Voices of BTM XVI: Rick Park

Rick Park

The good news: my play got accepted into the Boston Theater Marathon! The bad news: I won’t be in town to see it. I’ll be at a graduation in Tampa. This happened last year too: I got a play in the BTM and had to be at a work conference in Las Vegas (seriously). So I never got to see the magic of Maureen Keiller, Sarah Newhouse and Dorothy Dwyer performing From Your Mouth to God’s Ears directed by Allyn Burrows for Actors' Shakespeare Project (although I was thrilled to hear it at their first rehearsal). And now it is happening again—I will be lucky to see a run thru of The Doppler of My Heart in a rehearsal room. But it’s not just seeing my own plays that I will miss (again) this year. There are so many other things that I always look forward to that I will have to miss again. So here are ten things that I will miss by not being at the Calderwood that Sunday in May:

Final stop this weekend: The T Plays

The Mill 6 Collaborative's The T Plays V: Last Call is chock full of work by BPT and BTM alums. Lisa Burdick, Patrick Gabridge, Emily Kaye Lazzaro, K. Alexa Mavromatis, Robert D. Murphy, and Rick Park all contributed new short plays to the annual festival, which closes this weekend. Don't miss this fun ride!

Alumni news, in brief:

Melinda Lopez talks about Becoming Cuba with The Coast News…

Lydia Diamond contributed the script to Central Square Theater’s Never Far From Home: Love Songs About Leaving, which opens next week…

Zayd Dohrn’s new play Muckrakers opens next week at Barrington Stage…

Rick Park is The Duke in Commonwealth Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona, opening in July…

“It’s the connection,” says Walt McGough…

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).

Alumni news, in brief:

Lots to look forward to in the way of alumni productions this spring and summer…and beyond. Here’s a round-up (by no means all-inclusive, of course):

John Greiner-Ferris’ Plank will get “Fresh Produce-d” by NYC’s The Glass Eye on April 18…

Can’t Wait Productions will present MJ Halberstdt’s The DaVinci Commission in May…

Molly Smith Metzler’s Close Up Space opens at Houston’s Main Street Theater on May 23…

Alumni news, in brief:

Demonio at The Hunt

Deirdre Girard’s Direct Line is on the bill at Image Theater’s FemNoire Mar. 29-30; also this week, her thesis play The Christina Experiment will be part of Stony Brook University’s Rogue Reading Series…

Gregory Fletcher’s short play The Moon Alone is being produced in the festival Boxers & Briefs by Off-Off-Broadway's Artistic New Directions at Theatre 54 in the Shelter Studios and Theatre, March 27-31. Directed by Troy Miller, it features Leigh Dunham, Lue McWilliams, and Bridget Ori.

M. Lynda Robinson (and actor and casting director extraordinaire Kevin Fennessy) will offer a workshop on Mar. 30, The Business of Acting: Approaching a Career, at Zero Point Theatre Company…

Rick Park’s short play Men on First and Third (formerly Go to Helen Hunt For It, part of BTM XII) was voted “Best in Snow” at the Snowdance 10-Minute Comedy Festival…

Karen Zacarías reflects on her residency at Arena Stage…

Park's 'Gay Guy, Fat Girl' wins Mark Twain Prize

Rick Park

Rick Park’s Gay Guy, Fat Girl is one of two recipients (along with Josh Levine's Homemade) of the Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting.

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

Congratulations, Rick!

Alumni news, in brief:

Kate Snodgrass will be a featured playwright at this year’s Great Plains Theatre Conference in May, where she will respond to work from playwrights all over the country…

Joyce Van Dyke is one of nine area playwrights selected to receive grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council…

MJ Halberstadt’s A Mother’s Heart and Rick Park’s Laissez les bon Temps Roulez are part of Heart & Dagger’s Such Times: A Sex Fest of Short Original Plays, opening this weekend at BPT…

And that’s just part of MJ’s busy week, as his short play there must ALways be A KAren is one of three plays featured in Interim Writers’ Have You Read? new play series on Mar. 3…

Colleen Hughes on punctuation personalities and the conflict between being a playwright and copyeditor…

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:

Melinda Lopez

Melinda Lopez is one of 14 playwrights nationwide selected to receive a three-year playwriting residency, part of a new initiative of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Melinda will begin her residency at The Huntington this summer; check out the article from yesterday’s Boston Globe for details, including a complete list of playwrights – Masha Obolensky’s sister Kira is also on the list…

Opening this weekend: Acme Theater’s New Works Winter Festival, featuring plays by Peter Floyd (Love, Billy Bunny), Rick Park (Santer Baby), and BTM vets galore…

Deirdre Girard’s play Dance for Fiona will be read as part of The North Shore Readers Theatre Collaborative’s monthly reading series at the Actors Studio of Newburyport on Jan. 12…

MJ Halberstadt’s The Da Vinci Commission opens Jan. 12 at Cambridge’s Gallery 263…

K. Alexa Mavromatis’ play Bone China is included in the new edition of the college textbook Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief (David Starkey, Bedford/St. Martin’s)…

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:

Plays by Melinda Lopez (Bad Santa, co-written with Maxine Lopez-Keough) and Michael Towers (The Contender) will be featured in An Evening of Theatre and Poetry on Dec. 8, at Lexington's Munroe Center for the Arts, part of its Munroe Saturday Nights series of events…

Lifers by Chicky and Guy (Maureen Cornell and our own John Shea) is part of Argo Productions' Triple Play: New Work Weekends Dec. 7-9, at BPT...

A new play by Karen Zacarías, Just Like Us (based on the best-seller by Helen Thorpe), will bow at the Denver Center Theatre Company’s 8^th Annual Colorado New Play Summit Feb. 8-10…

Rick Park’s Go to Helen Hunt for It (part of Boston Theater Marathon XII) will be on the bill of February’s Snowdance Comedy Festival in Racine, WI…

Coppin State University’s Coppin Repertory Theatre continued its 2012-13 season with Lydia Diamond’s Harriet Jacobs Nov. 16-19…

Alumni news, in brief:

Whoa – LOTS of love for BPT peeps in the nominations for the 2012 BroadwayWorld Boston Awards, including John Kuntz (Best Actor in a Play, Medium Theater for The Hotel Nepenthe), Emily Kaye Lazzaro (Best Actress in a Play, Small/Fringe for Murph and Priscilla Dreams the Answer), Melinda Lopez (Best Actress in a Play, Medium Theater for The Motherf**cker with the Hat), Rick Park (Best Actor in a Play, Medium Theater for Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo and Best Actor in a Play, Small/Fringe for The Friends of Eddie Coyle), and the entire cast of The Company We Keep (Marianna Bassham, John Kooi, Bill Mootos, and Jessica Webb). The Company We Keep was also nominated for Best Play, Small/Fringe, and director Elena Aroaz for Best Direction of a Play, Small/Fringe…

Alumni news, in brief:

Two big openings this week, with opportunities to see alums on stage: Cliff Odle in Race at New Rep, and Rick Park in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo at Company One…

A scene from Peter Floyd’s Absence will be presented next week at the Lark Play Development Center as part of a set of readings from the finalists for the Kendeda Playwriting Competition…

Check out Lydia Diamond’s The Author's America, part of CENTERSTAGE’s My America project…

Jinxed, by K. Alexa Mavromatis, will be included in Colby-Sawyer College’s S.N.A.F.U. 10-Minute Play Festival in November…

John Greiner-Ferris, on a storyteller who inspires him…

Alumni news, in brief:

Steve Barkhimer discusses his Blood Rose Rising series of plays (co-created with Ben Evett) and other projects – and even quotes Kate – on ArtSake, the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s blog…

Rick Park has been cast as Tiger in Rajiv Joseph's Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, which opens next month at Company One…

All the latest on MJ Halberstadt’s adventures (successful writing AND laundry) in Paris…

Here’s a nice DigBoston article about SpeakEasy’s production of The Mother F**cker with the Hat, featuring Melinda Lopez…

Monica Bauer’s The Maternal Instinct is now available on Indie Theater Now…

God save the Queenie

Rick as Queenie | Photo: Evgenia Eliseeva

Rick Park, in the Titanic Theatre Company production of Charles Busch’s The Third Story, which opens tonight at the Black Box at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown. Read all about it in Rick's interview with EDGE Boston.

Rick says: I am playing Queenie Bartlett, the well-dressed head of the mob, as well as my own clone, Queenie 2, both roles originally played by Charles Busch! So come out and see us!

Alumni news, in brief:

Rick Park’s ten-minute play Mob Mentality received the Audience Favorite Award last weekend at The T Plays IV: Rush Hour, presented by the Mill 6 Collaborative…

Lydia Diamond was the featured speaker at the annual “Giving Voice” program to benefit the Royall House and Slave Quarters…

And she’s off-off-off: Here's a nice feature about Karmo Sanders (and husband/collaborator Jerry Sanders), who are in Alaska preparing for the world premiere of their musical Gold Rush Girls, which opens later this month…

Folks who can't make it to Alaska may be off to see "The Wizard of Cahs"...

Ronan Noone and Kate Snodgrass will respond to the playwrights on the bill of Salem Theatre Company’s Moments of Play next week…

Molly Smith Metzler will spend some time on the farm this summer (SPACE on Ryder Farm, that is)…

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)…

Alumni news, in brief:

Barlow, I totally stole your photo. I just up and took it. LYLAS! (And thanks.)

Ourmageddon, co-written by Ginger Lazarus, made the cut: The short will be one of the featured films at  tomorrow night's 48 Hour Film Project Best of Boston 2012 screening at Kendall Square Cinema…

Walt McGough’s Source Festival play Exposure “makes a brief but strong statement about dignity and bravery“ according to D.C.'s Washington City Paper…

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.