Tag: new play

Charles Smith has play at the Goodman’s development series in Chicago!

November 2, 2015
by catherineforever666
· Chicago · News

Head of Ohio MFA Playwriting’s program, Charles Smith, has his new play “Objects in the Mirror” going up at Goodman Theater’s New Stages Development series. The piece runs October 30th through November 15th. For an exclusive video and more info about this exciting production click here

Here is a brief synopsis of he piece: In 2009, playwright Charles Smith traveled to Adelaide, Australia to see a production of his play Free Man of Color. The production featured a young Liberian actor named Shedrick Yarkpai in the title role. Smith got to know the young actor and learned about his tumultuous journey from war-torn Liberia, through a number of refugee camps in Western Africa, before his final relocation to Australia. Objects in the Mirror was inspired by Shedrick’s remarkable odyssey. It tells the story of a young immigrant’s journey and his search for a new family, identity and a safe place to call home.

Congrats Charles! Check it out if you’re in the Chicago area!

More about Charles

CHARLES SMITH (Playwright, Objects in the Mirror) Mr. Smith’s Black Star Line was commissioned and produced by Goodman Theatre. As a former member of the Victory Gardens Theater Playwrights Ensemble, Mr. Smith’s world premiere works include Knock Me a Kiss (directed by Chuck Smith); Freefall, Jelly Belly, Denmark, The Sutherland and Cane (all directed by Dennis Začek); Takunda and the Jeff Award-winning Free Man of Color (directed by Andrea J. Diamond). His plays Gospel According to James (also directed by Chuck Smith), Sister Carrie and Les Tois Dumas were all commissioned and produced by Indiana Repertory Theatre. His play Pudd’nhead Wilson was commissioned and produced off-Broadway by The Acting Company after a national tour. His work has also been produced at various theaters nationally and in Australia, and may be obtained through Samuel French, Dramatic Publishing, Northwestern Press, Swallow Press and other publishers. Mr. Smith currently teaches playwriting at Ohio University.

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Qui Nguyen’s play “Vietgone” at South Coast Rep gets rave reviews!

October 24, 2015
by catherineforever666
· alumni · News

Qui Nguyen’s new play “Vietgone” just got a rave review from the Latimes! Check out the play if you are in the Costa Meza area! Here is a brief synopsis about the show:

” An all-American love story about two very new Americans. It’s 1975, and Saigon has fallen. He lost his wife. She lost her fiancé. But now in a new land, they just might find each other. Using his uniquely infectious style The New York Times calls “culturally savvy comedy”—and skipping back and forth from the dramatic evacuation of Saigon to the here and now—playwright Qui Nguyen gets up close and personal to tell the story that led to the creation of…Qui Nguyen.”

Congrats Qui on this awesome new play!

Here’s an excerpt from the review:

The language is more revealing of the playwright’s generational influences than his characters’. A good deal of the play’s slang wasn’t yet in circulation in the mid-1970s. Quang raps as though he had been listening to Ice Cube all through high school in Saigon.

But to accuse Nguyen of anachronism is to miss the point. The playwright is engaged in a multifaceted act of freehand translation. He wants to recapture the youthful vitality of his characters in a way that will speak to his own contemporaries.

Details on the show

VIETGONE by Qui Nguyen directed by May Adrales October 4-25, 2015

Theater Address: South Coast Repertory
655 Town Center Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

More about Qui

Qui Nguyen is a playwright, TV writer, and Co-Founder of the OBIE Award-winning Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company of NYC. He and his work, known for its innovative use of pop-culture, stage violence, puppetry, and multimedia, has been called “Culturally Savvy Comedy” by The New York Times, “Tour de Force Theatre” by Time Out New York, and “a refreshing, break-the-rules writer” by the Chicago Tribune.

Scripts include Vietgone (South Coast Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Company), She Kills Monsters (The Flea, Buzz22 Chicago/Steppenwolf, Company One); War is F**king Awesome (developed in the Sundance Theatre Lab); Krunk Fu Battle Battle (East West Players); Bike Wreck (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Trial By Water (Ma-Yi Theater); Aliens Versus Cheerleaders (Keen Teens); Soul Samurai; The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G (Ma-Yi Theater & Vampire Cowboys); and the critically acclaimed Vampire Cowboys productions of Alice in Slasherland; Fight Girl Battle World; Men of Steel; and Living Dead in Denmark.

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Go see Jeremy Sony’s play “The Last Queen of Wonderland” in Tennessee!

October 22, 2015
by catherineforever666
· alumni · News

OU Playwriting Alum Jeremy Sony has a new play called “The Last Queen of Wonderland” at Street Theater In Nashville, playing through this weekend! It was written for their youth program called ClassAct Dramatics and is his third collaboration with them!

Here’s a synopsis of the piece: A young woman discovers an impossible family secret…She travels to Wonderland, books in tow as her guide, in search of her sister who disappeared years ago. There, she meets a teenage boy named Charlie who’s been imprisoned by the Queen of Hearts. Now, Lacie must rescue Charlie and her sister, and find a way for all of them to escape through the looking glass back to where they belong. Otherwise, Charlie may never grow up to write the books, and without the clues they hold, Lacie and her sister may get trapped in Wonderland forever.

Check out some awesome production photos of the show and check the show out if you’re in the Nashville area!

Details

October 16-24, shows on Fridays at 7pm and Saturdays at 2pm & 7pm.

Performances at BAILEY MIDDLE SCHOOL

2000 Greenwood Ave

Nashville, TN 37206

All tickets are Pay-What-You-Can but seating is still reserved, so purchase tickets in advance at www.streettheatrecompany.org or call 615-554-7414.

Read more about Jeremy

Jeremy Sony is a Midwest-based writer and co-founder of Theatre Daedalus. His plays include: The Century Box (World Premiere, Little Theatre Off Broadway), Robin Hood and the Secret of Sherwood (Street Theatre Co., Class Act Dramatics); Sleepy Hollow: The Lost Chapter (STC., ClassAct Dramatics); The View at the End (Available Light 24 Hour Theatre); Parallaxis and Cuckold Walks Into A Bar (MadLab Theatre Roulette 2014); Advice to the Happy Couple (MadLab, Theatre Roulette 2013); and The Cosmonaut in Human Resources (Luna Theatre). Upcoming plays: The Last Queen of Wonderland (STC ClassAct Dramatics, October 2015). Other plays in active development include: Pathogenesis (Reading, Nashville Repertory Theatre) and Frackture (Workshop, TAGS New Play Project). Sony’s plays have also been seen and developed at Penobscot Theater, Curtain Players Theatre, Playhouse Nashville’s Ten Minute Playhouse, Western Michigan University, The Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Ohio University MFA Playwrights Workshop, and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. AWARDS & RESIDENCIES: 2013-2014 Ingram New Works Lab Residency (Nashville Repertory Theatre); Scott McPherson Playwriting Award (2012); 2012-2013 Anthony Trisolini Graduate Fellowship; 2010 Heideman Award Finalist (Spin Cycle). FILM: The Last Con (Two Pop Productions); Separation Anxiety (Best Drama, 2012 Riverbend Film Festival; produced by Glass City Films, featuring Emmy-winner John Wesley Shipp and Drama Desk nominee Polly Adams). OTHER WRITING: “Hard Stop” (published by Outskirts Press under the pseudonym Jamie Rotham). Sony holds an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Ohio University and a B.A. in Film & Television from the University of Notre Dame. He has studied under playwrights Charles Smith, Erik Ramsey, Merri Biechler, Mark Pilkinton, Doug Wright, and Kara Lee Corthron. Sony lives in central Ohio with his wife and son, where they are slightly outnumbered by their cats. Find him on Facebook, Twitter, and many social media sites under the handle @JeremyWrites.

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Jacob Juntunen has short play at City Theater of Independence in Missouri this July!

June 30, 2015
by catherineforever666
· News

Jacob Juntunen is having a busy summer! His play “Hath Taken Away” was recently read at Chicago Dramatists as well as the Last Frontier Theater Conference and now he has a short play called “Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be” being performed at City Theater of Independence in Kansas City Missouri July 9th through the 12! Congrats Jacob! Check it out if you’re in the area(The title is cool!!)

More Details

Dates for show: July 9th,10th,11th at 8pm

July 12th at 2pm

Address: City Theatre of Independence Banquet

Sermon Center

201 N. Dodgion

Independence, MO 64050

More about Jacob

Jacob Juntunen is a playwright and theatre scholar whose work focuses on people who struggle against society’s boundaries.

His playwriting stems from a mix of scholarship and social responsibility. Therefore, his playwriting and academic writing are a constant symbiosis. Both focus on understanding the political function of theatre, and this focus is demonstrated in his plays, which, overall, are meant for those “who want to leave the theatre changed and moved,” as one Chicago critic described. He recently wrote See Him? to participate in the Belarusian Dream Theater, a consortium of 18 theaters in 13 countries simultaneously producing plays to raise awareness about human rights violations in Belarus. His latest play, Hath Taken Away, was an O’Neill Playwrights Conference Semi-Finalist, and has had readings at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference (Valdez, AK) and as part of the Saturday Series at Chicago Dramatists. His previous full-length play, In The Shadow Of his Language, was an Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Contest Finalist; an O’Neill Playwrights Conference Semi-Finalist; an AACT New Play Contest Finalist; and a Princess Grace Fellowship Semi-Finalist. It was read at Chicago Dramatists, as part of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs “In the Works” series, at the Alliance Theatre, and workshopped off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons. His play Saddam’s Lions—published in Plays for Two (Vintage)—examines the disquieting memories of an African-American female Iraq War veteran and her struggles to come to terms with war-time trauma. Jacob based this play on interviews with a veteran. This process combined his desire for politically relevant work, his dedication to diverse casting opportunities, and his scholarship about the politics of performance. He hopes to inspire in students a similar yearning for intellectual curiosity, social activism, collaboration, and playwriting.

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Jeremy Sony’s New Play “The Century Box” happening this May in Ohio!

May 23, 2015
by catherineforever666
· alumni · News

Jeremy Sony’13 ‘s play “The Century Box” will run in Grove City, Ohio, for four performances, May 29-31. The play, produced by the Little Theatre Off Broadway and presented by the City of Grove City, was written to commemorate the Bicentennial of Jackson Township and the history of Grove City, Ohio. The play is getting some press which you can check out here

“The Century Box” centers on a sister and brother who discover a forgotten time capsule in an old house up for auction. Opening this century box, they set off a mystery that reaches back to the origins of their hometown; one they’ll have to solve before the auction, or risk losing the century box forever. The play takes us back through time, telling the stories of the people who settled and built the area, and how it all ties to a young couple from 1952. Sony says, “It’s a history play wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a love story.”

Performances will be Friday, May 29 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, May 30 at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and a final performance on Sunday, May 31 at 2:00 p..m. in the Ed Palmer Auditorium at Central Crossing High School, 4500 Big Run South Road. All performances are free. More info here

Congrats Jeremy!! Looks exciting!

More about Jeremy

Jeremy Sony is a Midwest-based writer and co-founder of Theatre Daedalus. His plays include: Robin Hood and the Secret of Sherwood (Street Theatre Co., Class Act Dramatics); Sleepy Hollow: The Lost Chapter (STC., ClassAct Dramatics); The View at the End (Available Light 24 Hour Theatre); Parallaxis and Cuckold Walks Into A Bar (MadLab Theatre Roulette 2014); Advice to the Happy Couple (MadLab, Theatre Roulette 2013); and The Cosmonaut in Human Resources (Luna Theatre). Upcoming plays: The Century Box (World Premiere, Summer 2015, Commissioned by the Grove City Historic Commission) and The Last Queen of Wonderland (STC ClassAct Dramatics, October 2015). Other plays in active development include: Pathogenesis (Reading, Nashville Repertory Theatre) and Frackture (Workshop, TAGS New Play Project). Sony’s plays have also been seen and developed at Penobscot Theater, Curtain Players Theatre, Playhouse Nashville’s Ten Minute Playhouse, Western Michigan University, The Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Ohio University MFA Playwrights Workshop, and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. AWARDS & RESIDENCIES: 2013-2014 Ingram New Works Lab Residency (Nashville Repertory Theatre); Scott McPherson Playwriting Award (2012); 2012-2013 Anthony Trisolini Graduate Fellowship; 2010 Heideman Award Finalist (Spin Cycle). FILM: Separation Anxiety (Best Drama, 2012 Riverbend Film Festival) was produced by Glass City Films, featuring Emmy-winner John Wesley Shipp and Drama Desk nominee Polly Adams. OTHER WRITING: “Hard Stop” (published by Outskirts Press under the pseudonym Jamie Rotham). Sony holds an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Ohio University and a B.A. in Film & Television from the University of Notre Dame. He has studied under playwrights Charles Smith, Erik Ramsey, Merri Biechler, Mark Pilkinton, Doug Wright, and Kara Lee Corthron. Sony lives in central Ohio with his wife and son, where they are slightly outnumbered by their cats. Find him on Facebook, Twitter, and many social media sites under the handle @JeremyWrites.

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Check out Qui Nguyen’s interview with American Theater Magazine!

May 14, 2015
by catherineforever666
· alumni · News

Alum Qui Nguyen’s recently sat down with a American Theater about his new play “Vietgone”! American Theater prefaces the interview with this: This week’s guest is playwright/geek theatre pioneer Qui Nguyen. Associate editor Diep Tran caught up with him at the Pacific Playwrights Festival at South Coast Rep (you can read her write-up here). The two of them bond over being Vietnamese-American and discuss Qui’s newest play Vietgone, a quasi-historical sex comedy about his parents, and the newest Vampire Cowboys show, Six Rounds of Vengence (running through May 16). Qui also explains the origins of the label “geek theatre,” and breaks down how to properly write a strong female character.

Listen to the full interview here

More about Qui

Originally from Arkansas, Qui Nguyen is a playwright, TV writer, and all around pop-culture nerd. When he’s not geeking out to indie comics and early 90s hip-hop, he spends his time being the Co-Artistic Director of the OBIE Award-winning Vampire Cowboys. His work, known for its innovative use of pop-culture, stage violence, puppetry, and multimedia, has been praised as “Culturally Savvy Comedy” by The New York Times and “Tour De Force Theatre” by Time Out New York.

His plays include the musical War is F**king Awesome (currently being developed through the Sundance Theatre Lab); She Kills Monsters (The Flea); Soul Samurai (Ma-Yi Theater/Vampire Cowboys); Krunk Fu Battle Battle (East West Players); Aliens vs Cheerleaders (Keen Teens); Trial by Water (Ma-Yi Theater); Bike Wreck (EST); and the VC productions of The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G; Alice in Slasherland; Fight Girl Battle World; Men of Steel; and Living Dead in Denmark. His scripts are published by Samuel French, Broadway Play Publishing, and Playscripts, Inc.

Recent honors include a 2014 Sundance Institute/Time Warner fellowship, a 2014 McCarter/Sallie B. Goodman fellowship, a recipient of the a 2013 AATE Distinguished Play Award for She Kills Monsters and 2012 & 2009 GLAAD Media Award nominations for She Kills Monsters and Soul Samurai.

Qui is proud member of New Dramatists, The Playwrights’ Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and The Ma-Yi Writers Lab.

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Late May & June Play-Opp Updates

May 28, 2014
by rpdolan
· News · opp-log

No fear, suckahs. We have brand new play submission opportunities on our Opp-Log calendar.

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Erik Ramsey’s New Post Advocates Computer-Aided Play Development

July 31, 2013
by rpdolan
· Faculty

Digital dramaturgy? Film Crit HULK smashes it, and rightly so. But plotwrench.org makes a case for computer-aided play development:

Hulk Smash Digital Development

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