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Tag: news

Madness Features in Speakeasy Magazine!

  • February 4, 2015
  • by catherineforever666
  • · Current Students · Madness · News

Speakeasy Magazine recently wrote a story called “Bobcats take center stage with Midnight Madness” and has quotes from Rachel Bykowski’15!  The article talks about the writers process in creating madness pieces as well as how much fun the show is!  Also check out the cool photo of Catherine Weingarten’s “Prom Madness” photographed by Hayley Harding.

Excerpt from article:

The theme for a Madness, picked weekly by a Playwriting student serving as a producer, can be anything from revolution to prom night. On Mondays, the playwrights meet as a class and learn their prompt. From there, they go off and write a short play about the theme. According to Bykowski, some people tackle the theme literally while others go a little more conceptually and look at what else the prompt can mean to people

Read full article here

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“FairyTale” Madness coming this Friday!

  • February 3, 2015
  • by catherineforever666
  • · Current Students · Madness · News

The next madness of the semester will be produced by Rachel Bykowski ’17 and her prompt is “fairytale” madness.  She has asked the playwrights to explore well known fairy tales and make them their own.

Show is February 6th, 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 the fall semester, check out our Madness page.

More about Rachel

Rachel Bykowski was born and raised in Chicago.  She writes plays that examine the masks people wear to conceal their true identities to blend into society and explores the repercussions when the masks are ripped off.  Her work often includes proactive female characters that raise awareness to issues surrounding women. Rachel received her BFA in Playwriting from The Theatre School of DePaul University.  Her playwriting credits include her full length plays: Original Recipe produced by DePaul University; staged reading of Got to Kill Bitch presented by Cock and Bull Theatre in Chicago; and staged reading of Glory vs. The Wolves presented by 20% Theatre Company Chicago and hosted by Women and Children First Bookstore as part of an event to raise awareness about rape culture.  Her one act plays include: The Best Three Minutes of My Life produced by Bradley University; Break-Up Court and Pay Phone produced by 20% Theatre Company Chicago; The Invisible Onesproduced by Fury Theatre in Chicago; and She Sings For You produced and published by Commedia Beauregard in Chicago.  Rachel is also a proud company member of 20% Theatre Company Chicago.  She is very excited to continue her writing career and pursuing her MFA in Playwriting under the tutelage of Ohio University.  For more information about Rachel, please visit her website at www.rachelbykowski.com

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“Garbage” Madness coming this Friday!

  • January 26, 2015
  • by catherineforever666
  • · Current Students · News

The next madness of the semester will be produced by second year playwright, Aaron Johnson!  His prompt is “Garbage” Madness .  Aaron has asked the playwrights to write about garbage. Refuse. Rubbish. Litter. Trash. Junk. Whatever.  a night of theater about the things we throw away.

Show is Friday,January 30th , 11pm, in ARTS/WEST.  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 the fall semester, check out our Madness page.

Friday, January 30th – 11:00PM. Doors at 10:30PM
ARTS/West – 132 W. State St. Athens, OH 45701

More about Aaron

Aaron Johnson hails from the land of cheese in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  He received his Bachelor of the Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he majored in English with an Emphasis in Creative Writing and in Theatre and Drama.  While not officially specializing in playwriting in his undergrad, Aaron took the only playwriting course offered twice and completed his creative writing thesis as a play instead of fiction or poetry writing which the school usually requires.  During his time at UW-Madison, Aaron completed three full length plays, multiple One-Acts, and numerous short plays which were all workshopped and some eventually produced at the university in staged readings.  In his Theatre and Drama major he specialized in props and was props master for a number of university shows including Ti-Jean and his Brothers and Eurydice.  Working his summers during college as a technical writer, Aaron decided to take a year off from school and work full time but the call of academia was too much for him to resist though as he is currently pursuing his MFA in Playwriting from Ohio University.  Aaron’s writing tends to take the complex and unnoticed topics of today’s culture and bring them to light by using them to create dramatic conflict and then ultimate understanding.  Using these undiscovered topics and coupling them with a realistic style will grow people’s curiosity and actively induce them to gain knowledge about today’s world.  Aaron fells immensely privileged and grateful to be working towards his MFA in Playwriting at OU with such great and inspiring mentors, colleagues, and friends.

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Bianca Sams ’14 thesis play “Rust on Bone” will be developed at “Babes with Blades Theater” in Chicago!

  • January 24, 2015
  • by catherineforever666
  • · alumni · News

Bianca Sams’14 play “Rust on Bone” about sexual assault and the military, will received three developmental readings with the awesome female friendly company “Babes with Blades”!

Babes With Blades Theatre Company uses stage combat to place women and their stories center stage. Through performance, script development, training, and outreach, our ensemble creates theatre that explores the wide range of the human experience, and cultivates broader perspectives in the arts community and in society as a whole.

If you are in Chicago, go check it out!

Info

FW 2015 Public Reading Schedule

Quest: 1st public read, Sunday, April 26th at 12pm
Rust on Bone: 1st public read, Sunday, July 12th at 12pm
Quest: Final public read, Sunday, June 28th at 12pm
Rust on Bone: Final public read, Sunday, September 27th at 12pm

All performances will take place at Heartland Studio located at 7016 N. Glenwood in Chicago.

More info About the development program “Fighting Words”:

Playwrights selected for the Fighting Words program will receive a set of three readings to facilitate the development of their script. Each play will be assigned a director who will take part in the development process from the start. All readings and moderated talk backs are videotaped and given to the playwright to aid with rewrites.
The first reading is internal and is attended by company members and the director; the playwright is invited but not sponsored. The second reading is an advertised public reading; the playwright is invited but not sponsored. The final reading is an advertised public reading with one choreographed fight and a reception following the moderated talk back; the playwright’s travel expenses will be sponsored up to $400 to attend. The playwright is given approximately two months between drafts for revisions with a schedule provided at the time of selection.

More about Bianca:

Bianca Sams is an Actor/Writer hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area. Her plays are lyrical investigations of found stories out of todays headlines or the pages of history that ask audiences to face their own complex love affair with misery. She recently finished her MFA in Playwriting at Ohio University. She received her BFA from New York University’s Tisch School, where she earned the distinction of being Tisch’s first ever Triple Major (Acting, Dramatic Writing, Africana Studies). Awards and honors include KCACTF Lorraine Hansberry Award (2nd place), Rosa Parks Award (2nd place), Kennedy Center/Eugene O’Neill New Play Conference Fellow, Jane Chambers/ATHE Student Playwright Award (2nd Place), Scott McPherson Award, TRI Research Fellowship at Ohio State University, and T. S. Eliot Acting Fellowship.

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Opp Log has been Updated!

  • January 21, 2015
  • by catherineforever666
  • · News · opp-log

Hey y’all!  I know it’s winter and it’s cold and that’s upsetting!  So my advice is take a cup of warm coco, listen to some sexy tunes, and check out our updated opp log to jumpstart your playwriting career.

Click here to check it outttt!

P.S V-Day is coming up, so show some love to yourself and do some script submissions!

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Bianca Sams ’14 has a reading of “Rust On Bone” at Available Light Theater this January!

  • January 5, 2015
  • by catherineforever666
  • · alumni · Events · News

We are thrilled that Bianca Sams ’14 will be apart of Available Light’s cool new play development series called “The Next Stage Initiative.”  Bianca’s thesis play “Rust on Bone” is one of the six pieces that will be read this January in Columbus, Ohio.  The dates are January 8th through the 17th and you can buy tickets here

Since graduating from Ohio University, Bianca Sams has garnered many achievements such as being a member of Tennessee Rep’s prestigious writing group and Warner Brother’s TV Writing Workshop for Emerging writers.

More Info about the Reading:

The Studio 2 Theatre will become a hothouse for new works in January! Be part of the growth & nurturing of some soon-to-be great plays.

If you’ve been following AVLT for a while, you know that we’ve a vested interest in daring, new plays. We’ve presented dozens of free readings over the years, and the Next Stage Initiative is the logical step into the future.

The Next Stage Initiative returns in January 2015 with 6 hot playwrights and their works in progress. Included this year will be Jen Schlueter of the much-loved for/word company and her new adaptation (developed with the AVLT ensemble) of Cervantes’ Don Quixote, which will will be fully produced by AVLT later this season.

Recommended if You Like: Exploration, risk, and experimentation

January 8 — 17, 2015
Riffe Center Studio Two
77 South High St.

Columbus, Ohio.

Pay What You Want

There will be a casual, post-show conversation with the cast and crew after every performance. Playwrights will be included as indicated below.  Read more about this event here

About Bianca

BIANCA SAMS, was born in Berkeley, California, into a close knit family. Growing up as the middle child in group of rambunctious and outspoken children was the best training ground for performing. Early on Bianca learned to fend for herself on the stage of life,

Bianca considers herself a “Renaissance Woman”. At every turn, she has been driven to be a well-rounded student, athlete, and artist. A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, she has earned the distinction of being Tisch’s first ever Triple Major [Acting, Dramatic Writing (Play and Screenwriting), Africana Studies, and an undeclared minor in Journalism]. She also ran on the NYU Track Team and was named Female Athlete of the Year.

At NYU, she studied at the Strasberg Theater Institute, which included intensive dance, voice, singing, and movement training. She also spent 6 months in London studying Shakespearean verse at the prestigious Royal Academy for Dramatic Arts (RADA).  She also began her journey as a Writer at NYU.  Bianca’s writing professors included Richard Wesley, Charles Smith, Kara Lee Corthron, Erik Ramsey, Beth Turner, George Malko, John Guare, and Kenneth Lonergan.

She received her MFA in play writing at Ohio University with Charles Smith. Her written work “ is like a New York Times article written in modern beat poetry”. She describes her plays as “ lyrical in nature, dramatic by design, inspired by found stories out of today’s headlines or the pages of history”. When asked who her artistic role models were she says “ If Whoopi Goldberg, Tennessee Williams and Sam Shepard could artistically have a love child together…that would be me”.  Awards and honors include KCACTF Lorraine Hansberry (2nd place), Rosa Parks Award (2nd place), Kennedy Center/Eugene O’Neill New Play Conference fellow, Jane Chambers Student Playwright Award/Athe (2nd Place), Scott McPherson Playwright Award, The Playwright Center Core Apprentice (2014), Playwright Foundation BAPF (finalist), Eugene O’Neill NPC (semi-finalist), TRI Research Fellowship at Ohio State University, Nashville Rep/Ingram New Works Lab Playwright-in-residence , Warner Brothers Writers Workshop, and T. S. Eliot Acting Fellowship.

In addition, she has done community service in Belfast, Northern Ireland, taught theater to children at the Historical Karamu House in Cleveland, and worked at the Joseph Papp Public Theater in NYC.  She also received the prestigious T. S. Eliot Acting Fellowship, a one month exchange with American and British Artists. This led to Bianca becoming a member of Old Vic New Voice in New York City in partner with Old Vic London headed by Kevin Spacey.

Her Theater credits include Ruined (Sophie), In The Continuum (Abigail), Voiceover spots for Bank of America and Crescent Jewelers, on-camera commercials for Suzuki Motors, and print ads for Always, Microsoft, and Hewlitt Packard. She can currently be seen in the feature film RENT, which is available on DVD at video stores nationwide. CHECK OUT HER ONLINE COOKING SERIES:  WWW.FINGERLICKINKITCHEN.COM

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Morgan Patton’15 short play “Strangers in the Park” wins first prize from the Kentucky Theatre Association!

  • November 18, 2014
  • by catherineforever666
  • · Awards · Current Students · Events · News

Morgan Patton will be heading up to the Kentucky Theater Association’s Conference this week to see her short play!

Morgan’s talent for creating rich and honest dialogue and fascinating relationships is paying off with this awesome honor from her home state!  In her artistic statement she describes her writing, “I come from a middle America culture that minimizes and sanitizes the uncomfortable because it feels safe. But with my plays, I attempt to take that world and ultimately turn it on its head. Characters concerned with first world problems can lull us into a false sense of security until the darker core of that world is found beneath its sanitized facade. When feelings like grief or isolation are buried deep beneath the surface, it can be much scarier than if they were confronted in the open. But when it finally bubbles over, we see that white bread America can be just as dark and disturbing as anywhere else. But like anyone else in this particular culture, I use levity and humor to diffuse the tension until the more serious truth is found.

Patton’s play, along with cuttings from the winning full-length scripts, will be read at the KTA Conference on Friday at Eastern Kentucky University’s Pearl Theatre.  KTA’s Roots of the Bluegrass New Play Contest is open to any past or present resident of Kentucky who writes plays. In previous years—the contest is in its fifth year—the contest gave awards only for full-length plays.
Patton’s Strangers in the Park is about a chance meeting between Nathan and Abigail. Even though they just met, they have undeniable chemistry, and more in common than they realize, but they’re hampered by their respective insecurities—and their inability to read each other’s minds.

For Full Article Click here

More about Morgan:

Morgan Patton was born and raised in Newport, Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinnati. In 2011, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Northern Kentucky University as an Honors Scholar with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Playwriting and a Bachelor of Arts in English. Her plays work with themes of love, loss, and family in order to explore the elusive concept of identity and what it means to belong. Recently her ten-minute play YARD SALE, about a mug and a teapot, was a regional finalist for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre festival, and was one of six ten-minute plays staged and developed there. For more information, visit her website at www.playsbymorgan.com.

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Desperation Madness coming this Friday!

  • November 17, 2014
  • by catherineforever666
  • · Current Students · Events · News

The next madness of the semester will be produced by third year playwright, Jeffry Chastang!  His prompt is Desperation and hopes that the playwrights will create a dynamic night about human foibles!

Show is November 21st, 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 the fall semester, check out our Madness page.

More about Jeff

Jeffry Chastang is a writer/actor who hails from Inkster, Michigan, 15 miles west of Detroit/Motown. He earned a BA in Journalism at Wayne State University. As an actor his professional credits include FENCES, JOE TURNER’S COME AND GONE, THE OLD SETTLER, A SOLDIER’S PLAY, and JITNEY. Jeffry’s professional writing credits include FULL CIRCLE, …CONTINUED WARM, 1ST SATURDAY IN SEPTEMBER, and BLOOD DIVIDED. He was a recipient of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Roger L. Stevens Award for FULL CIRCLE which was produced by Detroit’s Plowshares Theater Company. Plowshares’ also produced Jeffry’s second play …CONTINUED WARM which was named Best New Play by the Oakland Press. Jeffry was commissioned by the Alabama Shakespeare Festival to write a play marking the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. The play, BLOOD DIVIDED was produced by ASF in 2011 and received a 2011 Edgerton Foundation New Plays Award.

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“Prom Madness” coming this Friday! Woot!

  • November 11, 2014
  • by catherineforever666
  • · Current Students · Events · Madness · News

The next madness of the semester will be produced by first year playwright, Catherine Weingarten!  Her prompt is “Prom” and she has asked the MFA playwrights this week to have fun and explore this seductive and very popular happening! Catherine personally did not have a good prom(she didn’t have a date) so she hopes producing “Prom Madness” will help erase her traumatic past!!!!!

Catherine also says that audience members should dress up if they want/bring a date 😉

Show is November 14th, 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 the fall semester, check out our Madness page.

More about Catherine:

Catherine Weingarten hails from Ardmore,PA also known as the area that inspired the preppy sexy TV show “Pretty Little Liars.”  She recently graduated from Bennington College in Vermont where she studied playwriting(with the magical Sherry Kramer) as well as gender, mediation and environmental studies.  Her short plays have been done at such theaters as Ugly Rhino Productions, Fresh Ground Pepper, Wishbone Theater Collective and Nylon Fusion Collective. Her short play, “You Looked Hot When You Stole that Dress From Walmart” was voted favorably in the NYC LGBTQ “Fresh Fruit Festival” 10 minute play contest and received a revival at The Wild Project this past July as part of the official festival.  Catherine previously was a member of Abingdon Theater’s playwrights group as well as New Perspective Theater’s “Women’s Work” 2014 short play lab.  She is currently the playwright in residence for “Realize Your Beauty Inc” which promotes positive body image for kids by way of theater arts.   She wrote an educational play for them called “Bloom” about a chick getting kicked out of a yoga class for being not hot enough, which is geared for high school age kids.   Catherine is thrilled to pursue her MFA at OU and thankful for the awesome opportunity for baller mentorship.  catherine-weingarten.squarespace.com

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Cecilia Copeland’s play “R Culture” currently in NYC!

  • November 9, 2014
  • by catherineforever666
  • · Events · New York · News · Productions

OU Playwriting Alum Cecilia Copelands play about rape culture is currently in NYC!  The play runs November 4th-24th at IRT.  R Culture is a world premiere of a new edgy dark comedy by Cecilia Copeland and was commissioned by Producing Director Emily Lerer(also an OU alum) to raise awareness and open a platform for discussion of Rape Culture in Our Culture.

Click here for more info on the production; and read more about the play here.

Also check out Cecilia’s recent interview done by acclaimed playwright Adam Szymkowicz as part of his popular blog “I Interview Playwrights.”

DETAILS

PERFORMANCES: November 7, 8, 9 , 14, 15, 16 17, 20, 21, 22, 23
TIMES: 8pm
LENGTH OF SHOW: 1 HR 15 min.
PRICE:$18
At IRT: 154 Christopher st. NYC #3B (third floor)

About Cecilia:

Cecilia Copeland: Playwright, Screenwriter, and Founding Artistic Director New York Madness. Named Indie Theater Now’s “Person of the Year”, her plays have been presented at the Culture Project, Cherry Lane Theatre, Ensemble Studios Theatre, HERE Arts Center, The Anarchist Theatre Festival of Montreal, Venus Theatre, The Chain Theatre, New Perspectives, and IATI Theatre among others.  She has developed work with the Lark Play Development Center and terraNOVA.  She was awarded a Special Effects Grant from Metro Screen Australia for her screenplay, Amusement Bomber.  Copeland is the winner of a Fine Arts Grant at Ohio University and the Lennis J. Holm Playwriting Scholarship from University of Iowa Writers Workshop, a semifinalist for The O’Neill Playwrights Conference and the David Callichio Emerging Playwrights Prize.  Copeland is a Kilroy’s List Nominee, finalist for Mabou Mines Residency, and a member of The League of Professional Theatre Women

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