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Jacob Juntunen’s “Joan’s Laughter” Opens Tonight at SIU.

Jacob Juntunen is an alum from Ohio University, and currently the head of playwriting at Southern Illinois University. His play, JOAN’S LAUGHTER, opens tonight at SIU and runs April 3 – April 6.

On Monday, March 24th, Juntunen attended a book release at the Tony-award-winning Drama Bookshop in NYC where the anthology Plays for Two (Vintage) had a preview performance and book signing. His ten-minute play Saddam’s Lions is included in the volume, which also includes David Ives’ VENUS IN FUR currently enjoying a successful run at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.

On Thursday, March 27th, his short play SEE HIM? was performed around the world as part of the Belarusian Dream Theater, a collaboration of 18 theaters in 13 countries. SEE HIM? was performed at Southern Illinois University (where he also produced the evening), The Global Theatre Project in Los Angeles and Florence, The Troika Collective in Vancouver, Stage Left in Chicago, the European Humanities University in Vilnius, and at TLS Frankfurt.

Opp-Log: Two New Additions from Chicago.

We added two new playwright ops (short for opportunities or extremely hot appetizers).

Check out our Opp-Log Calendar for submissions all over the country (& UK.)

ALTA Chicago’s Latino New Works Writers’ Circle

Wildclaw Theater’s: Deathscribe

Coble’s “The Velocity of Autumn” Starts Previews on Broadway.

Eric Coble’s “The Velocity of Autumn” goes into previews today on Broadway at the Booth Theater. The OU Alum’s family drama starts Estelle Parsons, and two-time Tony Award winner Stephen Spinella.

Coble was recently featured in Cleveland Magazine. It’s a lovely biographical piece that touches on his time at Ohio University, where he wrote his first play and met his future wife. (I’m still looking.)

From Playbill.com: “The Velocity of Autumn swirls around Alexandra, a 79-year-old artist in a showdown with her family over where she’ll spend her remaining years,” press notes state. “In Alexandra’s corner are her wit, her volcanic passion and the fact that she’s barricaded herself in her Brooklyn brownstone with enough Molotov cocktails to take out the block. But her children have their own secret weapon: estranged son Chris who returns after 20 years, crawls through Alexandra’s second floor window, and becomes the family’s unlikely mediator. No sooner are the words ‘Hi, Mom’ uttered than the emotional bombs start detonating. The Velocity of Autumn is a wickedly funny and wonderfully touching discovery of the fragility and ferocity of life.”

Ira Gamerman & Ryan Dowler Have Rocking Pod(casts)

Ira Gamerman & Ryan Dowler, both Ohio MFA Alums, are making some waves in the NYC podcast scene (which is the world’s scene. Thanks, Internet!)

April 1st is the New Episode of “Dangerously Unqualified: A Podcast About Love” which is a non-fictional dating podcast, where Dowler tries to solve all of Gamerman’s romantic problems. It’s engineered and recorded by BSD Media which is a production company made up of OU Tech Theater Alums: Adam Suntken, Evan Schmidt, And Lisa Ahman.

I think Dowler figures out all of Gamerman’s problems in the premiere episode, but it’s called “Ryan and Ira Go To Jail.” So perhaps you should listen and decide for yourself.

You can subscribe to Dangerously Unqualified at from Steve Jobs consciousness at: https://itunes.apple.com/la/podcast/dangerously-unqualified-podcast/id661314049

Gamerman also has won an award writing for The Truth, which is an audiofiction/ modern radioplay podcast. The Truth recently joined PRX’s Radiotopia, which is a new network featuring the best and most creative podcasts (99% Invisible, Theory Of Everything, Etc). So far Gamerman has written two stories for The Truth with a third on its way.

His first one “Sweets For The Cheat” was nominated for an Audio Verse Award for “Best Short Form Self-Contained Original Piece Of The Year”

His second play is called “Biological Clock“:

Ira’s favorite Athens, Ohio culinary favorites from his time in the MFA program are O’Betty’s, Millers Fried Chicken, and Kiser’s BBQ. Those are my favorite ones too. That means he’s a genius. Dowler’s favorite eateries have all closed, but I’m not going to tell him that.

Madness is back this week. “This Is Why We Rock.”

MADNESS is back for the second to last time this semester. Third-year MFA playwright, Bianca Sams, is producing. Her prompt is “This Is Why We Rock” Madness.

Hahne Black Box Theater.
Kanter Theater Building
Friday, April 4th.
11pm

The line to get the free tickets usually starts around 10pm in the lobby.

Until then, enjoy the song that inspired Bianca’s theme:
“This Is Why We Rock” by Mims Ft. Purple Popcorn.

OU’s Reingold’s Just Hanging with Ives & Guare. Recording Plays 2Nite. NBD.

Ohio MFA alum, Jacquelyn Reingold, will have her play “2B (Or Not 2B”) performed and recorded tonight at BRIC’s Playing On Air. Two other short plays written by David Ives and John Guare will also be produced.

POA is “public radio’s showcase for contemporary short plays…Broadcast across the nation, the show brings a mix of short works written and performed by Tony-, Pulitzer- and Emmy-Award winning theater artists.” This is the first time the show has been recorded in front of a live audience.

From BRIC’s website, this is tonight’s lineup with play synopses.

2B or Not 2B by Jacquelyn Reingold: Dumped again by yet another ex, a woman gets a royal proposal.
A Day for Surprises by John Guare: A librarian comes to terms with love, loss, and a stone lion.
St. Francis Preaches To The Birds by David Ives: In the desert, a pair of vultures pick on the great saint – but nothing brings him down.

It’s tonight, Monday, 3/31, at 7:30PM at the BRIC House Ballroom. Doors open at 7pm.

Tickets are $15 in advance, and $18 at the door. You can buy tix on BRIC’S webpage.

Location: 647 Fulton Street
(Enter on Rockwell Place)
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(Take the 2/3/4/5 to Nevins or B/Q/R to DeKalb).