OU Playwrights Bound for Kennedy Center

Third-year MFA playwright Ira Gamerman and First-year Jacob Juntunen took top honors at the Region II KCACTF conference this past week. Both writers will see their 10-minute plays advance to the national competition at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival; additionally, Gamerman took home the prize for best one-act. Congratulations to both playwrights!

Started in 1969 by Roger L. Stevens, the Kennedy Center's founding chairman, the Kennedy Center American College Theater (KCACTF) is a national theater program involving 18,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide which has served as a catalyst in improving the quality of college theater in the United States.

Award-winning Kennedy Play Heads Down Under

I'll Hear It When I See It, the award-winning play by 3rd Year MFA Playwright Ira Gamerman has been selected for Short + Sweet Sydney's 2012 10-minute play festival in Sydney, Australia. The play, seen at the Kennedy Center in January 2011, was shortlisted for several Short + Sweet festivals around Australia. From the Short + Sweet website: "Short+Sweet Sydney will produce 180 brand new 10 minute plays in Jan, Feb and Mar of 2012, never before seen in Sydney. With over 300 writers and directors and close to 500 actors involved, Short+Sweet Sydney truly is the biggest little play festival in the world!" For more information, visit www.shortandsweet.org.

OU Playwrights Invited to KCACTF 2011

Molly Hagan (BFA Playwriting '10) and Ryan Dowler (MFA '10) both had 10-minute plays invited to the Region 2 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival through the script submission process. Current MFA Playwright Ira Gamerman also had a one-act invited via script submission.

*UPDATE* - 3/2/11
Ira Gamerman (MFA '12) has been names a National Finalist for the John Cauble Award for Outstanding Short Play from The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. His play SECRET SANTA will presented alongside the other finalists as concert readings during the National Festival.

Ohio University will also be represented by Molly Hagan's play SPACESHIPS AND THINGS THAT LOOK LIKE THEM, which advances from the Region II conference to the National Festival this April.

Since 2005, OU playwrights have been recognized and selected for seventeen major regional and five national awards from KC/ACTF, including winning the National 10-minute Play Award in 2009.

Kennedy 50th Anniversary Celebration Tap Ohio Playwright for Showcase

Second-year MFA Playwright Ira Gamerman was named a Kennedy Center scholarship recipient for The Presidency of John F. Kennedy: A 50th Anniversary Celebration. Along with the scholarship, Gamerman received a two-day residency at the Kennedy Center in preparation for a showcase of his short play I'll Hear it When I See It, directed by Jack Wright of the University of Kansas and featuring actors from the Washington DC Community. The showcase and scholarship presentation was presented in the Terrace Theater, as a simulcast and archived Millennium Stage presentation, on Monday January 31, 2011. Watch the video of the evening here. Gamerman's play is introduced at 30 minutes and 30 seconds into the evening, according to the video's time code.