28th Annual
Seabury Quinn, Jr.
Playwrights’ Festival
April 14th-16th and April 20th-23rd
MASKS REQUIRED FOR ALL AUDIENCE MEMBERS
For reservations and information related to the thesis productions, click here:
The Brutal F**king Death of the Drunkard, the Immigrant, the Durable, the Juggernaut; “Iron” Mike Malloy by third-year playwright Klae Bainter
SCHEDULE — all times eastern
Friday, April 22nd
3:00 p.m. in the Forum Theater – The Long Memoriam by second-year playwright Eryn Elyse McVay
On the eve of their grandmother’s funeral, the Long children, Sal, Marcy, and Hannah, all ex-members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, meet at their family home in Central Washington state to prepare to say goodbye to Gram. When their oldest sibling and still-practicing Mormon brother Tyler shows up with his new, very young, and mysterious girlfriend Madison, a well-concealed family secret comes to light. Sal, being the only sibling not in the know, is forced to reconcile her memory of her family with the ugly reality, while long-dormant dark forces threaten the Long’s survival.
Cast:
Sal – Jaimie Henderson
Tyler – Oliver Runyon
Madison – Nina Blair
Marcy – Lily Adams
Hannah – Sarah Riley
Stage Directions – Laura Wininger
Director: Molly H. Donahue
Dramaturg: Becca Shelley
Mentors: Beth Blickers and Aaron Carter
8:00 p.m. in the Baker Theater – The Brutal F**king Death of the Drunkard, the Immigrant, the Durable, the Juggernaut; “Iron” Mike Malloy by third-year playwright Klae Bainter
A Proprietor, an Undertaker, a Cabby, and a Chemist walk into a bar…
…carrying a lot of debt. They hatch a murderous plot against local drunkard, Mike Malloy, for the insurance payout. Oh, you thought this was a joke? Well, according to Ragamuffin & Ragabiscuit, two shantytown kids trying to convince the Copper to allow them to fetch a pail of water from the only clean pump left in the neighborhood, this bumbling murder trust underestimated who they were messing with—and none of it is a laughing matter.
Cast:
Mike Malloy – Daniel Cagle
The Proprietor – George Carpenter
The Undertaker – Andy Ryan
The Cabby – Alexandra Marusich
The Chemist – Ethan Hess
Ragamuffin – Alina Rosado
Ragabiscuit – Molly Tucker
The Copper – James McDaid
Director: Sam Nelson
Dramaturg – Tyler Everett Adams
Assistant Dramaturg – Hannah Rutkowski
Mentors: Beth Blickers and Aaron Carter
Saturday, April 23rd
3:00 p.m. in the Forum Theater – The Model Congressman by second-year playwright Steven Strafford
It’s 1994, and Kevin’s just a kid hoping to win a big scholarship and get enough money to go to the school of his dreams. It’s 1994, and Kevin’s just a closeted kid who secretly goes on adults-only chat rooms looking for men. It’s 1994, and Kevin’s just an ambitious, closeted kid who has to decide how far he’s willing to go to impress the man who can change or ruin his life. It’s time to go to the 1994 Model Congress!
Cast:
Kevin – Holden Evans
Michael – Kaleb Jackson
Sharriesse – Taylor Roberts
Melissa – Shelby Merchant
Joan – Jane Reagan
Assemblyman Joe McClintock – Wade Elkins
Stage Directions/Offstage Voices – Taylor Mickey
Director – Tyler Everett Adams
Dramaturg – Sam Nelson
Mentors: Beth Blickers and Aaron Carter
8:00 p.m. in the Forum Theater – N/N by third-year playwright Ivan Mosley
Directed by Lloyda Alicia Garrett
N/N is about two queer Black people camped out in a never-ending cotton field. Jacobee, a contemporary urbanite, is waiting for a winged woman named Hippolyta to give her wings so she can fly away from Remus, a slave from the 1860s, who is looking to travel further in the field, where he feels safe. Remus and Jacobee are soon visited by Conjure and his disciples, who advise them to stay away from Hippolyta but remain exactly where they are. However, Conjure soon reveals ulterior motives. Jacobee and Remus must decide whether they will trust Conjure or unite to protect themselves against him.
Cast:
Remus – Donald Avi Stewart
Jacobee – Clarissa Raybon
Conjure – Will Harrington
Timmons – TBA
Banjo – Austin Vega
Augustine – Lexie Tillery
Gethsemane – Kay Collins
Director – Lloyda Alicia Garrett
Dramaturg – Nickose Layne
Assistant Dramaturg – Lexie Tillery
Mentors: Beth Blickers and Aaron Carter
PLAYFEST MENTORS
(Click the names for more information)
PLAYWRIGHT BIOS
Klae Bainter (3rd year)
Klae Bainter is a Seattle based playwright & essayist who is currently in the final year of his playwrighting MFA at Ohio University. His plays use poetic language to examine the grotesque nature of people, their values, and the spaces they hold sacred. He’s developed work with Cleveland Drafts Literary Festival (2018), and even did a little performing with Manhattan Project (Cleveland, Ohio). His play “Bullshit” was part of the 2019 NEOMFA Playwrights’ Festival at Convergence Continuum (Cleveland, Ohio). He has had essays and poetry published with Barnhouse Journal, Piff Magazine, Signal Mountain Review, and others, with work forthcoming from Invisible City Journal. Klae received his BA (cum laude) in English Literature, with a Creative Writing focus from the University of Washington. Currently, he lives in Athens, Ohio, with an obnoxious orange cat.
His thesis play is dedicated to the memory of James Livingston, and Willy Hoffmannbeck.
Ivan Mosley (3rd year)
Ivan Mosley is a playwright and dramaturg from North Carolina. He graduated from Wake Forest University with a BA in Theatre. His play Evelyn & His Brothers was selected as a semifinalist for the 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. He is a proud alumnus of the Kennedy Center Summer Playwrights Intensive and the Advanced Playwriting Program at the National Theatre Institute. He has developed his plays at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, the John F. Kennedy Center, Route 66 Theatre Company, Tantrum East, Greensboro Playwrights Forum, and the Ring Theatre. He has served as the dramaturg for the World Premiere of The Sting of White Roses by Angelica Cheri and the regional premieres of The Right Reverend Dupree in Exile by Jackie Alexander and Objects in the Mirror by Charles Smith. Currently, he is pursuing his Master of Fine Arts in Playwriting and his Masters in Arts Administration at Ohio University.
Steven Strafford (2nd year)
Steven Strafford is a Brooklyn-born playwright. He is the author and performer of the award-winning Methtacular! which he has performed across the country at LORT theaters, universities, and LGBTQ spaces. Methtacular! was filmed at Steppenwolf Theatre’s 1700 Space in 2019. His play Small Jokes About Monsters recently won the 2022 Ready-to-Publish Award from SETC and will be published and licensed by StageRights. It alsowon the 2016 New American Voices Competition and was a semi-finalist for The O’Neill New Play Conference. It received productions in Chicago, Houston (nominated – Houston Theatre Award – Outstanding New Play) and Sioux City, Iowa. His play Greater Illinois was a finalist for the Jackie Demaline Play Award as well as a semi-finalist at The O’Neill. His short plays, Use Your Noodles and The Breakup Play have each had multiple university productions.
Eryn Elyse McVay (1st year) (she/her) is a Pacific Northwestern playwright who earned her BA in Theatre from Western Washington University where she concentrated on Playwriting and Acting. For her work How Sweet The Sound Eryn has been honored to be a semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill 2019 New Playwrights Conference, the 2019 National Partners of American Theatre Region 7 Selection for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, a semi-finalist for the International Wolfe Prize from UNC’s PlayMakers Repertory Theater, and received recognition in Distinguished Achievement from KCACTF for their National Undergraduate Playwriting Award in both 2018 and 2019. Eryn was invited to participate in the inaugural Strait Plays Professional Retreat where she developed her ten-minute play “Jeremiah’s Creeping Arm,” and most recently saw her new Zoom play “the weight of it all” performed at the Region 7 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
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