New Theatre Company Launches Inaugural Loop Festival In Collaboration With Uproar Theatrics

Aggregate Collective, a theatre company using a value set of radical hospitality and shared learning to guide programming and operations has announced a unique theatre festival that focuses on the development of new plays crafted specifically for young adults written by professional playwrights from around the country. In this inaugural year, all of the selected playwrights came via a collaboration with Uproar Theatrics, a new theatrical licensing company dedicated to providing quality plays and musicals for producing organizations of all levels. 

The Loop Festival will take place on Thursday, August 15, 2024 (Times TBD). It is a day-long staged reading presentation of three different plays that are written in the genre of Young Adult Theatre. Young Adult Theatre includes plays that tell stories relevant to young adults and written for young adult actors to perform.  After each presentation, the audience participates in a facilitated discussion and acts as responders to play. These responses may inform how the playwright adapts the play in the future. 

Twenty five young adult actors from all around Southern Oregon will be participating in a three day development process prior to the presentation. In this process leading up to the reading, the young adult actors act as cultural consultants for the playwrights and provide insight and responses to the authenticity of the writing. The rehearsals and the presentation will take place at The Hivve, a multimedia performance venue  in downtown Grants Pass. 

Go to www.aggregatecollective.com for information about showtimes and tickets. 

Here are the featured plays and directors: (further bios included below) 

“Dolcevita or The Clown Chorus of the Carnival del Dolcevita Proudly Presents the Sad Tale of the Turbinado Triplets”

• Playwright: Briandaniel Oglesby

• Director: Estrella Cervantes

• Summary: The Turbinado triplets, orphaned by a zeppelin accident, navigate their dramatically different lives, reuniting annually at the carnival where their parents once worked. Their divergent paths and the bonds they share are spun into a poignant narrative by a clownish Chorus, exploring themes of family, identity, and resilience.

“Mixed Media”

• Playwright: James Mainard O'Connell

• Director: Heather Lundy Kahl

• Summary: Spanning 13 years in the life of Nik, a genderfluid nonbinary youth, this play uses Nik's artwork to narrate their journey of self-discovery, identity assertion, personal loss, and the quest for parental affirmation. The audience witnesses the transformative moments that inspire Nik's art, culminating in a powerful college admissions presentation.

“Yes, And…”

• Playwright: Erin Dealey

• Director: Amy Lizardo

• Summary: High school senior Zoey, an Improv enthusiast, and college freshman Beatrice navigate unexpected events at an Improv Party. Themes of love, friendship, and the unpredictable nature of life unfold through a series of comedic and poignant moments, set against the backdrop of Twelfth Night celebrations and efforts to save a high school theatre program.

ABOUT THE WRITERS 

Briandaniel Oglesby writes some plays for mature audiences and many plays for young actors. He is a queer, mixed-Latino playwright with an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin who now runs a theatre department at a small private JH/HS school. There, he creates plays with and for his students, focusing on innovating either in structure, subject matter, and/or development process. Prior to that, he cofounded and Literary Managed Barnyard Theatre, a company committed to developing and producing new work. His plays have been developed at Playwrights Week at the Lark, the JAW Festival, San Francisco Playhouse, B Street's New Comedies Festival, Cap Stage's Playwrights Revolution, Wordsmyth in Houston, and at universities and colleges across the US. His plays for young people have been published by Uproar Theatrics, Stage Partners, and Stage Rights, and his scholarly work has appeared in Youth Theatre Journal and Howlround. 

Erin Dealey is an educator, director, and writer, with 30+ seasons as head of the Theater department at Sugarloaf Fine Arts Camp in Northern California. In addition to theater projects including BRILLIG and WHAT LIGHT? (UPROAR Theatrics), she is a screenwriter, blogger, and award-winning author of over a dozen children's books (so far) including DEAR EARTH…From Your Friends in Room 5 (Harper Collins/ Illus. Luisa Uribe), PETER EASTER FROG (Simon & Schuster, Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/ Illus. G. Brian Karas), and SNOWGLOBE WISHES (Illus. Claire Shorrock) & JUST FLOWERS (Illus. Kate Cosgrove) with Sleeping Bear. 

Erin's credits include former International Thespian Society troupe director, Lenaea High School Theatre Festival respondent, Sacramento Theater Company (Education outreach), and member of EdTA. She is represented by Deborah Warren at East West Literary Agency.

James Mainard O'Connell has been a theatre professional and educator since graduating from Hendrix College with a major in Theatre in 2003. Over the course of his career, he has worked as an actor, playwright, director, designer, and/or technical director in New York, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and Arkansas. In the midst of it all, he earned an MFA in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature in Performance from Mary Baldwin University. So far, James has been involved in more than 200 theatre projects in one capacity or another.

As an educator, James has taught theatre to students from 1st grade to graduate school and all ages in between in settings including classrooms, summer camps, and scene shops. Over the course of his career, he has worked with students at Columbia University and Kingsborough Community College in New York City, James Madison University in Virginia, and elsewhere. Since 2011, he has directed the middle and high school theatre program at Episcopal Collegiate School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

As a playwright, James is a three-time winner of the Hendrix-Murphy Playwriting Contest and has had several plays produced, from family-friendly murder mystery comedies (Mountain of Crime and Sudden Death) to adult-skewing one-acts (Painted Distraction and (s)election) and theatre for young audiences (Tad! or, The Frog Prince and The Haunting of Goldilocks and the Three Bears). His play, Tad! or, The Frog Prince is currently available for licensing at Uproar Theatrics.

ABOUT THE DIRECTORS 

Amy Lizardo is a regional theatre actor, singer, director, and teaching artist.  As an actor Amy is currently a member of The Acting Company within the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. At OSF she has appeared in numerous productions, including: Macbeth, Jane Eyre, Twelfth Night, Revenge Song, The Tempest, Mother Road and La Comedia of Errors.  Before joking OSF Amy was based in the bay area where she worked for numerous theatre companies including: Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Theatreworks Silicon Valley, California Shakespeare Theatre, and many many more! Amy has worked as a teaching artist and director of young actors for over 15 years and looks forward to creating theatre artists and theatre lovers for years to come.

Estrella Cervantes is a first generation immigrant born and raised in Southern Oregon. She is currently the Operation Manager at SoHumane where she helps improve the lives of people and animals through sustainable programs. Estrella was a committed high school theatre student and member of the International Thespian Society. As an adult, she knew that keeping theatre in her life was essential. This love for theater and non-profit work is what led her to the Aggregate Collective. In her free time she enjoys reading and playing with her two dogs!

Heather Lundy Kahl is a trained actor and educator from Vancouver, Washington who has discovered the joy of developing the theatrical superpowers within students of all ages and backgrounds.

Heather received a BFA from Southern Oregon University and has been working with acting students for nearly 20 years. Heather served as the founder and Artistic Director at Downstage Center Productions, The Director of Theater at Riverside Performing Arts and as a teacher for a number of organizations in the Pacific Northwest.

She is currently working as a Family Law Guardian ad Litem for 2 counties in the state of Washington. Heather believes in the magic of the actor's voice. She believes that when we teach our children that their voices matter, that their thoughts have power and that their ears are their most powerful body part, we build more empathetic and intelligent communities.

Teaching young people how to use their bodies, voices and imaginations onstage can change the landscape of our society.

ABOUT THE STAFF OF AGGREGATE COLLECTIVE

Julia Cuppy (Co-Founder & Producer) discovered her passion for supporting artists and new work during her tenure at La Jolla Playhouse where she was the Director of Education and Outreach responsible for multiple programs that served over 30,000 students, teachers, and patrons. In addition, she commissioned a new play for young audiences written by some of America's most exciting playwrights such as Idris Goodwin, Gregg Mozgala and A.A. Brenner through the POP Tour program. As an educator, she holds space for students to be brave and discover their voice as artists. She has taught at San Diego State University, high schools in Oregon and California and is a member of the Educational Theatre Association and Musical Theatre Educators Alliance. As a theatre maker, she loves the creative process of shaping a character and a story through collaborative rehearsal practices, either as an actor, director, dramaturg or producer. Using the intersections of her experiences, she started Aggregate Collective with her co-founder Jaese Lecuyer, in order to provide intentional support for developing new plays and musicals for young adults. She is currently the Director of Theatre at Grants Pass High School. Favorite projects include: La Jolla Playhouse's HOME OF THE BRAVE and BD Wong and Wayne Barker's MISTER DOCTOR. Member of AEA. Education: MFA Musical Theatre - San Diego State University. MAT Theatre Education - Southern Oregon University. www.juliacuppy.com

Jaese Lecuyer (Co-Founder & Director) is a multi-disciplinary artist and facilitator based in Medford, OR. Before returning to finish his bachelor's degree in both theatre and dance studies at Cal Poly Humboldt (Arcata, CA), he  worked professionally as a director, choreographer and theater arts educator. Jaese feels extremely fortunate to have collaborated with various high schools and arts organizations including Teen Musical Theatre of Oregon (Medford, OR) and La Jolla Playhouse (San Diego, CA). He's performed as both a dancer and vocalist throughout North America, and from 2006-2009 was on faculty at Cal Poly Humboldt, where he taught dance for the School of Dance, Music and Theatre program. He believes the arts are an integral part of education and enhance skills such as communication, co-operation, problem solving and empathy which he feels are fundamental to an inclusive, healthy and just society. In addition, he is fascinated by the intersections between anthropology, theatre and dance and believes we all share a rich and fascinating legacy largely based upon collaboration, imagination and survival. Jaese is excited to be participating as a co-founder of Aggregate Collective and is passionate about discovering the various ways the organization may best support artists in the development of their new works.

Tianna Eddy (Associate Producer) is a theatre producer in Grants Pass. Tianna's history with the stage started in ballet, training under Penny King at Stillpoint Dance Studio. Growing up in a musical family, she soon joined her parents and sister in performing in local musicals. After eight years of performing in musical theatre followed by five years of working as a choreographer and stage manager, Tianna found her passion for producing. She has worked with several community theatres, including producing “The Music Man,” “Newsies,” and “Tuck Everlasting” for One Eleven Theatre, and “My Traitor, A Musical Drama” for Clarion Theatre Company. Tianna works as an assistant to theatre teacher Julia Cuppy at the GPHS Theatre Department, and is also Associate Producer for GPHS' high school productions. She is excited to be joining Aggregate Collective for this year's Loop Festival.

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