Boston-Area Playwrights to Workshop New Pieces This Summer

Artists from Suburbia, a new community-based theatre initiative and proud member of the Eastern Massachusetts Association of Community Theaters, announces three local playwrights as the winners of its Perspectives Playwriting Competition. Their one-act plays will be workshopped June 15 and 16, culminating in an evening of staged readings on June 17 at 7 p.m. at the East Bridgewater Public Library. The event will be free and open to the public.

The winners are as follows:

• New Perspectives Category (18 and under): "The Werewolves" by Alex Moon of Scituate, to be directed by Gabrielle Jacques of Medford. Drawing from the true events of the SS-Werewolves Program, a German contingency plan towards the end of World War II, Moon explores the war's conclusion from the perspective of young German soldiers.

• Tried and True Perspectives Category (18 and older): "the Moon. And she," by Monica Giordano of Jamaica Plain, to be directed by Erica Simpson of Taunton. The Girl does not want to leave The Girl's Mother, just like the Moon does not want to leave the Sun. Blending poetry and wondrous imagery, Giordano explores the search for identity.

• Suburban Perspectives Category (depicting life in the suburbs): "The Daffodil Girls" by Amanda O'Donnell of Bedford, to be directed by Roni Marshak of Bridgewater. As counsellors at an exclusive suburban summer camp panic over who will get "bussed" from their job, rarely-discussed class tensions rise to the surface.

ABOUT ARTISTS FROM SUBURBIA: Artists from Suburbia was founded in 2015 as a new community-based theatre initiative on Boston's south shore. We strive to bring new and unique theatre productions to smaller suburban communities in Massachusetts by combining the talents of professionals and community members. With generous funding from the East Bridgewater Arts Council, our premiere production of Roald Dahl's The Witches featured thirteen local actors alongside over thirty handmade puppets, and was nominated for three Broadwayworld Boston Awards. More information can be found at http://artistsfromsuburbia.weebly.com/, or by emailing artistsfromsuburbia@gmail.com.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTS

Monica Giordano is a theatre artist currently based in Boston, MA, having studied playwriting at Amherst College, and acting at the Stella Adler Studio. An award-winning playwright, her work has been performed both regionally and in New York, with "Hand Grenades" debuting at the New York International Fringe last summer, and "From the Sea, To Somewhere Else" making its world premiere this July at the Boston Center for the Arts. More information about Monica as a playwright can be found at sheagiordano.com. Monica is also currently the Assistant Director at Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, bringing Shakespeare to audiences of over 100,000 people each summer on the Boston Common.

Alex Moon is a Sophomore at Scituate High School, an avid playwright, actor, musician, and an all around theatre nerd. "The Werewolves", Alex's second play was written in the spring of 2015, and is receiving its first reading with the help of Artists from Suburbia. His other works include "Eris' Chain", which is receiving its first professional workshop through Massasoit Community College, and "Great, War." Beyond writing, Alex is a frequent actor onstage at The Company Theatre in Norwell and the Scituate High School Drama program. Alex is incredibly thankfully for the support of his directors, the team at Artists from Suburbia, his friends, family, and everyone responsible for the inspiration behind his work.

Amanda O'Donnell is a Bedford native with a B.A. in Theatre and English from the College of Wooster. She graduated in 2014 having received the Cummings-Rumbaugh Speech and Dramatics Prize as well as honors on her senior thesis, a short story and play collection titled "Voices From the Woods: Classic Fairy Tales Revisited and Revised". She also is an alumna of the Summer Training Institute at Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, MA. She has worked as an actor with a number of local theatre companies as well as a teaching artist with Pawtucket's Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre. This summer she will also be making her professional directing debut with "Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)" with the Walking Shadow Shakespeare Project. She is really excited to work with the team at Artists From Suburbia!

ABOUT THE DIRECTORS

Gabrielle Jaques was last heard with Artists From Suburbia in "The Witches" (Voice of Mrs. Jenkins/various witches). She is currently working as the Assistant to the Managing Director at the Huntington Theatre Company. She is also performing as Kate and serving as dramaturg in The Dover Foundation's "The Pirates of Penzance." She holds a BA in English from Stonehill College.

Ronni Marshak has been a director and actress in the greater Boston area for over 30 years. She has directed many different genres, including Opera/Operetta, Musical Comedy, Classics, Drama, Comedy, and Theater of the Absurd, as well as new works with such groups as the Playwright's Platform, Hovey Player Summer Shorts Festival, Acme Theater, and Shadowboxing Theater. She was awarded the Best Director honors in both the 2009 and 2010 Playwright's Platform Festival, and was part of the directing team for the winning submission to the 2010 New England Fringe Festival.

Erica Simpson is an Actor and Theatre Artist who graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2012 with a B.A. in Theater, emphasis in Performance. Since that time she has worked with a number of professional companies in a myriad of creative and managerial roles, including work as a Scenic Carpenter, Sound Technician, Stage Manager, and Touring House Manager, but always finds her way back to the stage. Most recently, she spent two years as a Creative Associate and Actor with The Bay Colony Shakespeare Company. Past credits include: "The Winter's Tale" (Perdita, BCSC), "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Peter Quince, BCSC), "Blue Window" (Alice, Brown Box Theatre Project), "Macbeth" (Lady Macbeth, BCSC), "Hamlet" (Horatio, BCSC), "Romeo and Juliet" (Juliet, Under the Stars Productions). Erica is also a Licensed Massage Therapist, and intends to continue studying various massage and body work modalities with the intention of building treatments to supplement voice work.

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