This year's MFA class creates 'Room to Live'...

 

Wow, these guys just don't stop: Hot off last month's Ground Floor New Play Series, this year’s MFA class – MJ Halberstadt, Rick Park, Michael S. Parsons,  and Jaclyn Villano – will present four new plays (each set in a living room) at Boston University's College of Fine Arts on June 7-10. Learn more about the Room to Live Plays, check out the poster art (by Joän Mejía), and make a donation on the project’s official Web site.

Anna Renée Hansen and Bridget Kathleen O'Leary talk about New Voices @ New Rep

Around the table (L-R): Colleen Hughes, Anna Renée Hansen, Emily Kaye Lazzaro,
James McLindon, and Bridget Kathleen O'Leary. (Photo: Dana S. Hansen)

C’mon, you didn’t think we’d let Anna Renée Hansen completely out of the clutches of Playwrights’ Perspective, did you? Today, the alum and New Voices @ New Rep fellow talks with New Repertory Theatre’s Associate Artistic Director Bridget Kathleen O’Leary about the inaugural year of the program (which, in addition to Anna, includes Colleen Hughes, Emily Kaye Lazzaro, and James McLindon) and the first annual Festival of New Voices on June 9 and 10.
 
For more information (including a schedule) visit the New Rep Web site, and you may RSVP for the readings on the event’s official Facebook page. 


ARH: I would venture to say that a big question for the BPT blog readers may be: Why New Voices @ New Rep Playwriting Fellows? Oh, and what IS IT? (You do the spiel so well...)

BKO: I studied directing at Boston University and during my time in the program I spent a lot of time at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre. My exposure to Kate Snodgrass and the work the students were doing led me to pursuing working with companies that had an interest in new plays and development. I chose to intern at New Rep in my final semester because of their relationship with the National New Play Network and as luck would have it, I got hired at the end of the semester. My time at New Rep has allowed me to get to know a lot of writers and participate in a regional dialogue about how we approach new work as an industry, but also gave me the chance to ask writers what it was they were looking for. Surprisingly, “a production” was not the first thing. They mostly wanted support, conversation and guidance. Nobody else works in a vacuum in this business – yet playwrights are often left to write alone and hope they get enough right to be noticed. It’s not fair. 

Alumni news, in brief:

Ginger Lazarus was on the writing team for Malarkey Films' short Ourmageddon, part of The Boston 48 Hour Film Project. You can also read what Ginger has to say about the origin of her play The Embryos on the Fresh Ink Theatre blog...

Hot off the press: Molly Smith Metzler's Elemeno Pea in Humana Festival 2011: The Complete Plays...

Coming soon: This year's MFA class (MJ Halberstadt, Rick Park, Michael S. Parsons, and Jaclyn Villano) present their Room to Live Plays...

Also just around the corner, New Rep's first annual Festival of New Voices featuring the work of this year's New Voices @ New Rep Fellows: Anna Renée Hansen, Colleen Hughes, Emily Kaye Lazzaro, and frequent BTM contributor James McLindon...

Dan Hunter in The Edmonton Journal: "Creativity is a practice, not a gift"...

Holiday weekend plans? Remember:

Congratulations to Kirsten Greenidge and Kristin Baker!

Kirsten (right) with Cherise Boothe, who won for her performance
in Milk Like Sugar (Photo: Cherise Boothe)

In an amazing week full of major events and honors, more terrific news: Boston’s own Kirsten Greenidge (her play The Luck of the Irish recently closed at the Huntington after a successful run) won an Obie Award Monday night, for her off-Broadway debut Milk Like Sugar. The play was a co-production of Playwrights Horizons, Women’s Project, and the La Jolla Playhouse.