Eric Coble Takes 'Velocity' to Broadway

Eric Coble

Eric Coble, OU alum, is heading to Broadway in 2013 with his play THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN. Led by director Molly Smith, artistic director of Arena Stage in Washington, DC, the play marks the Broadway debut for the Ohio-based writer. Featuring Academy Award winner Estelle Parsons and two-time Tony winner Stephen Spinella, the 90-minute dramatic comedy bows in Spring 2013.

Read the Playbill.com article for more details.

OU was thrilled to welcome Eric as a guest artistic mentor during the 2012 Seabury Quinn, Jr. Playwrights Festival. His play have been produced Off-Broadway, throughout the U.S., and on several continents, including productions at Manhattan Class Company, The Kennedy Center, Playwrights Horizons, Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival, the Denver Center, New York and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, Alliance Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Repertory, Florida Repertory Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Asolo Repertory, Coterie Theatre, Curious Theatre, Actors Theatre of Charlotte, Oregon Children’s Theatre, People’s Light and Theatre Company,  Stages Repertory Theatre, Great Lakes Theater Festival, and The Contemporary American Theatre Festival.

Learn more about Eric at ericcoble.com.

'The Art of Painting' at NYFringe

Third-year playwright Mark Chrisler is currently performing his one-man show THE ART OF PAINTING at the New York International Fringe Festival. The show, which centers around the titular painting, is being presented by Found Objects Theater Company through August 25th.

Critics are calling the show "masterful," "provocative," with "startling eloquence and intellectual depth." You can reviews for Mark's show at backstage.com and nytheatre.com.

Mark returns to Athens shortly after his NYFringe run to complete his MFA. You may have seen Mark's work at the 2011 or 2012 Seabury Quinn, Jr. Playwrights' Festival where he presented EXPECTING and TAKING UP SERPENTS, respectively.

Learn more about Mark and his work at www.markchrisler.com.

Qui Nguyen's AGENT G Begins Off-Broadway Previews

Before he returns to Ohio University to stage a brand new play this Spring, alumnus Qui Nguyen is pairing his celebrated Vampire Cowboys with the Drama Desk and OBIE Award winning Ma-Yi Theater to present The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G, which begins previews Off-Broadway tonight at the Beckett Theatre. A previous version of the show played to sold-out houses last season, when the New York Times called it "Ambitious Entertainment! Complex! An impressive feat!" The show has also been called "Wonderful! Funny! Eye-opening! A Critic's Pick!" by Timeout New York. According to the Vampire Cowboy's website, the Ma-Yi collaboration features a revamped script, new fights, new cast members, and a brand new song by Nguyen & Shane Rettig. More information about the production is listed below. Nguyen is a playwright, screenwriter, and Co-Artistic Director of the OBIE Award-winning Vampire Cowboys. His scripts include the critically acclaimed Vampire Cowboys productions of The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G; Soul Samurai; Alice in Slasherland; Fight Girl Battle World; Men of Steel; Living Dead in Denmark; Stained Glass Ugly; A Beginner's Guide to Deicide; and Vampire Cowboy Trilogy. Other scripts include She Kills Monsters (The Flea); Bike Wreck (Ensemble Studio Theatre; Metropolitan Playhouse); Aliens Versus Cheerleaders (Keen Teens); the Off-Broadway production of Trial By Water (Ma-Yi Theater/Queens Theatre in the Park); and the hip-hop musical Krunk Fu Battle Battle (East West Players). His plays are published by Broadway Play Publishing, Playscripts.com, and can be found in the anthologies, SAVAGE STAGE and PLAYS & PLAYWRIGHTS 2005. Nguyen is a proud member of New Dramatists, The Ma-Yi Writers Lab, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and The Playwrights Center.


About Agent G:
It’s been 10 years since Agent G has last been in Vietnam where his family and friends were all viciously slain. He’s now come back looking for answers and a good bit of revenge, however forces are at hand trying to stop him as well as the playwright from finishing this brutal task.
February 7 - March 4, 2012
At THE BECKETT THEATRE
Theatre Row
410 West 42nd St (Btw 9th & 10th)
Buy tickets here.
Use the code TRVC25 to get $25 tix (regular price: $35). The code is only good until FEB 14!

Roundabout Theatre's Underground Reading Series Features Ohio Graduate

MFA alumna Laura Jacqmin, will have a reading of her play "Two Lakes, Two Rivers" in Roundabout Underground's spring reading series on February 7, 2012. The series is a five night event that will include a nightly reading of a new play written and directed by an emerging artist. Roundabout Underground is an initiative launched in 2007 to introduce and cultivate artists in Roundabout’s 62-seat Black Box Theatre, at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. Jacqmin is a 2008 Wasserstein Prize Winner. She was a member of the inaugural 2010-2011 Playwrights' Unit at the Goodman Theatre, and is currently working on new play commissions for South Coast Rep, Goodman Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Science and Technology Project, Arden Theatre Company, Carthage College, Victory Gardens Theatre/NNPN, and InterAct Theatre. You can read more about Jacqmin at her website, and learn more about Roundabout Theatre and their Underground series by visiting roundabouttheatre.org.

Ryan Dowler talks about The Gratifications

Ryan Dowler, author of The Gratifications, talks about how the play came about and the intense rehearsal process leading up to its studio production in EST/Youngblood's Unfiltered 2012 (contains adult language).



In conjunction with Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Youngblood's 2012 Unfiltered festival presents four new plays in studio production, including The Gratifications by Ryan Dowler (MFA '10). Dowler's play, directed by Andrew Grosso, stars Michael Cullen* and Chet Siegel*. The Gratifications was developed in the OU MFA workshop during Dowler's third year in the program. In the play, Lailia considers her sex life liberated, but her father Ken sees things differently. When he refuses to cosign on a loan she desperately needs, Lailia sets out to prove that she’s the one in control of her life, even if it costs her the relationship she values most. The festival runs January 5-February 4, with each of the four plays showing multiple weekends. Visit the EST website for tickets.

*Denotes Member Actors' Equity

The Bats and Vampires Unite for "She Kills Monsters" at the Flea

She Kills Monsters From left, Megha Nabe, Satomi Blair, Margaret Odette, Allison Buck, Raúl Sigmund Julia and Jack Corcoran in Qui Nguyen's play about role-playing games at the Flea Theater. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Qui Nguyen (MFA '02) and a few of his Vampire Cowboys have brought their work to the Flea Theater in Manhattan. Working with the Flea's resident actors, the Bats, Nguyen and director Robert Ross Parker (fellow OU alum, MFA Directing '02) present Nguyen's latest play "She Kills Monsters" a "deceptively breezy and rather ingenious comedy," says Eric Grode of the New York Times. "It will slash and shapeshift its way into your heart." Read the full review at NYTimes.com. She Kills Monsters continues through Dec. 23 at the Flea Theater, 41 White Street, TriBeCa; (212) 352-3101; visit theflea .org for ticket and show information. Up next for Nguyen? He and Parker will return to Ohio University in the Spring of 2012 to develop an original work with the OU School of Theater.

Qui Nguyen (MFA '02) Opens Latest in New York

THE INEXPLICABLE REDEMPTION OF AGENT G by Qui Nguyen, program alumnus, is currently playing to sold out houses at Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company. Helen Shaw of TimeOut New York calls the play, "schizophrenic, wonderful... [a] profound metatheatrical self-examination ... funny ... eye-opening." Audience response has been equally strong. The Orange Hats, who cite themselves as a dynamic space for audiences' voices, captured Agent G audience reaction after a recent performance. Current OU Playwriting students (MFA candidate Cecilia Copeland; BFA candidates Nick Philpott and Anthony Kochensparger) were in attendance and share their thoughts in the short video. AGENT G opened March 24 and runs through April 16 at Vampire Cowboys in New York.