October is Packed Full of NNPN Rolling World Premieres from New York to Alaska
By: A.A. Cristi Oct. 24, 2016
(The) National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, celebrates an October filled with NNPN Rolling World Premieres (RWP), including Bars and Measures by Idris Goodwin at The Theatre @ Boston Court (playing until October 23); Pulp by Joseph Zettelmaier at Williamston Theatre (playing until October 23) and Know Theatre of Cincinnati (playing until October 27); Not Medea by Allison Gregory at Perseverance Theatre (playing in Juneau until November 6 and Anchorage November 11-20); Into the Beautiful North by Karen Zacarias at Central Works (playing until November 13); and Church and State by Jason Odell Williams at JCC CenterStage (Oct 22 - Nov 6).
BARS AND MEASURES
Commissioned by B Street Theatre, Bars and Measures is the fascinating tale of two brothers. One a classical pianist. The other a jazz bass player. One a Christian. The other a Muslim. One living in freedom. The other in jail. Separated by bars, the brothers try to reconcile their differences through the language they know best. Music. A beautiful journey through faith, family, melody and time.
ABOUT Idris Goodwin
Idris Goodwin is a playwright, rapper, and essayist. His plays include How We Got On, Remix 38 (Actors Theater of Louisville); And in this Corner: Cassius Clay (StageOne Family Theater), This is Modern Art (Steppenwolf), Blackademics (MPAACT, Crowded Fire). Goodwin is one of the six playwrights featured in Hands Up an anthology commissioned by The New Black Fest and presented across the country. Upcoming world premiere productions include The Realness (Merrimack Theatre) and The Raid (Jackalope Theater). He is the recipient of Oregon Shakespeare's American History Cycle Commission and InterAct Theater's 20/20 Award. Goodwin has been a writer in residence at Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor Program, The Lark Playwriting Center and New Harmony Project. An accomplished Hip Hop poet, his albums include Break Beat Poems and Rhyming While Black. Goodwin was featured on HBO, Sesame Street, and Discovery Channel. He is the author of the pushcart nominated essay collection These are the Breaks (Write Bloody, 2011). Idris is the co-host and contributor to Critical Karaoke, a radio show and podcast about music and culture. Idris teaches performance writing and Hip Hop aesthetics at Colorado College. idrisgoodwin.co
ABOUT THE THEATRE @ BOSTON COURT
Based in Pasadena, CA, The Theatre @ Boston Court produces passionate, artist-driven theatre that challenges both artist and audience, urging its artists to fearlessly and passionately pursue their unique voice and passion. Play selection encompasses a wide variety of genres (with a special emphasis on nurturing playwrights and new play development), which are inherently theatrical, textually rich, and visually arresting. The Theatre @ Boston Court has produced new plays by playwrights such as Luis Alfaro, Sheila Callaghan, Julia Cho, Dan Dietz, Jason Grote, Jordan Harrison, Carlos Murillo, Laura Schellhardt, Octavio Solis, Deborah Stein, Jean Claude Van Itallie, Kathryn Walat, David Wiener, among many others. bostoncourt.com
In 1930's Los Angeles, washed-up PI Frank Ellery takes on the strangest case of his life. A noted literary agent has been gruesomely murdered, and the four suspects are his remaining clients, all writers for different pulp magazines. Frank dives into the mystery, and his world turns upside down as life begins to imitate literature. In this new comedy, science fiction, romance, adventure, and horror combine with one down-on-his-luck gumshoe who's about to learn what really lurks between the lines.
ABOUT Joseph Zettelmaier
Joseph Zettelmaier is a Michigan-based playwright and four-time nominee for the Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association Award for best new play, first in 2006 for All Childish Things, then in 2007 for Language Lessons, in 2010 for It Came From Mars and in 2012 for Dead Man's Shoes. Other plays include Ebenezer, And The Creek Don't Rise, The All Childish Things Trilogy, Dr. Seward's Dracula, Snow Angels, Blackwater Ballad, Night Blooming, Point of Origin, and The Stillness Between Breaths. Point of Origin won Best Locally Created Script 2002 from the Ann Arbor News, and The Stillness Between Breaths also won Best New Play 2005 from the Oakland Press. The Stillness Between Breaths and It Came From Mars were selected to appear in the National New Play Network's National Showcase of New Plays. He also co-authored Flyover, USA: Voices From Men of the Midwest at the Williamston Theatre (Winner of the 2009 Thespie Award for Best New Script). He also adapted Christmas Carol'd for the Performance Network. It Came From Mars was a recipient of 2009's Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, and won Best New Script 2010 from the Lansing State Journal. His play Dead Man's Shoes won The Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award in 2011. He is an Artistic Associate at First Folio Theatre, an Artistic Ambassador to the National New Play Network and an adjunct lecturer at Eastern Michigan University, where he teaches Dramatic Composition. jzettelmaier.com
ABOUT WILLIAMSTON THEATRE
The Williamston Theatre's mission is to produce professional theater that excites and engages our audiences while challenging us all to explore our lives. This mission statement is supported by the following objectives: to be an integral part of the cultural fabric of Michigan; to pursue innovative collaboration in every aspect of our work; to establish a home for Midwest artists; to engage audiences of diverse ages, cultures, and economic backgrounds. williamstontheatre.com
ABOUT KNOW THEATRE OF CINCINNATI
The Know showcases unexpected voices, new works, and plays that embrace the inherent theatricality of the live experience. Know Theatre seeks to be a place where artists and audiences feel welcome to take artistic risks, creating work that is cutting edge and accessible. knowtheatre.com
Not Medea Banner
ABOUT NOT MEDEA
This heartbreakingly beautiful new work by the award-winning playwright of Forcing Hyacinths straddles the world of myth, magic and the deeply personal story of one woman. Fiercely funny and brutally raw, her story is one of love, tragedy, and ultimately, hope.
Allison Gregory is a playwright and theater collaborator. Her plays have been produced all over the country and she has received commissions, grants, and development from Oregon Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Repertory, The Kennedy Center, Indiana Repertory Theatre, the Skirball-Kenis Foundation, ACT Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Empty Space, Seattle's Arts and Cultural Affairs, LATC, The New Harmony Project, Seattle Dramatists, Northwest Playwright's Alliance, Amphibian Stage Productions, ZACH Theatre, and Austin Scriptworks. Her work has been the recipient of the Julie Harris Playwriting Award (Forcing Hyacinths), South Coast Repertory Theatre's Playwrights Award (Forcing Hyacinths), Garland & Dramalogue Awards (Fall Off Night, Breathing Room, L.A.), and Seattle Times Best New Play Award (Burning Bridget Cleary), as well as finalists for the O'Neill Playwright's Conference, Bay Area Playwright's Festival, and Harriet Lake PlayFest. Her play. uncertain terms was developed at Hedgebrook Women Playwright's Festival and premiered at ArtsGarage, directed by Louis Tyrrell. She is currently working on a play about race and motherhood in America, titled Motherland, which has been chosen as part of the 2016 National Showcase of New Plays. Allison also writes for young audiences; those plays include Go Dog. Go!, adapted from the P.D. Eastman book, co-written with Steven Dietz; Even Steven Goes to War ("Zoni" Best New Script Award; AATE and UPRP awards; Kennedy Center New Visions/New Voices selection); Peter and the Wolf (National tour), and Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! (over 150 professional productions). Her play Ronia: the Robber's Daughter, adapted from Astrid Lindgren's story, was recently licensed internationally and premiered at Teatr Pinokio in Poland, and Junie B. is Not A Crook, adapted from the beloved book series by Barbara Park, will premiere this fall at Childsplay. Her plays are published by Playscripts, Smith & Krauss, Dramatic Publishing, and Rain City Press. Allison is an alumni of LATC'S Wordsmiths, and a former Hedgebrook resident. She lives in Austin where she is the co-founder of Austin 'Wrights, an awesome playwright collective. allisongregoryplays.com ABOUT PERSEVERANCE THEATRE
Perseverance Theatre's mission is to create professional theatre by and for Alaskans. We value community engagement, cross-cultural collaboration, professional rigor, and regional voice. The theatre was founded in Juneau, Alaska in 1979 by Molly Smith, and today is led by Executive Artistic Director, Art Rotch. Perseverance Theatre has grown over 38 years into Alaska's largest professional theatre, serving over 25,000 artists, students, and audiences annually. The theatre prioritizes education and training programs for youth and adults, providing learning opportunities across the state, and as the resident theatre at the University of Alaska Southeast. Perseverance has an established actor-in-residence program and beginning in 2016, a new playwright-in-residence funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon foundation. At Perseverance Theatre, we believe theatre-going creates community. It fosters empathy, builds relationships, cultivates our ability to interact with each other, and in so doing - better equips us all to work out problems and create more vital and just communities. In the upcoming 2016-2017 season, Perseverance Theatre is producing musical, contemporary, and world premiere productions in Juneau and Anchorage. ptalaska.org
ABOUT INTO THE BEAUTIFUL NORTH
Inspired by the classic film The Magnificent Seven, Nayeli, a young woman living in a small Mexican village, and her companions venture across the border determined to bring back seven good men to protect their village from the invasion of narco-traficantes and the risk of extinction.
ABOUT KAREN ZACARÍAS
Karen Zacarías is one of the most produced Latina playwrights in the nation. She is one of the inaugural Resident Playwrights at Arena Stage in Washington, DC, and is a core founder of the LATINO THEATRE COMMONS. She is the founder of Young Playwrights' Theater, an award-winning theater company that teaches playwriting in local public schools in Washington, DC. karenzacarias.com
ABOUT CENTRAL WORKS
Central Works' mission is to enrich the cultural environment of our community through the collaborative development and production of new plays for the theater. We are "The New Play Theater." We write, develop, and produce world premieres, offering our community daring, intimate productions at affordable prices. We bring local theater artists together as partners in the creation and development of challenging new works, while maintaining the highest standards of professionalism and excellence. We think globally, and act locally: we make plays. centralworks.org
Three days before his bid for re-election in North Carolina, a Republican U.S. Senator makes an off-the-cuff comment to a blogger that calls into question the senator's belief in God. As his devoutly Christian wife and liberal Jewish campaign manager try to contain the damage. This look at how religion, guns, and social media influence our political system is both brutally honest and shockingly funny. Will the fall-out destroy the senator's career... or change the world?
ABOUT Jason Odell Williams
Jason Odell Williams is an Emmy® Award-nominated writer and producer ("Brain Games") as well as an award-winning playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. His play Handle With Care (published by Dramatists Play Service) ran for over 100 performances Off-Broadway and has been produced 18 times in the last five years in the U.S. and Canada. The play was a New York Times Critics' Pick where they raved, "Mr. Williams has achieved something special: He has written a hilarious and heartwarming romantic comedy...which exudes gobs of comic energy and insight." His other plays have been produced or developed at NC Stage, the cell, the DR2, Primary Stages, The Blank Theatre, The Lark, and EST. Jason's first novel, Personal Statement, was optioned for a three-picture deal and he is currently adapting it for the screen with his wife and collaborator Charlotte Cohn. Their TV script, Birdland, was a Top 10 Finalist in The Tracking Board's 2015 Pilot Competition. They live in Manhattan with their daughter Imogen and their rescued dog, Pepper.
ABOUT JCC CENTERSTAGE
CenterStage began in 1977 as the volunteer theatre company at the Rochester Jewish Community Center. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Ralph Meranto since 2005, CenterStage is now a professional theatre utilizing the finest local actors, directors, and designers to present a 5-show subscription series of plays and musicals.
National New Play Network (NNPN) is the country's alliance of non-profit professional theaters dedicated to the development, production, and continued life of new plays. Since its founding in 1998, NNPN has supported more than 200 productions nationwide through its innovative National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere program, which provides playwright and production support for new works. Additional programs - its annual National Conference, National Showcase of New Plays, and MFA Playwrights Workshop; the NNPN Annual and Smith Prize commissions; its residencies for playwrights, producers, and directors; and the organization's member accessed Collaboration, Festival, and Travel banks, and online information sessions - have helped cement the Network's position as a vital force in the new play landscape.
NNPN's programming allows its members and their affiliated artists to create, grow, and share new work across the country and around the world, and it strives to pioneer, implement, and disseminate ideas and programs that revolutionize the way theaters collaborate to support new plays and playwrights. Its most recent project, The New Play Exchange (www.newplayexchange.org), launched in January of 2015, is changing the way playwrights share their work and others discover it. NNPN's 29 Core and more than 75 Associate Members - along with the more than 250 affiliated artists who are its alumni, the thousands of artists and artisans employed annually by its member theaters, and the hundreds of thousands of audience members who see its supported works each year - are creating the new American theater. For more information please visit nnpn.org.
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