Alumni news, in brief:

August Wilson

Cliff Odle is one of the producers (as well as director and actor in different installments) of The Emancipated Century: August Wilson's 10-Play Cycle, presented by The Trotter Institute and the Performing Arts Department of the University of Massachusetts. The series -- which wraps in January -- includes FREE readings of all ten plays in Wilson's Century Cycle and related events. Next up: The Piano Lesson on Sept. 23...

This fall, Anna Renée Hansen begins work on a PhD in Drama at the joint doctoral program at the University of California (UC) Irvine and UC San Diego. She will specialize in the consciousness of theatre, queer theatre, and Indian aesthetics...

Kate Snodgrass will emcee the Nora Theatre Company's A Night to Remember: A Tribute to Mimi Huntington on Sept. 23...

Here's the trailer for Jonathon Myers' latest project, the interactive radio drama Codename Cygnus...

Lookin' good: New Voices Playwriting Fellows

New Rep Associate Artistic Director Bridget Kathleen O'Leary (back row, L) with the inaugural class of New Voices Playwriting Fellows at the conclusion of the first annual Festival of New Voices. Clockwise from Bridget: James McLindon, Emily Kaye Lazzaro, Colleen Hughes, and Anna Renée Hansen.

Congratulations, everyone!

Playwriting fellows offer an inside look at New Rep's 'Festival of New Voices'

In preparation for this weekend's Festival of New Voices, each of the New Voices @ New Rep Playwriting Fellows (BPT alums Anna Renée Hansen, Colleen Hughes, Emily Kaye Lazzaro, and frequent BTM playwright James McLindon) was asked what they hope to learn from the readings. See what they have to say -- and learn more about their plays -- below.

To reserve your spot, please RSVP by calling the New Rep box office at 617-923-8487.

Saturday, June 9 @ 2 p.m.

Directive 47 by Colleen Hughes

Sr. Barbara O’Keefe has approved an abortion to save the life of a critically ill patient at the Catholic hospital where she works, an action which Bishop Michael Williams decrees worthy of excommunication. When he offers her a return to full standing in the Church if she repents, everyone has difficult choices to make: should Sr. Barbara sacrifice her beliefs to get back the community she loves? Should fellow nuns Sr. Catherine and Sr. Elizabeth support Sr. Barbara in her time of need or, as Williams desires, seek to remove her from their order? Inspired by a true story, Directive 47 explores faith and doctrine, power and compassion, and what happens when those values collide. 

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"...

Alumni news, in brief:

Zayd Dohrn and his wife Rachel

Zayd Dohrn's Outside People opens tomorrow night at NYC's Vineyard Theatre, in a co-production with Naked Angels. Check out the trailer...

This article from The Washington Post has a great quote from Karen Zacarías...

Walt McGough got some love from The Boston Globe...

Molly Smith Metzler is in rehearsal for the South Coast Repertory production of her Humana hit Elemeno Pea...

Werner Trieschmann shared a year-end recap of playwriting-related activities on his great-looking blog, and Anna Renée Hansen compared playwriting with open-heart surgery on the New Rep blog...

Alumni news, in brief:

Cha Cha Picante celebrates Deirdre Girard at her play The Christina Experiment...

A launch party and concert will be held at BPT to celebrate the publication of Dan Hunter's new book Iowa? It's a State...Of Mind on Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m. The evening will feature delicious food by Sivika Pon Hunter, as well as book excerpts and songs written and performed by Dan Hunter. Please RSVP to attend. Books are also available for purchase online...

Spooky alumni news, in brief:

Joyce Van Dyke

The Armenian Library and Museum of America will host a preview of Joyce Van Dyke's Deported on Nov. 6...

Monica Bauer's already award-winning My Occasion of Sin is nominated for an Omaha Entertainment and Arts Award, in the Best Original Script category...

Join Lydia Diamond, director Kenny Leon, and the cast of Stick Fly for a conversation about the play in The Greene Space on Nov. 2...

The Balcony, directed by John Kuntz, opens on Nov. 17 at the Boston Conservatory Theater...

Congrats again to New Rep's New Voices @ New Rep Playwriting Fellows (lots of familiar faces here)...

Karen Zakarías' The Sins of Sor Juana opened last week at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Peck School of the Arts...

Alumni news, in brief:

Colleen Hughes, Emily Kaye Lazzaro, and Anna Renée Pattison (along with award-winning playwright James McLindon) are the first playwriting fellows at Watertown’s New Repertory Theatre…

Stick Fly producer Alicia Keys is composing original music for the Broadway-bound production of Lydia Diamond’s play…

John Greiner-Ferris has joined the board of Another Country Productions…

For a little fun, check out John Kuntz’s account of what it was like backstage at Mortal Terror…

Why New Plays are Important (and FUN): Shifting to an Actor's Perspective

Maureen Keiller in The Little Dog Laughed (photo: Mike Lovett)

When I first met the divine Maureen Keiller, she was playing a seductive polar bear, and from that moment on I knew I wanted her to act in my plays! Like, ALL of them. I was lucky enough to get her as the bitchy, morally challenged Dr. Platt in my play, Memorial, but I have also seen her play all sorts of other interesting roles while reading at BPT. Currently, our local gem is in rehearsals for Big River at Lyric Stage, and she will also be starring in the musical comedy, Pulp, with Georgia Lyman and Michelle Clunie for the Provincetown Cares benefit this October, benefiting women with chronic health issues. She is one busy diva! We are lucky enough to bring her in as a regular presence here at BPT, and I had a chance to chat with her about what it's like as an actor approaching new plays.

Anna Pattison: You get an email from Kate saying, "Maureen, would love for you to come in and read tomorrow." Your response?

Maureen Keiller: If I can possibly do it, I do it. I would do anything for Kate Snodgrass. I would catch a grenade for her. I would throw myself in front of a train for her. She is so passionate about nurturing fledgling playwrights and it is completely contagious.

Emily Kaye Lazzaro and Katherine Alexa Mavromatis talk about plays in the Windy City, things with ‘carrot’ in the title, and pies

Emily Kaye Lazzaro and I have something in common…aside from both being a little twisted. We have plays opening tonight in 4x2, at Gorilla Tango Theatre in Chicago. So we decided to talk about it.

               

KAM: Hey, we both have plays in this thing! Actually, you have two plays: ‘Crickets’ (which I loved at BTM13, btw) and ‘Saving DeShawn, or The Carrot Play.’ What’s that one about? Are we talking about “The King of Carrot Flowers” again?

EKL: I wish we were still talking about “The King of Carrot Flowers” but sadly, no. ‘Saving DeShawn’ is my experiment with writing about race as a middle-class white woman. More middle-class white women need to be opening the discussion about institutionalized racial inequality in America! Just kidding. But seriously, I started writing it because I was thinking a lot about the disparity I see in my own neighborhood and all around Boston and I figured I might as well start a discussion the only way I know how. And then I tried to subvert it. So combine Michelle Obama’s vegetable thing with ‘The Wire’ and throw in some jokes and a switcheroo and you pretty much have ‘Saving DeShawn, or The Carrot Play’.

KAM: That sounds amazing! I love it already! It sounds like environment was really the genesis point of ‘DeShawn’. We associate so many playwrights with specific settings – the places almost become characters themselves. Is location often the source of inspiration for you?

EKL: Absolutely. ‘Crickets’ was heavily inspired by location as well. It takes place at a summer cabin on Labor Day. So the cabin and the time of year are both really significant. But I’m inspired by all different things. ‘DeShawn’ came from me thinking a lot about my neighborhood and Boston and America and human relationships and… pretty much everything. I guess one thing doesn’t inspire me more than another.

Alumni news, in brief:

Anna Renée Pattison has served this summer as an assistant teaching artist for Underground Railway Theater’s Youth Underground, which has its final presentation this week (August 10 and 11) – a staged reading of Money Matters, an original play created to illustrate the emotions and experiences that people have around money. Admission is FREE, but call (617) 576-9278 x210 to reserve tickets ahead of time…

Emily Kaye Lazzaro and K. Alexa Mavromatis have plays opening in Chicago this week, as part of Gorilla Tango Theatre’s 4x2, a collection of short plays and one-acts that examine relationships between men and women…

Alums John Greiner-Ferris, Jess Martin and Richard Snee will all have work in Mill 6’s third incarnation of The T Plays this weekend, as will Rick Park, who starts the playwriting program at BU this fall…

Colleen Hughes and Emily Kaye Lazzaro are off to Playwrights’ Commons’ Freedom Art retreat in Rockhouse Mountain, New Hampshire! Follow the adventures of the entire group of theatre artists on Twitter @PwritesCom and here…

We all had a terrific time

L-R: K. Alexa Mavromatis, Emily K. Lazarro, Walt McGough, Colleen Hughes, Masha Obolensky, Anna Renee Pattison

BPT alums (see some of us in the rather bizarrely-lit photo above) were among the playwrights who turned out last night at Stoddard's for Playwright Night Out, organized by Playwrights' Commons.

Playwrights: Don't miss the chance to mix and mingle -- online and off -- with your Boston-area colleagues. If you haven't already, join the Boston & New England Playwrights group on Facebook to learn about future networking events, community issues and news, and to receive other updates.

Thanks Ilana and Corianna!

Provincetown Extravaganza!

(I'm the 2nd from the left in the top row surround by the brilliant actors, from the top left: Sonya Raye, Vincent Siders, Michelle Clunie from Showtime's Queer as Folk, Darlene Van Alstyne, Georgia Lyman. Bottom row: Lynda Sturner and Latez Crawley.)

I just rolled in from a little land I like to call gay heaven: Provincetown, or "P-Town" as it's affectionately called by those who have been too drunk there to say 3-syllable words. You may recall my shameless plug last week (you know what they say, self-promotion's a bitch, but somebody's gotta do it). So I am Anna Renée Pattison for those who missed the first self-promo. I am a recent "grad" of the BPT Playwriting Program. ("Grad" providing I pass my classes this semester.)

My play, Memorial, which takes place both in a present-day courtroom and in Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, was part of BPT's Groundfloor Reading Series last spring.

Can I share a private moment with you? There is nothing more terrifying than your first reading in front of God-only-knows-who decides to sit in one of those black chairs to judge your "in-progress" work. If people are more afraid of public speaking than death, I can't imagine where a public reading would factor in. Imagine if you will, that you're in high school and write ad nauseum about the boy or girl you're obsessed with (including the graphic stuff you can't say out loud) in your nerdy floral print journal your mom bought you. Your best friend steals it and organizes a school assembly where they get the drama department to act out every last word from your daisy-covered journal. Said object of obsession is sitting in the front row. The assembly lasts 6 hours or just feels like it. Then there's a question and answer session following, where you're tied to chair onstage. I think if you can imagine what that's like, you may have an idea about how vulnerable and horrifying the first reading of your play is. So why do I do it? I guess I'm sort of a masochist...but I also do it for the exciting parts that follow. Like, after that excruciating school assembly, that chick or dude you think you're going to love forever shockingly approaches you and gives you a kiss. Was it worth it? Hell yes. I was lucky enough to get proverbially kissed--we haven't hit a home run yet if you know what I mean, but things are looking good.

Memorial was read again last week at the Art House in P-Town, but this time was a totally different experience. For one thing, I had revised, revised, cut 30 pages, revised, cut a character, changed a character's gender and sexual orientation, revised more, edited more, and revised. Oh yeah, and I revised the play. But it was also different because we had three and a half days of rehearsal (instead of 3 hours), the director knew the play inside and out, and we had lights, sound, costumes, and props thrown in the mix. Also, the theatre had a full bar inside so there's a lot I probably just don't remember. Lynn d'Angona was amazing to collaborate with--which to me means I learned a lot from her, she was open to my ideas, and she was a brilliant diplomat. The actors rocked my world (see photo above) in ways you can't even imagine, which sounds kind of dirty but, you know. It was P-Town during Women's Week. What are you gonna do?

I was also lucky enough to work with an incredibly talented sound designer, Darby Smotherman, who is in her final year of the MFA Sound Design program at BU. It was an amazing experience and a great opportunity. Lynn d'Angona and I are now in the process of organizing meetings to get a full production in Boston. So, with any luck, that "girl I've been writing about in my journal" will want to commit to a steamy "relationship" with a 6-week minimum run. But I have to say, I'm enjoying the ride so far, and I've been lucky enough to work with some remarkable people along the way. I'm excited for what's next on the road ahead--and that's one too many metaphors so I'm out and I'll see you next Friday. Peace.

A New Play to Benefit Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Every year around this time in Provincetown, women come together to celebrate Women's Week and Breast Cancer Awareness Month. For the past 3 years, filmmaker Lynn D'Angona has organized a fundraiser event during Women's Week, promoting Women's Health Services as part of the charity she started, Provincetown Cares. The event includes a female driven play reading and a live auction, all for the sake of--as Michelle Clunie, star of Showtime's Queer as Folk puts it-- "kicking the shit out of breast cancer." Michelle Clunie has starred in each of these play readings, and will be acting again in the reading this year of Anna Renée Pattison's new play, Memorial, inspired by actual events that took place at Memorial Medical Center during Hurricane Katrina.
In previous years, the fabulous Maureen Keiller has starred in Provincetown Cares' staged readings, and recounts a memorable event at the auction last year--convincing Michelle Clunie and Georgia Lyman to lock lips: "The crowd went nuts!" Maureen recalls. And of course, it was for charity after all...

(Maureen Keiller, Michelle Clunie, Georgia Lyman; photo courtesy of Maureen Keiller)

The playwright of this year's Provincetown Cares event, Anna Renée Pattison, was part of the MFA Playwriting Program at BPT this past year, and developed Memorial primarily in a workshop taken with Melinda Lopez. An earlier draft of the play was presented last April as part of the Ground Floor Reading Series at BPT.


You can catch this year's Provincetown Cares event: Memorial, and an auction (where anything is possible) at the ArtHouse in Provincetown- Saturday, October 16th at 2pm and 6pm. Tickets are available at www.provincetowncares.com. The proceeds will benefit both local and national organizations committed to research, education and treatment services for women in our communities.


Alums, share your news with us.