Winning weekend

Current MFAs (and friends!) display their awards on the terrace of the Kennedy Center last weekend. L-R: Lesley University's Cassie M. Seinuk, NYU's Nick Carr, and our own Abbey Fenbert and Stephanie Brownell. Not pictured: Steven Barkhimer and Michael Parsons. Read more.

Congratulations, all! (And thanks for the photo, Steph!)

Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards announced

KCACTF winners past and present at BPT for Peter M. Floyd's Absence. L-R: Stephanie Brownell, Abbey Fenbert, Peter M. Floyd, John Kuntz and Michael Parsons. (Thanks for the photo, Kate!)

Great KCACTF news for current MFA students and alums: Abbey Fenbert's Intentions was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting; Michael Parsons' Sumner Falls won the Rosa Parks Playwriting Award; and Steven Barkhimer's Windowmen was a co-recipient of the David Mark Cohen Award. Stephanie Brownell's Eskimo Pie is a national finalist for the KCACTF Ten-Minute Play Award. All four will travel to D.C. next month for the national festival.

Also: Lesley University's Cassie M. Seinuk (our friend and sometime stage manager!) was a co-winner of the KCACTF Latino Playwriting Award for her play From the Deep!

Congratulations all!!!

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!

Winning trio

A trio of Boston KCACTF winners at last month's National Festival in Washington, D.C.: Rick Park (L) won the Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting for Gay Guy, Fat Girl; Lesley University's Lisa Kenner Grissom (C) won the National Ten-Minute Play Award for Tattoo You; and Michael Parsons (R) won the Rosa Parks and the John Cauble Playwriting Awards for his play Homeland and one-act The Lighthouse. All three of these fabulous writers also had short plays in last weekend's Boston Theater Marathon XV (including Lisa's winning play).

Parsons' 'The Lighthouse' wins John Cauble Award for Outstanding Short Play

Michael Parsons

Michael Parsons’ The Lighthouse won the John Cauble Award for Outstanding Short Play at last weekend’s Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF). The award includes $500, a professional development fellowship, and active membership in The Dramatists Guild.

Last month, Michael’s play Homeland was announced as the winner of this year’s Rosa Parks Playwriting Award for plays on the theme of social justice. Both awards are part of the Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards Program, a series of awards presented annually at KCACTF.

Congratulations Michael! (And on your birthday weekend, no less!)

Alumni news, in brief:

Demonio at Clybourne Park

The CFA’s production of John Shea’s Erin Go Bragh-less has been honored by KCACTF as a Distinguished Production of a New Work; director Hondo Weiss-Richmond was recognized as a Distinguished Director of A New Play; and the cast and crew were honored as a Distinguished Performance and Production Ensemble…

Michael Parsons’ one-act The Lighthouse is a finalist for KCACTF’s John Cauble Award for Outstanding Short play…

Don’t miss Company One’s XXPlayLab Festival this weekend, featuring discussion panels and readings of new work by Lydia Diamond and BPT friends Kirsten Greenidge and Natalia Naman…

Parsons' 'Homeland' wins Rosa Parks Playwriting Award

Michael Parsons

Michael Parsons' Homeland is this year’s recipient of the Rosa Parks Playwriting Award for plays on the theme of Civil Rights and Social Justice. The award is part of the Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards Program, a series of awards presented annually by the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.

This comes with a $1,000 cash award, an expense-paid invitation to attend the National Festival in D.C. April 16-20, membership in the Dramatists Guild and with the Playwrights' Center of Minneapolis, and a professional development residency – typically two weeks in duration – with an organization/entity to be determined.

Congratulations, Michael!

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:

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...

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"...

BTM XIV running order announced!

 

12-1 PM

Preview of Coming Attractions by Andy Dolan, Merrimack Repertory Theatre

Saving Walter Cronkite by Cliff Blake, Simple Machine

Lycanthropy by Danny Sklar, Theatre on Fire

A Game of Chicken by Sean Walsh, Centastage

Nothing Personal by Tom Kee, Actors’ Shakespeare Project

The Comfort Station by Robert Brustein, American Repertory Theater

1-2 PM

Shrapnel by Yavni Bar-Yam, Nextdoor Theater Company

Love, Billy Bunny by Peter M. Floyd, Emerson Stage

The Flying Winter Princess by Mary Conroy, Stoneham Theatre

The Experiment by George Matry Masselam, laulapides Company

Storrow Drive by Jefferson Navicky, Playwrights’ Platform

Alumni news, in brief:

Michael S. Parsons -- as though he isn't busy enough this week -- has a reading his play Fire Dance at NYC's Cherry Lane Theatre, part of its Tongues reading series...

Peter M. Floyd's Absence is a finalist in the Alliance Theatre Company's Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition...

Take a look behind the scenes at Werner Trieschmann's Mozart: Revealed, performed by the Fort Wayne Philharmonic last weekend... 

Can't Wait's production of Lydia Diamond's The Inside (adapted by Tasia A. Jones) opens this week...

We blog: Walt Mc Gough on Building vs. Excavation; Karen Zacarías on Outstanding New Plays (from DC Theatre Scene); Kira Obolensky (sister of Masha) on her new play and writing with the audience in mind (from Ten Thousand Things Theatre Company's blog, TTT Talks); and Catherine Trieschmann (cousin of Werner) on Parenting & Playwriting: Having It All on HowlRound...

A great reason to venture south of the border (to Rhode Island): This is the final weekend to catch Cliff Odle in Elemental Theatre Collective's Vacancy...

Coverage of the recent Armenian Genocide commemoration at the Massachusetts State House in The Armenian Mirror-Spectator and Armenian Weekly, at which Joyce Van Dyke was honored for Deported/a dream play. In case you missed it, watch it here...

On the Ground Floor with...Michael S. Parsons

Michael S. Parsons

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 Sumner Falls.

MSP: At its heart, Sumner Falls is about a family in crisis. Melanie Sumner is a Deputy Sheriff in a small Cape Cod town that bears the family name. Her husband has given up his dreams, her father-in-law is proud yet damaged, and an uncle, a convicted murderer, returns from prison to shake up the family tree and bring the past to light. And then the weird stuff starts happening.

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

Alumni news, in brief:

El Demonio Rosa and Cha Cha Picante high-five it on their way in to see Walt McGough's Priscilla Dreams the Answer...

One-act plays by Michael Parsons (House Rules) and Peter M. Floyd (Beleaguered), and ten-minute plays by Colleen Hughes (The Button) and MJ Halberstadt (Peggy's Properties) will be presented at KCACTF's Region 1 competition. The event will be held in Fitchburg in January...