2009 FESTIVAL OF NEW WORKS
March 4-7, 2009
All events take place at 721 Broadway, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU.
Reservations are highly recommended. Call 212.998.1985 for all events.
The Festival of New Works is made possible through the generous support of The John Golden Fund, The Mimi and Harold Steinberg Foundation, and Rita & Burton Goldberg.
See below schedule for participant biographies.
Wednesday, March 4:
5:00p.m. FESTIVAL KICK-OFF: Panel
Panelists: Eduardo Machado, Sarah Benson and Margo Jefferson
Faculty Moderator: Elizabeth Diggs
Location: The Abe Burrows Theater, 1st Floor
8:00 p.m. CONCERT READING: CHILDREN ARE THE BEST LIARS by Madeline Hester
The mother with a moustache who won't stop counting. The son who talks to a unicorn. The daughter and the chicken delivery boy. The grandfather comes and there's a bathtub.
Location: The Abe Burrows Theater, 1st Floor
Director: Victor Maog
Guest Respondents: Aaron Carter of Victory Gardens Theater; Eric Nightengale of the 78th Street Theatre Project; David White of WordBRIDGE Playwrights’ Lab.
7:30 p.m. WGAE PANEL: "Cinema of Dread: Screenwriters Discuss the Horror Film.
NOTE: This panel is closed to the general public and is open to the DDW community and WGAE members ONLY!
Thursday March 5:
7:00 -8:00 pm SPEAKER: Stephen Adly Guirgis
Location: The Goldberg Theater, 7th Floor
8:15 p.m. CONCERT READING of THE SLEEPWALKERS by Laura Zlatos
When the Kellers, a family trapped in their own disillusionment, can no longer ignore their son's pain pill-popping fix, it opens a netherworld of reality and self deception.
Location: The Goldberg Theater, 7th Floor
Director: Mikhael Tara Garver
Guest Respondents: Martin Kettling of The O’Neill Center, Gregg Henry of The Kennedy Center, David White and Aaron Carter.
Friday, March 6:
10:00-11:00 a.m. BREAKFAST PANEL: Development Possibilities on the Island
NYC guests include John Dias - Founder The Playwrights Realm; Liz Frankel-Lit Manager, The Public Theater; Jerry Patch - Director of Artistic Development, Manhattan Theater Club; Sarah Steele - Lit Manager, 2nd Stage; Dr. Carol Rocamora
Location: The Goldberg Theater
Host: Padraic Lillis
Alumnae Moderators: Lori Fischer and Antoinette Nwandu
THE HAROLD AND MIMI STEINBERG FOUNDATION SPONSORED PANELS:
11:30-12:30 PANEL: Development Opportunities Off the Island
Steinberg Lab guests include: Gregg Henry, David White, Martin Kettling, Aaron Carter and Dr. Polly Carl of the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis.
Location: Goldberg Theater
Faculty Moderator: Adrienne Thompson
Alumnae Moderators: Lori Fischer and Antoinette Nwandu
12:30-1:30pm LUNCH with panelists, Steinberg Lab students & Production Staff. Room 756.
1:30-2:30 pm PANEL: Regional Theatre Opportunities
Guests: same as above .
Location: Goldberg Theater
Faculty Moderator: Adrienne Thompson
Alumnae Moderators: Lori Fischer and Antoinette Nwandu
3:30 pm TABLE READING of THE DREAM OF THE BURNING BOY, by David West Read
The Dream of the Burning Boy opens on a high school classroom in suburban America, where a black and white poster on the wall reads: "EVERYTHING WILL BE ALL RIGHT." The poster is part of a campaign led by guidance counselor Steve Pitty to restore comfort after the death of a popular student in a school shooting. Steve's efforts, however, have failed to console English teacher Larry Morrow, who is haunted by a very troubling dream...
Director: Tlaloc Rivas
Location: Goldberg Theater
Respondents: David White, Aaron Carter and Gregg Henry
CONCERT READING of DECOMPOSING, by Hannah Koslosky
Two rival musicians are bound together by a mysterious curse and a dangerous game.
Location: Room 759
Director: Drew DeCorleto
Response Session: Dr. Polly Carl and Martin Kettling
7:00 p.m. TABLE READING of DROUGHT, by Natalia Naman
After five lost years, Simon Swanier shows up at his mother's front door in rural Georgia bearing a heavy duffel bag and the burdensome truth about where he's been.
Location: Goldberg Theater
Director: Francesca Mantani Arkus
Response Session: Aaron Carter, Martin Kettling and Gregg Henry
CONCERT READING of ALEC AND DAVE, by Jake Brandman
When his bratty little brother is diagnosed with lymphoma, 8th-grade golden child Dave Feinberg is forced to confront familial neglect and societal hypocrisy, as well as his own deep-seated selfishness.
Location: Abe Burrows Theater, 1st Floor Lobby (NOTE CHANGE OF LOCATION)
Director: Mary Kate Burke
Response Session: David White and Dr. Polly Carl
9:30-11:00 p.m. GRADUATE STUDENT RECEPTION with invited guests and faculty. Location: TBA
Saturday, March 7:
10:00-12:00 BREAKFAST PANEL: Challenges and Resources: Making work in New York City
Location: Goldberg Theater, 7th Floor
This panel will discuss the challenges facing early-career artists in New York City who wish to produce or present their own work, and will discuss the resources available to meet those challenges. The panel will include Maria Goyanes, Executive Producer, 13P and Director of Special Projects, The Public Theater; Shannon Sindelar, Managing Director of the Ontological-Hysteric Theater and Executive Producer of the OHT Incubator; Arwen Lowbridge, Managing Director of Fractured Atlas, an arts service organization that provides services, resources and advocacy for independent artists; and Jason Jacobs, Co-Artistic Director of Theater Askew, the premiere producer of queer theater in New York City. The panel will be moderated by Stacey Cooper McMath, Program Officer at the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
1:00-4:00 WORKSHOP: Producing for Artists: Making your work a reality
Workshop Led by: Stacey Cooper McMath, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs
Location: Room 760
This three-hour workshop is designed to give artists the basic tools to navigate the process of producing their own work. This workshop will include an introduction to the kinds of entities that are legally required to produce for-profit and not-for-profit work; basic budgeting skills for planning a production; an introduction to marketing and audience development; guidance on raising funds for productions; and sample production scenarios, timelines, and producing strategies. Students are encouraged to bring potential production ideas with them to the workshop so that the material covered can be practically applied to future or existing projects.
2:00 pm Negro Ensemble Company Reading of FLAT SAM by Antoinette Nwandu
Flat Sam is this year's winner of The Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.
Location: Abe Burrows Theater, 1st floor
Director: Seret Scott
Faculty Host: Leslie Lee
Guest Presenter: Douglas Turner Ward
Response session: Aaron Carter, Dr. Polly Carl, Gregg Henry and Clinton Turner Davis.
5:00 p.m. Concert Reading of JUMP WITH ME, by David Goldfrank
A young female college student is asked by her estranged friend to join him at the rooftop of one of the school's buildings. What he needs to tell her will change everything.
Location: Room 759, 7th floor
Director: Taibi Magar
Response Session: Guest Respondents David White and Martin Kettling
7:00 p.m. Concert Reading of SONG FOR A FUTURE GENERATION, by Joe Tracz
At a dance party thrown for an exploding star, the teenagers of our science-fiction future seek connection in a universe defined by change.
Location: The Goldberg Theater, 7th Floor
Director: Robin Paterson
Response Session: Guest Respondents Martin Kettling, Aaron Carter, Gregg Henry, Dr. Polly Carl, and David White.
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READING DIRECTORS: Francesca Arkus, Mary Kate Burke, Mikhael Tara Garver, Taibi Magar, Victor Maog, Robin Paterson, Tlaloc Rivas and Drew De Corleto.
SELECTED PLAYS:
CHILDREN ARE THE BEST LIARS: by Madeline Hester
THE SLEEPWALKIERS: by Laura Zlatos
THE DREAM OF THE BURNING BOY: by David West Read
DECOMPOSING: Hannah Koslosky
ALEC AND DAVE: by Jake Brandman
DROUGHT: by Natalia Naman
JUMP WITH ME: by David Goldfrank
SONG FOR A FUTURE GENERATION: Joe Tracz
PARTICIPANT BIOS:
Sarah Benson (Panelist) became Artistic Director of Soho Rep in fall 2006. She moved to New York from London on a Fulbright for Theater Direction. Sarah directed Arion Theatre, who performed in London, Oxford, Edinburgh and Rome, often creating site-specific works. New York credits: Sarah Kane's Blasted (Soho Rep) Erin Courntey’s Quiver & Twitch (New York Stage & Film), The Lottery (HERE Arts Center), & Jonathan Bernstein’s Gregory Must Sweat! (Bric Studio). At Soho Rep she has commissioned/produced new works by artists including: Annie Baker, Thomas Bradshaw, John Jesurun, Young Jean Lee, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Jenny Schwartz, Theater of the Two Headed Calf & Anne Washburn. She co-curated the PRELUDE Festival at the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center for two seasons. Upcoming: Jason Grote's Hamilton Township (Soho Rep, 2009).
Jake Brandman (Playwright, Alec and Dave) will be graduating Tisch this May with a BFA in Dramatic Writing. His short plays include Operation: Romance!, Vodka Pong, Sexile!, The Cookie Jar and Revision. In 2004, his full-length Dickens adaptation, A Junkyard Xmas Carol (co-written with Joe Nierle), was produced by Westfield High School as its Fall Drama. That year, Jake became the first two-time winner of the New Jersey Theater Project’s Young Playwrights Competition. Additional theatre work includes interning in the Manhattan Theatre Club’s Literary Department, as well as script reading and house managing for the York Theatre Company.
Polly Carl, PhD. (Respondent; Producing Artistic Director, The Playwrights' Center) is one of the nation’s foremost experts on new plays, playwrights, and playwriting. As the artistic and strategic head of The Playwrights’ Center, one of the nation’s most revered playwriting hubs, Dr. Polly Carl oversees a quarter-million-dollar fellowship and residency program and curates the annual season of readings in The Playwrights’ Center’s Ruth Easton Lab. In recent years she has supported the development of new plays by Lisa D’Amour, Jordan Harrison, Kira Obolensky, Karen Zacarias, and many other writers. In 2005, Carl launched an American-Japanese playwright exchange with Tokyo International Theater Festival director Sachio Ichimura. Carl commissions and develops new work annually, including recent plays by Ruth Margraff, Kathleen Tolan, Mac Wellman, and Craig Lucas, whose Small Tragedy won the 2004 Obie for Best American Play. While at the Center, she collaborates with and advises Twin Cities theater companies as well as
Aaron Carter (Respondent) is the Literary Manager at Victory Gardens Theater. In
David Steven Cohen (Panelist) has written screenplays and worked on film projects for Sony, Kennedy/Marshall, Hallmark, Warner Bros and Universal/Amblin, including the animated feature Balto, produced by Steven Spielberg. In television, David started his career writing for Steve Martin’s comedy-anthology series George Burns Comedy Week. His other credits as writer and/or producer include Mr. President starring George C. Scott and Madeline Kahn, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, the pilot for Proof of Life on Earth, which he wrote and produced with New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast and the HBO pilot The Mistress, on which he collaborated with Chris Rock.
David won a Writers Guild Award and received two Emmy nominations as Executive Producer and Head Writer of Nickelodeon’s The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss. The series of half-hour musicals, new stories starring venerable Seuss characters, was later adapted as a series of books by Random House. David was recently Head Writer of the cult classic Cartoon Network series Courage the Cowardly Dog and Creative Consultant on Comedy Central’s Strangers with Candy starring Stephen Colbert and Amy Sedaris.
The opera Lilith, for which David wrote the libretto, premiered at
David, a member of the Writers Guild of America, East Council, is Chair of the WGAE Awards Committee and Editor of the Awards Journal, which features pieces written by Guild members working in diverse genres. For several years, David has moderated Q&A sessions and panel discussions with distinguished writers, producers, directors, actors and composers working in feature films.
David lives in
Clinton Turner Davis (Panelist) was a member of the Negro Ensemble Company for more than 15 seasons during which time he production supervised/stage managed more than 60 premiere productions including, A Soldier’s Play, Zooman and the Sign, The Great MacDaddy, Sty of the Blind Pig, Home and Eden. He directed Two Can Play, Puppetplay, Box X Man, House of Shadows, and Abercrombie Apocalypse for NEC and was the literary manager, casting director and director of the playwrighting and dance workshops. Mr. Davis has also directed award-winning productions for New Federal Theatre, Oregon and Alabama Shakespeare Festivals, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Arena Stage, Milwaukee Rep, The Acting Company, Dallas Theatre Center, Penumbra and Freedom Theatre, among many others. A member of the US delegation to the 32nd World Congress of the International Theatre Institute (ITI-UNESCO), he has been a PEW/TCG National Theatre Artist and recipient of NEA/TCG Director and Theatre Fellowships. A guest director/lecturer at Juilliard, Tisch, Dartmouth, Yale, Brandeis, Columbia, and Howard universities, he was the first Lorraine Hansberry Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and recently was artist in residence at the Taipei Artist Village (Taiwan). He will direct Ramona Quimby for the Minneapolis Children’s Theatre Center this spring. Mr. Davis is an associate professor in the drama and dance department of Colorado College.
Drew DeCorleto (Director, Decomposing) is a member of SSDC and has directed both Off-Broadway (Boys’ Life, Split, American Storage) and regionally (The Woodpecker, Never Tell, ETA, American Buffalo, The Kidney, Grease, Jesus Christ Superstar, Searching for Soula, Into the Woods, Godspell, Quarter Life, Human Shield, A Broken Christmas Carol and Dibble Does Christmas in NY!) at Cherry Lane, the Kirk, the Lion, Primary Stages, Urban Stages, Michael Weller Theatre, Kraine Theatre and many theatres in Boston. Currently, Drew is the Artistic Director of Broken Watch Theatre Company.
John Dias (Panelist) is a Co-Artistic Director of the off-Broadway theater company, The Playwright’s Realm. He is also a partner in the producing group Affinity Company Theater, which brought the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of Blackwatch to New York. He is an associate professor of dramaturgy in the graduate school at Columbia University. He was a Producer on the Broadway production of Lisa Kron’s Well. For twelve years, he worked at the New York Shakespeare Festival/Joseph Papp Public Theater, variously as Associate Artistic Director, Associate Producer, Literary Director, Dramaturg and Director of the Shakespeare Lab: an actor training conservatory.
Elizabeth Diggs (Faculty Moderator) is a playwright whose work has been produced in New York at the Vineyard theatre and Ensemble Studio Theatre, and at many regional theatres in the U.S. and abroad. Awards include Guggenheim and NEA playwriting grants, the L.A. DramaLogue award for best play, and a CBS / FDG New American Plays grant. She wrote the book for the musical Mirette with Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, and for the TV drama St. Elsewhere.
Lori Fischer (Alumnae Moderator)
Elizabeth Frankel (Panelist) Currently the Literary Associate at The Public Theater, Elizabeth has previously worked at Waxman Williams Entertainment, Miramax Films and in the literary office of Manhattan Theatre Club. She was the Associate Producer of Bingo, a new musical which played off-Broadway in the winter of 2005/2006. With the Summer Play Festival, she was the dramaturg for Sylvia Reed’s The Ones that Flutter in 2008, producer of Jim Knable’s Spain in 2006, and the associate producer of John Yearley’s Ephemera in 2005. She is a Lucille Lortel Awards Nominator and a member of the Cherry Lane Theatre Mentor Project Nominating Committee. Her journalistic work has appeared in The Village Voice, Time Out New York, American Theatre, and Northeast Magazine. She holds a BA in Performing Arts and English from Colby College.
Mikhael Tara Garver (Director, The Sleepwalkers) was the Artistic Director and Co-founder of Uma Productions in Chicago, IL where her directing credits include Moment: Three Days of Rain/The Author's Voice; The Lover; why they invented dancing produced in Chicago, IL and in New York; The Pool of Bethesda(After Dark Award); the world premiere of Enter Alice; the Chicago premiere of Recent Tragic Events; The Violet Hour; Faith Healer (Jeff Award Winning); and the Midwest premiere of Orange Lemon Egg Canary. Mikhael directed Chill is Good (Collaboraction Theater) and Tintypes (American Theater Company). She has most recently directed Three Sisters; and the world premieres of For Homeostasis by Matt Wilson; The Legislative Process by Clarence Coo; Mourning and Checkpoint by Jason Platt. Garver has assisted Martha Clarke, Charlie Newell, Gary Griffin, Jeremy Cohen and is currently Anne Bogart's assistant. Mikhael has her B.S. from Northwestern University and is currently a candidate for her MFA in directing at Columbia University.
David Goldfrank (Playwright, Jump With Me) is in his last year of Graduate School at the Rita and Burton Goldberg School of Dramatic Writing. His only goal in life is to make enough money on his writing to fund the necessary research that will allow him to live forever. We're closer to that than you might think.
Maria Goyanes - Executive Producer, 13P and Director of Special Projects, The Public Theater (NYC)
Stephen Adly Guirgis (Guest Speaker) has been a member of
Gregg Henry (Respondent) Director-upcoming productions: A Sleeping Country by Melanie Marnich for Round House Theatre, Teddy Roosevelt and the Ghostly Mistletoe by Tom Isbell and Mark Russell for The Kennedy Center. Recent productions include: Mermaids, Monsters and the World Painted Purple by Marco Ramirez for The Kennedy Center, Miranda is Morning by Stephen Spotswood for Catholic University, Teddy Roosevelt and the Treasure of Ursa Major by Tom Isbell and Mark Russell for The Kennedy Center and National Tour, the US Premieres of You Are Here by Daniel MacIvor for Theatre Alliance and Girl in the Goldfish Bowl by Morris Panych for MetroStage, Two-Headed by Julie Jensen and the premiere of Scaramouche by Barbara Field, adapted from Sabatini, for Washington Shakespeare Company. For Centerstage First Look series: The North Pool by Rajiv Joseph and The 13 Hallucinations of Julio Rivera by Stephen R. Culp. For Arena Stage Downstairs series: Autobiography of a Constellation by Lila Rose Kaplan and The Near East by Alex Lewin. He is artistic associate for New Works and Commissions for Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences, commissioning and developing works by Marsha Norman, Jason Robert Brown, Naomi Iizuka, Quiara Hudes, Bill Sherman, Karen Zacarias, Marco Ramirez, Julie Jensen, Barbara Field, Elaine Romero, Deborah Wicks LaPuma and others. He is the producer of the MFA Playwrights' Workshop in association with the National New Play Network, the curator of the annual Labor Day Weekend Page-to-Stage New Play Festival, and the artistic director of KCACTF at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. MFA from University of Michigan. Member LMDA, SSDC and The Dramatists Guild.
Martin Kettling (Respondent) As Literary Manager at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Martin manages the selection process for the National Playwrights Conference and the National Music Theater Conference. He also provides dramaturgical support to all of the center's programs – encompassing areas as diverse as education, playwriting, cabaret, and puppetry. In the past three years, he has dramaturged new works by Rachel Axler, Lucy Caldwell, Rebecca Gilman, Deb Zoe Laufer, Alex Lewin, Sam Marks and Ursula Rani-Sarma. During his time at Arena Stage, Martin assisted in the world premieres of Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play and Charles Randolph-Wright's Cuttin' Up. Martin has worked internationally at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the International Chekhov Festival in
Hannah Koslosky (Playwright, Decomposing) is a native of Omaha, NE, and now a junior at New York University. Her one-act plays Table for Three and Portrait of the Artist as an Ensemble received readings at the Great Plains Theatre Conference in the past, with Portrait going on to a full production at the Grand Olde Players Theatre. Last year, her script Contents Under Pressure won Best Undergraduate Short Screenplay at the Fusion Film Festival in New York City. Hannah would like to thank her father for buying her a piano, without which this script would not have been possible.
Padraic Lillis (C0-producer) this past year directed Scott Hudson’s SWEET STORM as part of the The Public Theater’s inaugural season the Public LAB play development series. He also directed L. Pontius’ play UMBRELLA for The Alchemy Theater Company at the Kirk Theater on Theater Row. Some recent productions include: Michael Puzzo’s THE DIRTY TALK (nominated NYIT Outstanding Director), Adina Taubman’s documentary play on Columbine A LINE IN THE SAND for the Midtown International Theater Festival (Awarded Best Production), dramaturg for Michael Lluberes’ THE BOY IN THE BATHROOM for the New York Musical Theater Festival (Awarded Most Promising New Musical and Best Book) and his play TWO THIRDS HOME was produced in New York by the Broken Watch Theater and is published by Dramatist Play Services, Inc. Padraic is an adjunct professor with the Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU, a Usual Suspect with New York Theater Workshop, an alumnus of the Drama League Director’s Project, a company member of the LAByrinth Theater, and a lifelong Yankee fan.
Arwen Lowbridge (Panelist) has been working with and on behalf of independent theater artists for the last 15 years. She received her B.F.A. with honors from NYU/TSOA's Undergrad Drama (Experimental Theater Wing & Classical Studios) and is an alumna of The Woodhull Institute. She is currently the Managing Director of Fractured Atlas, a national non-profit arts service organization dedicated to providing tools and resources for independent and emerging artists and arts organizations. Previously, she served as the Program Director of Fiscal Sponsorship and developed what is now the largest fiscal sponsorship program in the arts nationally.
Other professional work includes serving as Fundraising Consultant to Richard Foreman's Ontological-Hysteric Theater Company, Resident Grant Writer for the Orlando Fringe Festival and the Founder/Executive Director of The Temenos Ensemble Theater Inc., an independent 501(c)3 theater company dedicated to presenting affordable and accessible improvisation-based theater in
She has participated in panels and presentations on arts management and issues affecting independent artists for the National Performing Arts Conference, The Foundation Center, Dance Theater Workshop, The Atlantic Theater Company, Chamber Music of America, Opera America, Stellar Network NY, The International Institute for Film Financing, The Tank NYC, Columbia University, Pratt Institute and New York University.
Eduardo Machado (Faculty Moderator) Head of Playwriting, Department of Dramatic Writing, TSOA, NYU: Eduardo Machado was born in
Mr. Machado has directed numerous plays, including his own works and those of emerging writers. As a director, his work has appeared in numerous regional theaters including INTAR, Theater For a New City, The Ensemble Studio, The Mark Taper Forum, The Culture Project, The Playwrights Collective, The Company Theater, The Cherry Lane Alternative, The Flea Theater, The Group Theater and the
He wrote and directed the film Exiles in New York, which played at the A.F.I Film Festival, South by South West, The Santa Barbara Film Festival and The Latin American International Film Festival in
Mr. Machado has taught playwriting at the Public Theatre, Mark Taper Forum,
Taibi Magar (Director, Jump With Me) most recently directed Rum & Vodka (Faux Real Theater Company) by Conor McPherson. Other credits include: The Dime Show (Co-Director, Womens Project & Productions) W.A.C. Iraq (Downtown Urban Theater Festival), Life Science (Theater Row), Torrents (Barracuda Theater Club), Orson's Shadow (Outrageous Fortune). She has also worked with the LAByrinth Theater Company and the Public Theater. A graduate of Otterbein College, North Carolina School of the Arts and Lincoln Center Director's Lab.
Victor Maog (Director, Children Are The Best Liars) is the newly appointed Director of Theatre for the 96 year-old Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School. He’s a stage director and educator who has collaborated at the NYSF/Public Theater, Hartford Stage, Williamstown, Ma-Yi, Lark, MCC, New Dramatists, INTAR and directed/taught for NYU/Tisch, UPenn, Fordham, and others. Recipient: NEA/TCG Career Development Award, Cornerstone’s Altvater Fellowship, Second Stage’s Van Lier Directing Fellowship, and the U.S. Dept. of Labor’s Presidential Award. U.S. Delegate to the 31st International Theatre Institute/UNESCO World Congress in Manila. Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival Mentor Director. Member: Lincoln Center Directors Lab, SSDC, and Partial Comfort. Education: NYU/Gallatin. Upcoming: Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship in conjunction with his year-long collaboration with the Monocan Indian Nation.
Stacey McMath (Guest Moderator; Workshop Coordinator) is a Program Officer at the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. She has served as General Manager for chashama, an organization that converts temporarily vacant real estate into artists' spaces; as Managing Director for Voice & Vision Theater, a company that develops the work of women artists; and as a Producer for Target Margin Theater, Polybe + Seats, Green Chinchilla, and Studio 42. She teaches in the Barnard College Theater Department, regularly lectures at the
Antoinette Nwandu (Playwright, Flat Sam; Alumnae Moderator) is a writer living in Brooklyn. Her plays include FLAT SAM, GUARD DUTY, WAITIN ON THE #17, ...AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS, and BREACH. Education: Harvard, U of Edinburgh, NYU/Tisch. Antoinette is a proud member of the Dramatist Guild.
Jerry Patch (Panelist) is the Director of Artistic Development at Manhattan Theatre Club. He previously served as Resident Artistic Director of The Old Globe, during which time he has brought to the Theatre works by such renowned playwrights as Amy Freed, Howard Korder, Richard Greenberg and Donald Margulies.
In three seasons at the Globe, eleven world premieres and two second productions of new works were presented, including A Body of Water, winner of the 2006 Best New American Play Award. He previously served as the Dramaturge and a member of the longstanding artistic team at Southern California's Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory (SCR), where he coordinated the development of 150 new plays, including two Pulitzer Prize winners and numerous other Pulitzer finalists. Patch became the top choice for this new role at the Globe due to his many years of artistic accomplishments, his exceptional relationships with the nation's leading directors and playwrights, and his enthusiastic commitment to new work.
While at SCR, Patch worked as Dramaturg on numerous new works, including Donald Margulies' Sight Unseen and Brooklyn Boy, which just opened to critical acclaim on Broadway, Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit, Howard Korder's Search and Destroy, Amy Freed's The Beard of Avon, as well as Intimate Apparel, Freedomland and world-premieres of several plays by Richard Greenberg, including Three Days of Rain, Hurrah at Last!, The Violet Hour and Everett Beekin. In addition, he co-conceived The Education of Randy Newman with Michael Roth and Mr. Newman. Patch also served as the founding project director of SCR's Pacific Playwrights Festival, which annually introduces seven new plays to Orange County audiences and national theatre leaders. Typically, more than 75% of the festival plays presented receive multiple productions in theatres across the country.
During his tenure at SCR, Patch also held the position of Artistic Director (1990-1997) of The Sundance Theatre Program, which included the Sundance Playwrights Laboratory, one of the nation's leading new play development programs. Additionally, he ran the Sundance Summer Theatre, a repertory of 2-3 productions staged outdoors for Utah audiences and The Sundance Children's Theatre, which is dedicated to the development and presentation of new works for family audiences by leading American playwrights. He also has served as Consulting Dramaturg for New York's Roundabout Theatre Company.
Robin A. Paterson's (Director, Song for a Future Generation) international theatre career spans more than 150 productions. Active in the creation of new works as a director, designer and producer, he has collaborated on more than 40 premieres. Directing credits include the premiere of Warning: Adult Content; the American premiere of Humans Anonymous; the premiere of Zarthustra Said Some Things, No?; and the premiere of Making Marilyn. Projects currently in development include Psychomachia, featuring Ashlie Atkinson and Debra Jo Rupp; and The Goon Squad, featuring Christian Campbell. Recent designs include the New York premiere of Flyovers; the premiere of Anais Nin; Pizza Man, under the direction of Austin Pendleton; the premiere of Vampire University in the Ice Factory Festival; and the premiere of A New Television Arrives, Finally. Internationally, Robin's work has been featured in Berlin, Cairo, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and countless regional centers across North America. Since September 2006, he has been the Managing Artistic Director of Shetler Studios and its resident organization, Theatrical Development Groups. Robin is a frequent guest director at the Rita & Burton Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU. Visit www.robin-a-paterson.com
David West Read, (Playwright, The Dream of the Burning Boy) a first-year grad student, received his HBA in English Literature from the University of Toronto, where he was the recipient of the Robertson Davies Playwriting Award, the Alta Lind Cook Literary Prize, and the John Black Aird Scholarship for the most outstanding student graduating from an undergraduate program. His plays have been produced at numerous festivals, including the Toronto Fringe and SummerWorks, and he has performed in improv and sketch comedy shows, TV and film. The Dream of the Burning Boy will receive its first reading at the North Jersey Festival of New Works in February 2009.
Dr. Carol Rocamora is an educator, playwright, translator and critic. Her three volumes of the complete translated dramatic works of Anton Chekhov have been published by Smith & Kraus. Her new play, “I take your hand in mine....,” based on the correspondence of Chekhov and Olga Knipper premiered in September 2001 at the Almeida Theatre in London starring Paul Scofield and Irene Worth, and opened in Paris in October 2003 at Peter Brook’s Theatre des Bouffes du Nord, under his direction, starring Michel Piccoli and Natasha Parry. Now in her 15th year of teaching in the Department of Dramatic Writing, Dr. Rocamora has been the recipient of the David Payne Carter Award for Teaching in Excellence at the Tisch School of the Arts. She also teaches at Columbia University in their M. F. A. Theatre Arts Program. Formerly, she was the founder and artistic director of the Philadelphia Festival Plays at Annenberg Center. Dr. Rocamora’s new biography, Acts of Courage: Vaclav Havel’s Life in the Theatre, was published in 2005. She has written about theatre for The Nation and The New York Times, and currently contributes to The Guardian and American Theatre. She has recently completed Rubles, a collection of original plays inspired by Chekhov’s short stories. She is currently working on a biography entitled Chekhov: Portraits.
SERET SCOTT (Director, Flat Sam) is an Associate Artist with San Diego's Old Globe Theatre where she’s directed a dozen productions, among them MADAME MAO’S MEMORIES, THE CONSTANT WIFE, TWO TRAINS RUNNING, I JUST STOPPED BY TO SEE THE MAN, TROJAN WOMEN, CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY, FAITH HEALER and the premiere of KNOWING CAIRO. Off-Broadway credits include the premiere of MUJERES Y HOMBRES at New Victory Theatre, and productions of BIRDIE BLUE and ZOOMAN AND THE SIGN for Second Stage Theatre. Regionally Ms Scott directed the premieres of STARVING at Woolly Mammoth, LEAVING THE SUMMER LAND for DC's Tribute Productions, MUD-RIVER-STONE for Studio Arena, as well as productions for Arena Stage, Studio Theatre, Ford’s Theater, A.C.T-SF, South Coast Rep, Actor’s Theatre-Louisville, Geva Theatre, Indiana Rep, the American premiere of THE JOY LUCK CLUB at Long Wharf Theatre, Yale Rep, Hartford Stage, Alliance Theater, Alley Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Philadelphia Theatre Co, McCarter Theatre (outreach), and New Mexico Rep among other theatres. Directing nominations include the Connecticut Critics Circle, Helen Hayes Award and the Beverly Hills NAACP Directing Award. She received the Amazing Grace Award from 3Graces, the Lloyd Richards Director’s Award from the National Black Theatre Festival and a Drama Desk for her performance as an actress. Ms Scott authored the play SECOND LINE which was produced by Passage Theatre, NJ. and Atlas Theatre, DC.
Shannon Sindelar (Panelist) is a writer, director and theater producer from Washington state. She is the Managing and Programming Director of the Ontological-Hysteric Theater. Since coming to New York, she has served as Literary Manager for Manhattan Ensemble Theater, and as an arts administrator for The Wooster Group. In Cleveland, she served as Producing Director for Dobama Theatre’s Night Kitchen, which supported the work of emerging and mid-career artists. Her recent artistic work has appeared at Prelude 07, Gigantic Artspace, chashama, The Ontological Incubator, WFMU, The Flea, The Bushwick Starr and The Brick Theater. She writes and directs for the Brooklyn-based theater company 31 Down.
Sarah Steele As Literary Manager of Second Stage Theatre, Sarah has worked on world and New York premieres of plays by writers including Terrence McNally, Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Rajiv Joseph. Before coming to Second Stage, Sarah was the Literary Manager of the Summer Play Festival. She has worked as the Play Development Associate at Arielle Tepper Productions, the Literary Resident at Playwrights Horizons, as well as at South Coast Repertory and International Creative Management. Sarah’s producing credits include the U.S. Premiere of the Dora-nominated play Trout Stanley by Claudia Dey at The Culture Project for Renaissant Arts, and Romeo & Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Allentown Shakespeare in the Park – an outdoor theater festival and free community event in Allentown, Pennsylvania, which Sarah founded. She received her B.A. from Duke University.
Neal Marshall Stevens (Panelist) was born in
In the years following graduation, he had two features optioned. He then pitched and sold an episode of MONSTERS, a syndicated series, to New York-based Laurel Entertainment, which ultimately became the premiere episode of the first season of that show. Neal subsequently sold additional episodes of the show and went to work for Laurel Entertainment as Creative Consultant on that series and, after MONSTERS ceased production, as Senior Story Editor on other projects that
Following
The following year, Judith negotiated the mid-six-figure sale of Neal’s spec horror script, DEADER, to Dimension Pictures by way of producer David Greathouse at Stan Winston Productions which was ultimately produced as HELLRAISER:DEADER, a sequel to HELLRAISER.
In 2001 he directed a low-budget direct-to-video feature, STITCHES, for FULL MOON PICTURES.
In the years that followed, Neal has divided his time between assignment work, including the remake of THIRTEEN GHOSTS by Joel Silver’s Dark Castle Entertainment at Warner Brothers and original spec scripts including the action adventure, PEAK, currently under option at The Film Department, and the science fiction thriller, HUNTER at Stallion Entertainment, now in post production with a planned release in 2009.
He has also recently written two graphic novels, DEMON SQUAD and HAVOC BRIGADE for Studio 407.
The first issue of HAVOC BRIGADE is due out in March of 2009.
Neal lives in Brooklyn
Joe Tracz (Playwright, Song For a Future Generation) is a second-year graduate student in the Dept. of Dramatic Writing. Full-length plays include Boy Wonders (staged readings: NYU Festival of New Works ’08; American College Theatre Festival Region II; Performance Network of Ann Arbor, MI) and Phenomenon of Decline (Long Wharf Theatre – Next Stage Productions; Kalamazoo College; ACTF Region III). His ten-minute play Man Up and Away has been performed at NYU, Williamstown, and at 59E59 as part of the Theatre Masters MFA showcase. His vampire sitcom, Fang!, premiered at the 2007 Chicago Comedy Festival.
Douglas Turner Ward - Playwright (NYC)
David M. White (Respondent) is a director, dramaturg, playwright, Assistant Professor of Theatre at Towson University, and has been an Artistic Director of WordBRIDGE Playwrights Laboratory (www.wordbridge.org) since 2006. David is currently directing Yury Klavdiev’s I Am the Machine Gunner and traveling to Moscow, Russia with a team from the Center for International Theatre Development to continue research on the project. Current commissions: Translation of Yury Klavdiev’s Martial Arts (CITD/Towson University translation project); 4 Plays About Mathematicians (Towson University Mathematics Department). He has presented papers and lectured at universities and regional conferences on the topics of playwriting and new play development, and dramaturgy. David worked for three seasons as the Literary Manager and Director of Educational Outreach at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and as a dramaturg for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and National Music Theater Conference. He directed Eliza Jane Schnieder’sSounds of Silence (2006 Ignite Festival NY). White’s plays have been produced in many university and regional theatres, including Enough: Boston Theatre Marathon (2007), Alice in Wonderland: Beck Center for the Arts, Cleveland (2007). Trash : The York Theater, NYC (2002) and New York International Fringe Festival (2005). Ain’t Nothin’ Quick ‘n Easy was developed at WordBRIDGE Playwrights Lab (2003) and has been produced at the Greenbrier Valley Theater in Lewisburg, West Virginia (2004), the University of Missouri—Columbia (2004), University of Missouri—St. Louis (2004), and William Woods University (2005). Upcoming production: Ain’t Nothin’ Quick ‘n Easy – Missouri Valley College (April 2009). David is a founding member of Generous Company (www.generouscompany.org).
The WGAE and Marsha Manns
Laura Zlatos (Playwright, The Sleepwalkers) is a senior in the Department of Dramatic Writing. Her short plays “Rainy Day, Dream Away” and The Morning After have been performed at NYU. She has studied with the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain in London, England and interned at the Ontological-Hysteric Theater in New York City.
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