5 Questions with Carrie Louise Nutt

The 6th reading in our FORUM "Soundings" series is SCREWED! by Carrie Louise Nutt. This reading will begin at 7pm on December 19, 2012, and 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).

This play traces the rise and fall of a disaffected Jersey-boy with a video camera, who, on a whim, decides to go to Los Angeles, and falls into directing porn videos. He quickly rises to the top of the field, and just as suddenly, sabotages his success. Based on a true story, Screwed! is a dark take on a classic American tale.

Carrie Louise Nutt's play Agua was a 2011 semi-finalist at the O’Neill. It was workshopped at The Lark and PTNJ, while Carrie was NNPN’s Emerging Playwright in Residence. Her play The Lamb was produced off-Broadway at 59E59 and was a finalist for the Heideman Award. She recently finished shooting the pilot for her web series Meg. Carrie is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America and The Playwrights Center. She holds an MFA in Playwriting from Rutgers, where she teaches Screenwriting.

1. What inspired your to write SCREWED?
I met a guy and this is a fictionalized version of his story.  His story felt so quintessentially American to me.  In this country, we are taught to have a dream and to believe that we can change the circumstances we are in.  There's a certain amount of truth in that, but there are also a lot of people who dream big and fall short of that dream, and have to figure out how to pick up the pieces and to be okay with where life has taken them and how it turned out.  Some never do figure it out.  Disappointment can be crushing.

2. This play is based on a true story. Is this something you read about or did you know the person?
What's interesting is since having met the inspiration for this story, I have met a handful of other people who made the same journey, more or less, as him.  They have become part of the story in different ways, so that the main character, Eli, is really an amalgamation of different people.  He includes a little of myself, but please don't guess what parts.

3. How did you research for this play?
I definitely watched porn.  I also conducted interviews with former-industry actors and producers.  There are also great resources on legit cable networks like "Pornucopia."

4. Tell us about your web series "Meg"?
MEG is s a comedy web series about a super neurotic, mid-30s actress living in Brooklyn, trying really hard STILL to make her dream happen. All hell breaks loose for Meg when her best friend and roommate threatens to evict her if she doesn't make rent. It's about struggling hard to grow up when your dream might never make you any money.

5. If you were given a thousand dollars and you had to spend it on jewelry, purses or shoes, which would you choose and why?
I bet I could buy all of the above, and even have a little left over. Shoes are my favorite, but I would hate to be among the likes of Imelda Marcos. Antoinette and Marcos sort of live in the same lineage for me. $1,000 can go a long way or be one, big gluttonous purchase. Like a Humvee, which is also somehow emblematic of the America we are and not the America we imagine ourselves to be. 

  ♦ Playwrights Theatre will present these readings free of charge, with an optional donation of $10

♦ A $25 dollar donation will get you a FORUM pass that covers all of the readings.

♦ A $250 donation will get you a rehearsal pass that allows access to all reading rehearsals.

♦ Reservations can be made online at or call (973) 514-1787 X10

Click here to reserve your seat to see SCREWED!

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

5 Questions with R.N. Sandberg

The 4th reading in our FORUM "Soundings" series is ROUNDELAY by R.N. Sandberg. This reading will begin at 7pm on December 17, 2012, and 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).


A wild, multi-character, globe-hopping tale of love in all of its complexity. From the Bronx to India to the Kenyan coast, playwright R.N. Sandberg spins a rich, funny, and deeply moving tapestry that explores what it means to pursue, run away, and finally surrender to the siren song of love and desire.

R.N. Sandberg's  plays have been seen in Australia, Canada, England, Japan, Panama, South Korea and throughout the U.S. He’s been commissioned by, among others, McCarter, Seattle Rep and Seattle Children’s Theatre. Current work includes IRL for George Street Playhouse, What Can’t Be Seen, recently read in San Francisco, and Judgment of Bett, at Kennedy Center’s New Visions/New Voices. His plays are published by Playscripts and Dramatic Publishing. He teaches playwriting, acting and dramatic literature at Princeton University. Roundelay will have its premiere at Passage Theatre in March.

1. What inspired your to write ROUNDELAY?
A convergence of two things: desires to explore what connection was in the age of electronic communication and to create a play that reached out into the world

2. You teach playwriting, acting and dramatic literature at Princeton University. What is the one thing you hope your students gain from your classes?
Open, flexible minds: the ability to see and make a wide variety of choices in their writing, acting and analyses. My hope is that this leads to them becoming more open people.

3. Your play hops all over the world from the Bronx to India to the Kenyan coast. Are these all places you have visited? Why did you choose these specific locations?
I chose the specific places where English was spoken but the cultures might seem very different from the ones we typically see on stage. I've only been to one of the places in the play. It may not be the one you think.

4.Given the choice between cheesecake and cheesesteak, which do you choose?
Both. I believe in well rounded meals.

5. What is your favorite book and why?
That's like asking what's my favorite food. There are too many wondrous, delicious things in the world to spend time narrowing them down to one. Experience as many different books, food and ideas as possible.

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♦ Playwrights Theatre will present these readings free of charge, with an optional donation of $10

♦ A $25 dollar donation will get you a FORUM pass that covers all of the readings.

♦ A $250 donation will get you a rehearsal pass that allows access to all reading rehearsals.

♦ Reservations can be made online at or call (973) 514-1787 X10

Click here to reserve your seat to see ROUNDELAY.

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

5 Questions with Dania Ramos

The 2nd reading in our FORUM "Soundings" series is HIELO by Dania Ramos. This reading will begin at 7pm on December 15, 2012, and 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).

In Cayey, Puerto Rico, Lucia finds her hours cut at the local big box store. So she decides to start her own business selling limber, a smooth ice treat. She finds herself encroaching on the territory of Antonio whose piraqua, a shaved ice treat, is a popular concession at the local park. We have in this romantic comedy the beginnings of an ice war that includes Lucia’s daughter, her budding entrepreneur friend, and a champion skateboarder spy.

Dania Ramos co-created Mi Casa Tu Casa, a bilingual holiday show produced by Luna Stage. She’s currently developing the stage adaptation of Pura Belpre’s children’s novel Firefly Summer. Dania was a participant of the 2011-2012 New Jersey Emerging Women’s Playwriting Project at PTNJ. She received a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Playwriting Fellowship in 2003. Dania’s a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and received an MA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University.

1. What inspired you to write HIELO?There’s a bit of family history that sparked the homegrown business storyline in Hielo. For years, my grandmother really did sell homemade limber ice from her house to save money for cigarettes. According to my father, she ended up having cash left over to put toward household bills. In the script, that account morphed into a battle of frozen treats, which took on a life of its own. Overall, I wanted to write a play set in present-day Puerto Rico that had certain cultural touchstones, but still felt universal through its characters and their journeys.

2. Can you tell us a little about your experience co-creating Mi Casa Tu Casa? How was it similar/different from the way you usually write?Jane Mandel and Mona Hennessy of Luna Stage came up with the concept for a bilingual holiday show—a mix of music and storytelling—which ultimately became Mi Casa Tu Casa. The other co-creators are Michael Aquino (my husband), Deivis Garcia, and Jane Mandel, who also directed the show.

It was a true collaborative effort throughout the entire development process of Mi Casa. Early on, we only had big chunks of the script—four tales, eight songs, a classic holiday poem, and personal memories written by cast members. We had to find the form in which these elements could be threaded together into a seamless performance piece. Half of the show is music but since the band and storytellers rehearsed separately in the beginning, the integration of music, storytelling, and transitions weren’t solidified until pretty late in the rehearsal period. Another unique aspect of the play is that only certain sections of the script are set while other portions change depending on who is performing in the production. In a sense, I feel less like the playwright of Mi Casa and more like a weaver of other people’s stories.

[Editor's Note: Luna Stage brought back Mi Casa, Tu Casa this year. The final performances are this weekend.]

3. You are working on a stage adaptation of Pura Belpre’s children’s novel Firefly Summer. How do you go about translating a book for the stage? In developing the adaptation for Pura Belpre’s Firefly Summer, I’m focusing on capturing Belpre’s delightful voice and staying true to the main story arc of the novel, which takes place about a century ago on a small family farm in Puerto Rico. A main part of this process is transforming Belpre’s charming narration and description into dialogue and dramatic action that works for the stage. Since a novel is a longer form than a play, I’ve had to merge some plot points and create composite characters to make everything fit into a theatrical script of appropriate length.

4. Your play involves a smooth and a shaved ice treat. Do you prefer ice treats over ice cream?
When it’s hot outside, I love eating flavored ice of any texture, especially if it’s made with real fruit…because then I can justify eating it daily. (It’s nutritious, right?) Ice cream I’ll enjoy every once in a while, usually at a fancy celebration or holiday.

5. What can you tell us about the Young Adult Fantasy Novel you are working on?
There’s a teen girl warrior. There are venom-spewing gargoyles. It’s set in Puerto Rico.


♦ Playwrights Theatre will present these readings free of charge, with an optional donation of $10.

♦ A $25 dollar donation will get you a FORUM pass that covers all of the readings.

♦ A $250 donation will get you a rehearsal pass that allows access to all reading rehearsals.

♦ Reservations can be made online at or call (973) 514-1787 X10.

Click here to reserve your seat to see HIELO.

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

5 Questions with Lia Romeo

The 3rd reading in our FORUM "Soundings" series is REALITY by Lia Romeo. This reading will begin at 7pm on December 16, 2012, and 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).

Annie and Matt met on ”Looking for Love,” a popular reality dating show. But now that the cameras have stopped rolling, their fairy tale is looking a lot less perfect than it seemed. Add to the mix producer Josh, who will do anything for ratings, and the show runner up Krisandra, an aspring actress who’s desperate to make her mark in Hollywood. Will there be a happy ending or a scandal? In our model society, where everything from breasts to feelings are likely to be fake, playwright Lia Romeo explores what “reality” really mean.

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. Her play Hungry premiered at Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City in the 2011-2012 season, and was produced by Stillwater Theater subsequently. Her play Green Whales premiered at Unicorn Theatre in 2010, and was produced by Renegade Theatre Experiment in 2012. Her play Right Place, Right Time premiered at Renegade Theatre Experiment in 2010, and was produced by Stillwater Theatre subsequently. Her play LoveSick was produced by Project Y Theatre Company at 59E59 in New York in 2012. Her play Connected will premiere at HotCity Theatre in St. Louis in 2013. She has been a part of the Forum New Play Reading Series at Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey for the past five years, and her plays have also been developed at the Kennedy Center, Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, New Jersey Repertory Theatre, Kitchen Dog Theatre, HotCity Theatre, Abingdon Theatre, and elsewhere. She has been a finalist for the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, PlayPenn, WordBridge, the Reva Shiner Comedy Award, and the Heideman Award. She was the 2008-2009 National New Play Network Emerging Playwright-in-Residence at Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, and she is currently a member of the New Jersey Women Playwrights’ Project and Boston’s Interim Writers Accomplice. Her humor book, 11,002 Things to Be Miserable About, was published in 2009 by Abrams Image. It is currently in its second printing, with over 30,000 copies sold, and has earned favorable reviews in the Boston Globe and other national publications. Her first novel, Dating the Devil, will be published by BelleBooks in 2013, and is in development as a TV movie with Vast Entertainment.

1. What inspired your to write REALITY?
I'm something of a reality TV fanatic, for reasons that are mysterious even to myself, and I figured that if I wrote a play about it then I could count all those hours watching "The Bachelor" as research :) Seriously, though, I'm fascinated by the way that television and the promise of fame acts as a crucible to bring out these very extreme things in people, and by the differences between reality as presented on TV and reality as it actually plays out in the "real world" (whatever that means).

2. You are a playwright, novelist and humor book author. Do you approach each of those differently when you write or is your process the same?
I approach them all totally differently, actually. Even though I write comic plays, theater is the medium I tend to turn to when I feel like I have something serious to say. Writing novels and humor books is more of a lark for me - and as a result, often more fun - but I don't necessarily feel the same obligation to have some sort of important message.

3. What are your favorite pretty shoes?
Right now I'm really loving a pair of tall brown leather boots I just bought. They're flat, so they're comfortable for walking, but still stylish - I think I've worn them every day since I got them.

4. Your book is called 11,002 Things To Be Miserable About. What were reasons 11,001 and 11,002?
11,001 - Unfathomable darkness
11,002 - Happiness

5. You have a part time job writing standardized test questions. What is your favorite question?That's actually strictly confidential, since the questions I work on often end up getting administered on the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). I will say, though, that it's a really interesting job, because I learn all kinds of random information about a variety of topics - from biology to psychology - which sometimes ends up showing up in my plays.


♦ Playwrights Theatre will present these readings free of charge, with an optional donation of $10

♦ A $25 dollar donation will get you a FORUM pass that covers all of the readings.

♦ A $250 donation will get you a rehearsal pass that allows access to all reading rehearsals.

♦ Reservations can be made online at or call (973) 514-1787 X10

Click here to reserve your seat to see REALITY.

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

5 Questions with Pia Wilson

The 1st reading in our FORUM "Soundings" series is THE RIVER PURE FOR HEALING by Pia Wilson. This reading will begin at 7pm on December 14, 2012, and 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).

An ambitious young woman at a nonprofit organization hits upon an idea to connect international political prisoners as letter exchange partners. What seems to be a well-meaning program quickly gets caught up in the political intrigues and propaganda of China and the Middle East, and turns into a desperate situation for the head of the nonprofit who allowed the program to go ahead in the first place.

Pia Wilson is a 2011 Heideman Award finalist for her short play Turning the Glass Around and a semi-finalist in the 2011 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. She is a 2012 resident with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Workspace program, a 2009 playwriting fellow with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and a member of the 2008 Emerging Writers Group at The Public Theater. She is also a member of The Passage Theatre Play Lab and a member of the 2009 Project Footlight team of composers and librettists. Her full-length play The Flower Thief was an August 2012 co-production between Horse Trade Theater Group and The Fire This Time play festival. Her play Generation T was featured in The Classical Theatre of Harlem's Future Classics reading series in June 2012. Her full-length drama Red Rooster was likewise a part of the Future Classics reading series as well as the Emerging Writers Spotlight Series at The Public Theater in 2009. All the Pretty Girls was featured in The Looking Glass Theatre's Spring 2009 Writer/Director Forum. The River Pure for Healing was part of the 2008 Resilience of the Spirit play festival. Her play Tree of Life received a 2007 workshop production at The Red Room Theater.

1. What inspired your to write THE RIVER PURE FOR HEALING?I read an article in The Washington Post about this man from Iraq who had been tortured and deemed not a terrorist, who was subsequently dropped off in Washington, D.C. in a hotel room. He was a man without a country – he couldn't go back to Iraq for fear of being killed as an informer to the U.S. government – and he was suffering from PTSD. His despair was heartbreaking. He couldn't go out in the rain without crying because he had been tortured using the waterboarding method. I modeled the lead character of THE RIVER PURE FOR HEALING on this man.

2. Can you tell us a little about your experience being part of the Emerging Writers Group at The Public Theater?
The Emerging Writers Group was really my entrée into the New York theater community. Before then, I was doing everything for myself when producing a show – writing, directing, producing, stage managing.

Being in the EWG opened up my world. It was great walking the halls of The Public, feeling like I had a true artistic home. And I forged some really great, lasting relationships with fellow playwrights and directors and other theater folks during that time.

3. What compelled you to become a playwright?
A French actress needed a play and so I wrote my first play (a two-hander). Alas, the play was too American for her use, so I produced it myself. THE RIVER PURE FOR HEALING was the next big play I wrote.

4. What is your favorite play or musical and why?
That is a hard, hard question! I love so many plays. I remember seeing TOP DOG UNDERDOG by Suzan-Lori Parks on Broadway and being wowed. I wasn't a playwright then, but boy, did I want to be after seeing that play. It was raw and intense and it had two Black people starring in it (and it wasn't a musical), which was groundbreaking to me. However, I am also heavily influenced by Tennessee Williams.

Love August Wilson. Lynn Nottage and David Henry Hwang are brilliant.

I remember I went to see Hwang's YELLOW FACE at The Public while I was in the EWG, and the story told was just so universal yet very specific. That play was inspiring too.

5. You write plays, short stories and screenplays. Is your process the same or do you approach them differently?
They're all really different. I just started writing screenplays again after a hiatus and it is much more of a visual medium, so I make an effort to approach it that way, with images and an economy of words. Theater is focused more on ideas, language and characterization. With short stories, I'm painting pictures with words. They all have their rules, and I enjoy flexing different writing muscles!

♦ Playwrights Theatre will present these readings free of charge, with an optional donation of $10
♦ A $25 dollar donation will get you a FORUM pass that covers all of the readings.
♦ A $250 donation will get you a rehearsal pass that allows access to all reading rehearsals.
♦ Reservations can be made online at or call (973) 514-1787 X10
Click here to reserve your seat to see THE RIVER PURE FOR HEALING.

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

Bickford Theatre and Playwrights Theatre present A TUNA CHRISTMAS

Bickford Theatre and Playwrights Theatre are pleased to present the A Tuna Christmas by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard. The co-production (appropriate for all ages), will preview on December 13 and run through December 30, 2012 (no performances on Friday, December 14 and Saturday, December 29).

PLEASE NOTE: All performances will take place at Bickford Theatre, 6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown, NJ.

For tickets, call the Bickford Theatre box office at 973-971-3706.

It’s Christmas in Tuna, the third smallest town in Texas.  Two quick-change actors (Jim Ligon and Michael Irvin Pollard) portray 24 quirky characters and their Yuletide adventures in the town of Tuna, Texas that will surely fill your stockings with laughter. This hilarious holiday production features many of the colorful Tuna denizens from Greater Tuna, and some appearing here for the first time.

Directed by John Pietrowski

Single tickets are on sale now:

General Admission $45
Seniors $40
Members of the Morris Museum/Bickford Theatre Guild $38
Groups (10 or more) $30
Students $20

Mention the code "playwrights" when ordering to get $10 off the General Admission Price.

For tickets, call the Bickford Theatre box office at 973-971-3706

Performance Dates and Times:
Thursday, December 13 at 7:30pm

Saturday, December 15 at 2:00pm and 8:00pm

Sunday, December 16 at 2:00pm

Wednesday, December 19 at 7:30pm

Thursday, December 20 at 2:00pm

Friday, December 21 at 8:00pm

Saturday, December 22 at 8:00pm

Sunday, December 23 at 2:00pm

Wednesday, December 26 at 7:30pm

Thursday, Decmeber 27 at 7:30pm

Friday, December 28 at 8:00pm

Sunday, December 30 at 2:00pm

There are no performances on December 14 and December 29

Hurricane Sandy Aftermath Please Help Our Friends

We've had a request from one of our friends, One More Smith, who is in need of help after Hurricane Sandy. With the snow starting to come down, supplies are in urgent need.

WHAT THEY NEED:

We could use old towels, blankets and sheets desperately.

We are unable to do laundry and the laundry mats refuse to let us use their machines.

We need blankets so the animals can use them to keep warm.

One More Smith Animal Sanctuary in Chester, NJ
Contact them via email as to where to drop off donations: asmith@www.onemoresmith.org
Website: http://www.onemoresmith.org/

Church of the Messiah in Chester, NJ is also accepting donation drop offs and will get any supplies that are delivered to the church to the sanctuary. Their address is 50 State Route 24 West, Chester, NJ 07930.