Metzler's 'Close Up Space' to premiere at MTC

Molly Smith Metzler

Molly Smith Metzler’s play Close Up Space will receive its world premiere in December at Manhattan Theatre Club, starring Michael Chernus and David Hyde Pierce.

Synopsis from the MTC Web site: Tony and Emmy Award winner Pierce will play Paul Barrow, an obsessive book editor on a major deadline. With an assistant who’s been camping in the office (Chernus), a famous author threatening to bail on him and an intern who is no help at all, Paul’s just about had it! But when his fiery daughter shows up and lambasts him in Russian, Paul faces a glaring personal error that can’t be corrected with red ink. Leigh Silverman (Well, In the Wake, From Up Here) returns to MTC to direct this funny and poignant new play about how hard it can be to communicate…in any language.

Earlier this spring, Molly's play Elemeno Pea (which she talks about here) was a hit at the Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival of New Plays.

What a MASSIVE year – go, Molly, go!

Nothing says "spring" like a musical

Award-winning play by Obolensky to be featured in Samuel French's OOB fest

Alum Masha Obolensky’s ten-minute 'Girls Play,' sponsored by the Huntington Theatre Company, has been selected to participate in Samuel French’s Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival.

Chosen from more than 1,000 submissions from producing companies, playwriting workshops, and university theatre programs, 40 plays will be presented at the 36th annual festival at The Lion Theatre on Theatre Row July 19-24. The week-long event features a full program of plays performed each night.

'Girls Play' was the winner of the 2010 KCACTF National Ten-Minute Play Award, and was also featured in Boston Theater Marathon 12 and at The Source Festival in D.C.

Congratulations, Masha!

Kuntz's 'Hotel' gets five-star rating at Nortons

Johnny as The Woman with Wings. Photos by Stratton McCrady

Congratulations to alum John Kuntz, who last night took home the 2011 Elliot Norton Award for "Outstanding New Script" for The Hotel Nepenthe, produced in February by Actors' Shakespeare Project. In fact, all the Hotel's guests got mints on their pillows -- Johnny and his co-stars won the "Outstanding Ensemble" category. The incredible four-member cast played 16 characters!

L-R: John Kuntz, Georgia Lyman, Daniel Berger-Jones, and Marianna Bassham

BTM13 = WOW

 

My plan was to get some better photos from outside, of crowds gathered in front of the theatre, etc., but that never happened. And that’s because once I went into the BCA and entered the magic of BTM13, I didn’t come out again until the after-party was winding down.

I sat, with my friend [and BTM super-fan] Pat Gabridge and his daughter Kira, and watched the entire Marathon. (And I recommend that anyone who loves the BTM – as I so unabashedly do – do this at least once.) But “watched” is such a puny word to describe what it was to be there, because to see ten hours of theatre like that is to witness a miracle – a miracle of words and performance, of collaboration, of community. The day had more "moments" than I could possibly list, both onstage and off.

My friend Bob [Murphy, who graced the stage three times yesterday] asked me how I felt by the end. I said, “Humbled!” to experience such amazing work on that grand a scale. And awed. And so very happy to be even a tiny part of it all.

Joyce Van Dyke offers insights on 'Deported/ a dream play,' featured in tomorrow's Warm-Up Laps

BPT Alum, former Huntington Fellow, and award-winning playwright, Joyce Van Dyke, continues to develop her epic play, Deported / a dream play. Don't miss the free reading tomorrow featured in the Boston Theatre Marathon's Warm-Up Laps.

Anna Pattison: In an interview with artsake in 2009, you discussed how Deported / a dream play emerged from family history, improvisational workshops with actors, and collaboration with Judy Braha as director. I'm curious if you've continued to develop new plays using this more collaborative process, or does each of your plays call for its own artistic process? And if so, what other processes have you found beneficial in bringing a new play to life?

Joyce Van Dyke: The process of making this play was completely novel for me. I'd always been a very private writer. But this time I began working with a director (Judy Braha) and a company of actors with the idea of creating a play about Armenian genocide stories. When we all started meeting together there was nothing written down, nothing even conceived in terms of story, characters or style. The hope or dream or gamble was that the play would grow -- somehow! -- out of this collaboration, out of improvising, playing, talking and learning about the genocide. I had no way of knowing what might come of it or if it would develop into a play at all. When I look back now it feels scary but at the time it was exciting and gratifying to work that way. I think I embarked on this process in order to be able to write this particular play. I could count on being sustained by the company, and not have to be alone in my room with this subject.

For Snodgrass, a Marathon AND a sprint this week

As it turns out, BTM13 has not been the only big event for Kate this week. In the midst of all the pre-Marathon madness, last weekend KS sprinted home to KS to deliver the commencement address to graduates of Wichita State University's College of Fine Arts (Kate's alma mater -- well, one of 'em). Here she is with Professor Linda Starkey, Chair of WSU’s Theatre & Dance Department.

What a tremendous honor, Kate -- way to go, go, go!

Israel Horovitz on the Boston Theater Marathon

Israel Horovitz

For me, the Boston Theater Marathon has become a rite of Spring… trees and flowers blossom, I sneeze 24/7, and I write a 10-minute play for the Boston Theater Marathon.

One would think that a 10-minute play takes 20 minutes to write. In fact, a 10-minute play can take weeks to write. Consider the craftsmanship required to build a small (beautiful) picture-frame: 4 corners, 4 straightaways. Now, consider the craftsmanship required to build a large (beautiful) picture-frame: 4 corners, 4 straightaways. A 10-minute play still requires a story worth telling, character development, character delineation, idiosyncratic dialogue, rising and falling action, a strong clear dramatic event, and a devilishly well-observed lesson in life for its audience.

Kate Snodgrass tells me that I’ve had a play of mine performed in every Boston Theater Marathon since its inception. Is that possible? If anyone knows, Kate knows. From my days as artistic director of Gloucester Stage, I remember how difficult it was to produce 6-10 plays each year. Kate produces 50 plays each year. Okay, sure, they’re short plays … but each play has its own neurotic playwright, its own hungry actors and greedy director, and its own overly ambitious design-scheme (“But, Kate… All I’m asking for is Christmas lights and strolling violins! C’mon, Kate! BU is mega-rich! …”) Consider Kate’s mid-May inbox. If Kate Snodgrass isn’t on the Pope’s list for sainthood, a huge mistake is being made.

Playwright Cliff Blake on his first Boston Theater Marathon

A Novice Writer's Second Jump!

I am a playwright novice.  So having any work pop to life from the still black air of a dark stage is still quite new for me.  I don't know if it ever gets old (this will be just my second!), but boy, what a thrill!  

"Thrill" seems a good word for it, since it is exhilarating and terrifying at the same time — sort of like when I went solo skydiving and jumped out of a perfectly good airplane! (...well, it was a tad rickety!!)  Even my Dad, a career Air Force pilot, who sparked the idea for my little play, never even did that!  "Why practice something you need to do right the first time?", he would always say about leaping out of airplanes.

Recent BPT Alums Gear Up for BTM13

A few of our recent BPT alums from the 2011 class, Emily K. Lazzaro, Colleen Hughes, and Phil Schroeder have exciting new plays to be presented in this year's Boston Theatre Marathon. I asked them a few questions about their plays and where they're at in the process of bringing these plays to life. Don't miss their plays at BTM13!

1. How are you gearing up for the BTM?
Emily K. Lazzaro (pictured below): I've met with the director and spoke with him about casting options. Since BCAP (Boston Center for American Performance - the professional extension of Boston University's School of Theatre) is producing my show we are using all alums of BU's School of Theatre, most of them from my graduating class. It's a reunion of sorts, which is really exciting.
Colleen Hughes: My play The Mouse" is being produced by the Firehouse Center for
the Arts in Newburyport. I'm going to be making a trip up there from
 Boston this week to see a rehearsal--I've heard it's going very well, 
and I'm really looking forward to meeting the director and actors.
 I've revised the play once since I submitted it, and if this version
 has any weak spots when I hear it in rehearsal, I'll be able to make a 
few tweaks there.
Phil Schroeder: I've left it completely off my calendar, so I'm really very relaxed about it. I keep telling myself it's sometime in August, even though this director seems overly interested in getting my rewrites. Soon! I oblige when I can. I am raising two kids, one who plays competitive baseball almost every day of the week, and the other who decided this would be a good week to get strep throat and then have an allergic reaction to the medicine. Children's Hospital has a nice waiting room full of stories to write, so bring a laptop. Staying in touch with my inner-artist is a challenge, but through the magic of medications, I'm doing just fine.

BTM13 running order announced!

The running order for next Sunday's BTM13 has been announced! Get your tickets here.

Boston Theater Marathon 13 Line-up May 22 12-10pm:

12-1 PM 

            Share This World, Ronan Noone, Emerson Stage

            Late, Lamented, Lynne Cullen, 11:11 Theatre Company

            The Mouse, Colleen Hughes, Firehouse Center for the Arts

            The Fudgicle Thief, Bill Doncaster, Boston Children’s Theatre

            One More to Go in Beantown, Debbie Wiess, New Repertory Theatre

1-2 PM

           Those Still Living, April Ranger, Theatre on Fire      

           Every Seven Seconds, Dan Hunter, Boston Actors’ Theatre

           Crickets, Emily Kaye Lazzaro, Boston Center for American Performance

           Cat in a Box, Julian Olf, Centastage   

           Welcome to the Hate Store, Jan Velco Soolman, Happy Medium Theatre 

Playwright Patrick Gabridge on the Boston Theater Marathon

Playwright Patrick Gabridge

I'm a Boston Theater Marathon enthusiast.  It's my favorite theatrical event of the year in Boston, by far.  I love its energy and how the day brings together so many members of the Boston theatre community into the same building work together and see each other perform, all while raising money for a charity that's all about caring for members of that community.  How do you beat that?

I try to see every play.  I don't manage it every year, but I usually come pretty close.  Back in the old days, this required a bit more of an ass of iron--nowadays, the Wimberly seats are a bit more conducive to making it through the whole day without numbness and possible nerve damage.  For me, the Marathon is a way for me to check out work by some 150-250 actors, many of whom I might want to work with someday.  I scribble little notes all over my program, highlighting actors, directors, or companies that I want to start following closely.  (And I really do use these notes.)  The Marathon is a theatre smorgasbord where I just keep on feasting (though my brain gets a little fuzzy after watching the first 40 plays or so).

CUNY Reverses Course, Grants Honorary Degree to Kushner

Following up on the theatre news from last week when CUNY decided not to award Tony Kushner an honorary degree due to his political views. It appears they've changed their mind!

On Monday, May 2, the trustees for the City University of New York voted to rescind an offer of an honorary degree to playwright Tony Kushner after Trustee Jeffrey S. Weisenfeld claimed that Kushner had been overly critical of Israel and supported a boycott of Israel. Kushner replied with an open letter to the CUNY claiming he had been “publicly defamed,” attacking Weisenfeld’s characterization of his political views, and asking for an apology for the “careless way in which my name and reputation were handled.” Facing mounting pressure from the CUNY faculty union, donors and other honorary degree holders, the CUNY trustees reversed the decision on Monday, May 9, and elected to award Kushner the degree...(read more from Stage Directions News)

Award-winning playwright also reigns playwriting Q&A

Playwright Szymkowicz

Last weekend, playwright Adam Szymkowicz announced he has interviewed 350 playwrights on his blog. 

For the uninitiated, Adam is, like, the King of the Q&A. At least to me. This 350 milestone is a pretty impressive feat – take a look at the comprehensive list of playwrights here, and you'll immediately be among friends. Adam's subjects have included BPT alums (Playwright #9 and Playwright #186) and other Boston-area folks (Playwright #17, Playwright #193, Playwright #74, Playwright #134). The interviews are funny, insightful, and chock full of lessons in playwriting (and in life, actually!).

But that's not all: I make a habit of checking in on this blog from time to time because in addition to his mini-interviews, Adam posts about his own experiences as a playwright. The blog is full of really terrific, spot-on advice like this post. 

This is a great one to add to your blogroll!

Diamond receives Wimberly Award

Lydia Diamond received this year’s Wimberly Award from the Huntington Theatre Company at the theatre's annual Spotlight Spectacular! gala benefit last night. The Wimberly Award is the highest honor given by the Huntington. See Boston.com's blurb and a photo here.

Lydia recently won the IRNE Award for Best New Play (Large Theatre) for the Huntington’s production of Stick Fly.

Congratulations, Lydia! You are on a roll!

Dance Break: the Human Form(s)

Playwrights give us the skeleton of a character.  Actors flesh it out.  Let's hear it for 13.5 minutes of muscle!  Pilobolus performs Symbiosis for TED in 2005.  

Top Theatre News: Tony Kushner denied honorary degree from CUNY due to Israel/ Palestine views

Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright, Tony Kushner, has openly criticized Israeli politics and has supported Palestinian rights. CUNY Trustees are less than thrilled.

Read Tony Kushner's response to CUNY's decision.

The Headline on today's Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman

Blood Rose Rising: Final Episode Tonight, 5/6 at 9pm!

BPT playwriting alum and talented actor, Steve Barkhimer, co-wrote an exciting, experimental theatrical mini-series now being workshopped at Zero Church Street in Cambridge. I attended last week's episode and had a blast -- and tonight is the conclusion! It's a great cast: Vince Siders, Tim Eliot, Victor Shopov among them. If you didn't get to attend the first two, don't worry: they do "re-caps." It's completely new, different, chilling, witty, and it's also FREE. Not just free...but they actually give you booze. The catch? They want your feedback for further development. Not a bad deal. As you can imagine, they've been selling out, so make reservations NOW by emailing info@bloodroserising.com. The show is 9pm tonight. HURRY. It's an exciting opportunity to be a part of something brand spanking new.
Here's a little more about it, or go to their website:

Help give birth to a brand new kind of theater experience. A workshop production of Blood Rose Rising will unfold Zero Street in Harvard Square, over two Saturdays, April 23, 30 the following Friday, May 6. A ghost story, a love story, a story about Boston politics and neighborhoods, it is the brainchild of Benjamin Evett,who successfully launched The Actors’ Shakespeare Project six seasons ago with well-known local actor Steve Barkhimer. It’s also one of the first commercial theater ventures to start in Boston in a very long time. And now it needs an audience to be part of its development.

The productions in April are workshop productions, presented by Benjamin Evett and Honest Ghost Productions, LLC, in order to develop the material with an audience. The performances run about 1 hour. Admission is free but seats are very limited. For information or to make a reservation contact info@bloodroserising.com.

Cinco de mayo: LBD opens in NYC

Bostonians past and present celebrate Little Black Dress with Ronan on opening night

LBD in NYC: Q&A w/RLN

Ronan Noone’s Little Black Dress (which debuted at BPT last season) opens Off-Broadway in a production by The Exchange tonight. Get tickets here. Of course, we couldn't let the event pass without convincing him to answer a few questions for us.


American pop culture as metaphor is central to Little Black Dress. Was that challenging, particularly since you are not originally from this country? What made you settle on the icons you did (the little black dress, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra)? Have those choices evolved/changed during the lifecycle of the play?

Those choices have not really changed, if anything they have become even more embedded into the content of the play. But it does make sense that you see American pop culture as metaphor in the play, because I see the play, ultimately, as an emigrant play, with Amy representing the emigrant, Jimmy Jr. is the family left behind, Jimmy Sr. is Ireland, and America is the Gigolo. And I don't mean to be derogatory with this symbolism in any way. It is only recently I understood where this play was rooted. I am trying to capture the mixed, frightening, challenging, upheaval of emotions an emigrant feels when they leave their original home behind.

What lessons did you learn working on the BPT production of Little Black Dress last season? In preparation for the play’s production by The Exchange, were there particular aspects of the script you knew you wanted to address?

The BPT production allowed me to work out the kinks during rehearsal, to cut, add and create as we came closer to opening. In truth you can cut, add, and create all you like in a reading or in your writing room but there is nothing like having it on its feet, and actors aware that an opening night is only a couple of weeks away. There is a superb clarity and focus with that awareness. You don't have that time in New York. I have never found New York suitable towards workshopping or on the feet adaptability. In New York, I tweak the play. But I’m lucky -- BPT lets me create the play I want and gives it the production I envision.

Guest blog: The Meandering Journey of ‘My Occasion of Sin,’ by Monica Bauer

Playwright Monica Bauer

Monica Bauer is a BPT alum from the class of 2006. Her play My Occasion of Sin is currently in its world-premiere run at The Shelterbelt Theatre (tickets available on the Web site) in Omaha, NE, where it has received glowing reviews, such as this one. The story of how this production came together is a terrific reminder for all of us that the pathway from the page to the stage can often be a winding one, and I'm so glad she was willing to share it here. 

Congratulations, Monica!

Every once in a while, I try to make a plan for the development of a play. “My Occasion of Sin”, a play about the 1969 race riots in my home town of Omaha, Nebraska, was supposed to launch me into the world as a successful playwright, five years ago.

My original plan was to finish it during my year at BPT, where it would be my Thesis Play, and go on to sweep the Kennedy Center Awards. Instead, I was stuck trying desperately to find the tone between tragedy and comedy, and ended up sticking the play in a drawer for several years.

It might have stayed there forever, if I hadn’t read in American Theater Magazine that Johnny Carson had left several million dollars to his alma mater, the theater department at the University of Nebraska. I cold-called the head of the department, who put me in touch with the Artistic Director for Nebraska Repertory Theater, a summer professional theater allied with the University (and the only Equity company in the state). The Artistic Director wrote a grant, and gave me money to fly out to Lincoln, Nebraska twice over a 4 month period to workshop the play, re-write, then have a staged reading for the Nebraska Rep subscribers. The reading was scheduled for the summer of 2007.

BTM Recommendations

The Boston Theater Marathon is fast upon us, so I thought I'd write a bit about how I've experienced it over the past few years. Here are some helpful recommendations: 

Don't drink too much coffee. As much as we all like the free Starbucks coffee, please remember that if you drink a lot of caffeine, you will crash and burn somewhere near the eight o'clock hour. Please drink responsibly.

Don't be startled to see any of the following walking around the Calderwood: someone with a gapping head wound, a bedazzled Hitler, dolphins, Shakespeare, AK-47 toting soldiers and any number of "interesting" characters.

Plan your day. If you can't see all 50 plays, don't worry, there are only a handful of people who have done it over the years. Try to pick the plays you want to see, have lunch out and come back refreshed and ready for more.

My last recommendation is to…have fun. It's a great day to be a member of the Boston theatre community, chatting with friends, having a few laughs and enjoying some amazing theatre.

See you at the Marathon!

steady falling (mercy droppeth)

Great thoughts from playwright Erik Ehn on today's top news story.

Southern Fried Mysticism: Q&A With Reginald Edmund

On May 1-4, work by this year’s MFA class – Peter Floyd, John Greiner-Ferris, and Heather Houston -- will be featured in our annual Ground Floor New Play Series, along with Reginald Edmund’s Southbridge. Southbridge was the winner of the 2011 Southern Playwrights’ Competition, and is part of the Sister City Playwrights Exchange.

All four readings are free – reserve your seat and get additional information here.

Playwright Reginald Edmund

Tell us a little about Southbridge.

Southbridge was my grad school thesis project two years ago, that was the winner of the 2011 Southern Playwrights Competition, and national runner-up for both the Lorraine Hansberry and the Rosa Parks Playwriting Award. For me, this script is one of the most personal plays that I've ever written. I wrote this piece wanting to examine what it meant for people to really see each other for who they are. I wanted to explore what it means to love, really love, and to love so fully to the point that it can tear your soul out. What it means to love and how it can both heal spirits and destroy them as well. So I hope when audiences come to take part in this journey, it touches them in some kind of way.

Southbridge is part of your nine play The City of the Bayou series – that’s a pretty big undertaking. Was the project conceived as including nine plays, or…?

Like all crazy ideas, The City of the Bayou Collection started off with a singular idea: Tell the story of a singular contemporary neighborhood in Houston, Texas, and experiment with how one moment from a play can directly affect how the next play begins, and how each action one person makes can directly affect and impact the lives of others around them – creating, in essence, a social domino effect, that is constantly rippling. Later I realized that in order to have a full understanding of what America is in the present, and ultimately shall come into being in the future, that we need to closely examine the past. So Southbridge, a play set in 1881 Athens, Ohio became the second play in this series.

For so many playwrights, locale is a character in itself, and it sounds like this may be the case with The City of the Bayou series. Tell us a little bit about this environment.

I write a lot about Houston, but specifically the south, and southern culture. But to examine what modern southern culture is you have to look at how the past impacted that present. My plays and my life is so deeply entrenched in that environment that it, in truth, seems like the only place I've ever truly known. It flows through my blood. But there is something otherworldly about this city feels whenever you walk down the streets at night. There is an oddness to it, where both the past and the present seem to merge in on itself, where there is so much culture and ghosts that weigh on this town. That seems to directly impact my writing. Every play I write, I think the past seems to collide uncomfortably with the present.