ONSTAGE Playwrights 2016: Meet Sharon Goldner

Little Black Dress INK is having a torrid love affair with Sharon Goldner’s work!  She’s been an ONSTAGE Playwright 3 years in a row, and each of her pieces has elicited squeals of laughter from our audiences.  Maybe its because she so hilariously gives voice to some of our most embarrassing inner critiques – and then assigns them to body parts like a boss!  Of course, Sharon writes about a lot of different subjects, but we’ve spent the last three years guffawing at overconfident sperm, a chatty vagina, and now a snarky pair of boobs…

What will this hilarious writer come up with next?  We’re hoping it’s a whole evening of talking body part plays…

Sharon GoldnerTitle of Play: 
Bazookas

Why did you decide to submit your work to the ONSTAGE Project? 
This is my third acceptance (in a row!) with LittleBlackDress INK. Tiffany Antone is my theatre goddess, and I must constantly submit to her. She really does answer playwright prayers.

Describe your writing space:
My writing space is everyplace and anywhere … I do the creation thing on paper & pen, and then, transcribe into the computer.

If you could have lunch with any playwright alive or dead, who would it be and what would you have for lunch?
Lunch with a playwright would have to be with every little kid who has ever written a play and gotten the neighborhood kids to put on the show. Somebody has to tell these theatre tykes how good they rock. As far as the meal, what do kids eat? Grilled cheese sandwiches and candy I guess, though if we are talking bubble gum, I can definitely stuff the most pieces in my mouth and blow the grandest bubble. Sorry kids. My name is Sharon & I am a gum addict.

Why do you write for theatre?
I write for theatre because of the collaborative effort that goes into a reading and/or a production. Directors, producers, stage managers, actors, crews, costume/scene designers all get to add their something special to the thing I started. It’s truly the coolest place to kick something off & watch grow bigger and better than your wildest expectations.

Who is your favorite fictional character of all time and why?
Charlie Bucket from Roald Dahl’s Charlie & the Chocolate Factory is my favorite fictional character of all time. This was the first time (age 8) I realized how magical the alphabet was.

Do you have any upcoming productions elsewhere that our readers should know about?
My play, Frank Talk, has been chosen by the Baltimore Playwright’s Festival for a July 2016 run at The Strand Theater Company. I am honored & thrilled.

Please share the synopsis for a full-length of yours that our readers should know about!
I’ll tell you about Frank Talk … Rumors of Anne Frank’s death have been highly exaggerated.

More about Sharon:

Sharon Goldner started out her life’s lunacy as a thumb sucker & pal to two of the greatest imaginary friends ever, KaKa & LeeLee.  When thumb sucking & imaginary friends were no longer cool, she switched  over to gum chewing and  short story writing, for which she is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, with over thirty stories published worldwide.  Segueing to playwriting, she’s had plays produced Off Broadway to Los Angeles and everywhere in-between.  Her plays have been published in collections and she’s won a bunch of awards, plus, a playwriting fellowship all the way in Canada, which proves that being an English major is not a totally useless thing.  This is Sharon’s third stint with the glorious Tiffany Antone and Little Black Dress INK, for which she is truly grateful.  Please note, no letters of the alphabet are ever harmed in any of Sharon’s writing.

You can follow Sharon on Twitter @SharGoldner

Don’t miss Sharon’s play, July 14-16, at Acadiana Repertory Theatre’s production of this year’s ONSTAGE Festival: Curves Ahead.

Curves Ahead -ART

Posted in Curves Ahead, Playwrights, The Blog | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

ONSTAGE Playwrights 2016: Meet Anne Flanagan

Every year I hope playwrights will submit short plays comprised of mini-scenes to our fest, so that I can sprinkle them throughout the final line-up.  I love the way they create anchor points for the audience to follow!  And this year, we received several – which made the job of winnowing down which we would produce and which we’d have to say goodbye to all the more difficult.  Anne Flanagan’s play, Thrown for a Curve, is one of two ONSTAGE plays that feature mini-scenes, and it’s absolutely hilarious!  I am so happy to get to know this playwright’s work this year, and I hope she continues to participate in our ONSTAGE fests because her voice is undeniably awesome!

Flanagan.Jan 2016Title of Play:
Thrown For A Curve

Why did you decide to submit your work to the ONSTAGE Project? 
I liked the idea of a ‘blind,’ peer reviewed selection process and I’m always in favor of efforts to support female writers.

Describe your writing space:
A bright, tranquil, art deco laden office/guest bedroom… that is unfortunately right next to a construction site.

If you could have lunch with any playwright alive or dead, who would it be and what would you have for lunch?
Tennessee Williams. BBQ & beignets.

If you could have lunch with any playwright alive or dead, who would it be and what would you have for lunch?
I started out an as actor, so it’s a natural fit.

Why do you write for theatre?
Alice in Wonderland. I love the word play, the surreal adventures, and her cranky, acerbic attitude.

Who is your favorite fictional character of all time and why?
My short Three Ghosts of Elizabeth Bathory is in AlphaNYC’s Thalia Festival this July and my full length Lineage will be in development with the Strange Sun Theatre (NYC) this Fall. I also have two pieces, Ava Maria and Declaration of Independence respectively, to be published in separate Smith & Kraus anthologies this August.

Please share the synopsis for a full-length of yours that our readers should know about!
In my comedy/farce Artifice, available via Dramatic Publishing, artist Payne Showers finally gets his Big Break. He dies. At a subsequent auction of his work, we learn one guest may be a murderous gangster, another a gun toting psychopath, that Gandhi and Goebbels were NOT the same person, and rumors of Payne’s death have been greatly exaggerated.

More about Anne:

Los Angeles based playwright Anne Flanagan has seen her short and full length plays produced throughout the US and internationally.  She is the recipient of several writing awards and zero sports trophies.  Publications include her comedy Artifice (Dramatic Publishing) and various anthologies by Smith & Kraus and/or Applause Books.  For many years, Anne worked as a private investigator, so she knows where you live. Website: www.anneflanagan.net

Don’t miss Anne’s play, July 14-16, at Acadiana Repertory Theatre’s production of this year’s ONSTAGE Festival: Curves Ahead.

Curves Ahead -ART

Posted in Curves Ahead, Playwrights, The Blog | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

ONSTAGE Playwrights 2016: Meet Reina Hardy

I have a confession – I love a good monologue.  Much like my affinity for scenelet-driven pieces, monologues can fit nicely between pieces and move us to laughter or tears with a single voice.  Plus, I have an actor’s pedigree, so there’s a little extra love in my performance-starved soul for stellar singular stories.  We always have at least one monologue in the line-up, and this year it’s a piece titled Time Loop by Reina Hardy.

Reina’s 87-second monologue is fun, frenzied, and the only “sci-fi” play in the bunch.  I can’t wait to see it play on our stages, and I’m super excited to get such a fun taste of this playwright’s work!

Photo on 1-20-14 at 4.02 PM #3Title of Play: 
Time Loop

Why did you decide to submit your work to the ONSTAGE Project? 
I thought the peer review method sounded really interesting- plus I’m a compulsive submitter.

Describe your writing space:
Oh god, I wish I had one!

If you could have lunch with any playwright alive or dead, who would it be and what would you have for lunch?
I’m sure everyone is going to say this, but I’m going to have pizza with William Shakespeare, and I’m going to get him to tell me where he might have left any spare signed pieces of paper that I could sell for one million dollars. More plausibly, I’d like to have big salads and white wine with Theresa Rebeck, because she seems like she’d be willing to talk a lot of smack.

Why do you write for theatre?
First love. Also, I know that, no matter what, I can make theater happen if I need to. I can always put it together myself.

Who is your favorite fictional character of all time and why?
I don’t do “of all time,” but right now I’m still mourning Margaery Tyrell, my sex positive, smirking angel. Right now, I’m very into the idea of femme valor, deviousness in the service of righteousness, and just in general the mean girl with a heart of gold, and she really brought all of that.

Do you have any upcoming productions elsewhere that our readers should know about?
Right now, I have two pieces in Monologues for Nobody at the Toronto Fringe
(ends on the 10th)

On 7/24, I have a reading of The Puppet Show with Pipeline Theater’s Bonfire Series 2016

And my next full production, this September in Austin TX, is an aerials space opera/ sex comedy with the circus company Sky Candy: Agent Andromeda: The Orion Crusade

More about Reina:

Reina Hardy is a playwright from Chicago. Her plays, which usually contain magic and sometimes contain science, have been seen across the country, including at Rorschach Theatre in DC, the Vortex in Austin, and the 2013 NNPN National New Play Showcase. She’s a Michener Fellow, winner of the 2014 KCACTF TYA Prize, finalist for the Terrence McNally Prize and the recipient of an Interact 20/20 Commission. Up next: Fanatical the Musical in England with the Stable, and Agent Andromeda and the Orion Crusade with Sky Candy in Austin, TX.  You can read more about Reina at reinahardy.com  You can also follow here on Twitter @reinahardy

Don’t miss Sharon’s play, July 14-16, at Acadiana Repertory Theatre’s production of this year’s ONSTAGE Festival: Curves Ahead.

Curves Ahead -ART

Posted in Curves Ahead, Playwrights, The Blog | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

ONSTAGE Playwrights 2016: Meet Donna Hoke

Every once in a while a playwright will land two plays in the semi-finalist round of our ONSTAGE project and then – if you’re Donna Hoke – both of those plays advance to the Finalist round as well!  It’s an honor shared with only two other playwrights: Jen Huszcza and Sharon Goldner, and it always makes my job of deciding our final line-up even harder (but in the best possible way!)

If you haven’t yet heard about Donna Hoke, you’re seriously missing out. Not only is she a talented playwright (her play Brilliant Works of Art just made the 2016 Kilroy’s list!!!) but she’s also an avid blogger who interviews theatre artists and professionals, creating a bevvy of helpful-for-all articles that inspire playwrights every day.  We are thrilled to have Donna involved in this year’s ONSTAGE Fest, and can’t wait for audiences to see her (very on point) play, Jack Pork.

Donna HokeTitle of Play:
Jack Pork

Why did you decide to submit your work to the ONSTAGE Project?
I liked the peer review process, and also that it was to promote women’s work.

Describe your writing space…
It’s a messy office with a great view of the street. I know what time all my  neighbors leave for work.

If you could have lunch with any playwright alive or dead, who would it be and what would you have for lunch?
I talk to a lot of living playwrights, so I’ll choose a dead one: Arthur Miller. I’ve developed quite a crush on him in recent years. I suspect he might want a liquid lunch.

Why do you write for theatre?
I tried other mediums, but it wasn’t until I wrote a play that all the bells and whistles went off: plays are what I’m supposed to be writing (though I still pay bills writing for and editing magazines).

Do you have any upcoming productions elsewhere that our readers should know about?
I’ll be the Gwen Frostic playwright at Western Michigan University this September, in conjunction with the opening of my play, SAFE, at Queer Theatre Kalamazoo.

Please share the synopsis for a full-length of yours that our readers should know about!
My play, BRILLIANT WORKS OF ART, just made the 2016 Kilroys List: Law student Abby Gates has no qualms about becoming a sugar baby to get her tuition bills paid–until it means keeping a secret from the man she loves, an artist exploring confession and thresholds of shame. When Abby’s two worlds collide, she discovers her sugar daddy has taught her about more than good wine.

More about Donna:

Western New York regional representative for the Dramatists Guild and ensemble playwright in residence at Road Less Traveled Productions, award-winning playwright Donna Hoke’s work has been seen in 38 states and on five continents. Her full-length plays include THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR (Princess Grace semi-finalist, currently in its third year in rep in Romania), SEEDS (Artie award for Outstanding New Play), FLOWERS IN THE DESERT (AACT top 20 finalist), SAFE (winner of the Todd McNerney, Naatak, and Great Gay Play and Musical Contests), and BRILLIANT WORKS OF ART (winner, HRC Showcase and Firehouse Festival of New American Plays, Woodward/Newman and nuVoices finalist). Donna is also a New York Times-published crossword puzzle constructor; author of Neko and the Twiggets, a children’s book; founder/co-curator of BUA Takes 10: GLBT Short Stories; and blogger. For three consecutive years, she was named Buffalo’s Best Writer by Artvoice—the only woman to ever receive the designation. You can learn more about Donna on her website, www.donnahoke.com, and follow her on Twitter: @DonnaHoke

Don’t miss Donna’s play, July 14-16, at Acadiana Repertory Theatre’s production of this year’s ONSTAGE Festival: Curves Ahead.

Curves Ahead -ART

Posted in Curves Ahead, Playwrights | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

ONSTAGE Playwrights 2016: Meet Amy Drake

When I read Amy’s play, Model Behavior, I immediately understood why it had scored so high in our peer review process.  It’s short, fun, and totally on point with this year’s theme: Curves Ahead.  Of course, it also helps that the discussion the play’s two window mannequins are having is about what’s sexy and what’s a ready-to-be-retired, in an age where we are finally starting to get better at embracing our individual curves.

If you aren’t familiar with Amy, then here’s your chance to get to know a little more about this exciting (and Pulitzer Prize nominated) playwright!

Amy DrakeWhat is the title of your play?
Model Behavior

Why did you decide to submit your work to the ONSTAGE Project?
I support theater festivals which promote work by women playwrights.

Describe your writing space…
I typically write at our dining room table. Our cats keep me company while I write.

If you could have lunch with any playwright alive or dead, who would it be and what would you have for lunch?
I would choose Sacha Guitry as my lunch companion and order cassoulet, a dish he shared with Monet. I am writing a book about Guitry.

Why do you write for theatre?
I have been innately drawn to writing for theater since I was a child. I wrote my first play when I was five years old and performed it for my kindergarten class. It took me decades to get back to playwriting. Four years ago, on a trip to New York with my husband, I stayed up all night writing a play and it was produced by a New York festival. I have been consistently writing plays ever since: one play, Somewhere I Can Scream, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

Who is your favorite fictional character of all time and why?
Count Dracula, the fantasy figure based upon the legendary ruler. Vampire novels are my guilty pleasure. The Count is the ultimate dark figure who steals away in the night and still fascinates us on the stage, screen, and in books.

Do you have any upcoming productions elsewhere that our readers should know about?
Alexander the Great: In Love and War, a play commissioned by Evolution Theatre in Columbus, Ohio.

Please share the synopsis for a full-length of yours that our readers should know about!
Somewhere I Can Scream
Synopsis:
A former Olympic gold medal winner turned college professor has an affair with his medical student lover, culminating in unforeseen consequences. Based upon a real-life murder trial, the play deals with incidents of police brutality and a possible miscarriage of justice. These issues are just as relevant today as they were during the actual 1929 investigation.

More about Amy:

Amy Drake is a Pulitzer Prize nominated playwright, member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Board member of the International Centre for Women Playwrights, and Theatre Communications Group member. Her play Home Body was nominated for four awards in the Midtown International Theater Festival (MITF), New York. Voted Theatre Roundtable Best Director for Night Must Fall and was assistant director for the Actors’ Theatre production of Servant of Two Masters, chosen by The Columbus Dispatch as a Top Ten show of 2012. Amy is a published academic writer, conference speaker, and poet. Amy holds a B.A. from Ohio Dominican University and a M.S. degree in marketing and communication. Her education includes creative writing and history summer programs at Cambridge University, UK, graduate studies at Reed Hall, Paris and playwriting at the Kenyon (College) Summer Institute. Amy has been accepted to the Yale Writers’ Conference 2016. Her new play, Alexander the Great in Love and War, will be performed in the Evolution Theatre Festival, June 2016. Her book, Unmasking Shakespeare: Shakespearean Plays and Commedia dell’Art, will be published by Lambert in June 2016 and available on Amazon.com.

Don’t miss Amy’s play, July 14-16, at Acadiana Repertory Theatre’s production of this year’s ONSTAGE Festival: Curves Ahead.

Curves Ahead -ART

Posted in Curves Ahead, Playwrights, The Blog | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

ONSTAGE Playwrights 2016: Meet Amber Bosworth

A talented member of the Prescott, AZ acting community, Amber has performed in two of our ONSTAGE festivals!  Now she’ll be commanding the stage as one of our playwrights, and I couldn’t be more excited for her.  Her play, Here, There Be Curves, is a fun look at romance through the eyes of a terribly awkward romance writer.  It had audiences laughing their socks off at our Samuel French reading last month (you can hear a snippet for yourself on our podcast!) and I’m sure it will elicit similar glee in our audiences in Lafayette and Prescott.

Amber BosworthWhat is the title of your play?
Here, There Be Curves

Why did you decide to submit your work to the ONSTAGE Project?
I absolutely love the theme this year. When I read what it was, so many ideas came crashing through my brain. I have acted in two of the LBDI Festival’s in the past. Last year I was the talking vagina and I knew at that moment that I needed to do all I could to be involved with this project.

Describe your writing space…
Well, that is interesting because my writing space is my “day” job. I work the graveyard shift for Lockheed Martin Flight Service, so when I’m there and it is very quiet, I write. My home is organized chaos and I have a hard time writing there. When I’m at work, doing a job that is not my passion, I get these amazing ideas that I write down.

If you could have lunch with any playwright alive or dead, who would it be and what would you have for lunch?
Kimberly Demmary. She wrote a play called Seatbelts Required. It is about three sisters who get together after their abusive mother dies. I had the privilege of performing in this play a couple of years ago. I actually got to meet Kimberly when we performed the play. She is incredible. She lives in CA and has written several full length plays. I was in awe of her. We would have tapas, many different items on small plates.

Why do you write for theatre?
This was my second attempt to write for the stage. I am surprised that it is not my preferred medium since I have been acting since I was ten years old. I love the stage and after watching my play being read on the stage I only want to write for theater now. I am getting my Masters in Creative Writing for Media with Full Sail but I now want to write for theater as well.

Who is your favorite fictional character of all time and why?
The Doctor. Doctor Who is amazing. The stories and the characters continue to blow my mind. This show has been going on since 1964 and for very good reason. I love the British wit.

Do you have any upcoming productions elsewhere that our readers should know about?
Not any that I have written. I am acting in the upcoming production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised]. That will be running for six weeks in Prescott, AZ.

Please share the synopsis for a full-length of yours that our readers should know about!
This is just the beginning. This project has inspired me to take my words to the stage. I have several great ideas for shows that I can’t wait to get onto the stage. Nothing is going to stop me now.

More about Amber:

Amber Bosworth has been committed to theater since she was a kid. She served five years in the US Navy as an Air Traffic Controller to help pay for college. She now works for Lockheed Martin Flight Service and spends most of her free time writing and acting on any stage that will have her. She has been involved with Seatbelts Required, Harvey, Dead Mans Cell Phone, and Educating Rita.  Her first love has always been writing.  After twenty years of following the sensible path, Amber has finally started to follow her dream as a writer.  She is getting her Masters in Creative Writing from Full Sail University.  Amber is excited and humbled to be apart of Little Black Dress INK.

Don’t miss Amber’s play, July 14-16, at Acadiana Repertory Theatre’s production of this year’s ONSTAGE Festival: Curves Ahead.

Curves Ahead -ART

Posted in Curves Ahead, Playwrights, The Blog | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

ONSTAGE Playwrights 2016: Meet Jen Huszcza

When it comes to Jen Huszcza, I’m a total fan!  She is our only five-time ONSTAGE Playwright, and yet every play she writes has a unique angle, interesting characters, and undeniable appeal.  She’s an incredibly visual writer, but does so with economy: Jen’s stage directions and dialogue are crisp, clear, and brilliantly lean.   If you haven’t yet become acquainted with her work, I encourage you to do so!

Jen2Title of Play: 
Big Belly

Why did you decide to submit your work to the ONSTAGE Project? 
Totally love this festival.

Describe your writing space:
I write in a variety of places. I like to write long handed. It makes me less long winded.

If you could have lunch with any playwright alive or dead, who would it be and what would you have for lunch?
Playwright I would meet for lunch:

I put my panties in a bunch
About my playwrights’ questionnaire
Which playwright would I meet for lunch
Like Eliot I wondered, ‘do I dare?’

A solution dripped down so clear
There’s only one playwright worth a meet
I will eat with William Shakespeare
No other playwright can compete.

We’ll talk of Italy, we’ll talk of Spain
We’ll drink wine and tell jokes
About tragedy, ecstasy and pain
We’ll make sexy puns like a pair of blokes

But I’ll never be as sharp as a bodkin bard
My jokes are flat, I try too hard.

But he’ll forgive my flubs and falls
As we eat spaghetti and meat balls.

Why do you write for theatre?
Why do I write in the play form?

I ask myself that every single day. Jen, why do you write in play form? There’s no money in it. There’s no glory in it. It brings you nothing but pain and rejection. It doesn’t help the bank account. It’s borderline un-American. But then there’s another voice in me that answers, Jen, you know you’re not gonna stop now.

Who is your favorite fictional character of all time and why?
I spent a lot of time thinking about this question. Who is my favorite fictional character and beyond that, what do I want to say with my favorite fictional character? Since I work with fictional characters myself, I have a lot of favorites. In plays, I like Didi and Gogo in Godot. In books, I keep going back to Cassandra Mortmain in Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. But the character I keep going back to again and again and liking every time is Han Solo in the Star Wars. He’s not the smartest dude in the galaxy, but he has a cool space ship and hangs with a wookiee. Fly casual, my friends.

Do you have any upcoming productions elsewhere that our readers should know about?
I have nothing pending, and that’s okay.

Please share the synopsis for a full-length of yours that our readers should know about!

Rebec, CA. This is one of those plays that started as a one act and kept expanding and expanding. It’s about a mother and son who live in a fictional California town called Rebec. The mother is retired. The son works construction and is a grower. One day, an LA agent’s assistant visits them and changes their lives forever. It’s a comedy.

More about Jen:

Jen Huszcza is a playwright currently based in Los Angeles. Four of Jen’s plays (Rinse, POP, Flowers, and This) were performed in Little Black Dress INK’s first four festivals. Her short play, It Has to End in Tears, was produced by Greenlight Productions in Santa Monica in March 2015. Four of her plays have been presented as staged readings in the Monday Night Living Room Series at The Blank Theatre in Hollywood. She wrote and acted in Gunfighter Nation’s collectively written piece, LA History Project: Pio Pico, Sam Yorty, and the Secret Procession of Los Angeles, presented at the Lost Studio in 2010. She has guest-blogged for the Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative. Jen has her BFA in Dramatic Writing and MFA in Musical Theatre Writing both from NYU.  You can learn more about Jen at her website www.sunshinejen.com or follow her on Twitter  @playwrightjen

Don’t miss Jen’s play, July 14-16, at Acadiana Repertory Theatre’s production of this year’s ONSTAGE Festival: Curves Ahead.

Curves Ahead -ART

Posted in Curves Ahead, Playwrights, The Blog | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

ONSTAGE: ON-AIR Episode 2 is live!

Hello, hello, hello!  Our second ONSTAGE: ON-AIR podcast is live, and we can’t wait to share it with you!

Listen or download now to make sure you don’t miss our interviews with partner producers Steven Landry and Etienna Wright at Acadiana Repertory Theatre in Lafayette, LA and Darcy Martin Rose with Acting OUT NY in Ithaca, NY.  We also share the winning line-up with you, and include clips from three of this year’s winning plays.

We’ll also be posting interviews with the winning playwrights to our blog soon, but in the meantime, if you’re planning on being in Lafayette over July 14-16, we hope you’ll check out Acadiana’s production of this year’s ONSTAGE Festival: Curves Ahead.

Curves Ahead -ART

 

Posted in Curves Ahead, Playwrights, The Blog | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Introducing our 2016 ONSTAGE Playwrights!

I am beyond thrilled to be working with such talented women on this year’s Female Playwrights ONSTAGE Festival!  Talk about fun – each playwright’s world is unique, and together they create a fantastic lineup that will leave you laughing, thinking, and definitely moved!  I can’t wait to see these plays performed with Curves AheadSamFrenchwebour partners at Acadiana Repertory Theatre in Lafayette, LA this July!  The plays will then be read in NYC before ending the fest with another production in Prescott, AZ this fall.  But first, the plays are heading to LA!

You can catch a reading of these plays on Saturday, June 11th at 1pm at Samuel French Bookshop (7623 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90046) for FREE!  We’ll even have snacks on hand to please your palate!

Without further ado, please allow me to introduce you to our fabulous 2016 Playwrights!

PLAYWRIGHT: Donna Hoke  PLAY: JACK PORK

Donna HokeWestern New York regional representative for the Dramatists Guild and ensemble playwright in residence at Road Less Traveled Productions, award-winning playwright Donna Hoke’s work has been seen in 38 states and on five continents. Her full-length plays include THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR (Princess Grace semi-finalist, currently in its third year in rep in Romania), SEEDS (Artie award for Outstanding New Play), FLOWERS IN THE DESERT (AACT top 20 finalist), SAFE (winner of the Todd McNerney, Naatak, and Great Gay Play and Musical Contests), and BRILLIANT WORKS OF ART (winner, HRC Showcase and Firehouse Festival of New American Plays, Woodward/Newman and nuVoices finalist). Donna is also a New York Times-published crossword puzzle constructor; author of Neko and the Twiggets, a children’s book; founder/co-curator of BUA Takes 10: GLBT Short Stories; and blogger. For three consecutive years, she was named Buffalo’s Best Writer by Artvoice—the only woman to ever receive the designation.

PLAYWRIGHT: Anne Flanagan  PLAY: THROWN FOR A CURVE

Flanagan.Jan 2016Los Angeles based playwright Anne Flanagan has seen her short and full length plays produced throughout the US and internationally.  She is the recipient of several writing awards and zero sports trophies.  Publications include her comedy Artifice (Dramatic Publishing) and various anthologies by Smith & Kraus and/or Applause Books.  For many years, Anne worked as a private investigator, so she knows where you live. Website: www.anneflanagan.net

 

PLAYWRIGHT: Nancy Cooper Frank  PLAY: IN THE LOOP

Nancy Cooper FrankNancy Cooper Frank.  Nancy’s The Trouble with Catherine is a full-length play on the bumpy friendship between Catherine the Great and her friend Catherine Dashkova, who helped her seize the throne (written as part of the 365 Women a Year project). Other credits include: Anna and the Blackbird (The Blank Theatre’s Living Room Series, 2015); Dramaphobia (SF Fringe 2015); The Plumber (in 2014 San Francisco Best-of-Fringe winning show); Daniiel KharmsA Life in One Act and Several Dozen Eggs (Great Plains Theatre Conference PlayLab). Nancy’s The Announcement made the final line-up in the 2015  Onstage Female Playwrights Project. More at www.nancycooperfrank.com

PLAYWRIGHT: Jen Huszcza PLAY: BIG BELLY

Jen2Jen Huszcza is a playwright currently based in Los Angeles.  Four of Jen’s plays (Rinse, POP, Flowers, and This) were performed in Little Black Dress INK’s first four festivals. Her short play, It Has to End in Tears, was produced by Greenlight Productions in Santa Monica in March 2015. Four of her plays have been presented as staged readings in the Monday Night Living Room Series at The Blank Theatre in Hollywood.  She wrote and acted in Gunfighter Nation’s collectively written piece, LA History Project: Pio Pico, Sam Yorty, and the Secret Procession of Los Angeles, presented at the Lost Studio in 2010.  She has guest-blogged for the Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative. BFA in Dramatic Writing and MFA in Musical Theatre Writing both from NYU.

PLAYWRIGHT:  Rhea MacCallum PLAY: ASKING FOR IT

 Rhea MacCallum is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and script consultant, whose plays have been produced across the United States and six continents.  She was honored to participate in the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and was named a finalist by the Actors Theatre of Louisville for the Heideman Award for her play, YESTERDAY ONCE MORE.  Her work has been published by Smith & Kraus, Heuer Publishing, Original Works Publishing, JAC Publishing and themonologueshop.com.  She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, ICWP and ALAP.  Rhea earned her BA from USC and her MFA from the Actors Studio Drama School, New School University.

PLAYWRIGHT: Tiffany Antone  PLAY: THE EGG

Antone headshotTiffany Antone is a playwright, producer, and director, whose plays have been read and/or performed in Los Angeles, New York, D.C., Lafayette, and Minneapolis: Cricket Woman Mother Earth (or) A Nasty Comeuppance was a 2011 O’Neil finalist. Ana and the Closet and Twigs and Bone were both Jerome Finalists and O’Neil semi-finalists for 2009 & 2010. In the Company of Jane Doe was produced in NY this spring with CAKE Productions. Her play, The Good Book, is available through Samuel French.  Tiffany holds her MFA in Playwriting from UCLA, lives/teaches in Texas, and blogs for the Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative.  She is the co-founder of The@trics Theatre, and runs Little Black Dress INK.  You can read more about Tiffany at www.TiffanyAntone.com.

PLAYWRIGHT: C.J. Ehrlich  PLAY: THE LILAC TICKET

CJ EC.J. Ehrlich is a NY-based writer/director whose award-winning works have enjoyed productions on five continents. Some favorites: Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Fest (Shrew Man vs. Shrewman), Grin Theatre, Liverpool (Room Circus, an LGBT bedroom farce), Ingenius NYC (The Red & Green Room). C.J.’s full-length comedy (with Philip J. Kaplan), THE CUPCAKE CONSPIRACY: “Terrorism is Easy. Marriage is Complicated” opened Rover Dramawerks (TX) 2015 Season. Published: Smith & Kraus’ annual Best Ten-Minute Plays anthologies: Noir in Second Class, The Ninth Circus of Hell, Intervention, 2+1=Murder; Applause’s Best American Short Plays of 2014-15 (The Lilac Ticket); Heuer (Home Sweet Homeland Security). C.J. is currently working on two new full-length comedies, The Maltese Babka and Us vs. Us. A proud member of the Dramatists Guild, C.J. lists among her greatest achievements teaching her sons the fine art of the spit take. www.CJ-Ehrlich.com.

PLAYWRIGHT: Reina Hardy  PLAY: TIME LOOP

RPhoto on 1-20-14 at 4.02 PM #3eina Hardy is a playwright from Chicago. Her plays, which usually contain magic and sometimes contain science, have been seen across the country, including at Rorschach Theatre in DC, the Vortex in Austin, and the 2013 NNPN National New Play Showcase. She’s a Michener Fellow, winner of the 2014 KCACTF TYA Prize, finalist for the Terrence McNally Prize and the recipient of an Interact 20/20 Commission. Up next: “Fanatical the Musical” in England with the Stable, and “Agent Andromeda and the Orion Crusade” with Sky Candy in Austin, TX.

PLAYWRIGHT: Amy Drake  PLAY: MODEL BEHAVIOR

Amy DrakeAmy Drake is a Pulitzer Prize nominated playwright, member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Board member of the International Centre for Women Playwrights, and Theatre Communications Group member. Her play Home Body was nominated for four awards in the Midtown International Theater Festival (MITF), New York. Voted Theatre Roundtable Best Director for Night Must Fall and was assistant director for the Actors’ Theatre production of Servant of Two Masters, chosen by The Columbus Dispatch as a Top Ten show of 2012. Amy is a published academic writer, conference speaker, and poet. Amy holds a B.A. from Ohio Dominican University and a M.S. degree in marketing and communication. Her education includes creative writing and history summer programs at Cambridge University, UK, graduate studies at Reed Hall, Paris and playwriting at the Kenyon (College) Summer Institute. Amy has been accepted to the Yale Writers’ Conference 2016. Her new play, Alexander the Great in Love and War, will be performed in the Evolution Theatre Festival, June 2016. Her book, Unmasking Shakespeare: Shakespearean Plays and Commedia dell’Art, will be published by Lambert in June 2016 and available on Amazon.com.

Stephanie Girard PhotographyPLAYWRIGHT: Rachel Hall PLAY: THE MOON

Rachel Hall is a writer from Houston, Texas. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband Grant where she pursues playwriting, children’s literature, and spoken word poetry. Rachel holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from Baylor University, and spent time at both the National Theatre Institute and the St. Petersburg Theatre Arts Academy.

PLAYWRIGHT: Sharon Goldner PLAY: BAZOOKAS

Sharon GoldnerSharon Goldner started out her life’s lunacy as a thumb sucker & pal to two of the greatest imaginary friends ever, KaKa & LeeLee.  When thumb sucking & imaginary friends were no longer cool, she switched  over to gum chewing and  short story writing, for which she is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, with over thirty stories published worldwide.  Segueing to playwriting, she’s had plays produced Off Broadway to Los Angeles and everywhere in-between.  Her plays have been published in collections and she’s won a bunch of awards, plus, a playwriting fellowship all the way in Canada, which proves that being an English major is not a totally useless thing.  This is Sharon’s third stint with the glorious Tiffany Antone and Little Black Dress INK, for which she is truly grateful.  Please note, no letters of the alphabet are ever harmed in any of Sharon’s writing.

PLAYWRIGHT: Amber Bosworth PLAY: HERE THERE BE CURVES

Amber BosworthAmber Bosworth has been committed to theater since she was a kid. She served five years in the US Navy as an Air Traffic Controller to help pay for college. She now works for Lockheed Martin Flight Service and spends most of her free time writing and acting on any stage that will have her. She has been involved with Seatbelts Required, Harvey, Dead Mans Cell Phone, and Educating Rita.  Her first love has always been writing.  After twenty years of following the sensible path, Amber has finally started to follow her dream as a writer.  She is getting her Masters in Creative Writing from Full Sail University.  Amber is excited and humbled to be apart of Little Black Dress INK.

Posted in Curves Ahead, Playwrights, The Blog | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Announcing the 2016 ONSTAGE Final Line-Up!

Curves AheadSamFrenchwebWelp, it’s been a seriously rough couple of weeks for this producer: this year’s ONSTAGE Finalists were all so fantastic that narrowing the list down to a producable number was heart-breakingly difficult!  I can only say that after a lot of hair-pulling, we have an incredibly strong line-up of hilarious, introspective, moving, and wacky pieces – which is just the way I like it!

Now, don’t you want to witness these awesome new plays for yourself?  Well, you’re about to get your chance, because the plays are going to be read at the Samuel French Bookshop in Hollywood, CA on Saturday, June 11th at 1pm.  The reading is free, and we’ll have snacks and wine – plus the Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative will be there!  The only tricky thing is making sure we have enough space, so RSVP to our Facebook page, and arrive early to make sure you get a seat!

Now, how about I share with you the list of winning plays?

ASKING FOR IT   by Rhea MacCallum
BAZOOKAS   by  Sharon Goldner
BIG BELLY  by Jen Huszcza
HERE, THERE BE CURVES    by Amber Bosworth
IN THE LOOP   by  Nancy Cooper Frank
JACK PORK  by Donna Hoke
MODEL BEHAVIOR  by Amy Drake
THE LILAC TICKET  by C.J. Ehrlich
THE MOON  by Rachel Hall
THROWN FOR A CURVE  by Anne Flanagan
TIME LOOP  by Reina Hardy
THE EGG  by Tiffany Antone

In addition to our reading in LA, the plays will be read in NYC and produced with Acadiana Repertory Theatre in Lafayette, LA and by Little Black Dress INK in Prescott, AZ.

Congratulations to all of the absolutely awesome playwrights who participated in our 2016 Female Playwrights ONSTAGE Festival!  We love and adore you, and we can’t wait to read see your words again in 2017!

Posted in Curves Ahead, New Play Readings, Playwrights, The Blog | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment