2015 PLAYS & PLAYWRIGHTS |
-
STAGED READINGS
-
IN RESIDENCE
<
>
2015 Featured Playwright
|
THE OPEN HAND by Robert CaisleyAllison does not accept gifts. Not even on her birthday. Not even from her fiancé. So when she finds herself without her wallet and unable to pay the tab for an expensive lunch with a friend, it is with great reluctance that she accepts the generosity of a total stranger. Determined to repay his kindness, Allison comes face-to-face the dark secrets that drive her inability to accept even the simplest act of benevolence.
Robert Caisley's Bio
Robert Caisley is Professor of Theatre and Head of Dramatic Writing at the University of Idaho. His latest play Lucky Me is being produced this season at New Jersey Repertory Theatre, Curious Theatre in Denver, Riverside Theatre in Iowa City, 6th Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa, CA, Oregon Contemporary Theatre, and The Modern Theatre in Spokane. His play Happy, first presented at the 2011 National New Play Network Annual Showcase of New Plays at InterACT Theatre in Philadelphia, was a 2012 Finalist for both the prestigious Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center’s New Play Conference and the Woodward/Newman Award for Drama at Bloomington Playwrights Project, and was selected for a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere in the 2012/2013 season at New Theatre (Miami, FL), Montana Repertory Theatre (Missoula, MT), 6th Street Playhouse (Santa Rosa, CA), New Jersey Repertory and Redtwist Theatre (Chicago, IL) where it was named by Chicago Magazine as one of the “Nine Best Comedies” of the season. Happy was nominated for a 2014 Bay Area Critics Circle Award for Best Original Script and won the 2014 SOTA Award for Best Play in Northern California, and the 2014 BroadwayWorld New Jersey Theatre Award for Best New Work. His brand new play, The Open Hand, has been commissioned by the Clarence Brown Theatre in Knoxville, TN where it will premiere in the Spring of 2016. |
UNRAVELED by Jennifer BlackmerAs a professor of physics and philosophy, Joy has spent her life exploring theories of space and time, but none of that has prepared her for the reality of watching cancer unravel her mother’s mind and body. As the hard work of care-taking begins to take its toll, she hires Anna, a hospice nurse, to help her mother. But when the rules of space and time no longer provide Joy the answers she needs, can Anna's simple lessons of how to care for another person help Joy knit the pieces of her life together again?
Jennifer Blackmer's Bio
ennifer Blackmer is a playwright based in the Midwest, and Associate Professor of Theatre and Director of Immersive Learning at Ball State University. Her plays have been seen in New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Berkeley and St. Louis, and include Human Terrain (The Lark, Mustard Seed Theatre, 5th Wall Theatre, IAMA Theatre Company), Unraveled (Theatre Unbound, Tennessee Repertory Theatre Ingram New Works Lab), Alias Grace (Illinois Shakespeare Festival) and Delicate Particle Logic (Indra’s Net, The Playwrights’ Center, CUNY Graduate Center, NYC). Unraveled was recently honored with second place in ATHE’s Excellence in Playwriting Competition, and was also named one of the ten best productions in the Twin Cities in 2013 by Lavender Magazine. Her work has been a finalist for the David Charles Horn Prize for Emerging Playwrights (Yale Drama Competition), the Fratti-Newman Political Play Contest, the Firehouse Festival of New American Theatre, and The O’Neill National Playwrights’ Conference. Jennifer has been a semi-finalist for both the Princess Grace Award and the Shakespeare’s Sister Fellowship. She is currently developing Human Terrain as a motion picture with B Powered Films in Los Angeles. Recent directing credits include the American premiere of Lost: A Memoir at Indiana Repertory Theatre, and numerous productions at Ball State University. Visit Jennifer’s website at www.jenniferblackmer.com. |
KOALAS by J. Joseph CoxThe only thing more territorial than the koala living in Ray’s yard is Ray himself. When his domain is unexpectedly invaded by his unemployed brother and gender nonconforming daughter, Ray clings to his man-of-the-house status like a koala does a tree. Can a twentieth-century man survive the dawning of the twenty-first?
J. Joseph Cox's Bio
J. Joseph Cox’s plays and screenplays have been produced and developed throughout the US and the UK. His full-length plays include Thirst (Cold Basement Dramatics), St. Paulie’s Delight (Finalist Dayton Playhouse’s FutureFest, Semi-Finalist National Playwrights Conference, Great Plains Theatre Conference), and Koalas (Little Festival of the Unexpected, Something Marvelous Fest, Finalist National Playwrights Conference). His one-act plays include A Very Busy Man and The 800 Pound Gorilla, both produced by The Artistic Home Studio in Chicago. He recently finished post-production for the film adaptation of A Very Busy Man. He is a graduate of the Second City Writing Program, a former Artist-In-Residence with the Jamestown (N.D.) Arts Center and is currently a Network Playwright with Chicago Dramatists and a member of the Dramatist Guild of America. |
RELATIVE MADNESS by Bernadine CockeyJanice and Candace have always been close— especially when they’re far apart. They love each other and they believe in each other, even though Janice knows Candace is crazy, and Candace knows Janice is totally nuts. Two sisters struggle with the detritus of their mother’s life, and the question of each other’s madness. But can sanity really be determined? Or is it all just relative?
Bernadine Cockey's Bio
Bernadine Cockey spends two weeks each June working with the Seven Devils Playwright Conference in McCall where she has been selected twice as a featured playwright. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, the International Centre for Women Playwrights, and the Idaho Writers Guild. Her play, A Question of Grace was produced at Boise State University; A Little Time in the Fall was presented at the Playwrights Showcase in Denver; Night Among the Hunters was awarded a Writer’s Digest Playwriting Prize. She lives in Boise, Idaho where she works as Prop Master for Boise Contemporary Theater, and Assistant Prop Master for the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. |
<3 by Sara Jean Accuardi14-year-old Ellie is a good kid. It’s the worst. 22-year-old David is grown-up. It’s the worst. That is, until their lives become entangled with with a girl who’s determined to be neither-- or both. Maybe the only thing more dangerous than growing up too fast, is growing up too slowly.
Sara Jean Accuardi's Bio
Sara Jean Accuardi’s plays have been read, workshopped, and developed at Portland Center Stage, Victory Gardens, Chicago Dramatists, Northwestern University, and through Remy Bumppo Theatre Company. Her plays That Water Moment and Portrait of the Widow Kinski have been featured in the JAW Playwright’s Festival at Portland Center Stage, and her play Love Scenes was produced as part of the Fertile Ground City-Wide Festival of New Works in 2012. She holds an MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage from Northwestern University. |
TAKING THE SEIZE: A DOG DRAMA by Jenny SternlingJenny Sternling's Bio
Jenny Sternling is a native Idahoan who has worked in the Northwest for over 30 years as a professional actor, director, writer, and producer in stage, film, voice-over, and television. Her past theatrical adventures include founding a comedy improv troupe called Funny Business; starring in a Marine World TV special alongside a baby tiger; appearing as Lyubov Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard, directed by Michael Hoffman at Boise Contemporary Theatre; and writing and producing dozens of custom-tailored corporate theatre productions with her company, Event Entertainment. As a theatre arts teacher for organizations including Idaho Theater for Youth, Idaho Shakespeare Festival Drama School, Eagle Performing Arts Center, Boise State University’s MBA program, and Bishop Kelly High School (where teaches and directs theater), Jenny has collaborated with students and colleagues to write, produce and present numerous plays and films. In 2010 Jenny returned to university for MA studies in 19th -century theatre history; she graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2012. After she toured numerous archives conducting graduate research on a forgotten 19th-century form of melodrama called dog dramas, which serve as the inspiration for her play Taking the Seize: A Dog Drama. |
THE CALLING by Deborah JordanDeborah Jordan's Bio
Deborah Jordan is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Jacksonville University Department of Theatre and Dance in Florida where she is Program Head for Acting and Directing. She has directed over 75 theatrical productions for professional and semi-professional theatrehouses, educational theatre, musical theatre, children’s theatre, and reader’s theatre. Before Deborah’s tenure at Jacksonville University, she started two professional theatre companies, Characters, a professional touring company and The Jacksonville Stage Company, where she served as Artistic Director for four seasons. She is a member of the Association of Theatre in Higher Education, Women’s Playwriting Initiative, Voice & Speech Teachers Association, Southeastern Theatre Conference, The American College Theatre Festival, The Florida Theatre Conference, Association of Theatre in Higher Education, and the Florida Association of Theatre Educators. When her older sister decided at 49 years old, to become a Catholic sister, Deborah’s response was to write a play about it. The Calling, based on the lives and journeys of the nuns of St. Gertrude in Cottonwood, Idaho, is Deborah’s first play. She has completed research for a second play, Fabulous Florence, about the people from one of the most notorious mining towns in Idaho County. |
All photos on this page by Sarah Jessup