Old Friends and New in 'Deported'

Artistic Director, Kate Snodgrass

Folks, we're finally at the Modern Theatre over near the Opera House for our upcoming production of Deported / a dream play by Joyce Van Dyke, and directed by Judy Braha.  Marc trucked the set from BPT over to the Modern yesterday, and he is over there now rebuilding, hanging lights, setting up sound equipment, et al., in readiness for the technical rehearsals beginning this coming weekend.  We open next Thursday, March 8, in previews!  I'm so thankful to finally be in the space where we can begin to really explore this important and exciting piece of theatre.  It's our last production in our 30^th anniversary season, and I'm sad to see this season end. However, it's going out with a bang!

We have brought together many old friends and new to celebrate our 30 years of new work, and we’re especially happy to be working again with the lovely and talented Joyce Van Dyke (Love In The Gulf, 1996; A Girl’s War, 2001; The Oil Thief, 2008). I am honored that she has trusted us with this play in particular, founded as it is in her personal family history.  We want to do her proud.

‘Deported’ funded on USA Projects

Great news to share: Joyce Van Dyke’s Deported/a dream play is funded on USA Projects…and then some! Currently, the project is more than 103 percent to goal, with nine days still left to donate if you would like. Thank you to all who continue to support this project financially and otherwise!!!

There will also be a fundraising party on Sunday March 4, 3:00-5:00 p.m. at the Armenian Cultural Foundation, 441 Mystic Street, Lexington.

And, here’s a related article to check out, about Armenian Genocide education in Merrimack Valley. Wilmington High School students plan to be in the audience of Deported! Which brings me to…

Opening is quickly approaching, so go ahead and get your tickets!

Floyd's 'Absence' wins Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award

Peter M. Floyd

Peter M. Floyd’s Absence is a co-recipient (along with The Man in the Sukkah by The University of Iowa's Deborah Yarchun) of the Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, part of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival's Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards program. 

The Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award is offered for the outstanding student-written script that explores the human experience of living with a disability.

The award will be presented on April 21 in the Kennedy Center Family Theater.

Congratulations, Peter!

Alumni news, in brief:

Walt McGough

Walt McGough is DOUBLY nominated in the IRNE Awards' Best New Play, Small Theater category for The Farm (BPT) and Priscilla Dreams the Answer (Fresh Ink Theatre). Walt's short play Exposure will be part of this summer's Source Festival of new work in Washington D.C...

John Kuntz's Elliot Norton Award-winning (and IRNE-nominated -- Best New Play, Small Theater) The Hotel Nepenthe is on the calendar for this summer's Emerging America Festival...

Melinda Lopez's Sonia Flew gets off the ground later this week at Cal State Long Beach. Closer to home, Melinda's newest play, Becoming Cuba, is part of the Huntington's Theatre's Breaking Ground reading series on March 13 -- RSVP here...

Karmo Sanders' Birdie Googins: Accidentally Maine's only Supermodel & Possible Future Queen is now available on DVD. Take a look at a sample here...

Catch Werner Trieschmann read on Tales from the South on March 6...

Richard Snee and Steve Barkhimer will appear in Round and Round the Garden, the third installment of Alan Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests trilogy, this summer at Gloucester Stage Company...

'EH' -- so true!

 

Great photo! Thanks, Sarah Newhouse!

'Deported' update

We're pleased to report that -- with only a little more than two weeks to opening night  -- the USA Projects campaign for Deported/a dream play is 70 percent to goal. To those who have already offered a gift of support, thank you. To those who would still like to contribute, you may do so by visiting here. [A very important piece of information from the USA Projects FAQ: If a project reaches its fundraising goal by the deadline, it is funded. If it does not reach its goal, no pledges are processed, and the artist does not receive any funding.]

And (so you may plan ahead and arrange your calendar accordingly) there are a number of special events happening in conjunction with the play, including post-show talk backs, Armenian dance demonstrations, and more.

Be sure to visit the Deported Web site too!

Alumni news, in brief:

Face It -- a one-woman ten-minute film written by Karmo Sanders will be presented as part of the Vancouver Women in Film Festival next month (and she acts in it, too!)...

Karen Zacarías' Legacy of Light opens this week at Ohio's Denison University... 

The cast has been announced for Monica Bauer's My Occasion of Sin, opening next month at Urban Stages...

A glowing review for Molly Smith Metzler's Elemeno Pea, which closes at South Coast Rep on Feb. 26...

Read The Boston Globe's feature about Blood Rose Rising, co-created by Steve Barkhimer...and hear Bark discuss the series' premise here...

Nice feature about Joyce Van Dyke's Deported/a dream play in The Armenian Mirror-Spectator...

Check out how Jonathon Myers puts his MFA to work...

What do theatres need to do to save themselves? Colleen Hughes weighs in, in response to Brendan Kiley's post in The Stranger...

Meme fever!

These have been making their way around Facebook and Twitter and tickling my funny bone this week, so of course I had to put them up here... (Would love to credit these creative peeps, but these things are passed around so much who knows where they actually originate, so I'll just say Thank you, magical mysterious meme makers!)

The Wow Factor

Vanessa Rios y Valles | Photo: Petr Jerabe

Leslie Dillen tells us about the new way of working that inspired her Psalm of the Castle, which opens tomorrow night at Santa Fe’s Theaterwork as part of its Four by Four festival of chamber plays. Boy, do I wish I could see this!

Six months ago my writing life changed. I put the play back in my playwriting and discovered a new direction for my work. The director, David Olson of Theaterwork, a theater company here in Santa Fe, approached me and three other women writers to generate four chamber plays from our individual responses to an American woman poet, living or dead, of our choosing. Whatever we wrote Theaterwork would give these pieces full productions in February of 2012! 

Wow! I’ve never had anyone say to me whatever you write we will produce, especially before it’s even written. So right away that took care of that wretched critic voice inside that says, who’s going to want to produce this?! Of course quickly that voice was replaced with the fear voice that said, you don’t know poetry or poets so how can write this? 

Love-filled alumni news, in brief:

Monica Bauer's Off-Broadway bound My Occasion of Sin was awarded Best New Script at the Omaha Arts and Entertainment Awards, and her Made For Each Other was accepted to the Edinburgh Free Fringe...

Joyce Van Dyke's Deported/a dream play -- which opens on Mar. 8 -- is on the list of The Boston Globe's Critic's Picks...

Great review of Molly Smith Metzler's Elemeno Pea, now playing at South Coast Rep, right here...

Blood Rose Rising (co-written by Steve Barkhimer) opens Feb. 17 at the Davis Square Theatre, and Will Fancher's The River Was Whiskey opens at Middle Tennessee State University on Feb. 16...

Our Girl in Trenton, by Cliff Odle, will be part of Central Square Theatre's PlayPen Readings on Feb. 27...

Richard Snee will appear in the world premiere of Boston Children's Theatre's Reflections of a Rock Lobster Mar. 3-11...

The curtain will come down on the Broadway production of Lydia Diamond's Stick Fly on Feb. 26. Get tickets...

MJ Halberstadt reflects on the KCACTF Region 1 experience on his blog, and you can watch Colleen Hughes' KCACTF entry The Button here...

Alumni news, in brief:

Coming soon: Blood Rose Rising, co-written by Steve Barkhimer (with Ben Evett), opens Feb 17 at Somerville's Davis Square Theatre. Keep tabs on this intriguing project here and here, and contribute to the production through its Kickstarter campaign...

What did Kate Snodgrass have to do with Boston Children's Theatre's production of Calvin's Monster? Read this article from The Boston Globe and find out...

A nice review of Molly Smith Metzler's Elemeno Pea, at South Coast Rep through Feb. 26...

And Monica Bauer's hometown paper kicks off the press coverage for her Off-Broadway bound My Occasion of Sin...

Metzler's 'Close Up Space' named Blackburn Prize finalist

Molly Smith Metzler

Molly Smith Metzler’s Close Up Space – which closed last week at Manhattan Theatre Club – has been selected as a finalist for the 2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Congratulations, Molly! We can’t wait to see where this adventure takes you next! [Molly's Elemeno Pea opens at South Coast Rep Rep tomorrow night.]

Here’s the official announcement from the Blackburn Prize Web site:

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has announced 10 Finalists for its prestigious playwriting award, now celebrating its thirty-fourth year.

The ten Finalists for the 2011-2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, chosen from over 100 submitted plays, are:

Johnna Adams – Gidion’s Knot (U.S.); Alice Birch – Many Moons (U.K.); Madeleine George - Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England (U.S.); Jennifer Haley – The Nether (U.S.); Nancy Harris – No Romance (Ireland); Zinnie Harris – The Wheel (U.K.), Jaki McCarrick – Belfast Girls (U.K.), Molly Smith Metzler – Close Up Space (U.S.); Meg Miroshnik - The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (U.S.); Alexis Zegerman – The Steingolds (U.K.).

The Winner of the 2011-2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize will be named at the Awards Presentation on February 28th in London.