by first year playwright Inna Tsyrlin. Philana Omorotionmwan is a 2nd year MFA playwright and wrote “Fireflies.” Check out the interview below and then see her play, Thursday April 20th!! Also watch out for all 7 of the other interviews with our other writers!

Inna Tsyrlin: What is it about insects that got you interested to use them as characters (and metaphors) for your full-length play?

Philana Omorotionmwan: I didn’t set out to write a play that used insects as metaphors, though I am always trying to figure out how to have my writing function on the level of metaphor. So arriving at the use of insects has most likely been an accumulation of things over the years. It might have begun with reading Audre Lorde’s poem “Menace or the Survival of Roaches” in college. I wrote two very short plays after that in which the characters were roaches.

A few years later I began meditating and started to really think about how all life is interconnected and question why we actually kill bugs. Because they carry disease? If so, doesn’t squashing them just spread the germs? Or do we simply kill them because they creep us out? I started making a conscious effort to catch and release bugs instead of killing them. In that process, they became more “human” to me, in the way that a cat or a dog is. (Not that I necessarily want to keep any bugs as pets.)

Finally, I spent most of last summer here in Athens. I had never before heard or seen anything like what happened when the 17-year cicadas emerged. I started reading about their life cycles of spending 17 years under ground and only having 4-6 weeks above ground to find a mate (for the purposes of reproduction). All of that noise began to make a lot of sense to me. Though I have more than 4-6 weeks to find a mate, as I get older, I’m starting to feel like I should be running around yelling at the top of lungs like the male cicadas do.

So as I started writing, all of these things started to fall into place. Sort of. The metaphor is still pretty muddled.

Inna: In your work we sometimes see the cycle of life, where there is a clear beginning and end. Has something in particular sparked this or is it something you are always thinking about?

Philana: I’m not sure why I keep to attempting to encompass large spans of time in my writing. I think it may simply be that with my plays I feel I won’t have enough material to fill a full-length if it doesn’t cover an entire life. I know that’s not true because other playwrights manage to do it. I just haven’t figured out how yet..

Inna: Your writing has a very unique sound to it and not only with your choice of words. When I hear your work there is this lovely lyricism to it and space for breath. Do you concentrate on sound when writing and what techniques or tools do you use to assist you in that?

Philana: I think there are probably a few reasons for that: 1. One of the things I wanted to be growing up was a singer, but I can’t sing. 2. I really “committed” to writing and playwriting in particular at around the same time I started writing spoken word. Spoken word often falls into very specific rhythms, so that’s definitely been an influence (for good or bad). As far as what I do to concentrate on sound while writing… I write out loud a lot, and I change things if I don’t like how they sound coming out of my mouth.

Inna: What gets you excited about theatre and/or writing today (in 2017)?

Philana: Excited… hmm… I pause because the most exciting things I’ve seen that make me want to keep writing have been film and TV, not theatre. Specifically, Moonlight and Atlanta. I appreciate that they refuse to be bound by convention or formulas. Additionally, they tell stories that are moving beyond stereotypical representations of black people. (Yes, there are drug dealers in both, but drug dealers do exist. And at least both works are showing them in ways that humanize them.) Also, and this is less excitement and more relief, but I’m glad that there are conversations happening and steps being taken to address the lack of parity for women and people of color writing for the theatre, film, and television.

Inna: Part of the writing process is re-writing. This can be painful at times, but it can also be a way to either challenge yourself or find something new to discover in your initial idea or draft. How to do approach re-writing? What gets you through it?

Philana: My approach to re-writing is still forming. I’m finding that I make the best rewrites when I do them 2-3 days before and 2-3 days after hearing a draft of the script read by actors. Knowing that I’m going to have people in the room makes me work harder than I might otherwise. Hearing it allows me to identify when things are missing, when they make absolutely no sense, when I don’t like how the language sounds, and so forth.

Now that Philana is your spirit animal, go see her reading!

FIREFLIES
Written by Philana Omorotionmwan
8:00 pm, Thursday April 20th, Elizabeth Baker Theater, Kantner Hall

Blurb:
It’s twilight time.
                                                   And the small, winged things—
                                             like spiders and roaches and fireflies—
                                         have begun to stir and search for light.
                                         Will Then-Self find it before she dies?
                                         Or will Now-Self find other ways to survive?
Fireflies is an exploration of one girl’s longing and search for intimacy through the lives of insects.

More about Philana

Philana Imade Omorotionmwan is originally from Baton Rouge, LA. She earned her BA from Stanford University where she first began writing plays under the mentorship of Cherríe Moraga. Philana’s writing frequently considers how the processes by which we are “othered” often restrict us from experiencing the fullest expression of ourselves. Her play BEFORE EVENING COMES has been developed by BAPF, Br!nk, and La MaMa. FIREFLIES recently received a workshop at UC Berkeley and STRONG FACE was the KCACTF Region II Finalist for the NPAT Award. Production of Philana’s short plays includes THE SETTLEMENT (Ensemble Studio Theatre) and BLACK BOYS DON’T DANCE (Manhattan Theatre Source), and her ten-minute play DIS DA HOOD was a finalist for the 2016 Heideman Award. Her poems have been published in New Delta Review and African American Review. When she isn’t writing, Philana spends her time running, practicing yoga, and perfecting her RBF. philanaplays.weebly.com

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