Alumni news, in brief:

Two plays by Monica Bauer -- her one-acts Made for Each Other and The Year I Was Gifted (which she performs) -- are playing at NYC's Stage Left Studio every Friday night through April 4...

Here's John Kuntz in The Whale, which opens at SpeakEasy Stage this week...

News about this summer's Last Frontier Theatre Conference: Jaclyn Villano's The Company We Keep has been invited to be part of the 2014 Play Lab, and Michael Parsons' Sumner Falls has been selected as an alternate...

Karmo Sanders is "back to funny business"...

Weekend festival features plays by Halberstadt, Parsons, and Villano

Forgive me for stating the obvious here, but what an incredible line-up of last season's KCACTF Region I finalists (including Michael S. Parson's Cauble Award-winning play) at KNOW Theatre in Binghamton. Congratulations, guys! Fabulous!

Alumni news, in brief:

Lots of BPT love in the 2013 IRNE nominations last weekend: Jaclyn Villano’s The Company We Keep (Best New Play, Small Theatre); Molly Trainer (Best Costume Design, Small Theatre, for Deported/a dream play); Steven Barkhimer for his work onstage (Best Supporting Actor – Musical, Small/Mid-size Theatre) and off (Best Music Director, Small/Mid-size Theatre) in Stoneham Theatre’s Lumberjacks in Love; Melinda Lopez (Best Supporting Actress – Drama, Small/Mid-size Theatre) for The Motherf**ker With the Hat at Speakeasy Stage; and Rick Park (Best Supporting Actor – Drama, Small/Mid-size Theatre) for Company One’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo…

Alumni news, in brief:

Jaclyn Villano’s Unanswered, We Ride is at Seattle Rep tonight – part of the monthly reading series presented by the Northwest Playwrights Alliance…

Read this nice feature about Dan Hunter’s Legally Dead in The Boston Globe…

Check out John Greiner-Ferris’ recap of Hovey Players’ 24-Hour Play Festival…

Now how's this for some alumni news:

Reunion: At last week's KCACTF Region 1 Festival in Hyannis, BPT classmates (L-R) MJ Halberstadt, Jaclyn Villano, and Michael Parsons. All three have plays (MJ's ten-minute w4m, Jaclyn's one-act The Rain Fell Up, and Michael's one-act The Lighthouse) advancing to the National Festival in April as Region 1 Finalists.

Congratulations, team!

Alumni news, in brief:

Mark your calendars for Jan. 5-7! Lots of alums have contributed brand new one-minute plays to debut in the second annual Boston One-Minute Play Festival. In fact, most of the playwrights have some sort of connection to BPT -- take a look: Liz Duffy Adams, Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro, Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich, Steven Bogart, Michael Bradford, Elisabeth Burdick, Elenor Burgess, Bill Doncaster, Thom Dunn, Stephen Faria, Peter Floyd, Patrick Gabridge, Deirdre Girard, Kirsten Greenidge, David Valdes Greenwood, Israel Horovitz, Colleen M. Hughes, Dan Hunter, Obehi Janice, Lila Rose Kaplan, Ginger Lazarus, Emily Kaye Lazzaro, Christopher Lockheardt, K. Alexa Mavromatis, Grant MacDermott, Walt McGough, James McLindon, Tyler Monroe, Nina Louise Morrison, Mwalim *7, Natalia Naman, Jack Neary, Rick Park, Lindsay Soson, Noah Tobin, Ken Urban, Joyce Van Dyke, and Jaclyn Villano. See you there…

Alumni news, in brief:

One-act plays by Michael Parsons (The Lighthouse) and Jaclyn Villano (The Rain Fell Up), and ten-minute plays by MJ Halberstadt (w4m) and Jaclyn Villano (Ratings Worthy) will be presented at the KCACTF Region 1 Festival. The event will be held in Hyannis in January...

Walt McGough has been announced as one of the Huntington Theatre Company’s 2012-14 cohort of Huntington Playwriting Fellows. Catch a reading of his play The Haberdasher tonight at 7 p.m. at BPT, part of Boston Actors Theater’s Beantown Reading Series…

A very nice review of Fresh Ink’s production of Ginger Lazarus’ The Embryos, which starts its final weekend of performances on Thursday...

Final week!

Demonio wants to be sure you remember that this is the final week of Jaclyn Villano’s The Company We Keep. If you haven’t had the chance to catch it yet, there are $10 fee-free tickets available tonight, Friday, and Sunday. Don’t miss out!

New Pages

John Kooi and Marianna Bassham

Unlike previously produced works, new scripts offer the actor a unique opportunity.  The only “givens” are the writer’s words and perhaps some character notes.  Nothing else is known.  The slate is clean.  As an Actor, I relish the opportunity to work in collaboration with the writer to probe, question and explore.  Creating a character that has never before existed.

Since new scripts are usually an evolving entity (how many new pages today?), technique and craftsmanship take on an almost hyper-importance.  I find myself repeatedly returning to those basic acting questions:  What are the given circumstances?  What drives and motivates this character?  What is important to them?  What is the nature of their relationships to the other characters?  In order to make this character multi-dimensional, you have to keep yourself grounded in the basic “realities” of their world.  Connecting with the playwright’s words and the other Actors begins the process of breathing life into these characters.  As they grow, discoveries are made.  The playwright tweaks and refines and new questions arise.  More new pages!  Clearer thoughts and motivations!  It is at once an exhilarating and terrifying process.  And it is perhaps the pinnacle of artistic contribution for the Actor.


John Kooi

How a Play Comes Alive

We have walls today. Wedding china, too. As I enter the theatre, I feel a rush of excitement, as I do before every rehearsal. More elements are in place, the show is more alive than it was yesterday. Tomorrow, it will be richer still. Opening night approaches fast. 

It’s terrifying. But it’s the best kind of terror, like reaching the highest point of a roller coaster, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be strapped in for the ride. 

Bringing The Company We Keep from page to production has been an incredible journey. What began as a writing exercise last March soon became a full-length play and my constant companion for the last six months. Five drafts later, the play feels ready to be on its feet, in front of an audience. Which is good, because we open in a week. 

None of this would happen, of course, without BPT’s commitment to advancing new plays. I am grateful for the support system that has surrounded Company since its inception. From its early days in Melinda’s workshop, this script has found unwavering guidance and encouragement from Kate, Melinda, Ronan, and Richard; from my fellow playwrights, Michael, MJ and Rick; and from other trusted theater artists. The rehearsal process expanded the circle to include a tremendous production team, each of them working to champion the play.

2012/2013 Season Announcement

PURCHASE A PLAYWRIGHTS' PASS SUBSCRIPTION FOR $47 OR A STUDENT SUBSCRIPTION FOR ONLY $27. CLICK HERE.

Our season begins with recent BPT alumna Jaclyn Villano’s biting (pun intended) comedy of manners, The Company We Keep. Here the shark metaphor is apt. New to Georgetown with a law professorship and a freshly renovated home, attorneys Harry and wife Ellie are having difficulty settling their 12-year-old son into the new school. When their best friends Katherine and Greg come to the housewarming with surprises of their own, what ensues tests the bonds of friendship, marriage, and parenthood in surprising, even shocking ways.

The Company We Keep by Jaclyn Villano

Directed by Elena Araoz

October 4 – 21

Purchase Tickets

Alumni news, in brief:

Malarkey Films’ Ourmageddon – co-written by Ginger Lazarus – was the recipient of four awards (runner-up for Best Film, Best Use of Music, Best Acting – Ensemble, and Best Use of Line of Dialogue) at last week’s 48 Hour Film Project Best of Boston 2012…

Speaking of films, Peter Tamaribuchi’s Undiscovered Country is in the works. Check out the Indiegogo fundraising page…

The Boston Globe loves Car Talk: The Musical!!! (by Wes Savick, music by Michael Wartofsky)…

Take-charge DIY MFAs discuss 'Room to Live'

Okay, this year’s MFA class is so resourceful and infused with the DIY spirit that they not only have a second set of new plays to present to the world (right on the heels of their work featured in last month’s Ground Floor New Play Series), they interviewed themselves all about it! MJ Halberstadt, Michael S. Parsons, Rick Park, and Jaclyn Villano talk about the Room to Live Plays, opening tonight. Great job with the questions, MP!

Let’s start with the first question: Who are you?  

JV: I am a playwright from New York and Texas, and I’ve lived in many places. I love to travel, which is often reflected in my plays. And I love my family, which is always reflected in my plays. I wrote Shoe Baby.

MJH: I came to Boston from Long Island five years ago to attend Emerson College (BA, Theatre Education, 2010). By day I'm an admissions counselor for my alma mater, but by night a playwright seeking to figure out his voice and where to go post-BU. I wrote Not Jenny.

MP: I’m a playwright from the Midwest -- Ohio, to be precise, where I’ve lived most of my adult life. I’ve come to BU for an MFA in Playwriting. I wrote Homeland. 

RP: I'm an actor, director, and playwright based in Boston for the past 20+ years. I wrote Scene 8. 

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.

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"...

On the Ground Floor with...Jaclyn Villano

Jaclyn Villano

On April 29-May 3, work by this year’s MFA class – MJ Halberstadt (May 1), Michael S. Parsons (May 3), Rick Park (April 29), and Jaclyn Villano (May 2) – will be featured in our annual Ground Floor New Play Series, along with BPT Visiting Professor Richard Schotter’s The Sussman Variations (April 30). We celebrate these exciting writers on the blog by offering an inside look at them and their plays!

All five readings are free and begin at 7 p.m. – reserve your seat and get additional information.

 

KAM: Tell us a little about The Company We Keep.

JV: The premise of The Company We Keep is simple: upon moving to the same city, four longtime friends reunite for lunch. Of course, nothing stays simple or goes as planned. Everyone is guarding secrets, and before the main course is served, the group is rocked by betrayal and transgressions. The friendly lunch devolves into a ruthless, high-stakes struggle for power among the four friends. Things get ugly. Really ugly. I’m considering the tagline: This is not your mother’s luncheon. 

Behind the scenes at KCACTF Region 1...

They may not have won any awards this time around -- although it should be said that it's a huge honor to have work selected for regional competition, so congratulations, guys! -- but BPTers had a good time making friends at last week's KCACTF Region 1 competition at Fitchburg State University. Roving photog Kate shared a few pictures...

Colleen Hughes and Lesley University's Angel Nunez