Ars Nova Play Group

Ars Nova is now accepting applications for our writers group, Play Group, for 2011. For those of you who may not know, Play Group is a wonderful and eclectic group of emerging writers who meet here at Ars Nova every other week to share their work and get peer feedback. New members join for a two-year cycle starting in January, and each year culminates in a group created production at Ars Nova. The writers are at the heart of our community of artists, and we would love to find some great new members to join the returning group in January.


More information about the group as well as application forms can be found on our website at  http://arsnovanyc.com/playgroup.html.

The Loop

Playwrights -- visit The Loop online to connect with other playwrights, submission opps and tons of information about theatres big and small.  Click on the title above and it's free to become a member.

short play festival

Submissions invited for the Claire Donaldson 8 in 48 Short Play Festival

Augustana College (SD) and The Great Plains Dramatist Exchange seek submissions for the Claire Donaldson 8 in 48 Short Play Festival. Submissions are accepted from January 15, 2010 to May 15, 2010. Eight ten-minute plays will be selected by a national panel of selectors; winners are notified by June 15, 2010. A scholarship and cash prizes are offered. This festival is founded in honor of the late Claire M. Donaldson. Ms. Donaldson was a 2000 Augustana College graduate passionate about the art of playwriting.

Julia Bennett, Augustana Theatre Faculty and Co-Producer, says, "The 8 in 48 is an outstanding opportunity for us to honor Claire while supporting the development of new short plays. Producing eight plays in forty-eight hours is a challenging and exciting artistic event. Our community loves to see the new works and our students mark it as a highlight in their college careers." Heidi Sue Meyer, Festival Coordinator and Augustana College Alumna, adds, "As a playwright, I was eager to create a supportive environment for young playwrights in our state. The Festival continues to offer that possibility."

All submissions must be previously unproduced, 10 minutes or less in length, and can focus on any topic or genre. No more than two submissions per playwright, please. Submissions by electronic attachment are encouraged. Winning selections will be mounted during the 8 in 48 Festival on September 18, 2010 at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

A call for Festival directors, designers, and actors will go out March 1, 2010. Augustana's community and alumni are strongly encouraged to participate. All interested individuals are invited to bring their talents to this unique opportunity. For more information regarding the Festival, contact Julia Bennett at julia.bennett@augie.edu

Direct any submission inquiries to Heidi S. Meyer at haleyhayworth@hotmail.com

Send all submissions to:


Electronic: haleyhayworth@hotmail.com

Subject: 8 in 48 Submission

Ground: Augustana College Theatre – 8 in 48

2001 S. Summit Ave

Sioux Falls, SD 57197

grants

Princess Grace Foundation-USA Announces 2010 Princess Grace Awards Applications in Theater, Playwriting, Dance, Choreography, and Film
Awards in the form of scholarships, apprenticeships, and fellowships will be given to students or film programs that excel in theater, playwriting, dance performance, choreography, or film....

Posted on January 21, 2010
Deadline: Various

Applications Invited for 2010 International Ibsen Scholarships
Scholarship funds of up to $150,000 will be awarded to individuals, organizations, or cultural institutions working to encourage critical discourse in regards to existential and society-related subject matters concerning Henrik Ibsen....

Posted on January 21, 2010
Deadline: April 15, 2010

Joyce Foundation to Announce Call to Entry for the 2010 Joyce Awards
Four grants of $50,000 each will be awarded in 2010 in the areas of dance, music, theater, and visual arts to organizations in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and St. Paul/Minneapolis....

Posted on January 21, 2010
Deadline: April 6, 2010 (Letter of Inquiry)

Knight Foundation Announces Dates for 2010 South Florida Knight Arts Challenge
Grants totaling $20 million over five years will be awarded to fund innovative projects in the arts benefiting Miami-Dade and Broward counties; nonprofits, companies, and individuals are eligible to apply and must supply matching funds....

Posted on January 20, 2010
Deadline: March 15, 2010

» Back to top

playwriting contests

PREMIERE STAGES at KEAN UNIVERSITY
DEADLINE: JAN 15
Seeks submissions to the 6th annual Premiere Play Festival. Winner awarded $2,000 and a fully produced Equity production in 2010 season. Runner-up receives $750 and an Equity workshop in June; 2nd runner-up receives $500. Premiere Stages hosts public readings of all three finalists in March. FOR MORE INFO: kean.edu/premierestages.

INTERACT THEATRE COMPANY
DEADLINE: JAN 15
Seeks submissions for their 20/20 Commissions project, an ambitious initiative that will award 20 new play commissions and development grants over six seasons. Development Awards will be $2,500, while New Play Commissions will range from $5,000 - $10,000. InterAct will accept proposals on an annual basis. FOR MORE INFO: www.interacttheatre.org

Legacy by Whitney Channing Sargent

December 11, 12 and 13, 2009
Friday and Saturday at 8pm; Sunday at 2pm

at the Electric Lodge
1416 Electric Avenue
Venice, California

$15 in advance; $20 at the door Purchase

Online Brown Paper Tickets

About the Show

Legacy is an original theatre work that tells the complex story of Whitney Channing Sargent's family ties to Mormonism, polygamy, and the state of Utah. Incorporating textual research, personal narrative, video, and movement, Legacy is a true tale of fantastical proportions in which Sargent asks, "What does it mean to be a non-Mormon granddaughter of Brigham Young?"

Performed by Marion Dunham, Celeste Martinez, Tinia Orduña, Whitney Channing Sargent, and Diana Wyenn

submissions requested

2010 New Works Fest
The Seven: Hidden Agendas
June 17- 20, 2010

FUSION Theatre Company Announces Fifth Annual Short Works Festival

Seven fully-produced world premieres. Seven different directors. A professional ensemble cast. One winning playwright who will receive transport and lodging to Albuquerque for the festival.

GUIDELINES FOR PLAY SUBMISSION

• The plays should be inspired by the theme: “Hidden Agendas”

• Scripts may be a maximum of 10 pages.

• Each playwright may submit up to two scripts.

• Do NOT include the phrase “Hidden Agendas” in the text of the play.

• We are looking to mount premiere productions of submitted plays. If the play has previously received a fully-mounted production, please do NOT submit. Plays that have been given public readings are allowable.

• Longer one-act or full-length plays will not be accepted for consideration.

• Each manuscript must include an additional title page with name, address, phone number and e-mail address.

• The easiest and our preferred method of receiving scripts is via e-submission. There is a nominal cost of $5 to offset printing and distribution costs to do so. You may submit up to two scripts with this fee by following this link: www.fusionabq.org/TheSevenSubmissions.htm

• You may also mail your submissions AT NO COST to:

FUSION Theatre Company
Attn: The Seven Submissions
700 1st St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87102
There is no submission fee with this option.

• POSTMARKED DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: FRIDAY, APRIL 16th, 2010.

• E-Submissions will be accepted until midnight on that date.

• Entries will be acknowledged by e-mail once they have been received. Due to the volume of scripts we are unable to offer criticism or return any submissions.

• Finalists will be announced on Friday, April 23rd. The winning seven will be announced on Friday, May 7th.

sundance: two new labs for theatre

SUNDANCE INSTITUTE THEATRE PROGRAM ANNOUNCES
TWO NEW ARTIST LABS TO BE HELD IN 2010 AT
MASSACHUSETTS MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART (MASS MOCA)
AND NEW YORK’S GOVERNORS ISLAND

Announces Call for Entries: Theatre Lab at Mass MoCA (March 28-April 11, 2010)

Theatre Lab on Governor's Island (May 23-June 6, 2010);

New Deadline for All Submissions is October 12, 2009

Los Angeles — Sundance Institute announced today the expansion of its Theatre Program with two new labs: the first to be held at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MassMoCA) from March 28-April 11, 2010, and the second to be held on New York’s Governors Island from May 23-June 6, 2010. The labs are two-week developmental retreats designed to provide private, creative environments for playwrights, directors, composers and librettists to devise new work with the support of dramaturgs and full casts. Participants will be chosen from an open submission process. The Program is interested in both established and emerging theatre artists, as well as artists making a transition from areas outside of theatre. Artists are encouraged to apply quickly; the deadline for submissions is October 12, 2009. These two labs will temporarily replace the annual Sundance Theatre Lab, held in Utah each July, while upgrades and construction take place at the Sundance Resort. Visit www.sundance.org/theatre for full submission details.

"We are thrilled to expand the Sundance Institute Theatre Program to these unique environments," said Philip Himberg, Producing Artistic Director, Sundance Institute Theatre Program." Sundance Institute labs provide a crucible for innovative developmental work. They are more than a place to “rehearse"; they are environments that encourage and support risk-taking, experimentation, and rigorous re-writing and re-imagining. MassMoca and Governor’s Island both provide a connection with nature, which is integral to our view of nurturing the creative process, and both have been generous with their resources and rehearsal space – critical gifts during this economic climate. We are thrilled and grateful that these venues will allow us to continue our 33 years of supporting theatre artists while our home base in Sundance, Utah undergoes some vital renovations.”

Sundance Institute Theatre Lab at Mass MoCA

North Adams, Massachusetts
March 28-April 11, 2010

This is a new, two-week development retreat for theatre artists held at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, ranked among the most visited institutions in the United States dedicated to new art. Since opening in 1999, MassMoCA has become one of the world's premier centers for making and showing the best art of our time. More than 80 major new works of art and more than 50 performances have been created through fabrication and rehearsal residencies in North Adams. The Sundance Institute Theatre Lab at Mass MoCA offers an opportunity and process for an independent-minded community of artists to engage with their work, ask questions, build text and take risks.

Sundance Institute Theatre Lab on Governors Island
May 23-June 6, 2010
The Sundance Institute Theatre Program is honored to be selected as the first theatre group to use the Island. This is a new, two-week development retreat for theatre artists held on and in collaboration with New York's Governors Island Preservation & Education Corporation. The Theatre Lab on Governors Island will provide a creative environment (artsists will take a short ferry ride to the island daily from the Battery Maritime Building at the southern tip of Manhattan) for playwrights, directors, composers and librettists to develop new work with the full support of dramaturgs and full casts. This lab will celebrate the diversity and rich resources of New York Harbor while providing a protective canopy of private time and space in which to create.

ELIGIBILITY
The Sundance Institute Theatre Program welcomes applications for projects at any stage of development. Submitted work cannot have been previously produced, but may have received prior labs or readings. In addition, projects scheduled to receive a production before July 11, 2010 (Mass MoCA Lab) and September 6, 2010 (Governors Island Lab), are not eligible. Commissioned work is eligible for submission.

Playwrights, directors, composers, ensembles, performance artists or choreographers may submit applications. Playwright/director teams are permitted and encouraged to apply together; however, because many emerging playwrights do not have access to a director, Sundance Institute is positioned to match these artists with an experienced director.

Participants must be available for the entire length of each lab. Artists can only submit one application. Previous applicants may re-apply, but not with previously submitted material.

PROJECT SELECTION
Through open submissions, Sundance Institute Theatre Program considers an estimated 600 projects. Each full-time Fellow (playwright, director, and collaborator) receives a $500 honorarium and company of actors (if applicable), selected by Sundance Institute in collaboration with the Fellows, to support their project. It provides professional actors, dramaturges and playwrights rehearsal space and stage management for the collaborative team working on each project. At the end of each lab, projects will culminate in an informal presentation for the community only, followed by a feedback session with Sundance artistic staff and guest Creative Advisors. Actors are selected for their professionalism, versatility and suitability for the development process. Actors operate on a Special Agreement with Actors’ Equity Association during the Theatre Labs.

Sundance Institute Theatre Program

Through its developmental activities at the Sundance Institute Playwright’s Retreat at Ucross, the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab at White Oak, Sundance Institute East Africa,and two new pilot theatre programs at Mass MoCA and Governors Island, The Sundance Institute Theatre Program identifies and assists emerging theatre artists, contributes to the creative growth of established artists, and encourages and supports the development of new work for the stage. Under the guidance of Producing Artistic Director Philip Himberg, more than 85% of the work coming out of the Program’s labs has found professional production at theatres across the United States, Mexico and Europe. Recent productions of Sundance-developed work include: Passing Strange by Stew and Heidi Rodewald, which won the 2008 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical and Grey Gardens by Doug Wright, Scott Frankel and Michael Korie.

Sundance Institute

Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a not-for-profit organization that fosters the development of original storytelling in film and theatre, and presents the annual Sundance Film Festival. Internationally recognized for its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Angels in America, Spring Awakening, Boys Don't Cry, Sin Nombre, Born into Brothels and Trouble the Water. www.sundance.org.

hotINK 2010

Deadline: September 1, 2009

hotINK is an annual festival of plays, presented at the Tisch School of the Arts by the Department of Drama which has featured the work of writers from 17 countries. hotINK brings together playwrights from around the world with distinguished actors and directors from the New York theatre, as well as students, alumni and faculty from the Tisch School of the Arts. All scripts must be submitted in English.


FOR SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: www.hotink.org

New Dramatists

Deadline: September 15, 2009

New Dramatists accepts writers for free seven-year residencies, during which they’re given access to the full range of services, including writer-driven new play development workshops, international theatre exchanges, free copying, free theatre tickets, writing space, retreats, temporary lodging, and numerous opportunities and community activities.

FOR APPLICATION GUIDELINES: www.newdramatists.org

Southern Rep Calls for Play Submissions

New 10-Minutes Plays to be Highlighted in Southern Reps 2009/10 Season

New Orleans Southern Rep calls on Southern writers to submit bold new ten minute plays for the SOUTHERN REP NEW PLAY RIOT by October 1, 2009 for readings, production or broadcast during the 2009/10 Season. As New Orleans premiere professional theatre, Southern Rep continues its mission of finding, developing and producing outstanding original theatre with the RIOT. The competition-based NEW PLAY RIOT promises to showcase the new work of some of the Southern Gulf Coasts most exciting playwrights, both established and emerging.

Playwrights should go to www.southernrep.com for the NEW PLAY RIOT guidelines. The RIOT competition is open to playwrights native to or a resident of The Gulf Coast South, defined as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, or Texas. Deadline for submissions is October 1, 2009 at midnight. Electronic submissions only. Questions and submissions should be sent via email only to newplayriot@southernrep.com

With this new Season, Southern Rep enjoys its 23rd triumphant year of developing and producing bold new plays, providing SRTs audience with professional theatre of the highest artistic quality and achievement, and establishing a creative working environment that nurtures theatre professionals. As New Orleans premiere professional theatre, Southern Rep strives to use the artistry of theatre to enlighten, educate, and entertain audiences, and aims to extend that service through educational and outreach programs.

deadlines for submissions

Public Theater Emerging Writers Group
DEADLINE: AUG 28
Through an open application process, 10 playwrights will be selected for the Emerging Writers Group. FOR MORE INFO: publictheater.org

hotINK International Festival
DEADLINE: SEPT 1
Playwrights from around the world and faculty from the Tisch School of the Arts come together. FOR MORE INFO: hotink.org.

New Dramatists
DEADLINE: SEPT 15
Now accepting writers for free seven-year residencies. FOR MORE INFO: newdramatists.org.

STAGE (Scientists, Technologies, and Artists Generating Exploration) Script Competition
DEADLINE: DEC 15
Plays must explore scientific and/or technological stories, themes, issues, or events. The winner of the STAGE competition will recieve $10,000. Multi-media theatre pieces, non-traditional plays, and new forms are encouraged. FOR MORE INFO: stage.cnsi.ucsb.edu

Women's Theatre Project
DEADLINE: ROLLING
The Women's Theatre Project is seeking full-length plays by and about lesbians written for an all female cast. Plays of interest will have a reading with an audience, with possible production in 2010 or 2011. E-mail play to twtp@bellsouth.net with "Lesibian Full-Length Play" in the subject.
FOR MORE INFO: womenstheatreproject.com

call for submissions

Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre

PO Box 1720

Mars Hill, NC 28754-1720

828-689-1384

fax 828-689-1272

sart@mhc.edu

www.sartplays.org

Thank you for your interest in ScriptFEST 2010, the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre’s 29th

Annual Playwrights’ Conference. We welcome your submission and hope the following information will

answer your questions. If you need more information, please call the SART business office at 828-689-1384.

AN OVERVIEW

SCRIPTFEST, the Playwrights’ Conference typically receives 100-200 scripts each year. A small army of

SART volunteers read each submitted script; those recommended for further review are read again by a

committee of theatre professionals. Once all scripts have been reviewed, SART invites up to six playwrights to the annual conference to hear their plays read by SART actors and Mars Hill College Theatre Arts students. Playwrights join the directors, actors, and audiences in discussions and critiques following each reading. One script may be considered by SART to be included and fully produced in a following SART summer season.

The 2010 Conference will be held in October over one weekend in the historic Owen Theatre on the

campus of Mars Hill College in Mars Hill, North Carolina. The Conference is free and open to the public; all are welcome to attend. Playwrights invited to participate in the conference are selected by late-August and receive room and board while attending the conference. If a play is chosen for production to be included in SART’s regular summer season, it will be scheduled for a one to three week run in Owen Theatre during June, July or August of one of the subsequent years, earliest being the 2011 season. The author of a script selected for production in a regular SART season will receive a $1,000 honorarium plus room and board.

Since its opening season in 1975, SART has produced fifty-seven new plays, many supported by a New

Works grant from the North Carolina Arts Council. World premieres at SART include Ark of Safety by

Howard Richardson and Francis Goforth in 1975; Wednesday’s Children by C. Robert Jones (1980); Ed

Simpson’s The Battle of Shallowford (1990); My Castle’s Rockin’ by Larry Parr (1993); William Doswell’s Full Moon Over Montmartre (2001); Finding Clara by June Guralnick (2003), Mountain of Hope by William Gregg and Perry Deane Young (2004); Finding The Absent Crescent by Gina Pauratore (2005); Taking A Chance On Love by C. Robert Jones (2006); The Memory Collection: The Legend of Bascom Lamar Lunsford by Randy Noojin (2007); Miracle in Bedford Falls by Mark Cabaniss & Lowell Alexander (2008); Home Again by William Gregg & Perry Deane Young (2009). Recent ScriptFEST winners are Ruthie by David Wright (2008), and Big Criminals by Steve Wisniewski (2009).

SART recognizes that developing new scripts is neither an easy nor a short process. The testing and

development of new material at the conference allows the playwright to refine and build the work toward

possible production. SART’s commitment to developing and producing new plays has distinguished the

company from other regional summer theatres and earned a Professional Division Award from the N.C.

Theatre Conference (NCTC).

SART MISSION STATEMENT

A professional theatre dedicated to proven favorites, heritage of the Southern Appalachians, new works development, and opportunities for students and playwrights.

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION

• New scripts of full-length plays and musicals in English that are unpublished and previously

unproduced. No One-Acts. (Scripts that have gone through a developmental process or other readings

are eligible. Scripts produced by amateur community theatres and/or educational theatres are eligible.

Scripts produced by professional theatres are not eligible.)

• TWO “hard” copies of scripts are required. And one author resume.

Author’s name and other author information should not appear in the scripts.

• Playwrights may submit up to two different titles each submission period.

• Excerpts and summaries will not be accepted without the FULL script.

• No One Acts.

• No film or television scripts, translations or adaptations.

• Adaptations of novels and short stories are acceptable. Adaptations of movies and stage scripts are not

acceptable.

• If you have submitted a particular title of yours in a previous year, it may be submitted again IF and

ONLY IF you have made significant revisions to the script since it was last submitted to us.

• Provide a LARGE self-addressed, stamped envelope if you would like for SART to mail back your

script. The size of the envelope should be appropriate for the size of the script, and postage should be

the required postage necessary to deliver your script from Mars Hill NC to your address.

• Preferred submission: ALL pages at least standard 3-ring hole-punched, if not in a binder.

1. Title Page: with no other information on it but the title

2. Synopsis Page(s) (optional) inserted directly behind the Title Page: containing play synopsis,

character descriptions, and other notes. (Do not include synopsis, notes, or other important

information in your cover letter. It will not be read by the adjudicators.)

3. Script

*DO NOT have the author’s name anywhere on the Title Page, Synopsis Page or the pages of

the manuscript. If you do, your submission MAY NOT be accepted!

4. Provide ONE additional and separate Title Page including author’s name, date, etc.

5. Author’s resume or some given background including thorough information.

6. If you include a cover letter, do not include synopsis, notes or other important information in the

letter. Anything you want the adjudicators to read, include on the inserted synopsis page(s) of the

manuscripts.

• White paper. Two-sided or one-sided pages is author’s choice.

• Musicals should be submitted with the above materials, and in addition a score and/or a recording of at

least four songs on cassette or CD. (Only ONE recording is necessary for each title.)

• SART will not notify you of receipt of your submissions, unless with your submission you provide a

reply-postcard for us to send you, including postage. (optional)

• SART will contact you by email if your submissions are not chosen in the final twenty. If you would

prefer postal-mail notification, you must provide a SASE with your submission. (optional)

The deadline for submission for the 2010 ScriptFEST Conference is a postmark of no later than October 31, 2009.

Submit to: SART ScriptFEST ‘10, PO Box 1720, Mars Hill NC 28754-1720.

(We suggest you mail by the US Postal Service. UPS will not deliver to PO boxes.)

writing intensive in nyc

PLEASURE AND RISK: Testing the Limits
a weekend writing intensive with Brooke Berman and Karen Hartman

Explore pleasure and risk-taking (and the pleasure of risk-taking) in this two day exploration of what lives at the edges of your own writing.

Saturday August 8th and Sunday August 9th
1-6 pm both days
Art New York - 520 8th Avenue b/w 36th and 37th

What is more delicious, safety or breaking boundaries? This workshop will help you figure out what is SAFE, how to make a haven for yourself as an artist. We will also approach what is UNSAFE, how to move beyond individual boundaries and "limits" to create work at a new level.

Both instructors will be present the entire time, with lots of writing ideas and exercises, and opportunity to share work as well.

$250 for the weekend.

Limited space, write to Brooke and Karen at karensworkshop@gmail.com
with questions or to reserve.

Who We Are:

BROOKE BERMAN's plays have been produced and workshopped across the US and in London. She is a two-time recipient of both the Francesca Primus and Lecompte du Nouy awards; she is a recipient of a Berilla Kerr Award, a Helen Merrill Award, and a commissioning grant from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture for the play Until We Find Each Other, which was produced at Steppenwolf in 2002, directed by Anna D. Shapiro. Brooke’s play Hunting and Gathering premiered at Primary Stages, directed by Leigh Silverman, and was named one of the Ten Best of 2008 by New York Magazine. Her memoir, NO PLACE LIKE HOME, will be published by Random House in July, 2010. Brooke is also a screenwriter whose credits include the short ALL SAINTS DAY (directed by Will Frears), MAJOR MINOR DETAILS (the Mark Gordon Company), DISOBEDIENCE (Vox films), and an adaptation of her play SMASHING. Brooke has taught playwriting and creative writing as a guest artist in the New York City public school system, at assorted colleges, as well as privately to adults and through the “24 With 5 Teaching Collective” which she co-created at New Dramatists with Karen Hartman, Lynn Nottage, Jorge Cortinas and Dominick Taylor.

KAREN HARTMAN has taught playwriting for years at the Yale School of Drama, Yale University, Bennington College, and other universities and New York companies. She is the author of Gum, Leah’s Train, Goliath (Dorothy Silver New Play Prize), Going Gone (N.E.A. New Play Grant); Anatomy 1968; Girl Under Grain (Best Drama in NY Fringe; ALICE: Tales of a Curious Girl (Music by Gina Leishman, AT&T Onstage Award); Troy Women; Donna Wants, Goldie, Max, and Milk; Sea Change, a musical with AnnMarie Milazzo, and MotherBone, an opera with Graham Reynolds. Her plays have been performed in New York at the Women’s Project, NAATCO, P73, the NY Fringe, and Summer Play Festival, and at regional theaters including Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, the Magic Theater, Dallas Theater Center, and elsewhere. She was awarded new play commissions from ACT in San Francisco, McCarter Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, and others. Her work is published by Theater Communications Group, Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, Backstage Books, and NoPassport Press. An alumna of New Dramatists and Yale (B.A., M.F.A.), Karen has received playwriting support from Rockefeller Foundation at Bellagio, the N.E.A., the Helen Merrill Foundation, a Daryl Roth "Creative Spirit" Award, a Hodder Fellowship, a Jerome Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship to Jerusalem, and Core Membership at the Playwrights Center.

A double published day!

What a life I'm having! After an amazing and inspiring week in WV with HOW CISSY GREW, I returned to LA to have a double-published Tuesday!

The first play, HOW CISSY GREW is now available through Dramatic Publishing. Check out Liz and Stewart on the cover!

You can order copies online:http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/p2073/How-Cissy-Grew/product_info.html

The second book is a collection of scenes curated by fellow NYU grad Steve Ramshur and published by Smith & Kraus. It's called KISS OR KILL: CONTACT SCENES OF LOVE & STRIFE FOR YOUNG ACTORS and it includes a scene from my play BETTER DAYS PART ONE: ON THE ROAD TO FIND OUT.

http://www.amazon.com/Kiss-Kill-Contact-Scenes-Strife/dp/1575255820/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8& ;s=books&qid=1246398886&sr=8-1

Thanks to all of you for your continued support of my work and please, find me or become a fan of HOW CISSY GREW on Facebook for more regular updates.

How Cissy Grew staged reading at FesivALL in Charleston, WV

“How Cissy Grew” by Susan Johnston (staged reading)
Event Details

Date/Time:
Monday, June 22, 2009 8:00 pm

Buy Tickets:
http://www.theClayCenter.org

Sponsors:
Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation
Architectural Products
Corbett, Inc
InterfaceFlor Commercial

Charleston High grad, Susan Johnston, was honored last April in front of an overflow crowd of 700 raucous theatergoers, creators and fans at the 30th annual L.A. Weekly Theater Awards. Miss Johnston was recognized for her play, “How Cissy Grew”, which had its world premiere run at The El Portal Forum Theatre from October to November 2008 starring James Denton of Desperate Housewives, Erin J. O’Brien, Liz Vital and Stewart Calhoun who was also nominated by LA Weekly for Best Supporting Male Performance for his role as “The Guy”. All of these actors, as well as the original director and Ms. Johnston will be here for a staged reading of the play.

“How Cissy Grew” tracks the implosion of a West Virginia family over the twenty years following their baby’s mysterious and brief abduction. Best known for her plays, Old Woman Flying and One Girl Drummer, Miss Johnston’s work has been produced and/or read at Mill Mountain, City Lights Youth Theatre, The Jungle, Centenary Stage, The O’Neill, The Peter Norton Space, The Lark, The Echo, Manhattan Theatre Space, NADA, La MaMa, Provincetown Playhouse, etc. She is a six-time published playwright who completed her MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and has received a number of grants and fellowships, including a Jerome and a nomination for a Fulbright. She has worked as a film industry reporter for Interview magazine and an interstitial writer for A&E’s Biography series. Her first novel, Party Favors, is on shelves now. In May, Miss Johnston was honored by NYU with a Meritorious Alumni Service Award for her work helping to establish alumni programs on both the West and East coasts.

The play was critically hailed from the offset. The LA Times called the play “absorbing” and said, “Johnston’s monologues for the guilt-stricken Butch, beautifully underplayed by Denton, are the show’s highlights.” Daily Variety said, “Susan Johnston examines the jagged shards of a dysfunctional family's sorrowful history, offering compelling glimpses into the aftermath of a horrific event.”

"Compelling glimpses into the aftermath of a horrific event." —Variety

"Piercingly painful and beautifully wrought." —LA Weekly

"70 searing minutes." —LA Daily News

"Spellbinding and seductive." —Theatermania.com

Cost: $19 (festival seating)

Link: http://www.festivallcharleston.com/event/%E2%80%9Chow-cissy-grew%E2%80%9D-susan-johnston-staged-reading

Location

Clay Center on stage (Enter through Walker Theatre entrance)
One Clay Square
Charleston, WV, 25301
(304) 561-3570

more photos from the big night

My neighbor Rob Thorne escorted me for the big night - Thanks Rob!

I have no idea what I actually said.

After calming down a bit and able to actually pose for a picture.

My castmembers Stewart Calhoun and Liz Vital help me celebrate.

oh my goodness gracious!

On Monday night, among a standing-room only crowd, I won LA Weekly’s 30th Annual Theatre Award for Playwriting!!!!!

The crazy thing is they forgot to say my name during the list of the nominees so when they said I was the winner, I thought they were just announcing me as a nominee so I didn't get up!!! Everyone was jumping up and down and screaming at me to go up to the stage!!!! I was so confused. And then the spotlight hit me and I completely freaked out.

See photo above of me completely freaking out - enjoy!

I truly have no idea what I said in front of that microphone so let me say it now –

Thanks to Casey Stangl and John Spokes, Jamie Denton and Erin J. O’Brien and Victor Williams for believing in HOW CISSY GREW and making the production happen. Thanks to Jamie, Erin, Liz Vital and Stewart Calhoun (YOU WERE ROBBED!!!) for bringing the characters to life. Thanks to every member of our crew and marketing team who built and sold an absolutely gorgeous production that rivaled any regional!!!

Thanks to The MacDowell, The Echo Theatre, The NYU Grad Actors Collective, NYU Writer’s Lab West, The Tisch West Alumni Council, The Wednesday Ladies, SeaGlass Theatre, The El Portal, C. Josephine Hagerty, Nick Mills, Betsy Reisz, Ned Menoyo, Megan McNulty, Michael Goldenberg, Julia Cho, David Rock, Maura Teitelbaum and Abrams Artists Agency.

MUCH LOVE TO ALL OF OUR FANS – I WISH YOU ALL COULD HAVE BEEN THERE TO HELP ME CELEBRATE.

NEXT STOP – THE OSCARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

30th Annual LA Weekly Theatre Awards

The 30th Annual L.A. Weekly Theater Awards
Actors and chickens and bears, oh, my!

By Steven Leigh Morris
Published on April 01, 2009 at 9:41pm

View more photos in the 30th annual L.A. Weekly Theater Awards slideshow.

Dancing girls and impersonators joined co-hosts Jake Broder and Vanessa Claire Smith to transform the El Rey Theatre into the stage of Las Vegas’ Sahara Hotel, 1958, for the 30th annual L.A. Weekly Theater Awards on Monday night. Reprising their roles as lounge crooners Louis Prima and Keely Smith in their hit show Louis & Keely: Live at the Sahara (now at the Geffen Playhouse), Broder and Smith were supported by their production’s six-piece jazz band and a gallery of supporting players from Sacred Fools Theater Company. That show walked away with the Musical of the Year Award in a very tight vote with some very heady competition from Joe’s Garage at Open Fist Theatre Company and Lovelace: A Rock Opera at the Hayworth. For much of the evening, the raucous, overflow crowd of 700 treated the excellent production, nicely paced by director Jeremy Aldridge, as a backdrop to their drinking and socializing.

From the stage, Queen of the Angels recipient Frédérique Michel repeatedly told the revelers to shut up. The only performer who could command some silence was Gwendolyn the chicken, who appeared contentedly on the arm of Center Theatre Group artistic director Michael Ritchie, as he gave a mock, somber homage to our hard times, adding that he always wanted to appear onstage with his pecker in his hand.

(Gwendolyn had been eating birdseed for a solid hour before her performance, and Ritchie was hoping that she would complement his performance by unloading during the act, but the bird was too well brought-up for such low comedy.)

Adding to the Dada were the artistic directors of the Colony Theatre and Geffen Playhouse, Barbara Beckley and Gil Cates, who performed a duet of “Under My Skin,” to which the Los Angeles Stage Alliance’s executive director Terence McFarland performed a spirited interpretive dance.

County Supervisor Zev Yaraslovksy’s keynote address acknowledged that the smaller theaters (the purview of the Weekly’s Theater Awards) are where the future of the theater lies, and Career Achievement recipient Dakin Matthews appeared digitally from Singapore, where he’s performing with an international company, directed by Sam Mendes. (Matthews’ fellow cast members Simon Russell Beale, Sinead Cusack, Ethan Hawke, Roger Bean, Paul Jesson, Richard Easton, and Rebecca Hall also sent their greetings to L.A. from Southeast Asia.) Matthews closed his video with a nod to Shakespeare’s most famous stage direction — “Exit, pursued by a bear” _ for Antigonus, whom Matthews is currently playing in The Winter’s Tale. As Matthews spoke, a large bear head entered the scene.

AND THE RECIPIENT OF THE 2009 L.A. WEEKLY THEATER AWARDS ARE ...

PLAY WRITING
*Susan Johnston, How Cissy Grew, El Portal Forum Theatre

For more information about other winners and links to the slideshow:

http://www.laweekly.com/2009-04-02/stage/the-30th-annual-l-a-weekly-theater-awards/

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Karen Hartman has taught playwriting for years at the Yale School of Drama, Yale University, Bennington College, and other universities and New York theaters. She is the author of Gum, Leah's Train, Goliath (Dorothy Silver New Play Prize), Going Gone (N.E.A. New Play Grant); Anatomy 1968; Girl Under Grain (Best Drama in NY Fringe; ALICE: Tales of a Curious Girl (Music by Gina Leishman, AT&T Onstage Award); Troy Women; Donna Wants, Goldie, Max, and Milk; Sea Change, a musical with AnnMarie Milazzo, and MotherBone, an opera with Graham Reynolds. Her plays have been performed in New York at the Women's Project, NAATCO, P73, the NY Fringe, and Summer Play Festival, and at regional theaters including Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, the Magic Theater, Dallas Theater Center, and elsewhere. She has received new play commissions from ACT in San Francisco, McCarter Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, and others. Her work is published by Theater Communications Group, Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, Backstage Books, and NoPassport Press. An alumna of New Dramatists and Yale (B.A., M.F.A.), Karen has received playwriting support from Rockefeller Foundation at Bellagio, the N.E.A., the Helen Merrill Foundation, a Daryl Roth "Creative Spirit" Award, a Hodder Fellowship, a Jerome Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship to Jerusalem, and Core Membership at the Playwrights Center.