Alumni news, in brief:

Emily Kaye Lazzaro’s Girls’ Sports opens this Friday at the Factory Theatre, produced by Fresh Ink…

Marvelous Fruit, Masha Obolensky’s most recent play, was selected as a PlayPenn finalist this year…

Lots of alums this year on the bill of Boston Theater Marathon XV: Plays by John Kuntz, K. Alexa Mavromatis, Ronan Noone, Rick Park, Michael S. Parsons, Wesley Savick (co-written with Michael Wartofsky), Phil Schroeder, Michael Towers, Sinan Ünel, and Joyce Van Dyke will be featured in the two-day event, May 11-12…

Taking Up Space, by John Greiner-Ferris, is one of seven new works in Provincetown Theater’s 2013 Spring Playwright’s Festival this weekend…

Monica Bauer blogs about Death by Talkback…

Alumni news, in brief:

Plays by Walt McGough (Paper City Phoenix) and Masha Obolensky (Marvelous Fruit) are finalists for this summer’s Source Festival in Washington, D.C….

John Kuntz was voted Broadway World Boston's Best Actor (Medium Theatre) for Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s production of The Hotel Nepenthe (which he also wrote)…

What’s on your summer reading list, BPT? (part two)

A few weeks ago, we asked BPTers to share the titles on their night stands with us. Here's part two of the official BPT summer reading list...

Masha Obolensky

I am looking forward to reading Laura Harrington's new book Alice Bliss (http://www.lauraharringtonbooks.com/alice-bliss/), and then I will hopefully finally get around to read Patti Smith's Just Kids. And if I am really ambitious (which is unlikely considering the overwhelming desire I now have to sleep all the time) I will read: Middlemarch (Eliot), Freedom (Franzen), Cleopatra (Schiffer), and Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story.

One of my jobs involves doing research on hope and optimism for an author -- so I will be reading books by Martin Seligman and the like (including Learned Optimism).

Marc Olivere

Summertime and some parts of the winter are the only periods when I can get caught up on my reading list. This summer my list includes An Object of Beauty, by Steve Martin. Yes, that Steve Martin, the comedian. It’s his second novel, I believe. A tale involving the art collectors and auction houses in NYC, and a fast, somewhat loose, but no less aggressive woman’s rise to the top of that industry. It started out slow, but quickly picked up steam and became quite compelling. He’s really a fine author.

After that, I’m now into Richard Russo’s book The Risk Pool, a coming of age story set in mid nineteenth century, somewhat autobiographical in nature. He wrote it back in the eighties. It’s part of my quest to read everything he’s written.

Beyond that, I’m looking forward to Phillip Roth’s Nemesis, a must-read-everything-the-author-has-written thing. The same applies for TC Boyle, When the Killing’s Done. And there are two new writers for me to check out: David Foster Wallace’s The Pale King, in honor of his passing. And Rikki Ducornet’s Netsuke. Don’t know anything about her except she’s the Rikki in Steely Dan’s “Rikki don’t lose that Number,” but it sounds like an interesting book.

Hopefully, I’ll get it all in before mid-August when I start up work again.

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!

Barkhimer, Obolensky awarded MCC grants

Steve Barkhimer

BPT alums Steve Barkhimer and Masha Obolensky are among the 29 Massachusetts artists recognized by the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) for creating work of exceptional quality in the disciplines of music composition, playwriting, and sculpture/installation.

Steve was awarded a $7,500 unrestricted grant; Masha was distinguished as a finalist, and awarded a $500 grant.

MCC's Artist Fellowships recognize the unique contribution made by artists to the cultural vitality of the Commonwealth. The fellowships provide direct assistance to Massachusetts artists to recognize excellence and creative ability, and to support further development of their talents. MCC chronicles the impact of these awards in the Fellows Notes section of its blog, ArtSake. Over the years, many artists of national and international prominence have won MCC fellowships.

Congratulations, guys! (Okay, Bark – now you *have* to finish the fish play!)

Masha, Masha, Masha!

BPT alum Masha Obolensky has been selected by the Huntington Theatre Company as a member of its 2010 class of Playwriting Fellows.

This honor caps off an exciting year for Masha: Her 10-minute ‘Girls Play’ won the 2010 KCACTF National Ten-Minute Play Award, and was performed in the Boston Theater Marathon and at The Source Festival in D.C. The full-length version of the script, The Girl Problem, was awarded a 2010 WordBRIDGE fellowship. Earlier this year, Masha received the 2010 PEN New England Discovery Award, and her play Not Enough Air was produced by the Nora Theatre in Cambridge.

Masha joins the long list of BPT alums selected to participate in this prestigious program: Lydia Diamond, John Kuntz, Melinda Lopez, Ronan Noone, John Shea, Kate Snodgrass, Sinan Unel, and Joyce Van Dyke.

Through the Huntington Playwriting Fellows program, the Huntington fosters relationships with talented local playwrights at all stages of their careers, from emerging talents to established professionals, and encourages and facilitates conversations among Boston's playwriting community. Fellows are awarded two-year residencies during which they are provided a modest honorarium, participate in a bi-weekly writers' collective, and benefit from access to the artistic staff and to the resources of the Huntington. The 2010 class of Huntington Fellows was selected from among 65 applicants; the group also includes playwrights Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro, Miranda Craigwell, and Lawrence Goodman.

Congratulations, Masha – we’ll be watching to see what amazing things await you in 2011!