Thoughts from the Artistic Director

As I type this, in the next room rehearsals on going on for the Madison Young Playwrights Festival which will be held this Saturday, March 17, 2012 from 1-4 pm. Reservations can be made by calling 973-514-1787 X34 and more information can be found at our website.

As promised, here are the program notes from John Pietrowski, Artistic Director.

If we have learned nothing else from these difficult times, I think we have remembered the need for, and value of, collaboration, compassion, listening, and creativity. So much of what we thought was true, so many of our assumptions about how the “world works,” have been altered, perhaps even torn apart. It has not been easy for many, and has sent many of us back to examine some basic values to see what we can find there.

For those who do ongoing work in the creative arts, or in any creative field for that matter, humbly questioning assumptions, lovingly tearing things apart, and lovingly putting them back together is an almost daily task that moves towards an unspoken goal of a connection with a spiritual self, a “better angel of our being” (to crib from Abraham Lincoln) that is almost always in a state of transcendence or renewal. What is happening in the world right now reflects what we are constantly doing with ourselves every time we create, unfortunately in the world there seems to be, in certain very loud and visible quarters, a lot less humility and a lot less love.

None of this process is mystical in the stereotypical sense of the word, and when you are working with the arts, there is that tangible product that must be made that grounds you. But it also tests you, and changes you, and ultimately becomes a reflection of who you are, who you were, and who you will be. It is life writ small and large all at once, and that magical moment on the stage, which Martin Esslin called the “Eternal Present,” wraps up all of the contradictions of being human into a package that we can study and admire. It is what we imagine existence to be, and if our imaginations are truly healthy, our daily lives, which are manifestations of our beliefs and imagined thoughts, will reflect that, and follow suit.

The theatre requires us to build a community of people who strive to really listen to each other, to compassionately collaborate to make a new world every time we set a piece of action into motion in a space. It is what we need right now. And this is why we need to honor these young writers who have taken a run at this and set yet one more positive and irreversible action into motion.

Thoughts from the Education Director of Playwrights Theatre

With the 26th Annual Madison Young Playwrights Festival just a few short days away, we are buzzing about with rehearsals, revisions and program printing. Here is what our Director of Education and Festival Director, Jim DeVivo, had to say in the program.

As I have listened to discussions about the state of education at home and across the nation, I have become aware of the great number of new (and “new”) concepts and programs that proclaim their potential success because they “put students first.” In my fifteen years in education, I have come to find that measuring success in student learning can be as varied as each individual student. While some of these programs have potential, rarely do they reference specific student needs, nor do they involve any student input. I am not certain that any one approach can be the great panacea for which we seem to be so desperately searching, especially if it does not truly put students in a primary position.

We have found through our creative arts programs that placing students at the center of the creative process can influence them in ways that provide for successful individual student learning in the present and beyond. In the role of playwright, students have the opportunity to exercise initiative, to make decisions, and to collaborate with professionals to create a piece of theatre. The act of collaboration alone is an essential skill for a students’ learning, but additional skills and knowledge and personal characteristics learned can be as varied as the students themselves can.

Over the years, some of our past young playwrights have shared their experiences with us immediately after the program’s conclusion and after having a few years to reflect on the program’s impact. Here is just a sampling of what some former young playwrights have to say:

· “(The actors) dedication to my work and their intellect with the piece brought my confidence back in a heartbeat… that's what this experience was all about: real actors taking my real work very seriously. This was invaluable to a young artist like myself. It made me feel like I wasn't just some kid who wrote some play about moody teenagers and their moody rings -- it made me feel like I was a real dramatic force that had something to say and they were there to cultivate that.”

· “But ultimately this wasn't an exercise in flattering a writer's ego. The experience truly helped me learn more about my script. After only one read-through, I was able to hear a myriad of new things: rhythm that didn't work and rhythm that did, lines that needed to be cut or added, plot points that remained unclear. Sometimes someone asked me a question, and I realized I couldn't answer because I had never thought about that aspect of the story before. After the performance, I began rewriting the script based on information I had gleaned from this process.”

Although these statements are from older students (one who was a young playwright both in elementary and high school), they are indicative of what we hear from students and parents regarding the impact that participation in this program can have on their personal and academic lives. Many students come away with a newfound confidence, critical inquiry skills, and curiosity that can prompt future learning. By putting their words, their voices, and their imaginations first, we create an opportunity for students to skills for life-long learning.

We congratulate each of the young playwrights who participated in the Madison Young Playwrights Program on their creative work and look forward to all the benefits that this experience will bring.

Check back tomorrow for Artistic Director, John Pietrowki's thoughts.

Summer Classes for Kids & Teens and Adult Winter Playwriting

Our CAA classes are an opportunity for students at all levels of experience to bring their imaginations to life, while practicing basic performance and writing skills. Students will work collaboratively with their peers, creating characters and telling stories while building the confidence needed to enjoy creative freedom.

Our classes are taught by trained professional theatre educators who have years of experience as working actors, writers and directors. Since new skills are presented each session, the classes are designed to be taken multiple times. At the end of each kids and teen session, there is a "sharing" of class work for family and friends.

Classes for Pre-K & K (ages 4 & 5)
Creative Play
Fun drama exercises, storytelling and other activities use body, voice and imagination to develop students' creative expression. Build self-esteem and communication skills.
Monday - Friday, 9:30am-11:30am, Tuition $225 per session
Session A (June 25 - July 6) - Registration deadline June 18
Session B (July 9 - July 20) – Registration deadline July 2
Session D (August 6 - August 17) - Registration deadline July 30
Click here to register

Classes for Grades 1-3
Playmakers
Theatre games, pantomime and improvisation provide exciting means for learning basic performance skills in movement, voice and imagination. An engaging and nurturing environment for children to create and express themselves.
Monday - Friday, 9:30am-12:30pm, Tuition $275 per session ($250 for returning students)
Session A (June 25 - July 6) - Registration deadline June 18
Session B (July 9 - July 20) – Registration deadline July 2
Session C (July 23 - August 3) - Registration deadline July 16
Session D (August 6 - August 17) - Registration deadline July 30
Session E (August 20 - August 31) - Registration deadline August 13
Click here to register

Classes for Grades 4-6
Acting Lab
Act, play and create in a supportive, process-oriented class with an emphasis on play building skills through improvisation, theatre exercises and group collaboration.
Monday - Friday, 9:30am-12:30pm, Tuition $275 per session ($250 for returning students)
Session A (June 25 - July 6) - Registration deadline June 18
Session B (July 9 - July 20) – Registration deadline July 2
Session C (July 23 - August 3) - Registration deadline July 16
Session D (August 6 - August 17) - Registration deadline July 30
Session E (August 20 - August 31) - Registration deadline August 13
Click here to register

Musical Performance (Grades 4-5/Grades 6-8)
Build skills in using the "actor's instruments" in an energized and encouraging environment. While exploring sound and movement through singing, dancing and acting, students learn about breathing, rhythm, projection and timing. Students create their own short musical for presentation to parents and friends on the last day of class.
Monday - Friday, 9:30am-12:30pm, Tuition $275 per session ($250 for returning students)
Session B (July 9 - July 20) – Registration deadline July 2
Session C (July 23 - August 3) - Registration deadline July 16
Session D (August 6 - August 17) - Registration deadline July 30
Session E (August 20 - August 31) - Registration deadline August 13
Click here to register

Full Day Theatre Academy (Grades 4-6)
Monday - Friday, 9:30am-4:30pm
Session B (July 9 - July 20) – Registration deadline July 2
Session C (July 23 - August 3) - Registration deadline July 16
Students work with a team of artists and alternate daily through classes in acting, musical performance, playwriting and play production.

This summer, Playwrights Theatre is offering an Early Enrollment rate plan for the Full Day Camp classes in the Summer Theatre Camp. These special rates can be secured by enrolling students in a Full Day Camp session prior to the dates listed below. No other discounts apply.

Tuition $525 • When Enrolled BEFORE Jan 31 • With a deposit of $262.50
Tuition $550 • When Enrolled BEFORE Feb 28 • With a deposit of $275.00
Tuition $575 • When Enrolled BEFORE Mar 31 • With a deposit of $287.50

After March 31, Full Day Camp registration will return to the regular fee of $595.00 (a deposit of $297.50 is required at the time of enrollment). A deposit in the amount of ½ of the tuition due is required at time of registration. The remaining balance must be paid no later than May 30.

All Full Day Camp enrollments, whether made during the reduced enrollment period, or after, include a $100.00 non-refundable enrollment fee that will not be refunded unless Playwrights Theatre initiates a class cancellation of the session in which the student is enrolled.

To secure this reduced rate, enrollments must be made by phone ONLY. Please contact the Education Office at 973-514-1787, ext. 21. Leave a message if no one is available to take your call. Your call will be returned promptly.

Classes for Grades 7-9
Acting Workshop
Through exercises in voice, movement, and improvisation, students familiarize themselves with the fundamentals of acting. This class leads to further study in monologue and scene work.
Monday - Friday, 9:30am-12:30pm, Tuition $275 per session ($250 for returning students)
Session A (June 25 - July 6) - Registration deadline
June 18 Session E (August 20 - August 31) - Registration deadline August 13
Click here to register

Full Day Theatre Academy (Grades 7-9)
Monday - Friday, 9:30am-4:30pm
Session B (July 9 - July 20) – Registration deadline July 2
Session C (July 23 - August 3) - Registration deadline July 16
Students work with a team of artists and alternate daily through classes in acting, musical performance, playwriting and play production.

This summer, Playwrights Theatre is offering an Early Enrollment rate plan for the Full Day Camp classes in the Summer Theatre Camp. These special rates can be secured by enrolling students in a Full Day Camp session prior to the dates listed below. No other discounts apply.

Tuition $525 • When Enrolled BEFORE Jan 31 • With a deposit of $262.50
Tuition $550 • When Enrolled BEFORE Feb 28 • With a deposit of $275.00
Tuition $575 • When Enrolled BEFORE Mar 31 • With a deposit of $287.50

After March 31, Full Day Camp registration will return to the regular fee of $595.00 (a deposit of $297.50 is required at the time of enrollment). A deposit in the amount of ½ of the tuition due is required at time of registration. The remaining balance must be paid no later than May 30.

All Full Day Camp enrollments, whether made during the reduced enrollment period, or after, include a $100.00 non-refundable enrollment fee that will not be refunded unless Playwrights Theatre initiates a class cancellation of the session in which the student is enrolled.

To secure this reduced rate, enrollments must be made by phone ONLY. Please contact the Education Office at 973-514-1787, ext. 21. Leave a message if no one is available to take your call. Your call will be returned promptly.

Get Ready To Audition - High School
Auditioning for high school, college or community theatre? This is the class for you. Call the education department to schedule your dates and times 973-514-1787 X21.

Whether you’re auditioning for college theatre programs, professional theatres, high school or community theatre productions, good audition skills are a must, and practice with good guidance is the only way to get there. This four-session intensive will improve your ability to select and present monologues and songs that will show you off at your best. The final class will consist of a simulated audition and subsequent critique session.

Playwriting Workshop for Adults
Winter Class
January 9 - March 12
Mondays, 7:00pm-10:00pm
Tuition $275 ($250 for returning students) • Pro-rate options are available for late starts for this class only.

Spring Class
March 19 - May 21
Mondays, 7:00pm-10:00pm
Tuition $275 ($250 for returning students) • Pro-rate options are available for late starts for this class only

Summer Classes
June 11 - August 13
Mondays, 7:00pm-10:00pm
Tuition $275 ($250 for returning students) • Pro-rate options are available for late starts for this class only.

Click here to register for any of the Adult Playwriting Classes

5 Questions With Emilie Beck

Our final reading of the FORUM series for 2011 is SOVEREIGN BODY by Emilie Beck. This reading will be held on Sunday, December 18, 7:00pm, at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Dreyfuss Theatre, 285 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ. Click here for directions. Click here for a printable map of the campus (the Dreyfuss Theatre is located in Building 9).

Emilie Beck’s play, Sovereign Body, was a finalist for National New Play Network’s Smith Prize and Ashland New Plays Festival, and was seen in Road Theatre’s Summer Playwrights Festival. Number of People was in Playwrights Theatre’s 2010 Forum Series, with Len Cariou, having been previously developed at Pasadena Playhouse and Hartford Stage with Edward Asner. It received its world premiere at the Piven Theatre. As a director, Emilie directed the Jeff-Award winning production of Because They Have No Words in Chicago and LA, and won LA Weekly awards for Best Director and Production for Block Nine at the Elephant Theatre.

1. What inspired you to write Sovereign Body?
My aunt has been living with advanced Parkinson's Disease for about 30 years. She started getting symptoms when her second child was just a baby. The feelings and responses it brought up within our family were surprising and varied. For myself, I found that I was so angry on her behalf, with no one to whom I could direct that anger. I'd been wanting to write about it for a long time, but I knew I needed a portal that took me to a more layered place than writing about a woman who gets sick. I started to read literature that had been written by Parkinson's patients, and, to a person, they all wrote about the feeling of being invaded. They would use some form of that word, "invaded" or "invasion." And it got me thinking on a larger level about what that means and how that feels in all its nuances. And, of course, during this time, we Americans have been invaders. We have attacked people, their homes, their families, and we have done it in a way that's politically justified by our government. And people, nations, clans have done it throughout history. I became fascinated by the way we feel in control of our bodies (this is a recurring theme for me) , and by extension, our homes, our countries, and resentful of any "foreign invader." So Sovereign Body became a political play to me, even though on the surface it's about a woman and her family and an illness.

2. You are also a director, do you prefer one over the other?
I enjoy both writing and directing. I think they speak to the different sides of my personality. As a director, I love the collaboration involved. I love the process of discovery, and the interdependence of all the artists working to bring dimension to a script. It's an exciting journey, and I get a lot of fulfillment in seeing what the designers and the actors are able to mine, and then figuring out how all of it lives in one cohesive vision. It piques the social, gregarious side of me. On the other side, I love the process of squirreling myself away with a million books, researching, soaking up ideas, and then allowing those to play out in characters and a story that speak from within me. I am not a fast writer. Or rather, I start out of the gate with speed, and as I go along I realize how much I don't yet know, and the journey becomes sort-of like going through a maze, where you actually want to hit the dead-ends because you learn so much from going there. You want to explore the whole maze, even though 9 out of 10 of those paths take you in the wrong direction. It's only by going there that I find the story I actually want to tell. So it's solitary and slow, and allows me to feed the side of myself that craves isolation. I find that balancing the work of a director with that of a writer is actually healthier for me than leaning more one way or another. It gives me sort-of a heavy pendulum experience, where I can take a break from the challenges of one approach by diving into the complete opposite.

3. What was your first job? Did you learn any valuable lessons from it?
My first job of any substance was as a waitress in a local diner when I was 15. I had been a pretty shy kid, pretty down on myself most of the time. There was something romantic about being a waitress to me at that point. (I've now had enough experience with it that I don't remember why I ever felt that way.) And it was hard at first. I had a lot of trouble balancing my time and remembering what dressing someone asked for. But I would work the counter, and these characters would come in from a nearby halfway house, and I remember one guy in particular who you couldn't understand; there was no way to decipher his speech. At first he was really annoyed with me that I didn't know his order, and we had to go back and forth until I finally figured it out. But then I realized he came in every week at the same time, and I would have his order ready for him. We couldn't speak, but we could communicate, and I got that you could effectively change a relationship based on how much effort you were willing to put in. It took me a long time to take that lesson out of the restaurant, but it's something that I carry with me. That not all people are good communicators, and sometimes you just need to show some good faith to let them know that you'll listen until you get it.

4. Who was your childhood hero and why?
I could answer with Maria Tallchief, or Gene Kelly, and both of those would be true. But my constant hero -- someone I still admire -- is and was my next-door neighbor growing up: Liz Wittner. She's two years older than I am, so I think I was alternately a friend and a pest in her eyes, at least before we were adults. But to me she was the nicest, smartest, most beautiful person I knew. I wanted to be just like her. She had a way of making everyone around her feel comfortable. She was funny and warm and empathic. If a little bit of her has rubbed off on me in any way, I'm pretty happy about that. I know that I'm not nearly as nice as she is, and despite my best efforts I seem to have a much more threatening presence, but every once in a while my husband will say to me, "You sound just like Liz," and I'll feel really proud. She's still my dearest friend, and one of the best people I know.

5. What movie always makes you laugh out loud?
Sleeper. I actually haven't seen it in ages, but I have a really wonderful memory of my little brother and I, late one night, having dragged a tiny little black-and-white TV into his room, sitting with our pillows on our laps so that we could smother our laughs and not wake our parents up while we watched it. I'm also a big fan of Buster Keaton, and I think Woody Allen's work in Sleeper was reminiscent of Keaton's work. These days my laughs come mostly from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Eddie Izzard and Louis CK can also make me gasp for air.

Click here to purchase a ticket to see SOVEREIGN BODY at FDU.

You can also find additional information on our website about the entire FORUM reading series.

$10 per reading
$25 for a FORUM pass (if you are going to attend at least 3 readings in the series---this is the best deal)

5 Questions with Frank Deford

Our next to last reading of the 2011 FORUM series is TILL DEATH DO US PARTLY by Frank Deford. This reading will be held at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Dreyfuss Theatre, 285 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ. Click here for directions. Click here for a printable map of the campus (the Dreyfuss Theatre is located in Building 9).

Frank Deford is author of seventeen books, ten of them novels, two filmed screenplays, hundreds of magazine articles. NPR commentator, Wednesdays on Morning Edition; senior correspondent on HBO's Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel. Winner: Peabody Award, National Magazine Award, Emmy; member of Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. Former chairman, now chairman emeritus: Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. As they say in sports: out of Westport, Connecticut. Lovely wife: Carol. Two children: Christian and Scarlet. One grandchild: Annabel. Writes: right-handed. 6'4", 180. Huguenot-American.

1. What inspired you to write Till Death Do Us Partly?
I suspect "inspired" is too high-falutin' a word for what prompted me to write Till Death Do Us Partly. Without giving the ending away, let me just say that I read how somebody did something for posterity like what my hero pulls off in secret. Besides, I'm a romantic, and I love love stories and good old-fashioned drawing-room comedies (although I guess, with concessions to the modern: a "family-room" comedy).

2. You say you write right-handed. Do you also only type with your right?
No, I use both hands to type, but I probably use my right index finger for about three-quarters of the board (over to the "r" on the top row) and the left index finger the rest (including a;; those e's and s's). Unfortunately, I have terrible hand-eye coordination and almost no left-hand dexterity (or I would've been a much better basketball player as a kid).

3. In addition to being a playwright, you are also a book author, a screenwriter and a magazine article writer. Do you have the same process for each? If not, how does your process differ?
Process: pretty much the same for whatever I'm working on. Fiction, be it novel, movie, play, requires a more dedicated time. Because you need to get so immersed in the characters and the story you're creating, you can't just lay down fiction and pick it up again a few days later the way you can non-fiction. You have to stay in the story. When I'm writing a commentary for NPR or a script for HBO that I'll be speaking myself, then I'm more conscious of writing for the ear than the eye. Then I write as I talk –– which is very much how I write fictional dialogue, but, of course, then it will be someone else saying my words. Still, I don't just write out dialogue, but read it out loud to myself to hear how it sounds.

4. Who is your favorite sports team?
I grew up in Baltimore, so, hard as it is, I still stick with my Orioles. In Till Death To Us Partly, the two brothers want to own a small racing stable together. I wish I had the money for that. I did have a thoroughbred named after he once, but Frank Deford, the horse, was a loser.

5. What would people be surprised to know about you?
I don't play golf.

Click here to purchase a ticket to see TILL DEATH DO US PARTLY at FDU.

You can also find additional information on our website about the entire FORUM reading series.

$10 per reading
$25 for a FORUM pass (if you are going to attend at least 3 readings in the series---this is the best deal)

5 Questions With Peter Bonilla

The 21st reading in our FORUM series is A HUMAN EQUATION by Peter Bonilla. This reading will be held at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Dreyfuss Theatre, 285 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ. Click here for directions. Click here for a printable map of the campus (the Dreyfuss Theatre is located in Building 9).

Peter Bonilla was literary manager of Philadelphia's InterAct Theatre Company from 2005 to 2008. Originally from Washington, D.C., Peter received his undergraduate degrees in theater arts and economics from the University of Pennsylvania. For A Human Equation, his first play, Peter received a 2008 playwriting fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. A Human Equation was developed at PlayPenn in 2008, with Academy Award-nominated actor David Strathairn reading the role of Kenneth Feinberg. A Human Equation was also a finalist for the National New Play Network's Smith Prize, and received its world premiere in September 2011 in an acclaimed production by the Winding Road Theatre Ensemble (Tucson, AZ).

1. What inspired you to write A HUMAN EQUATION?
September 11 happened on my third or fourth day of college, and very soon after I worked on a college production of the first part of Angels in America, which was my first taste of theatre's potential to be a mirror of society at a particular moment in time. So for years after September 11 I would casually wonder about how the playwriting community would respond to the tragedy, but it never really did. I think this is for a number or reasons. Firstly, I think that things in America just moved exceptionally quickly after 9/11, and from having worked as a literary manager, I can attest to the fact that playwrights became far more interested in the post 9/11 American experience, writing plays about Homeland Security, the War on Terror, and especially about the Iraq war. We largely skipped September 11, though not out of any ill-intent; I think it was a confounding topic from a playwriting perspective, how to get something that could get at the scale of the tragedy without being cliched and obvious, and telling a story people already think they know.

The story of the September 11 compensation fund, when I learned about it, seemed to provide the perfect window into America's 9/11 experience, with the experiences of thousands filtered through the lens of one person having to try and make some sense of it all. Better, it was something that I think most Americans were only minimally aware of, and I know I wasn't aware of it at all, so it had the potential to be a genuine learning experience. I remember exactly when I had the idea for it--it was September 11, 2005, when I caught a retrospective of the fund and of Kenneth Feinberg's experience as special master on 60 Minutes. This was incredibly naive to think at the time, given that I had never written a play, but it never occurred to me that anyone else would write it.

2. This is your first play. Do you plan to write more?
I am in the very beginning stages of conceptualizing a new play, which I think is my favorite part. The working idea is that the next play I want to write will be on one level about the political and economic forces involved in getting a history textbook approved by a state school board, but on a deeper level about the politicization of history and the enormous (and largely unseen) struggle just to decide how it should be presented, and how we compromise our standards in the process. I have ideas for a couple of others, but this is what's on my mind now. We'll see if I'm actually able to articulate all the thoughts on it that in my head seem so promising.

3. You have undergraduate degrees in theatre arts and economics, does this make you both right and left brained?
Maybe it does, though I guess you'd be better off asking someone who has known me a long time. In high school I was more oriented in the classroom towards math and science-related subjects. I started doing theater at my parents' suggestion, because I was pretty shy and very introverted then (I'm marginally less shy now, and every bit as introverted still) and it seemed like a good way to meet people. It took, and I ended up doing theater through college. Economics I added later because I missed exercising my quantitative side and wanted to push myself a little harder.

When it comes to a fundamentally creative activity like playwriting, I'm not sure from only having written one play which side of my brain is the driving force. I sketch out everything longhand on notepads because I've found that to be more organic and conducive to bursts of creativity and general free-association (that blinking cursor on the screen is just the loneliest thing on Earth), but I also know that to a great extent with A Human Equation I had to be very analytic (especially later in the process) when writing it, because it has so many small parts and short scenes and each of them has to work just right with all of the others. At many times it certainly didn't feel like a very creative process; it was a lot more like problem-solving, and seeing how changing certain variables affected the whole piece.

4. What is your favorite website?
The Onion, whose satire I think has more content than almost any other news site there is. The quality of much print journalism and nearly all television news not produced by the BBC is so appalling, dishonest, and content-free that I don't generally make much time for it, though somehow through osmosis I manage to stay decently informed. There are some good sites I do read regularly (Slate, The Atlantic, The Economist, and Reason, namely) but no question The Onion tops my list; it simultaneously captures the zeitgeist and is great escapism.

5. If you could tour with any band, who would that be?
I became a huge fan of the band Boston when I was younger, and saw them perform live in 2003. I'd have to say them. I would love to be on the keyboards for one of their epic organ solos. This would require me to learn to acquire some musical talent, though. Otherwise I'd do some relatively low-skills backup work for the alt-country/folk singer Neko Case, just to be able to listen to her every night. Great songwriter, great musician, unforgettable voice, and a lover of greyhounds. If I ran the Catholic Church, she'd have been a saint yesterday just on that last point.

Click here to purchase a ticket to see A HUMAN EQUATION at FDU.

You can also find additional information on our website about the entire FORUM reading series.

$10 per reading
$25 for a FORUM pass (if you are going to attend at least 3 readings in the series---this is the best deal)

5 Questions With James Christy

The 20th reading in our FORUM series is EGYPTIAN SONG by James Christy. This reading will be held at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Dreyfuss Theatre, 285 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ. Click here for directions. Click here for a printable map of the campus (the Dreyfuss Theatre is located in Building 9).

James’ full length plays include Never Tell (published by Playscripts in 2007), Love and Communication (Playpenn Conference, produced by Passage Theatre in 2010), A Great War (reading at Luna Stage in 2010). His short play Creep won the Actors Theater of Louisville's Heideman Award for best short play in 2001. A reading of Egyptian Song was part of the Premiere Stages festival in June 2011.

1. What inspired you to write Egyptian Song?
I can’t point my finger at one thing that inspired Egyptian Song. My best friend growing up was from Lebanon, so I grew up around this house that had a middle eastern influence. Eventually I read about the singer Omm Kulthum, and I was fascinated with the idea of a female figure that loomed so large in a culture in which men hold most of the external power. I read more about her childhood and this story emerged, not about her life at all, but about a young girl with a similar gift whose life goes in another direction.

2. What do you enjoy most about playwriting?
Well, you’re sort of playing God when you write plays. You can create these little alternative worlds based on whatever you have kicking around in your head. But the fun part is when you get into a story and it takes on a life of its own, the characters start to surprise you and take you in different directions then where you expected.

3. What is your favorite play and why?
I’m a big fan of Stoppard and recently re-read Arcadia. I just really appreciate how deeply he gets into a subject, he’s unafraid of big ideas, but always theatrical. The way he uses spaces is pretty brilliant too.

4. What movie could you watch over and over?
Raising Arizona. Know that movie way too well.

5. What is the best new gadget you recently tried?
Playwrights can’t afford new gadgets. We buy other peoples 2nd hand gadgets on craigslist.

Click here to purchase a ticket to see EGYPTIAN SONG at FDU.

You can also find additional information on our website about the entire FORUM reading series.

$10 per reading
$25 for a FORUM pass (if you are going to attend at least 3 readings in the series---this is the best deal)

5 Questions With Suzanne Bradbeer

The 19th reading in our FORUM series is Suzanne Bradbeer's SHAKESPEARE IN VEGAS. This reading will be held at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Dreyfuss Theatre, 285 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ. Click here for directions. Click here for a printable map of the campus (the Dreyfuss Theatre is located in Building 9).

Suzanne’s work has been developed and produced at theatres around the country, including Barrington Stage Company, the New Harmony Project, Stamford Center for the Arts, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the Lark, and City Theatre of Miami. Current projects include Devil In The Details, God In The Game: an election year drama about the intersection of faith and politics; and Naked Influence, recently workshopped at the Dorset Theatre Festival. Her play Okoboji will shortly be published in a new Smith & Kraus anthology. Suzanne is a member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Actors Studio P/D Unit, the BMI Workshop, and the Dramatists Guild.

1. What inspired you to write Shakespeare in Vegas?
I was commissioned to write a short play with the theme of ‘theft’ for The Drilling Company in New York City. In thinking about theft, I decided to write about one actor stealing a scene from another and I felt that it should be an actor with a small role stealing a scene from the lead. Cleopatra and her handmaiden seemed like good candidates for this. That short play (FEAR AND LOATHING ON THE NILE) is now the second scene in SHAKESPEARE IN VEGAS, and I so loved the characters in that original play that I decided to expand it to a full length.

2. What is your favorite Shakespeare play and why?
I think my favorite Shakespeare play is MACBETH – at least that’s the one that I go back and reread the most often. It’s a great play to learn from – a fast moving story with great stakes; it’s theatrical, exciting, there’s even a little humor, and it has some of the most gorgeous, gorgeous language. That said, I have seen about five different productions of MACBETH and none of them have quite lived up to what I imagine it could be. Someday.

My favorite Shakespeare that I’ve actually seen is probably Fiasco Theater’s CYMBELINE, currently being produced by Theatre for a New Audience. Go see it! It’s magical and surprising, and full of playful energy. Also, there was a fantastic production of TROILUS AND CRESSIDA at the Royal Shakespeare Company that I saw about 20 years ago: it was both desperately sad and side-splittingly funny. I still think about it sometimes.

3. What do you enjoy most about being a playwright?
A good day of writing is satisfying like almost nothing else I’ve ever known.

4. Have you been to Vegas? Did you win big?
I have been to Vegas and I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t even gamble. Okay, my friend Cat and I put one penny in a slot machine just as we were leaving. I meant to gamble, I really did! But we were so busy just exploring downtown and the Strip and finding places for cocktails…that we forgot to gamble. One of my favorite parts of Vegas is the Old Sign Graveyard – which is exactly what it sounds like.

Incidentally, Cat and I were in Vegas Easter weekend, which, that year, also happened to be the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination. So Easter morning, April 4, we sat in our room at the Trump Hotel (thank you, Priceline) and played and replayed U2’s Pride (In The Name Of Love) and talked about MLK, and God, and loss and hope. It turned out to be an unusual but very moving and memorable way to spend Easter.

5. Do you prefer coffee or tea? Is it part of your creative process?
I PREFER COFFEE!!!! It is definitely part of my creative process. It’s the first thing I do in the morning and that first sip of the day never fails to make me happy. I love coffee so much, I’m going to go have some more right now.

Click here to purchase a ticket to see SHAKESPEARE IN VEGAS at FDU.

You can also find additional information on our website about the entire FORUM reading series.

$10 per reading
$25 for a FORUM pass (if you are going to attend at least 3 readings in the series---this is the best deal)

5 Questions With Dominique Cieri

The 18th reading in our FORUM series is SAFE by Dominique Cieri which will be presented on Tuesday, December 13, beginning at 7:00pm at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Dreyfuss Theatre in Madison, NJ.

Domnique Cieri is the recipient of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Playwriting Fellowship 2003, and 2009. A graduate of Rose Bruford College, England, and recipient of the State University of New York Chancellor’s Medal of Excellence for Scholarship and Creative Activities. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing at Goddard College, Vermont. Ms. Cieri’s plays have been produced and developed in New Jersey, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Pitz & Joe is currently under contract with Warner Brothers. Her newest play, Safe will have its first reading at Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey where she is also developing a new play in New Jersey Women’s Playwrights Project.

1. What inspired you to write Safe?
The question of Nature verses Nurture and working with boys who struggle against all odds- are they going to make it?

2. You are also a teaching artist. What do you think is the most valuable lesson you can teach your students?
To fully realize their potential.

3. Pitz & Joe is currently under contract with Warner Brothers. What plans are underway for developing this?
The script has been penned and Josh Brolin will be directing and starring.

4. What is your favorite book and why?
This is the most difficult question because there are far too many. I love Julia Alvarez, Mikal Gilmore's Shot in the Heart. I just finished reading Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks - (The Sweet Hereafter - a great book and screenplay) his sentences move like a freight train and when reading his work you're on that train and you're not getting off- he portrays parts of America and its outcasts that nobody else will touch.

5. What is the oldest thing in your refrigerator?
Definitely the ices cubes.

Click here to purchase a ticket to see SAFE at FDU.

You can also find additional information on our website about the entire FORUM reading series.

$10 per reading
$25 for a FORUM pass (if you are going to attend at least 3 readings in the series---this is the best deal)

CONNECTED by Lia Romeo - 17th Reading in FORUM Series

The 17th reading is our FORUM series is CONNECTED by Lia Romeo. The reading will be held tonight, December 12, 7pm at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Dreyfuss Theatre, 285 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ.

Lia Romeo is a playwright, novelist, and humor book author. She earned her B.A. from Princeton University and her M.F.A in playwriting from Rutgers, ending up with staggering quantities of student loans and no marketable skills whatsoever. She managed to secure a part-time job writing standardized test questions, and spends the rest of her time writing plays and novels and daydreaming about pretty shoes.

Click here to purchase a ticket to see CONNECTED at FDU.
You can also find additional information on our website about the entire FORUM reading series.

$10 per reading
$25 for a FORUM pass (if you are going to attend at least 3 readings in the series---this is the best deal)

5 Questions With Yasmine Rana

On Sunday, December 11, 2011, we will have an evening of one-act plays. Two of those plays will be by Yasmine Rana. The 14th play in our FORUM reading series is HOW I THOUGHT THE MILONGA WOULD SAVE ME and the 15th is BLASPHEME. These plays will be presented on Sunday, December 11, 7:00pm, at Fairleigh Dickinson, Dreyfuss Theatre in Madison, NJ.

Yasmine's book The War Zone is My Bed and Other Plays was published this year by Seagull Books and University of Chicago Press. Other publications include Blackbird, The Kenyon Review, and TDR The Drama Review. The title play of the book, The War Zone is My Bed was recently produced in Los Angeles at Write Act Repertory Theater.

1. What inspired you to write How I Thought the Milonga Would Save Me & Blaspheme?
I studied Argentinian tango several years ago, enjoyed it, but later quit due to the time constraints life presents. Last year, I returned to tango with what I hoped would be a deeper commitment to learning this dance. I would attend milongas to practice and met many interesting partners, dance partners of course. The experience began to resemble personal relationships, particularly the idea of revealing a different side of oneself for a different partner; some preferred the close embrace while others the open one, though the close embracers were the majority of dance partners I had. Sadly, I have quit tango again and have now taken up boxing, perhaps as a result of tangoing. Maybe my next play will be about a boxer who also does the tango.

I wrote Blaspheme after Milonga. Though I do love the comedy discovered in romantic entanglements, my home base as a writer is human rights issues. I wanted to explore an interrogation and was intrigued by the notion of single word as the source of a blasphemous charge.

On further reflection I saw both plays as a dance: the former a dance of pleasure and a quest in seeking the "ideal" partner, and the latter being a dance for survival.

2. Can you tell us a little about your job as a registered drama therapist?
In addition to being a creative arts therapist, I am an English as a Second Language teacher, and it's been wonderful incorporating creative drama into language learning. The joy has been hearing my students respond to a piece of literature we read in class; there's a sense of gratitude in having read a particular work that is now part of their history as learners. As a writer, I've meditated on the meaning of gratitude and how it is a part of my craft and being: I am grateful to theater companies, directors, actors, publishers, and audience members for having given me their time and sometimes their trust.

3. How has working with refugees in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Republic of Georgia and Switzerland played a role in your writing?
Although it's been twelve years since my time in Sarajevo, I know my experience practicing drama therapy in that environment is embedded in my writing. What I took away from that journey was a profound respect for resiliency and for the desire to uphold human dignity even in the most calamitous circumstances.

4. What do you enjoy most about being a playwright?
What I enjoy most about being a playwright is hearing and seeing the different interpretations of my work. I've heard actors and directors from the United States and Europe present my plays and each production or reading is a bit of an epiphany for me

5. If you could have a superpower what would it be and why?
I have just finished teaching my high school ESL students Ernest J. Gaines' quiet masterpiece A Lesson Before Dying. To me, Gaines' work is a meditation on equality and justice, with basic humanity at the core of everything. If I possessed superpowers I would eradicate injustice.

Click here to purchase a ticket to see HOW I THOUGHT THE MILONGA WOULD SAVE ME and BLASPHEME at FDU.

You can also find additional information on our website about the entire FORUM reading series.

$10 per reading
$25 for a FORUM pass (if you are going to attend at least 3 readings in the series---this is the best deal)

5 Questions With Carrie Louise Nutt

The 9th reading in our FORUM series is LSD by Carrie Louise Nutt which will be presented on Tuesday, December 6, beginning at 7:00pm at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Dreyfuss Theatre in Madison, NJ.

Carrie Louise Nutt’s play Agua was a 2010 O’Neill semi-finalist. It was developed during her NNPN Emerging Playwright Residency at PNTJ. When Gods Walk the Earth was part of the Great Plains Theatre Conference PlayLabs, received Tulsa University’s “Best New Works for Young Women” award, and was recently produced at Manhattan Rep. Carrie is published in One on One: The Best Men’s Monologues for the 21st Century by Applause. She is a member of DGA and PWC. She holds an MFA in Playwriting from Rutgers. Recently, she received a new play commission from MCTVS. http://web.me.com/carrienutt/Site/About_Me.html

1. What inspired you to write LSD?
I became interested in government drug experimentation while I was researching for a different play. I ended up stumbling across two stories in particular that jumped out at me. One was centered around a young scientist who died under unclear circumstances and the other story was about a patient admitted to a psychiatric hospital who reported being experimented on. I began to get a picture of a time where Cold War paranoia drove people to do things to others that they should not have. It set up a dynamic where anything was permissible for the greater good. I felt that had resonance for us today.

2. Can you tell us a little about your new play commission from MCTVS?
MCTVS has commissioned me to write a one-act play for their theatre students. I was asked to come onboard for this school year as a Guest Artist. I will teach as well as put together a play for the students to perform. This play will go up in March alongside several other commissions and a handful of student plays in a festival that MCTVS is producing.

3. What is your favorite play or book and why?
My favorite book is Blindness because Jose Saramago understand the difference between civility and savagery. The only difference between the civilized and the uncivilized is the availability of resources. You take that away and it is surprising what people will do.

4. How long have you been writing?
Since I was in elementary school. I used to read Nancy Drew, and then stay up late writing my own mystery novels.

5. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
The Hunger Games. It's a great trilogy. It's total pop culture, adrenaline junkie trash, but I love it for how well it wraps the reader into the action and the love triangle.

Click here to purchase a ticket to see LSD at FDU.
You can also find additional information on our website about the entire FORUM reading series.

$10 per reading
$25 for a FORUM pass (attend all 23 readings in the series)

New Items and New Rummage Sale Dates

Playwrights Theatre is leaving its space at 33 Green Village Road, Madison, NJ and is selling excess articles it has acquired over the past 25 years.

New things have been addeded since the previous rummage sale dates. We've cleaned out all extraneous items, so only the really useful and interesting ones are left. Everything will be tagged with a price. There are no costumes, lighting, sound equipment or theatre seats.

The rummage sale dates are:
Saturday, October 22 from 9am-2pm
Sunday, October 23 from 9am-2pm

The sale will take place on the first floor of 33 Green Village Road. Cash and checks gladly accepted. Playwrights Theatre regrets it cannot accept phone calls or e-mail inquiries about sale items. All business to be conducted in person.

Need directions? http://www.ptnj.org/pages/directions-and-getting-around

25th Anniversary Gala Photos

On Saturday, September 17, 2011, Playwrights Theatre had a benefit celebrating 25 years of creativity and community at the Hartley-Dodge Memorial building in Madison, NJ.

The evening included music with Jerry Vezza and a performance by Sahirah Johnson and The MoMs (from MoM A Rock Concert Musical) -- Donna Jean Fogel, Jane Keitel, Bekka Lindstrom, Dana Loren McCoy, Stefanie Seskin.

There was a silent auction, new plays from improbably playwrights Hon. Mary-Anna Holden, Mayor of Madison and Hon. Jon M. Bramnic, NJ State Assemblyman as well as Collaborative Play written that evening by the guests and performed by Duncan Rogers and Bev Sheehan.

Playwrights Theatre honored:
Lawrence S. Feinsod, Executive County Superintendent, Essex County
Lisa Ellis, President, Madison Board of Education
Jeannie Tsukamoto, Council Member, Madison Borough Council
Arthur Wilson, Poet/Playwright/Teaching Artist
Shamsuddin Abdul-Hamid, 2010 NJ State Poetry Out Loud Champion

Photo Credit: Walter Rodriguez

To view more photos, visit our website

We're Having a Rummage Sale

Playwrights Theatre is leaving its space at 33 Green Village Road, Madison, NJ and is selling excess articles it has acquired over the past 25 years. Items for sale include: props, furniture, dishware, knickknacks, costumes and office supplies including filing cabinets and desks. All items will be priced to move. Lighting and sound equipment will not be available and the theatre seats have already been claimed.

The rummage sale dates are:
Saturday, October 1 from Noon-6pm
Sunday, October 2 from 9am-6pm
Saturday, October 8 from 9am-6pm
Sunday, October 9 from 9am-6pm

The sale will take place on the first floor of 33 Green Village Road. Cash and checks gladly accepted. Playwrights Theatre regrets it cannot accept phone calls or e-mail inquiries about sale items. All business to be conducted in person.

Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre brings DISTRACTED to Madison

Dreamcatcher presents the New Jersey premiere of Distracted, a smart and serious off-Broadway hit that Time Out New York proclaimed "my favorite comedy of the year!" Due to repairs at the Baird, Distracted will play at Playwrights Theatre.

In Distracted, does nine-year-old Jesse have ADHD or is he just being a kid? Is it even a problem at all? As his parents navigate the complicated world of medical and alternative treatments, they confront the possibility that it's not just Jesse who's distracted--it's our entire culture.

Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre says, "Distracted is the kind of play we do best: serious intimate drama that's filled with witty funny dialog and emotional issues that touch the heart." Get your tickets now!

All performances are at Playwrights Theatre in Madison, NJ.

Event: DISTRACTED Info

Dates: March 4-20, 2011

Times: Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm

Location: Playwrights Theatre, 33 Green Village Road

Price: $30 adults, $25 seniors & students w/ ID
Save $3 in advance Buy tickets now no fees!

Discounts: Students pay just $15 on Saturday March 5 only
Seniors pay just $15 on Sunday March 6 only

Groups save 10% or more. The bigger your group, the more you save! Group sales

Don't miss the informative Q&A with Distracted artistic director Laura Ekstrand on Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre's website!

THE LAW OF THE MONKEYS by Ken Scarborough

Dani has a lot of love to give, and she gives it freely in this dark comedy by former SNL writer Ken Scarborough.

Ken Scarborough has won four Emmys for his television writing—as a staff writer for Saturday Night Live, as the Head Writer for the PBS series Arthur, and as a writer for Between the Lions. Ken served as Head Writer for the Nickelodeon series Doug and currently serves as Head Writer and Creative Producer for Martha Speaks, a children’s television series he developed for PBS.

Directed by John Pietrowski and featuring Eilis Cahill, Daniel Sullivan, Stacie Lents, Clark Carmichael, David Mason.

Tickets $10 or $25 for a FORUM pass and see all the readings through Sunday. Order online or by phone 973.514.1787 X10.

ARTIST AS A MAN by Joe Sutton

Author Joe Sutton explores the tangled relationship between an author and his agent. Not based on a true story, or is it?

Directed by James Glossman and featuring Paul Murphy, David Mason and Evelyn McGee Colbert.

Joe Sutton’s plays include Voir Dire, As It is in Heaven, Complicit, and Restoring the Sun. They have been produced by such theatres as the New York Theater Workshop, BAM and the Old Vic. Joe is a recipient of fellowships from NYFA and the NEA, and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Last season Joe developed his mystery television show Scales of Justice for the USA network. Joe resides in Montclair, NJ with his wife Anne and their sons James and Nicholas.

$10 for tonight's reading for buy a FORUM pass for $25 and see all the readings this week.

To secure your seat, order online or call the box office at 973.514.1787 X10.

JACKASS FLATS by John Simon & C.C. Lovehart

Tuesday, December 14 at 7pm

It's Las Vegas, 1951, and an unusual trio of women take a road trip to a sunrise picnic at the dawn of the Nuclear Age. Funny and relevant, JACKASS FLATS is a heart-warming story of survival in a time and place both mythical and real.

C.C. Loveheart Jackass Flats was first inspired by the personal reminiscences of C.C. Loveheart who grew up in Las Vegas. In her checkered career, she has acted on stage and screens of all sizes from coast to coast. She is a Clio award winner and created the character of Coco for Nickolodeon’s Pinwheel House for which she still gets fan mail. She is a Lifetime Member of The Actors’ Studio. In New Jersey, she appeared in The Gin Game.

John Simon C.C.’s husband and frequent collaborator, is a self-described “compulsive musician”. As a record producer and performer, he has worked with Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen, The Band, Taj Mahal, Gil Evans, Marshall McLuhan and many others. He has released several albums of original songs. John and C.C. have appeared in a self-penned cabaret act called Alone Together For The First Time Again.

Directed by Brendan Burke

Kay..................................................Denise Lute
Ginny...............................................Olivia Gilliatt
Lana Dee..........................................Lucy Eller

The reading will be held at:
Playwrights Theatre
33 Green Village Road
Madison, NJ 07940
Need directions?

$10 for the reading for reserve a FORUM pass and see all the remaining readings for $25. Purchase your tickets online or by calling the box office at 973.514.1787 X10.

Week Three of FORUM

The third and final week of FORUM begins tomorrow. $10 for one reading or $25 for a FORUM pass. Order online or by calling the box office at 973.514.1787 X10.

Tuesday, December 14 - 7:00pm
JACKASS FLATS by John Simon & C.C. Lovehart
It's Las Vegas, 1951, and an unusual trio of women take a road trip to a sunrise picnic at the dawn of the Nuclear Age. Funny and relevant, JACKASS FLATS is a heart-warming story of survival in a time and place both mythical and real

Wednesday, December 15 - 7:00pm
ARTIST AS A MAN by Joe Sutton
Author Joe Sutton explores the tangled relationship between an author and his agent. Not based on a true story, or is it?

Thursday, December 16 - 7:00pm
THE LAW OF THE MONKEYS by Ken Scarborough
Dani has a lot of love to give, and she gives it freely in this dark comedy by former SNL writer Ken Scarborough.

Friday, December 17 - 7:00pm
NUMBER OF PEOPLE by Emilie Beck
In this one person show, a Holocaust survivor whose encounter with a German family after his release from the camps comes to define the essence of his life.

Saturday, December 18 - 7:00pm
MARLOWE by James Glossman
An ensemble adaptation of Raymond Chandler's classic film-noir tales of iconic private eye Philip Marlowe, among the sun burnt, violent streets of 1940s Los Angeles.

Sunday, December 19 - 7:00pm
THE EXCEPTIONALS by Robert Clyman
In a new version of last year’s reading, and prior to it’s production at Merrimack Theatre in Massachusetts, this play takes place in the Coordinator for Parent Liaison’s office of a donor insemination research program for “exceptional” children and their parents.