Three OU MFAs Commissioned by OU School of Nursing:

Nick Sgouros, G. William. Zorn, and Dana Formby were each commissioned for $1000 by Ohio University's School of Nursing to write one act plays about living with type II diabetes in Appalachia. The scripts will be part of a program for Appalachian communities to raise awareness about the complications of type II diabetes.

Three Recent OU Playwriting Alums at Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens:

In a press release dated Tuesday, Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago has announced that Aaron Carter (MFA 2005), Laura Jacqmin (MFA 2007) and Merri Biechler (MFA 2007) will all be an integral part of that theater's future through commissions and professional workshops with an eye toward producing them in coming seasons. From the press release: "Aaron Carter and Laura Jacqmin are each receiving commissions to develop new plays for consideration by Victory Gardens. Additionally, playwright Merri Biechler will see her new play Real Girls Can't Win! -- a comedy with an all-female cast examining technology, body image and popularity at an unnamed college -- receive a professional workshop at Victory Gardens this December, culminating in a staged reading that will be free and open to the public. These commissions and workshop are part of Victory Gardens' New Audiences for New Plays initiative, funded by a Wallace Foundation Excellence Award." You can also read more about it at the Chicago Tribune web site -- click here.) For more information on Merri Biechler, Aaron Carter or Laura Jacqmin, visit the alumni page of this web site.

Recent MFA Alum a Finalist for Clubbed Thumb's $15,000 Commission:

OU MFA Playwriting alum Merri Biechler (MFA 2007) is one of six finalists for Clubbed Thumb theater's prestigious playwriting commission. Clubbed Thumb commissions, develops, and produces funny, strange, and provocative new plays. Since its founding in 1996, the company has earned three Obies and presented plays in every form of development, including over 60 full productions. http://www.clubbedthumb.org/

2006 MFA Playwright Alum Mark Witteveen Featured In Short Play Festival:

Quoting from a prominent write-up in the Nantucket Independent: "Beginning Thursday, October 25, Nantucket Theatrical Production will present the series "Lessons Learned," three one-act plays from the 2007 Nationwide Short Play Festival and Competition. The plays being performed this year are "Leddy's Chair" written by Don Cook of Charlotte, N.C., "Drivers Test" written by Mark Witteveen [OU MFA '06] of Rochester, N.Y., and "Afterwards" written by John Zygmunt of Lake Elmo, Minn." To read the whole article click here.

MFA Alum's Next Episode of Law and Order: CI

2004 MFA Alum Jackie Reingold wrote the upcoming episode of Law and Order Criminal Intent, directed by Constantine Makris, with actors Eric Bogosian, Amanda Detmer, Lola Glaudini, Alex Moggridge, Chris Noth, Josh Pais, Thomas Sadoski, and Alicia Witt. See it Thursday, October 25th at 10:00 PM on USA.

Recent Alum Nominated for an Emmy

Christopher De Paola (MFA '06) has been nominated for an Emmy Award for his role on WCIU-TV's show "Green Screen Adventures." The official category is: "outstanding achievement for individual excellence on camera: programming - performer". Christopher is also a head writer on the Chicago-based show. The Emmy Award winners will be announced at a ceremony in November.

Recent Alum to Workshop Thesis Play at Victory Gardens:

2007 MFA alum Merri Biechler has been invited to workshop her thesis play, Real Girls Can't Win!, at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago this coming winter.

2003 Alum a 2007-08 Dramatist Guild Fellow:

Justin Boyd (MFA 2003) has been named a 2007-2008 Dramatists Guild Fellow. The program brings playwrights and bookwriters/lyricists/composers together in a workshop and provides mentoring and observership opportunities with theater professionals around New York.

MFA Alum Pens Article for American Theater Magazine:

Justin Boyd’s (MFA 2003) article on the director Anne Kauffman appears in the October 2007 issue of American Theater magazine. Justin is currently an Affiliated Writer with American Theater through the support of the Jerome Foundation.

MFA Alum Co-Produces New NBC Series: "Chuck"

Anne Cofell Saunders (MFA 2000), previously a writer for the critically acclaimed and Emmy-winning Battlestar Gallactica, is now a co-producer of the new NBC television series Chuck. The show is an action/comedy about a nerd who works at a big-box computer store by day, but is a secret-agent by night. It premieres Monday, September 24th at 8:00 pm, 7:00 Central.

Current MFA and MFA Alum Both at Shades of Black:

Current MFA playwright Reginald Edmund, and 2005 MFA alum Aaron Carter both had plays included in the 2007 Shades of Black Theater Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee on September 13th: Aaron Carter's Panther Burn and Reginald Edmund's Goldielock and the Three Bears.

Recent MFA Alum Named Lit Manager of Tony Award-Winning Victory Gardens:

Beginning September 10th, 2007, Aaron Carter (MFA '05) has been appointed as the new literary manager for Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago. (See Carter's bio on the "alumni page" by clicking the link in the green column to the left.) For the complete story visit:http://www.playbill.com/news/article/110994.html

1st Year MFA Play in New Jersey this past June:

Kara Dunn's ten-minute "Seven Questions" was selected for a reading at River Union Stage.

3rd Year MFA Dance/Theater Piece & Summer Productions

Third year MFA Joseph Gallo wrote the text for 80% of Love a dance/theater piece that debuted at the Obie award-winning Ice Factory Festival at the Ohio Theatre in New York, prompting nytheatre.com to write, "...this dance soap opera/symbolist dream play boasts a virtuosity seldom seen." In June, a workshop of Gallo's new play - Warning: Adult Content - was produced by Circus Theatricals at the Hayworth Theatre in Los Angeles. Also on the boards this summer - Ya Gotta Believe! - seen in Mile Square Theatre's Seventh Inning Stretch Ten Minute Play Festival.

MFA Alum's OU Play at JAW

2004 MFA Playwriting alum Jacquelyn Reingold's A STORY ABOUT A GIRL (initially developed at OU) had a workshop this summer in the JAW Festival at Portland Center Stage in Portland, Oregon. Jackie has also started her second year writing for Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Her next episode will air in November.

News Coverage of Recent Alum's Continuing Project With Medical Schools:

2007 MFA grad Merri Biechler's play Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver continues to gather research money, has become a teaching tool for medical schools, and is moving toward even greater community outreach. The play has been developed with the support of the OU School of Osteopathic Medicine and ongoing grants funded by the American Cancer Society, among others. See the article for more information at: http://www.ohio.edu/outlook/06-07/August/800n-067.cfm

Recent MFA Alum Commissioned by Kennedy Center:

Merri Biechler (MFA '07) has been commissioned by the Kennedy Center and the White House Historical Association to write a new play for young audiences. The play explores Dolley Madison's rescue of the George Washington painting from the White House before British troops burned the building to the ground in 1814.

Recent MFA Alum at Steppenwolf:

Laura Jacqmin's (MFA '07) play The Revisionists received a staged reading at Steppenwolf theater in Chicago as part of their First Look Rep series. The play was originally developed in the OU MFA playwrights' workshop.

Chicago Dramatists' Many Voices Project:

OU Playwrights Christopher De Paola (MFA '06) and Aaron Carter (MFA '05) were both selected as finalists for Chicago Dramatists' 2007 Many Voices Project. The Many Voices Project is Chicago's only playwriting contest and readings festival that embraces all playwrights of color. Carter's "Evening News" and De Paola's "Recovered" will be read on July 21st at Chicago Dramatists.

'03 MFA Alum in American Theater Magazine:

Justin Boyd (MFA 2003) has been named a 2007-2008 Affiliated Writer with American Theater magazine. He will receive a $3,000 fellowship to write 3-4 articles between July 2007 and July 2008.

2nd-year Play Reading at Knightsbridge in L.A.:

Nick Sgouros' 2007 festival play, School by the Sea, will have a staged reading on Sunday June 24th at the Knightsbridge Theatre in Los Angeles. www.knightsbridgetheatre.com

3rd-year Plays at Clubbed Thumb and Guerilla Cabaret:

Laura Jacqmin's one-minute play "Ohio" will be produced in Clubbed Thumb's "A Pageant of the 50 States (and more)" this Wednesday, May 30, at the Ohio Theatre in NYC as a prelude to their Summerworks Festival. In addition, her new ten-minute play "Advisor", will be also be produced in NYC this June by Guerilla Cabaret at Collective: Unconscious, dir. Pirrone Yousefzadeh. See guerillacabaret.com for more info and tickets.

3rd-year MFA Play Wins Another Major Award and Earns More Grant Money:

In addition to being a Kendeda Finalist with readings in New York and Atlanta, and an participant in the upcoming WordBRIDGE Playwrights Lab, Merri Biechler's play Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver has been named the winner of the 2007 Jane Chambers Student Playwriting Award. It will have a reading at the annual conference of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education this July in New Orleans.

Also, Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver Palliative Educational Program has just this week been named as the recipient of an Ohio University Research and Scholarly Affairs Committee grant in the amount of $6,500. This grant will be used to develop the play as part of an educational program to teach end-of-life and caregiving issues to medical students. (With this grant OU MFA Playwrights have now pulled in nearly $60,000 in funds to support and develop their new plays in the last two years alone.)

2004 MFA Alum Pens Season Finale of Law and Order: Criminal Intent

Jacquelyn Reingold's final episode of the season will air will air Monday, May 21 and Tuesday, May 22, at 9PM on NBC. (Directed by Norberto Barba, the actors include: Eric Bogosian, Erik Jensen, Leslie Lyles, Julianne Nicholson, Chris Noth, Brooke Tansley, Alec Von Bargen, Kelli Williams, and a bunch more.)

Festival Studio Production Opens:

The studio production of 3rd-year MFA Merri Biechler's Real Girls Can't Win opens this week. It runs from May 16-18 this week, as well as May 24-26 next week during the official festival. The show begins at 8:00 pm in the Hahne Theater at Kantner Hall. Tickets are $7.00.

3rd-year MFA Invited to "The 24 Hour Plays: Old Vic New Voices":

3rd-year Laura Jacqmin has been selected to participate in The 24 Hour Plays: Old Vic New Voices at the Atlantic Theater in New York this year. Here is a description of the program from their submission materials: "The 24 Hour Plays: Old Vic New Voices involves workshops with seasoned theater practitioners, an additional workshop with Kevin Spacey, and a chance to produce The 24 Hour Plays with their peers. Due to Kevin's involvement in Moon for the Misbegotten in New York, we have rapidly moved up our schedule for the inaugural New York version to this Spring and Summer, with a July 2 performance at the Atlantic Theater, one of Off Broadway's most celebrated stages."

2nd-year MFA Earns SEA Grant Money:

2nd-year playwright Joseph Gallo as been awarded the SEA grant for 2007-08 in the amount of $5,500. This brings the total grant money earned by OU MFA playwrights, in support of writing and developing their new plays, to over $52,000 since 2005.

1st-year MFA at Karamu House Theatre's ArenaFest

1st-year MFA Reggie Edmund's play Redemption of Allah Black will be given two staged readings at Karamu Theater in Cleveland. The first reading is on Wednesday, May 16th at 6pm and the second on Tuesday, May 22nd at 6pm at the Karamu House Theatre's ArenaFest.

3rd-year MFA to Attend WordBRIDGE Playwright's Lab:

Merri Biechler's play, Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver, has been invited as one of only four MFA plays nationally to be workshopped at WordBRIDGE play lab this summer, June 9th-24th. Originally conceived by founders Rich Rice of Eckerd College, and David Kranes, founder of the Sundance Playwriting Lab, WordBRIDGE is now hosted by Clemson University in conjunction with Generous Theater Company. (Erik Ramsey, Asst Professor in the OU MFA Playwriting Program, is a three-time alum of WordBRIDGE and returns this year to work as a "dramatic engineer" on two invited plays.) For more about WordBRIDGE visit their web site: wordbridge.org

3rd-year MFA Produced in the Mainstage Season at OU School of Theater:

Laura Jacqmin's thesis play Happyslap opened on the Baker Mainstage on friday night. It runs through Saturday, May 5th. For tickets or information call 740.593.4800. For an article discussing the timely issues the play addresses, visit the Athens News web site: Click Here.

Recent Alum at Victory Gardens and Collaboraction:

Recent alum Christopher De Paola is currently understudying the role of Manny in the Victory Gardens' world premiere production of "Cynical Weathers" by Douglas Post. He will be performing the role on May 8th. Chris has also been recently cast in the play "Autobiography" as part of Sketchbook, the 7th annual festival of short plays produced by Collaboraction and performed at the Steppenwolf Garage. Sketchbook 7 will run May 31 to July 1st. (To see Chris's recent writing accolades, scroll down a little to his latest commission and his TV show.)

3rd-year MFA Published:

Two monologues from 3rd-year Laura Jacqmin's short story West of the Moon are being published in the forthcoming Smith & Kraus anthology titled 221 ONE-MINUTE MONOLOGUES FROM LITERATURE (pub. date Autumn 2007). The titles of
the monologues are "Down There" and "Pack Job."

Recent Alum Commissioned:

Pearson Scott Foresman, the world's leading elementary educational publisher, has commissioned 2006 MFA Christopher De Paola to write a play for 6th graders to be published in their new reading anthology. (See his recent work with children's television programming below.)

Recent Alum Creates TV Show in Chicago (part 2):

Recent MFA alum Chris DePaola's "Green Screen Adventures", a children's TV show, will air in Chicago on Saturday March 31 at 7 a.m. on WCIU. The concept of the show is that actors and writers take stories written by elementary school students and adapt those stories for TV. Children can see their work come to life on TV and get excited about writing and drawing. The target audience is 1st-4th grade. Chris serves as a writer and performer. To see a clip, visit:
http://www.wciu.com/video/featured_video.aspx?VideoName=greenscreen.flv

3rd-year MFA to be Produced by Side Project in Chicago:

3rd-year MFA Laura Jacqmin's BUTT NEKKID will be produced by The Side Project in Chicago in the 2007-2008 season. Dates have yet to be announced.

1st-year MFA Earns Staged Readings at Houston Theaters

1st-year playwright Reginald Edmund's play The Redemption of Allah Black will be read at the Country Playhouse New Play Reading Series on April 8th and his play Juneteenth Street will have a staged reading at Ensemble Theater in Houston on April 11th.

MFA Alum Joins "Brooklyn Rail" as Theater Editor:

Justin Boyd (MFA 2003) has joined The Brooklyn Rail as co-editor of its Theater section. The March issue includes an article that quotes OU MFAs Qui Nguyen and Robert Ross Parker talking about Vampire Cowboys' latest production Men of Steel. www.brooklynrail.org/2007-03/theater

3rd-year MFA to be Produced by Chicago Dramatists

Each year Chicago Dramatists chooses three of its member plays to be professionally produced. The new season has just been announced and 10 VIRGINS by C.D. Resident Playwright Laura Jacqmin (3rd-yr OU MFA) has been chosen as one of the three. Directed by Russ Tutterow, April 24 - June 1, 2008.

2nd-year MFA's Upcoming Productions:

Joseph Gallo's Warning: Adult Content has been selected for production at the Lark Theater in NYC in the Fall of 2007. His baseball play Ya Gotta Believe! has been selected for the 7th Inning Stretch 10-minute play festival produced by Miles Square Theatre in Hoboken, New Jersey, the birthplace of baseball.

3rd-year MFA a Finalist for Kendeda at Alliance (Atlanta):

Third-year MFA playwright Merri Biechler's play Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver has been chosen as a finalist for the 2007 Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. The play will have a reading in NYC in November in connection with SPF/NYC and she will spend a week in residence in Atlanta in February '08 to do a reading there. The Alliance is committed to getting the Kendeda Finalist plays produced at a variety of regional theatres. Other finalists this year include MFA playwrights from Yale, NYU, and UC-San Diego.

MFA Alum To Be Produced at Major Regional Theater:

2001 Alum Chantal Bilodeau's play, Pleasure & Pain, soon debuts at Magic Theatre in California. From the Magic press release: "December 2006 – SAN FRANCISCO, CA: – Magic Theatre continues its 40th Anniversary Season with HOT HOUSE ’07 featuring the best of the new – three world premiere plays by playwrights from a new generation shaping the future of American Theatre. In its fourth year, HOT HOUSE presents full productions of new plays in rotating repertory by Chantal Bilodeau, Kirsten Greenidge and C. Michèle Kaplan and runs Saturday, February 3 through Sunday, April 1... Our 40th Anniversary Season has been about celebrating Magic’s amazing legacy. HOT HOUSE is where we look to Magic’s future. These bold, new plays by exciting new writers keep us on the leading edge,” says Artistic Director Chris Smith... HOT HOUSE ’07 opens with Pleasure & Pain by Chantal Bilodeau, directed by Associate Artistic Director Jessica Heidt. In this sexy, suspenseful thriller, a Midwestern woman finds herself drawn into impulsive and erotic daydreams. When her fantasies spill over onto the page and into the hands of her boss, Peggy realizes she can't have pleasure without pain. Pleasure & Pain previews Saturday, February 3 through Friday, February 9; Opening Night is Saturday, February 10, with performances in the Sam Shepard Theatre." Visit www.magictheatre.org for more details.

3rd-year MFA Wins Aurora Theatre Company Global Age Project:

3rd-year MFA Laura Jacqmin's play HAPPYSLAP is a winner of Aurora Theatre Company's Global Age Project, a "program to nurture and explore forward-looking visions of global import." The play will be presented as a staged reading in April 2007; Jacqmin will be flown to Berkeley, California for the reading and awarded $1,000. To see more about the Global Age Project: click here

Ramsey Nominated for Vice Chair of the Kennedy Center ACTF III NPP:

Pending formal approval by the national executive committee, Erik Ramsey, playwriting professor in the OU MFA program, will assume duties as the Vice Chair of the New Play Programs for the Kennedy Center ACTF III. In addition, and separately from the nomination to Vice Chair, Ramsey was also awarded the Kennedy Center Faculty Fellowship.

2nd-year MFA takes 2nd Place in Kennedy Center ACTF III:

2nd-year MFA playwright Joseph Gallo's short play "Star Song" took second place in the Kennedy Center ACTF III festival's short play program this past weekend. Gallo, and playwriting professor Erik Ramsey were in Milwaukee to attend the ACTF III Festival.

2005 Alum Produced in New YorK

From Melissa Gawlowski, MFA 2005: "A short play of mine called The Cellar has been selected for performance as part of The Strawberry One-Act Festival in NY. It's going to be performed on February 16th at 7:30 p.m. at the American Theatre of Actors, at 314 West 54th Street, between 8th and 9th Ave. (second floor). It's a competition where the audience votes for their favorite play; the winning plays receive prizes and possible publication. Tickets are on sale now, for those in the area, at www.therianttheatre.com. You can also watch the show online, which is pretty fun. My show will be screened all day (I think) Feb. 17th. People's online votes count, as well, towards advancing the play."

Recent Alum and a 3rd-year MFA to Read at Chicago Dramatists

On Saturday, January 6 at 2 PM, Alum Aaron Carter (MFA '05) and 3rd-year MFA Laura Jacqmin will be featured in the 5th Annual Showcase of the New Resident Playwrights at Chicago Dramatists. The showcase will feature a scene from Jacqmin's BUTT NEKKID (dir. Ann Filmer) and Carter's SWAMP BABY (dir. Ilesa Duncan), along with scenes by the other 4 new residents. For more information, see: http://www.chicagodramatists.org/events.