Wagner College Theatre presents a staged reading of the 2014 Stanley Drama Award, OUT OF ORBIT by Jennifer Maisel, on Sunday, October 26 at 1pm at Stage One. Directed by WCT Professor Mickey Tennenbaum, OUT OF ORBIT stars Tony winner and WCT Professor Michele Pawk.
WCT alums
Brian Sgambati '97 and Brittany Cattaruzza '14, along with current students TJ Lamando and Molly Adele Brown, complete the cast.
Admission is free and there will be a Q & A with the playwright following the reading.
In OUT OF ORBIT an exploring woman and a longing-to-be-explored girl try to find each other in our increasingly disconnected universe. Sara (Pawk), an aerospace scientist lives on Mars time, spearheading the Mars Rover Expedition, visiting a planet she cannot touch. Her teenage daughter Lis (Cattaruzza), on earth time, falls under the spell of the cyber-cypher Edgar2330.
A Tony winner for Hollywood Arms,
Michele Pawk is a full-time Professor at Wagner College Theatre, where she's directed productions of Rent, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Seussical. Pawk's recent Off-Broadway credits include 17 Orchard Point,Giant and A Small Fire.
Playwright
Jennifer Maisel has seen her work developed and produced by Rosalind Productions (Off-Broadway), Theatre J, Park Square Theatre, the Magic Theatre,
Ensemble Studio Theatre NY and LA, Theater of NOTE, Gulf Shore Playhouse, University of the Arts, Playwrights' Arena, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey,
South Coast Repertory, Rorschach Theatre, Epic Theatre, PlayLabs, PlayPenn, the Great Plains Theatre Conference, Inkwell and Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival.
OUT OF ORBIT, developed at the 2010
Sundance Theatre Lab and the Gulf Shore New Play Festival, received the
Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan commission for plays about science and technology.
Other plays by
Jennifer Maisel include "Goody f-ing Two Shoes" ("Plays From Actors Theatre of Louisville: Humana Festival 2005"), "Eden" (Original Works Publishing), "Mad Love," "Mallbaby," "Dark Hours," "birds," "Match" and "@thespeedofJake." Maisel is the recipient of the Kennedy Center's Fund for New American Plays Award and their Charlotte Woolard Award for Promising New Voice in American Theatre, as well their
Roger Stevens Award for Playwrights of Extraordinary Promise. She won
South Coast Repertory's California Playwrights Competition and was a finalist for the PEN West Literary Award, the
Sundance Theatre Lab, the O'Neill Theatre Conference (twice), the STAGE International Script Competition, the
Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, Abingdon Theatre's Christopher Brian Wolk Award (twice), the Ojai Playwrights Festival and the Heideman Award (three times).
