Alumni news, in brief:

Brian Tuttle's August and Autumn begins its second (and final) week tomorrow in Vagabond Theatre's production, right here at BPT...

Back by popular demand: Karen Zacarías' The Book Club Play is slated for a return engagement at Atlanta's Horizon Theatre Company, where the play was a massive hit last season...

"not Jenny" by MJ Halberstadt opens Dec. 6, produced by Bridge Repertory Theater. Read the feature from last week's Boston Globe!

Lots of BPT (and BTM) alums will be represented in next month's Boston One-Minute Play Festival: Steven Barkhimer, Peter M. Floyd, Deirdre Girard, John Greiner-Ferris, MJ Halberstadt, Heather Houston, Colleen Hughes, Dan Hunter, Ginger Lazarus, Emily Kaye Lazzaro, Walt McGough, K. Alexa Mavromatis, Matt Mayerchak, Cliff Odle, Rick Park, Payne Ratner, Karmo Sanders, John Shea, Donna Sorbello and Joyce Van Dyke will all contribute plays to this annual event, now in its third year...

Tuttle's 'August and Autumn'

Alumni news, in brief:

Lots of exciting openings this week: Fresh Ink Theatre’s production of The Embryos by Ginger Lazarus (which runs Nov. 30-Dec. 15 at The Factory Theatre); The Bluest Eye by Lydia Diamond (Nov. 29-Dec. 2) at Brown University’s Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies/Sock & Buskin Theatre; Foreverendia by BrianTuttle (Nov. 29-Dec. 23) at The Black Ship Co. in Chicago…

Monica Bauer’s Made For Each Other has been accepted to the 2013 Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival, which takes place in May…

Next up for John Kuntz is Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s Two Gentlemen of Verona…

Kate Snodgrass, on BPT's new MFA...

Alumni news, in brief:

At The How and the Why

In case you missed it, BU’s own Ilana Brownstein curated a week’s worth of posts for Howlround’s City Series on Beantown. Offerings included this interview (conducted by dramaturg Jessie Baxter) with Lydia Diamond, Melinda Lopez, and Kate Snodgrass... (Also check out Bridget O’Leary’s Q&A with Barry and Larry. Love them.)

Brian Tuttle’s Foreverendia hits the stage at Chicago’s Black Ship Co. after Thanksgiving, and runs through December…

Karmo Sanders tells The Dramatist (the journal of the Dramatists Guild of America) what membership means to her in its centennial issue. Turn to page 18...

Voltaire and Frederick: A Life in Letters (featuring John Kuntz) is a Boston Globe Critics' Pick, but if you don’t have tickets already, you’re out of luck – the Nov. 1 performance is sold out...

Lydia Diamond’s new play Smart People will receive an unstaged reading at the McCarterLabFall Festival this weekend, Nov. 2…

World premiere by Tuttle to open at 11:11 this week

The Great Heathersby Heist, a new musical written and directed by BPT alum Brian Tuttle, opens in its world premiere at 11:11 Theatre Company (where Tuttle is also Artistic Director) this week.

The Heathersby House is a beautiful museum in the heart of Boston that features a priceless heirloom art collection.  Unfortunately the museum is only famous for one thing: theft.  Twelve years ago thieves made off with $20 million in paintings.  Now three down-on-their-luck friends see opportunity where others see only empty frames.  If someone else could steal paintings, why couldn’t a trio of bumbling idiots make off with some artistic loot too?  In this world premiering comedy, everyone comes for the art, but they stay for the heist. 

Check out 11:11’s blog for behind-the-scenes goodies including a musical preview and interview with the show’s composer/lyricist (and production musical director) Erin Murray.

Tickets: $17 general admission, www.1111theatre.com

Alums and friends among 2011 IRNE nods

A number of BPT alums and friends appear on the list of IRNE nominations, announced earlier this week.

Lydia Diamond’s Stick Fly (produced last spring at the Huntington) is nominated in the Best Play (large theatre) and Best New Play categories. Lydia is also nominated in the Best Play (small theatre) category (along with fellow alums John Kuntz and Melinda Lopez) for her contribution to Company One’s Grimm. The Underground Railway production of Lydia’s Harriet Jacobs is also represented in some of the acting categories.

Melinda’s play From Orchids to Octopi (produced by Underground Railway Theatre last season) is nominated in the Best Play (small theatre) category, as is Brian Tuttle’s Her Red Umbrella (11:11 Theatre Company).

On stage, Alice Duffy was nominated for her performance in BPT’s production of Michael Towers’ Five Down, One Across; Steven Barkhimer’s performance in Gloucester Stage’s Table Manners is nominated in the Best Actor, Drama category.

And, of course, the nominees include so many of our favorite actors, technicians, designers, and other theatre artists that you really just need to review the whole stinkin’ list. Congratulations everyone!!!

See Boston productions of 2 BPT alums in 2 weeks!

Two grads from the MFA Playwriting program at BPT, Cliff Odle ('07) and Brian Tuttle ('07), have productions of their own plays happening right now in Boston.

Cliff Odle's play, Running the Bulls, will be presented alongside Jonathan Dent's world premiere, Mr. Glass, at the New Urban Theatre Lab in a joint production called Running on Glass. The plays both explore identity and racism post-Obama's presidential election. Cliff Odle directs his play, Running the Bulls. You can catch the show through Sunday, December 5th at the Julie Ince Thompson Theatre/ Dance Complex in Cambridge. Click here for details.


The world premiere of Brian Tuttle's play, Her Red Umbrella, opens Friday, December 10th at 11:11 Theatre Company, located at the Factory Theatre in Boston's South End. A romantic story, Her Red Umbrella "is sure to warm the soul in the heart of winter." For more information, including dates and ticket sales, Click here.

Support local writers and smaller theatre companies. They are the spice of the Boston theatre scene. These productions are affordable, new, artistic, and socially relevant. Check them out!