3rd Year at Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis

Reginald Edmund, a 3rd year MFA playwright graduating next week, has been named a Playwrights’ Center Many Voices Fellow. This fellowship is designed to increase cultural diversity in the contemporary theater, both locally and nationally, through cash grants, education, and opportunities to develop new work with theater professionals. http://www.pwcenter.org/

Alum at Mile Square and More

Joseph Gallo's play MY ITALY STORY, will open on June 17 at Mile Square Theatre, starring Emmy-award winner Tom Pelphrey. Recently, two of Gallo's other plays were also presented in New York, both of which were developed, in part, during his time at OU (Gallo is a 2008 alum). NEW YORK CITY 523 was given a reading at the Lark Play Development Center, and THE GOON SQUAD was presented in workshop by TDG Productions at the Bridge Theatre, featuring 2007 OU alum Andy Lutz, who recently appeared on Broadway in A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS.

The 2009 Seabury Quinn, Jr Playwrights Festival Info

The 2009 festival was a great success: http://www.ohio.edu/outlook/08-09/May/620.cfm.

Short Plays by 2007 Alum at Source, Sam French & Public Theater:

Laura Jacqmin's (MFA '07) ten-minute play AIRBORNE will be featured in D.C.'s 2009 Source Festival in Washington, D.C. this June. The play has also been accepted into the 34th Annual Sam French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, and will compete with 39 others (for publication and licensing by Samuel French) at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater in NYC this July:http://samuelfrenchoobfest.blogspot.com. In addition, her short play PUSSY was just produced at the US/UK Cabaret: Mis/conceptions at The Public Theater (presented by The Old Vic and The Public Theater) in New York City, directed by Colette Robert.

1st Year MFA's Play a Finalist for Seven Devils

Cecilia Copeland's play Raising the Stakes was recently named a finalist for the Seven Devils Playwriting Conference. For more on Seven Devils: http://www.idtheater.org/7devils/.

Formby's Play to be at Source Festival

Dana Lynn Formby's play Armed with Peanut Butter, the 2009 National 10-minute Play Award-winner, will be produced at the Source Festival in Washington DC this summer. The Source is one of top new play festivals in the country. http://www.sourcedc.org/

Formby Named Finalist for Kendeda

Third year MFA Dana Lynn Formby has been named a finalist for the 2009 Alliance Theatre Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition. From the Alliance web site: "The Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition (GPC) is a one-of-a-kind national competition that transitions student playwrights to the world of professional theatre... Each year, approximately 30 graduate playwriting programs across the country are invited to have their final-year students submit a play to the competition. An in-house panel of readers at the Alliance Theatre reads and evaluates the scripts, and selects a slate of finalists to be advanced in the competition. Those scripts are sent to a national panel of three theatre artists for judging." The other four finalists this year include MFA writers from NYU, Cal Arts, Julliard and the New School. As a finalist for her play The Small of Her Back, Formby will receive a reading at the Alliance Theater as well as readings in New York City as part of the Alliance's annual fall reading series to introduce the playwrights to the New York theater industry. This marks the second time in three years an OU playwright has been a Kendeda Finalist; 2007 alum Merri Biechler was a finalist in 2007.http://www.alliancetheatre.org/newplay.aspx?id=34

Formby Named National 10-Minute Play Winner

Third year MFA Dana Lynn Formby has been named the 2009 National 10-minute Play Award-winner for her play Armed with Peanut Butter by the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. The play received a staged reading at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC during the national festival on April 18th. Formby's accomplishment marks the third time in five years that an OU playwright has been selected as a national finalist.

Formby Invited to 2009 WordBRIDGE Playwrights Lab

Third year MFA Dana Lynn Formby has been invited to workshop her play "Corazon de Manzana" at the WordBRIDGE Playwright's Lab this coming June. During the lab she will have two weeks of rehearsals with professional actors, director and dramaturg. Three OU MFA playwrights were selected as semi-finalists this year -- Formby, David Robinson and 2007 alum Merri Biechler. For more on WordBRIDGE: http://wordbridge.org/.

Jacqmin to be Produced at Steppenwolf

2007 MFA Alum Laura Jacqmin's new play SKI DUBAI will be produced in Steppenwolf Theatre Company's 5th Annual First Look Repertory of New Work this summer, directed by Lisa Portes. The play will receive four and a half weeks of rehearsal followed by 9 public performances. (http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2009/03/26/announcing-the-5th-annual-first-look-rep-2/) Additionally, her short play SPACE appears in 24 x 24: The 24 Hour Plays Anthology, now available through Playscripts, Inc. Her short play MENUS was just produced by Painted Filly Theatre Company in Dublin, Ireland.

Update: First Year MFA at Capital Stage and Babes With Blades

Current 1st Year MFA Playwriting student Reina Hardy's full-length play, "Erratica," will have its professional premiere at Capital Stage Theatre in Sacramento on July 11th, 2009. Capital Stage, which has been called the city's "Best Professional Theatre," selected "Erratica" for a full production when it appeared as part of the inaugural Playwrights Revolution Festival in June 2008. For more info: http://www.capstage.org/thePlaysSeason0809.htm andhttp://www.capstage.org/specialProgramsPlaywrightsRevolution.htm. Additionally, Reina's play "Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride" will be workshopped at "Babes with Blades" in Chicago this summer: http://www.babeswithblades.org/plays.htm. ("Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride" received honorable mention at the KC/ACTF Region 3 festival this past January.)

2003 MFA Alum Jacquelyn Reingold's Episodes of HBO Show

The first IN TREATMENT of Season 2 will air on HBO, this Sunday, April 5th, 9:00 pm, written by MFA alumnus Jackie Reingold. The show stars Gabriel Byrne and Hope Davis, directed by Paris Barclay. Reingold wrote the "Mia" episodes, which will air on Sundays at 9:00 for the next seven weeks. If you're curious about the show, check out the website: http://www.hbo.com/intreatment/. The other writers include: Keith Bunin, Warren Leight, Marsha Norman, and Sarah Treem.

Three OU Playwrights Are Semi-Finalists for WordBRDIGE Playwrights Lab

Third year MFA Dana Formby, 2nd year MFA David Robinson, and alumnus Merri Biechler have all been named as semi-finalists for the renowned WordBRIDGE Playwright's Lab held each year in June. (Biechler is a former lab participant in 2007 and a semi-finalist this year in the alumni slot.) For more on WordBRIDGE: http://wordbridge.org/.

3rd Year MFAs Invited to Prague Writing Program

Kara Dunn recently received the John Woods Scholarship to attend the 2009 Prague Summer Program held at Charles University and hosted by Western Michigan University. The program offers artists professional mentors in their field, the culture and history of the Czech Republic, and the ambience of Prague. This years theme is "The Nature of Mother Nature: Women, Power, and the Environment" http://www.praguesummer.com/. 3rd year MFA Reginal Edmund will also be attending the summer program in Prague.

3rd Year Is a Finalist for KC/ACTF National 10-Minute Play Award

Third year MFA playwright Dana Formby has been selected as a finalist for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival's National 10-Minute Playwriting Competition. Formby's play, "Armed With Peanut Butter" will receive a staged reading at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. during the national festival in mid-April. Only four plays are selected as finalists from the hundreds submitted from graduate and undergraduate playwrights nationwide. Formby's accomplishment marks the third time in five years that an OU playwright has been selected as a national finalist. (Ryan Dowler, currently a 2nd year MFA, won the award shortly before joing the program; including Dowler, OU playwrights have been at the top of this list four out of the last five years running.)

3rd Year MFA Writing Wins at National Tournament:

Third Year MFA G. William Zorn's reader's theatre scripts THE GREAT AMERICAN FREAK SHOW and MAKE VOYEURS OF US ALL took first and second place, respectively, for the Ohio University Forensics Team at the 2009 Pi Kappa Delta National Tournament. Fifty colleges and universities from around the U.S. contributed entries to the tournament, hosted by Louisiana State University. The works were commissioned by OU's Director of Forensics, Dan West. In addition to writing the works, Zorn also directed.

3rd Year MFA Is Twice Named National Runner Up

Third year MFA playwright Reginald Edmund has been named first runner up for both the 2009 Lorraine Hansberry Award and the 2009 Rosa Parks Playwriting Award for his play "Southbridge". Reggie will be honored at the National Kennedy Center ACTF Festival in April for his achievements.

3rd Will Be Doctoral Candidate at WMU:

Third year MFA G. William Zorn was accepted as a doctoral candidate at Western Michigan University, beginning in the fall of 2009. He will be studying Creative Writing with an emphasis in Playwriting.

MFA Plays to be Published in Lit Mag

"Touch The Pillow" by Kara Dunn, 3rd year MFA, and "Mammals" by 2nd year MFA Ryan Dowler will be published in the Third Coast Magazine in the fall of 2009. "Third Coast is one of the nation’s premier literary magazines—and one of only a handful of nationally distributed literary magazines by graduate students. Third Coast consistently publishes excellent, and often award-winning, fiction, poetry, non-fiction and drama."http://www.thirdcoastmagazine.com/.

First Year MFA in Residence

First year MFA playwright Jason Hall was selected to be Playwright-in-Residence for the third annual 24 Hour Play Festival at Marietta College. Jason mentored six collegiate writers who crafted one-act plays inspired by articles found in the syndicated column "News of the Weird"; the plays were given workshop productions and performed the following evening.

OU MFAs Winners at KC/ACTF

Third year MFA playwright Dana Formby has been selected as co-winner of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Region 3 ten minute play festival. Her play Armed with Peanut Butter will now be one of sixteen considered for inclusion at the national festival in Washington DC, in contention for the national ten minute play award. Cecilia Copeland's and Reina Hardy's one act plays were selected as first runner up and honorable mention in the one act play competition.

MFA Alum Update: Jacqmin

2007 alum Laura Jacqmin's play AND WHEN WE AWOKE THERE WAS LIGHT AND LIGHT has been selected as a winner of Aurora Theatre Company's 2009 Global Age Project, along with plays by Joel Drake Johnson, Wendy MacLeod, and Dan Hoyle; a reading is scheduled for February 23. Additionally, her play SPACE wil be published in 24 by 24: The 24 Hour Plays Anthology(Playscripts, Inc.) along with plays by Adam Bock, John Clancy, Mike Doughty, Will Eno, David Ives, Warren Leight, David Lindsay-Abaire, Terrence McNally, Elizabeth Meriwether, Mac Rogers, Lucy Thurber, and Stephen Winter. Her play 10 VIRGINS will be published by Playscripts, Inc. later this year, and both MENUS and PARKERSBURG are slated to be published by Smith & Kraus in the coming year.

Three OU MFA Playwrights at KC/ACTF in Saginaw:

MFA playwrights Dana Formby, Cecilia Copeland, and Reina Hardy are each at the Region 3 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in Saginaw, Michigan this week. Cecilia and Reina each had one act plays selected as two of the top six submitted in the region (comprised of Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin), and Dana's ten minute play "Armed With Peanut Butter" is one of the top six selected for the 10-minute festival there. In the last four years, Ohio Univsersity has had more new plays invited to the regional festival than any other, and more top finishes, including two OU scripts (by Jacqmin & Zorn) tied for first place in the 10-minute competition last year. Additionally, Nick Knittel, a student in Dana Formby's beginning playwriting class, was also invited to have the one act he wrote under her tutelage read at the festival, making it so that 50% of the one acts at the festival this year come from OU writers.

MFA Alum's Play at Actor's Theater of Louisville

2B (Or Not 2B), by 2003 MFA playwriting alum Jacquelyn Reingold, will be featured as part of a bill of one acts at Actor's Theater of Louisville later this month. From the ATL web site: "[Matchgames is] an evening of short plays about one of the most enduring obsessions: affairs of the heart. Whether love is found, lost, botched or misunderstood, this seductive and funny collection of plays explores the tempestuous territory of attraction. The MATCH GAMES playlist is: Controlling Interest by Wayne S. Rawley, Sure Thing by David Ives, So Tell Me About This Guy by D.W. Gregory, Surprise by Mark Harvey Levine, The Processional by Robert D. Kemnitz and Jennifer McMaster, Mr. and Mrs. by Julie Marie Myatt, 2B (Or Not 2B) by Jacquelyn Reingold, The Blue Room by Courtney Baron, Eros Is Sore Spelled Backwards by Martin Russell, and Après Opéra by Michael Bigelow Dixon and Valerie Smith." Reingold is currently on the writing staff of HBO's In Treatment with Gabriel Byrne. For more information on the production, see the ATL web site at:http://www.actorstheatre.org/play_match.htm.