2013 | New Works Festival
PUPPET MAN
Written by Andrew Black
Directed by Gregory Simmons
In the early 2000’s, the warden at North Central Correctional Institute in Marion, Ohio authorized a puppet theater program for children visiting their fathers at the facility. This play is inspired by real-life events and the inmates who started the puppet theater.
Playwright Andrew Black changed his life by re-locating to Athens, Ohio to pursue graduate studies in playwriting at Ohio University. His thesis play, Puppet Man was accepted into the National Puppetry Conference at the O’Neill Theatre Center. He has co-written or written seven full-length plays and many short plays. Most of them have been produced.
WITCHES VANISH
Written by Claudia Barnett
Directed by Melissa Maxwell
In a series of stylized, highly visual vignettes employing puppetry, poetry, and surrealism, the weird sisters from Macbeth explore the stories of women who disappear, whether by choice or force. Inspired by history, astronomy, and Shakespeare, Witches Vanish examines the nature of change and the value of human life.
Playwright Claudia Barnett’s plays have been produced regionally as well as in NYC. Awards and commissions include the Distinguished Creative Activity Award (Middle Tennessee State University, 2012), Semi‐finalist, Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship (Princess Grace Foundation, 2010), Finalist, 10th Annual EstroGenious Festival (Manhattan Theatre Source, 2009); Residencies include Downstage Left Playwright Residency, Stage Left Theatre Chicago, Ingram New Works Playwright Residency, and Tennessee Repertory Theatre. Witches Vanish received a workshop at LeapFest 9 at Stage Left Theatre in Chicago.
SUNDAY EN LA CASA DE GRANMA
Written by Chris Longo
Directed by Candido Tirado
Longo takes us on a wild ride in a pedicab decorated with Che Guevarra’s portrait deep into a far-off world of Music, Magic, and Mystery in Havana.
Playwright Chris Longo is a New York-born playwright who has lived in Hawaii, Los Angeles, Monte Carlo, Italy, and now Seattle after a twenty-five year residence in Argentina working as a professor of literature and theater, and artistic director of the bi-lingual Buenos Aires Cabaret Theatre. He is a three-time MultiStages New Works Finalist. Other awards: Nantucket Short Play Competition, National Repertory Foundation Award, John Golden Award for Creative Writing, and three Office of Advanced Drama Research nominations. He published a science fiction novel, The Last Gene, in the US, and a bi-lingual edition of his play Abracadabra in Argentina. During his Los Angeles residence, he developed a KCET Public Television project, Aztecs in a Field of Flowers funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, Footprints of the Pheasant in the Snow (American-Chinese co-production for Tower Film Corporation), and Bugatti on the life of Ettore Bugatti for John Travolta Productions (Orion Pictures). Currently a member of Northwest Playwrights Alliance in Washington, his play Little Voices will receive a reading workshop at Seattle Repertory Theater this fall. His play, I’m Outa Here! is scheduled for a production in Los Angeles in 2014.
JANUARY
Written by Paula Cizmar
Directed by Lorca Peress
JANUARY is a play about two mothers (the mother of a child who was murdered, and the mother of a child who is a murderer), media exploitation of the tragedies, and gun control.
Playwright Paula Cizmar’s plays aim to discover a poetic way to explore human issues and are concerned with the way stories get told in a culture and who gets left out of the discussion. She wrote SEVEN – a documentary play about human rights –with Catherine Filloux, Gail Kriegel, Carol Mack, Ruth Margraff, Anna Deavere Smith, and Susan Yankowitz. (Published by Dramatists Play Service), which has received performances around the world. Awards include Center for Scholarly Technology 2012 C3 Grant; 2011 Creative Capital Fund Grant, National Endowment for the Arts Consortium Grant (for Seven); National Endowment for the Arts Playwriting Fellowship; DramaLogue Critics Award for Outstanding Playwriting; Susan Smith Blackburn Literary Prize (Runner-up/Special Commendation); Rockefeller Foundation International Residency at Bellagio, Italy; Jerome Foundation Commission/ Women’s Theatre Project of Minnesota; O’Neill National Playwrights Conference; Sundance Playwrights Lab; Envision at Bard.