June 6-June 11, 2021 Workshop
With Resonance Ensemble, Zack Calhoon, Vince Gatton, Teresa Harrison, Eric Parness and Elizabeth West. Five days of world-building on a reimagined script, GERTRUDEs. An amazing and thought-provoking deep dive! Thank you, Resonance Ensemble!
On 6/3/2021 - played Agathe Blumenfeld in Julia Pascal’s reading of AS HAPPY AS GOD IN FRANCE for IATI Theater.
“Who arrested us? Who is starving us? Will the Communists save us? You trust Uncle Joe?”
AS HAPPY AS GOD IN FRANCE
Written by Julia Pascal
Directed by Eric Parness
Date: Thursday, June 3, 2021 at 2:00pm EST
FRANK
Frank, a new play by Susan Ferrara - With Sinatra's MY WAY playing on an endless loop, Billie stands in the darkness of her father's wake waiting to leave and grab a burger, but a box full of letters from the prisoner her father loved has her stumbling toward the light. A dark comedy about grief, family secrets, friendship and forgiveness. "Frank" is the inaugural workshop of Theatre of NOTE's "Voices of NOTE" series where we gift writers with 20 hours to develop existing work, create new work, or simply play around with a bunch of game actors! Directed by Kevin Earley. Starring Julie Ann Emery, Doug Burch, Gabby Sanalitro, Christopher Neiman and Susan Louise O'Connor click here
This Fall, NOTE is launching our new workshop series, Voices of NOTE, where we gift writers with 20 hours to develop existing work, create new work, or simply play around with a bunch of game NOTE actors!
Our inaugural workshop was granted to Susan Ferrara
(playwright & actor, three-time O’Neill semi-finalist, two-time New Dramatist and Leah Ryan Finalist)
Her dark comedy Frank will be workshopped for five days, resulting in a Zoom reading on October 30.
“Excited to working on FRANK with Theatre of Note and their outstanding team of artists...a week of development. Brilliant.”
WRITE OUT FRONT…
That time I wrote in the window of the old Drama Book Shop courtesy of Micheline Auger…
This beautiful play…
…had just two opportunities to speak the words but loved every moment of it. Thank you, Elizabeth A. Davis, for creating so beautiful a character as Aunt Keitha .
Director in NY, writer in Manhattan, actors in Queens and LA…the whole of us working with Actors Theatre of Louisville as artists-in-residence. A beautiful collaboration. Julie Ann Emery on screen. Carrie Preston at the helm. Chris Gerson and Tarah Flanagan waiting for their cue. THE SILVER KITCHEN. A play about grief and longing recorded during a pandemic…
When you haven’t left your apartment since March 13, 2020 - you start writing silly things for your husband to perform…
Premiere Stages at Kean University Has Announced 2020 Premiere Play Festival Finalists
by BWW News Desk Mar. 3, 2020 Tweet Share
Premiere Stages, the professional theatre company in residence at Kean University, has selected its finalists for the 2020 Premiere Play Festival. Now in its 16th year, the Festival is an annual competition for unproduced scripts that offers developmental opportunities to playwrights with strong affiliations to New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
The number of submissions to the 2020 Play Festival dramatically increased to a record 939, a 30% increase from the previous record set in 2019. The Premiere Stages team narrowed the pool down to twenty-six semifinalists, each with significant potential. Given the exceptional promise of the 2020 entries, for the first time in the history of Premiere Stages, Premiere Stages will select two Play Festival winners to receive full productions as part of the season (previously only one Finalist was produced as part of each season). This second production will replace the slot usually filled by a NJ Premiere of a play that has been previously produced elsewhere. In addition, the number of playwrights afforded professional readings as part of the Spring Reading Series will increase from four to five.
"The number of playwrights who submit to the Premiere Stages Play Festival each year continues to grow exponentially and we are pleased to increase the opportunities available to regional playwrights," stated John J. Wooten the producing artistic director of Premiere Stages. "Given the exceptional quality of plays we received, we are particularly excited about adding a new play to the 2020 lineup for a season of all new works."
The 2020 finalists are:
Songbird by Rachel Luann Strayer (March 11th at 7pm) - Jess is an up-and-coming singer/songwriter who doesn't want to talk about why she abandoned her career. In fact, she doesn't want to talk about it so badly that she hasn't spoken in months. Jess's sister, Brit, thinks a beach trip to their old family vacation spot is just the trick to get Jess to open up. As tensions rise and a young visitor arrives seeking her help, Jess knows there are words that have to be spoken; she's just hoping she has the right ones
Scab by Gino Diiorio (March 12th at 7pm) - Gilda, a middle-aged women, has to train Eduardo, a young Mexican man, how to be a shop foreman when her factory plant moves to Mexico. Over the course of a week, they discover that their assumptions regarding personal expectations and cultural differences are not always correct.
Lyons Pride by Bleu Beckford-Burrell (March 13th at 7pm) - The Lyons household is struggling to stay afloat but doesn't find itself lacking in pride. A family play, about living, love, identity and overcoming life challenges, Lyons Pride explores what it means to be Jamaican in America and the similarities many families share as immigrants.
My Mother the Sun by Massimo Monfiletto (March 14th at 7pm) - When her mother goes missing in the desert between the US/Mexico border, Solana must journey out with a group of activists to bring her back. As her past begins to haunt her, she must undertake an extraordinary transformation in the hopes of keeping her family together.
Year One by Erik Gernand (March 15th at 3pm) - In 1933 Germany, Anna struggles to keep her family afloat during the first year of Adolph Hitler's rise to power. When her brother Max arrives unexpectedly from Berlin, Anna's life is thrown into even greater turmoil when the true reason for his visit is uncovered and she's forced to choose between family and country.
All finalists will receive professional readings as part of Premiere's 16th annual Spring Reading Series March 11-15, and will be considered for expanded development in Premiere's mainstage season. One of the five plays will be selected for an Actors' Equity Association (AEA) 29-Hour Reading in June, and the two most promising plays will be awarded a full AEA production as part of Premiere's 2020 season. All finalists receive cash awards ranging from $750 to $2,500. Readings are offered by invitation only. To request admission to any of the readings, please call 908-737-4077 or email premiere@kean.edu.
The following semifinalists were also honored in this year's competition: Dear Ann by Nikki Brake-Sillá, 28 Light Years From Now by Rachel Bykowski, East Rock by Kevin Daly, The Shaking Earth by Mashuq Deen, #GodHatesYou by Emily Dendinger, The Is That Should by Susan Ferrara, how it feels to fall from the sky by Dominic Finocchiaro, When We Fall by Emma Gibson, Aliyah by Kathryn Grant, God Test by Jess Honovich, The Distance by Ken Jaworowski, Dance Moms by Ying Ying Li, Cacti by Daphne Macy, Everything Beautiful Happens at Night by Ted Malawer, Hitch by James McLindon, Ghetto Babylon by Michael Mejias, We Built Our Homes Near Kingdoms of Animals and Magic by Omar Velez Melendez, One-Shot by Andrew Rosendorf, The Opus by Andrew Truschinski
Premiere Stages offers affordable prices, air-conditioned facilities and free parking close to the theatre. Premiere Stages also provides free or discounted tickets to patrons with disabilities. All Premiere Stages facilities are fully accessible spaces, and companion seating is available for patrons with disabilities. Assistive listening devices and large print programs are available at all times; publications in alternate formats are available with advance notice. Please call 908-737-4077 to request a sign-interpreted, audio-described or open-captioned performance. For more information, please visit Premiere Stages online at www.premierestagesatkean.com.
Related ArticlesView More New Jersey Stories Shows
Postponement Of NJSO Concerts To Extend Through May 10 Due To COVID-19 Pandemic
South Camden Theatre Company to Delay Production of TERMINUS
Broadway Theatre of Pitman Cancels BIG RIVER; Theatre Will Re Open in May
Morris Museum Closes Today For Indefinite Period
More Hot Stories For You
Stephanie J. Block, Donna Murphy, Laura Osnes, and More Build BRIDGE TO BROADWAY
Ryann Redmond, Spencer Liff and More to Teach Online Classes for Broadway Dreams
Hot StoriesExclusive: Join Our Sondheim Disco Album Listening Party Today at 1PMThe Historic Park Theatre In Union City to Hold Open House And Ribbon Cutting; Performers AnnouncedReview: THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK at The Summit Playhouse Brings the Poignant Story to LifeBroadwayWorld Announces First Annual NYC College Senior Digital Showcase DatabaseReview: BYE BYE BIRDIE at Moorestown High School Theater
Premiere Stages at Kean University Announces 2020 Premiere Play Festival Finalists
originally published: 03/03/2020
(UNION, NJ) -- Premiere Stages, the professional theatre company in residence at Kean University, has selected its finalists for the 2020 Premiere Play Festival. Now in its 16th year, the Festival is an annual competition for unproduced scripts that offers developmental opportunities to playwrights with strong affiliations to New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Delaware. The finalists are Songbird by Rachel Luann Strayer, Scab by Gino Diiorio, Lyons Pride by Bleu Beckford-Burrell, My Mother the Sun by Massimo Monfiletto, and Year One by Erik Gernand.
The number of submissions to the 2020 Play Festival dramatically increased to a record 939, a 30% increase from the previous record set in 2019. The Premiere Stages team narrowed the pool down to twenty-six semifinalists, each with significant potential. Given the exceptional promise of the 2020 entries, for the first time in the history of Premiere Stages, Premiere Stages will select two Play Festival winners to receive full productions as part of the season (previously only one Finalist was produced as part of each season). This second production will replace the slot usually filled by a NJ Premiere of a play that has been previously produced elsewhere. In addition, the number of playwrights afforded professional readings as part of the Spring Reading Series will increase from four to five.
“The number of playwrights who submit to the Premiere Stages Play Festival each year continues to grow exponentially and we are pleased to increase the opportunities available to regional playwrights,” stated John J. Wooten the producing artistic director of Premiere Stages. “Given the exceptional quality of plays we received, we are particularly excited about adding a new play to the 2020 lineup for a season of all new works.”
Songbird by Rachel Luann Strayer (March 11 at 7:00pm) - Jess is an up-and-coming singer/songwriter who doesn't want to talk about why she abandoned her career. In fact, she doesn't want to talk about it so badly that she hasn't spoken in months. Jess's sister, Brit, thinks a beach trip to their old family vacation spot is just the trick to get Jess to open up. As tensions rise and a young visitor arrives seeking her help, Jess knows there are words that have to be spoken; she's just hoping she has the right ones
Scab by Gino Diiorio (March 12 at 7:00pm) - Gilda, a middle-aged women, has to train Eduardo, a young Mexican man, how to be a shop foreman when her factory plant moves to Mexico. Over the course of a week, they discover that their assumptions regarding personal expectations and cultural differences are not always correct.
Lyons Pride by Bleu Beckford-Burrell (March 13 at 7:00pm) - The Lyons household is struggling to stay afloat but doesn’t find itself lacking in pride. A family play, about living, love, identity and overcoming life challenges, Lyons Pride explores what it means to be Jamaican in America and the similarities many families share as immigrants.
My Mother the Sun by Massimo Monfiletto (March 14 at 7:00pm) - When her mother goes missing in the desert between the US/Mexico border, Solana must journey out with a group of activists to bring her back. As her past begins to haunt her, she must undertake an extraordinary transformation in the hopes of keeping her family together.
Year One by Erik Gernand (March 15 at 3:00pm) – In 1933 Germany, Anna struggles to keep her family afloat during the first year of Adolph Hitler’s rise to power. When her brother Max arrives unexpectedly from Berlin, Anna’s life is thrown into even greater turmoil when the true reason for his visit is uncovered and she’s forced to choose between family and country.
All finalists will receive professional readings as part of Premiere’s 16th annual Spring Reading Series March 11-15, and will be considered for expanded development in Premiere’s mainstage season. One of the five plays will be selected for an Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) 29-Hour Reading in June, and the two most promising plays will be awarded a full AEA production as part of Premiere's 2020 season. All finalists receive cash awards ranging from $750 to $2,500. Readings are offered by invitation only. To request admission to any of the readings, please call 908-737-4077 or email premiere@kean.edu.
The following semifinalists were also honored in this year’s competition: Dear Ann by Nikki Brake-Sillá, 28 Light Years From Now by Rachel Bykowski, East Rock by Kevin Daly, The Shaking Earth by Mashuq Deen, #GodHatesYou by Emily Dendinger, The Is That Should by Susan Ferrara, how it feels to fall from the sky by Dominic Finocchiaro, When We Fall by Emma Gibson, Aliyah by Kathryn Grant, God Test by Jess Honovich, The Distance by Ken Jaworowski, Dance Moms by Ying Ying Li, Cacti by Daphne Macy, Everything Beautiful Happens at Night by Ted Malawer, Hitch by James McLindon, Ghetto Babylon by Michael Mejias, We Built Our Homes Near Kingdoms of Animals and Magic by Omar Velez Melendez, One-Shot by Andrew Rosendorf, The Opus by Andrew Truschinski
Premiere Stages offers affordable prices, air-conditioned facilities and free parking close to the theatre. Premiere Stages also provides free or discounted tickets to patrons with disabilities. All Premiere Stages facilities are fully accessible spaces, and companion seating is available for patrons with disabilities. Assistive listening devices and large print programs are available at all times; publications in alternate formats are available with advance notice. Please call 908-737-4077 to request a sign-interpreted, audio-described or open-captioned performance. For more information, please visit Premiere Stages online at www.premierestagesatkean.com.
Premiere Stages is made possible in part through funding from W. John Bauer and Nancy Boucher, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, The Northfield Bank Foundation, The Hyde and Watson Foundation, The Union Foundation, E.J. Grassmann Trust, The New Jersey Theatre Alliance, Investors Foundation, The Union County HEART Grant, Actors’ Equity Foundation, and through the generous support of individual patrons and local organizations. Discover Jersey Arts is our marketing partner. Visit www.JerseyArts.com for more information about other arts programming happening around the Garden State.
Premiere Stages is committed to producing topical plays and interactive programs that reflect people of all ethnic and racial backgrounds, religious groups, gender identities, ages, abilities, disabilities and sexual preferences.
Home Play-by-Play: The Fall
PLAY-BY-PLAY: THE FALL
Apr. 17 - Apr. 18, 2020
Play-by-Play: The Fall
The final play in the 2019-2020 Play-by-Play season, The Fall, by Susan Ferrara.
BUY TICKETS
April 17 TO April 18, 2020
7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturday Evenings
2:00 p.m. Saturday Matinees
This reading will be held in Babcock Theatre, in the lower level of Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, 300 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84112.
Cast Bios
Content Advisory
Play-by-Play: The Fall
Holly, an anti-social sci-fi novelist, just needs her laptop, her eighth cup of coffee, and Chinese take-out to finish her book. She doesn’t have time for the young Scottish guy who keeps showing up on her doorstep. The Fall, a romantic comedy about love, expectation and better vision.
PRESS ROOM
PTC’S PLAY-BY-PLAY SERIES LAUNCHES IN FEBRUARY; FINAL PLAY ANNOUNCED
Tuesday, January 21, 2020 Media Contact: Vreni Romang Publicity Manager 801-581-7222 vreni.romang@ptc.utah.edu
Award-winning playwright Susan Ferrara’s romantic comedy, The Fall, rounds out the new play reading series for the 2019-2020 season.
SALT LAKE CITY, UT— Pioneer Theatre Company announces the last title of its 2020 Play-by-Play Season. SUSAN FERRARA closes the 2020 Play-by-Play Series with the romantic comedy, The Fall. She has studied with the Kennedy Center Playwright Intensive, as well as had work premiere at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and the Festival for the International United Solo Festival, among many others. The Fall readings will be April 17 & 18, 2020.
Tickets for the developmental readings, designed to showcase new works at an affordable price, are available for $10 each or $25 for all three.
Playwright: Susan Ferrara
Director: Julie Ann Emery
Holly, an anti-social sci-fi novelist, just needs her laptop, her eighth cup of coffee, and Chinese take-out to finish her book. She doesn’t have time for the young Scottish guy who keeps showing up on her doorstep. The Fall, a romantic comedy about love, expectation and better vision.
When: April 17 & 18, 2020.
The February reading will be held in Dumke Auditorium at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA); the March and April readings will take place at the Babcock Theatre, in the lower level of Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre.
Sponsors for Play-by-Play include Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts and Parks Fund, The Bireley Endowment, Susan Stoddard Heiner and Blake T. Heiner, and Lee and Audrey Hollaar.
PIONEER THEATRE COMPANY (PTC): Now celebrating its 58th season, the award-winning PTC is Utah’s Premiere Professional Theatre and a leading arts organization of the West. Led by Artistic Director Karen Azenberg and Managing Director Christopher Massimine, PTC promotes community-building and education through presenting world-class productions; developing new socially resonant and universal work; hosting, talks, lectures, and workshops that engage a versatile and inclusive demographic, while celebrating diversity in culture and society; and serving as the connecting bridge between art and scholarship as an affiliate of the University of Utah.
TIMES:
Fridays at 7:30 p.m.
Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
WHERE:
The Babcock Theatre, in the lower level of Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, 300 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84112
MORE INFO:
Box Office 801-581-6961
Open 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday – Friday
http://www.pioneertheatre.org/play-play/
SUSAN FERRARA (Playwright, The Fall) Award-winning playwright and actor, Susan’s plays include Buzz (Dir – Carrie Preston; World Premiere, Alabama Shakespeare Festival; Nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize; Winner, Hidden River Playwriting Award and Reverie Next Generation Playwriting Award; developmental readings at the Atlantic Theater Company and New York Theatre Workshop; Finalist, Baltic Writing Residency; Honorable Mention, Jane Chambers Award); The Machine (Global Age Finalist); The Wonder (Writer/Actor, Directors – Julie Ann Emery and Kevin Earley; Winner, Best Production/Best of the Festival for the International United Solo Festival; Nominated for both the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award and the William Saroyan Human Rights/Social Justice Award); The Fall (Pioneer Theatre’s Play-by-Play Series; The Blank Theatre’s Living Room Series; Finalist, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference); The Is That Should and DISCO/REAGAN, among many. Her TV pilots include “Mean Secretary” (cowritten with Zack Calhoon) and “Half Light.” terraNova Groundbreakers alumna; Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive alumna and Rattestick Theater’s Actors Who Write alumna. AEA, SAG/AFTRA, DG susanferrara.com
PTC: Play-By-Play Last Title For 2020 Announced
Pioneer Theatre Company announces the last title of its 2020 Play-by-Play Season. Susan Ferrara closes the 2020 Play-by-Play Series with the romantic comedy, The Fall. She has studied with the Kennedy Center Playwright Intensive, as well as had work premiere at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and the Festival for the International United Solo Festival, among many others. The Fall readings will be April 17 & 18, 2020.
The Fall
Playwright: Susan Ferrara
Director: Julie Ann Emery
Holly, an anti-social sci-fi novelist, just needs her laptop, her eighth cup of coffee, and Chinese take-out to finish her book. She doesn't have time for the young Scottish guy who keeps showing up on her doorstep. The Fall, a romantic comedy about love, expectation and better vision. When: April 17 & 18, 2020. The February reading will be held in Dumke Auditorium at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA); the March and April readings will take place at the Babcock Theatre, in the lower level of Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre.
Box Office 801-581-6961 Open 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday - Friday http://www.pioneertheatre.org/play-play/
ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS
LISTINGS COORDINATOR
OCT. 16, 2019 7 PM
Openings
The Living Room Series Staged reading of Susan Ferrara’s “The Fall.” The Blank’s 2nd Stage Theatre, 6500 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Mon., 8 p.m. $15 suggested donation. (323) 661-9827. theblank.com
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2019
theatremontgomery
Serving the Montgomery Alabama community by posting reviews of professional, university, and community theatre productions.
Montgomery and River Region audiences have only a few opportunities to witness the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's excellent "World Premier" of playwright-actor Susan Ferrara's Buzz, a creative ensemble production staged in the ASF Scene Shop by award-winning director-actor Carrie Preston. -- "Remember me" is a challenge to Hamlet by his father's ghost, and acts as a reminder to us all to re-discover and celebrate the people who have been underserved by history.
In the 1970s, young theatre innovator Mary Ann "Buzz" Goodbody was the first female director at the Royal Shakespeare Company who transformed a tin-roofed costume storage building into an experimental studio theatre called "The Other Place" where she directed a young Ben Kingsley in an acclaimed ground-breaking production of Hamlet in 1975, and committed suicide at the age of 28 only a few days after it opened. -- And yet, she is not universally known.
Opinionated, troubled, candidly outspoken, ambitious, and passionate to bring theatre to ordinary people, Buzz's ability to help actors discover the emotional truth in Shakespeare's dialogue energized the Stratford company who enthusiastically delved into many Shakespeare texts with a new-found vigor within the Spartan confines of "The Other Place". -- And so at ASF, the Scene Shop mimics it's Stratford origin and rewards local audiences with a stunning production that makes us re-think how we might experience theatre.
Not a traditional biography, Ms. Ferrara's Buzz takes an impressionistic approach that skews time and place to tell Buzz's trajectory from recent university graduate to shattering the glass ceiling of the patriarchal RSC. Her characters play both their roles at the RSC and the roles they play in the Hamlet that Buzz directs. And she imbues Hamlet's gravediggers [Zack Calhoon and Sam McMurray] with archival history of the long-forgotten while they simultaneously dig Buzz's grave and narrate her story.
Ms. Preston has a gifted ensemble of actors and an all-female production team -- lighting: Cat Tate Starmer; scenic and costume: Leslie Taylor; sound: Melanie Chen Cole; stage manager: Victoria Broyles -- as her collaborators. Using the breadth of the Scene Shop using "found" items and with current materials intact, evocative lighting choices, some chilling sound effects that reflect Buzz's state of mind at strategic places in the narrative, and everyday costumes with subtle demonstrations of character, equip her acting ensemble to credibly tell their story in as unaffected a way as has been seen recently at ASF.
While the focus is arguably on Buzz herself [Elizabeth A. Davis] and her unwavering stance to assert her own worth as a director and as a person, she is challenged both by the hierarchy of the RSC [Robert Emmet Lunney, Christopher Gerson, and Spencer Davis Milford particularly] and the resistance of "Hamlet"/Ben Kingsley [Zuhdi Boueri] -- a short, darker skinned actor so completely opposite the tall blonde Hamlets of stage tradition heretofore. So, she has to prove herself to them as well as to herself. -- And while the costumer Ms. Cut [Greta Lambert] transitions from a practical traditionalist to a reluctant friend and advocate, and we witness Ms. Soft [Tarah Flanagan] respond to Buzz's unorthodox approach to directing, ASF audiences begin to see Buzz's startling impact that garners the respect she yearns for.
In 90-minutes mixing humor with seriousness, Ms. Preston's inventive staging and interpretation of Ms. Ferrara's script can't help but make us all think about the many unrecognized people in our own lives, especially women who in Ms. Preston's words: are "striving to be seen, to be heard, and to be remembered".
The Blank Theatre LIVING ROOM SERIES Begins Next Week
Now in its 29th year, The Living Room Series (LRS) is a new play development program that embodies The Blank's commitment to developing new work by diverse voices from both established and emerging writers.
The Blank is firmly committed to supporting gender parity and diversity. LRS takes place on Monday evenings at the 2nd Stage Theatre in Hollywood between Labor Day and Memorial Day. LRS offers a week-long rehearsal process for the playwright, director, and actors to explore and refine the play before presenting it to an audience.
The performances are minimally staged, with actors carrying scripts.
DATES:
September 16 - December 16 TIMES:
Monday at 8pm ADMISSION:
Suggested Donation - $15 TICKET INFO:
Available online at www.theblank.com/livingroomseries
or by calling 323-661-9827. LOCATION:
The Blank's 2nd Stage Theatre, 6500 Santa Monica Boulevard (at Wilcox),
Hollywood, 90038.
Monday 10/14
THE FALL
By Susan Ferrara
Directed by Julie Ann Emery
For More Information On The Plays, Playwrights, And Directors visit www.theblank.com/livingroomseries.
Playwright Susan Ferrara Creates “Buzz,” New Play About Trailblazing and Tragic Director
Sep 5, 2019
Elizabeth A. Davis in rehearsal as Mary Ann Buzz Goodbody in “Buzz” at Alabama Shakespeare Festival. (Photo by Christopher Gerson)
The brilliant, brief candle that was U.K. theater director Mary Ann “Buzz” Goodbody — the first woman to direct at Royal Shakespeare Company — reignites in the world premiere production of Susan Ferrara’s highly theatrical Buzz Sept. 4-15, 2019, in a unique venue within Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s complex in Montgomery. Carrie Preston directs Tony Award nominee Elizabeth A. Davis (Once) as the groundbreaking and troubled theatermaker who believed in multicultural casting, theater for the masses, quirky performance spaces and more.
In 1975, Buzz (her nickname) famously directed a young Ben Kingsley in the title role of Hamlet at the RSC. Four days later, she was dead at age 28. Sounds like an intriguing idea for a play. And playwright Ferrara tells it with originality, fracturing time and space and filling her characters with theatrical caffeine, illustrating the passion and ambition with which Buzz challenged the RSC patriarchy.
Susan Ferrara told me, “Buzz is a play about who we’re allowed to remember; about what it can be like for a woman to navigate space and time in a man’s world; about the glass ceiling and — more than anything — about the creative process: how we can become absorbed and altered by our passions and obsessions. I think audiences will be surprised by how funny it is. We’re not attempting a history play. It’s a meditation on what it might have been like for Buzz in a theatrical world.”
Playwright Susan Ferrara
Among the fresh ideas of Buzz Goodbody, Ferrara explains, “She converted a tin storage shed into a theatre [called The Other Place]. When they first opened Hamlet, she had audiences sit on mattresses, then on hard wooden benches. I was told that people waited hours after each show to talk to the actors. The story of Hamlet was told with the audience not to the audience. For her, Hamlet wasn’t a story about princes and kings but about fathers and sons.”
It’s worth mentioning that ASF is concurrently presenting Bedlam Theatre’s inventive four-actor version of Hamlet under the same roof, but on the Octagon Stage, Sept. 5-Oct. 6. Get details here. Bedlam’s four-actor Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw joins the Octagon rep on Sept. 12.
For Buzz, director Carrie Preston adopted the idea of a found space that mimics the rough magic of that tin shed in Stratford-Upon-Avon: The play is staged in Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s industrial-style scene shop, with cement, cinderblock walls, pipes, loading gates, hydraulic lifts and the scuffed floor in full view and integrated and transformed to tell the story. (A raised platform is in the center of the playing area for those who need a semblance of a stage.) It’s a handcrafted indie-spirited production that urges the audience to use its imagination to fill in the blanks (as Shakespeare did, of course).
The company in rehearsal for “Buzz” in the raw space of the scene shop at Alabama Shakespeare Festival. (Photo courtesy ASF)
This is likely the first time many ASF theatergoers will experience up-close Off-Broadway-style theater. The seating capacity is 116. This is not about snubbing the gorgeous 768-seat Festival Stage or the 258-seat three-quarter thrust Octagon Stage — it’s meant to complement those auditoriums. And the makeshift venue reflects the rebellious invention of Buzz herself.
The Buzz company includes Zuhdi Boueri (Hamlet), Zack Calhoon (Leonard), Tony Award nominee Elizabeth A. Davis (Buzz), Tarah Flanagan (Miss Soft), Christopher Gerson (Mr. Babble), Greta Lambert (Ms. Cut), Robert Emmet Lunney (Mentor), Sam McMurray (Sidney) and Spencer Davis Milford (Mr. Right). Read their bios on the ASF website.
The Buzz production team includes assistant director Christopher Gerson, scenic and costume designer Leslie Taylor, lighting designer Cat Tate Starmer, sound designer Melanie Chen Cole, stage manager Victoria Broyles, production assistant Madison J. Rutledge.
Get tickets and more information here.
Playwright and actress Susan Ferrara answered a slew of my questions from Montgomery, in the days leading up to the play’s launch.
I’m always interested in origins of play ideas. How did you come across the story of Mary Ann “Buzz” Goodbody? And when or why did you say: “There’s a play here.”
Susan Ferrara: I was an actor studying in London and one of my teachers said: “Buzz Goodbody directed Ben Kingsley in the title role of Hamlet and four days after the first performance, she was found dead in her flat.” And, like that, it began. I took the train from London to Stratford to visit the archives at the RSC and, on the train, had this image of soldiers at the back of the house with lanterns. When I got to the archives, I discovered that’s how Buzz opened her Hamlet. The idea of a play started on the train. It took months before the play took shape and years to finish it. Had I already known who Buzz was and had it not been Hamlet — I might not have written a word.
Gravediggers played by Sam McMurray and Zack Calhoon in rehearsal for “Buzz.” (Photo by Christopher Gerson)
What about her and her brief career fascinated you? What did you admire in her, or what — for lack of a better word — scared you about her?
Susan Ferrara: I was fascinated by my own lack of knowledge. She was the first woman to direct at the RSC and one of only three or five women directing theatre in all of the UK in the 70s, and I’d never heard her name. I wasn’t afraid of what little I was learning about her, I was furious. We don’t talk enough about lineage in theatre; about who has come before us. We should be able to see ourselves in our own history.
I admired her ability to pin point what an actor needed to make great leaps in rehearsal. She was caring, empathetic and focused. In her own words, “Directing is as much handling people as having significant ideas about the theater. You should have a talent for both.”
I admired how strongly she felt about casting the right person in the role: Ben Kingsley in Hamlet, a 40-year-old Eileen Atkins as Rosalind. Kingsley was unique to all the Hamlets that came before him and, given what we now know about him, she must have seen in him what we all see in him now: a brilliant actor. That ability to truly see someone and their potential is a gift in any person, let alone a director.
Share a little bit about the characters and texture of Buzz? As they say at the top of Hamlet, “Who’s there?”
Susan Ferrara: Our play has nine characters. Each, with the exception of Buzz, play multiple roles: those in the play Buzz and those in the play Hamlet. Her story follows, in a sense, the arc of the play Hamlet, and the characters in Buzz are people you’d find in a traditional theatre: the artistic director (the Mentor), the young, overly confident director (Mr. Right), the costumer (Ms. Cut), scenic designer (Mr. Babble) and one of the many members of the company (Miss Soft). Their names suggest how they move through space. And of course, there’s Buzz and Hamlet — which I find to be a sort of creative love story and heart of our play. Two outsiders, one of whom can’t imagine himself being cast as Hamlet because of his background and one who, as a woman, begins her career at one of the largest theatres in the world as a 20-year-old just out of university thinking she can come to the theatre and immediately begin directing. The realization that they were both wrong drives the story.
“Buzz” director Carrie Preston on a rehearsal break. (Photo courtesy Alabama Shakespeare Festival.)
Carrie, our brilliant Buzz director, talks plainly about her experience playing Ophelia twice (first here at Alabama Shakespeare and later in Manhattan). How the play acts on you, pushes you into deep and dark places. It’s so beautifully written, so emotionally true that, when you do the work, the play can truly bury you. Which leads us to the Gravediggers — Sidney and Leonard — who dig Buzz’s grave as her story is being told and ruminate about theatrical history and memory. Their job is to bury all the stories. They’re archivists who’ve stood in that graveyard for thousands of years. The gravediggers were born of my fascination with characters you meet for a moment (it seems) and then they’re gone: Hamlet‘s Gravediggers, the Porter in “the Scottish Play.” They’re so curious and well-drawn, I honestly think it would be more fun to eavesdrop on one of their conversations than, say, a conversation between a cardinal and a prince in King John. They, literally, know the bones of people; what made them. The gravediggers in Buzz give us a laugh and also remind us that there are slews of folks who have come before us. When we say their names, we remember them and they are with us again.
What else was special about Buzz as a theatermaker? What made her groundbreaking?
Susan Ferrara: What made her truly groundbreaking was her ability to see the extraordinary in what others perceived as ordinary. That ability to see beyond the superficial and activate her ideas outside traditional modes was what made her special. She cast Ben Kingsley as Hamlet before he was Gandhi; before he was the great and famous actor we know. I remember researching Hamlets throughout history, seeing their pictures and they were mostly, invariably, white men with blondish hair. Even Olivier dyed his hair blonde! But Buzz saw Hamlet in this brilliant, short, dark-haired man. He was different than the rest. He was her Hamlet. She cast the right person for the role. She gave us an opportunity to look beyond the superficial.
I think that it can be very easy to embrace traditional modes of storytelling, which can be beautiful. When someone like Buzz is able to turn our attention in such a way that we see ourselves in something so lofty as Shakespeare, that’s a gift.
Elizabeth A. Davis in rehearsal as Buzz Goodbody. (Photo courtesy ASF)
Do you see yourself in Buzz? How are you alike or different?
Susan Ferrara: I see myself in Buzz only in so much as I become obsessed with whatever I’m doing. When I think about Buzz, I think more about our director Carrie Preston. I’ve not seen anyone so beautifully embrace what we know about Buzz as a director as Carrie has throughout this process. She’s caring, gifted and just plain hilarious. The work that everyone in the room is doing — all of us — is a product of the environment she creates. The process is suffused with her love of story and her love and care for the actors and everyone involved in telling the story. She makes the play better — in every way.
I love the title of the play. Can you talk about her nickname? Why Buzz?
Susan Ferrara: Buzz was a nickname she was given as a child who was “always moving.” Because we travel very quickly from beginning to end, the title seemed apt and it also borrows from Hamlet’s conversation with Polonius.
One of the things I love about the play is its fractured and expressionistic form. We learn about Buzz’s career trajectory — and her demise — in flashes of scenes. What prompted you to tell the story in that way?
Susan Ferrara: It’s fractured and impressionist because I believe that’s how memory works. We’re all known in bits and pieces by the people around us and our stories are told, after we’re gone, in those bits. The fact that Buzz was directing Hamlet at the time of her death, helped me to blend what I imagined she might have experienced in her own world with that of the world of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
The cover of a Royal Shakespeare Company program for a tribute celebrating Buzz Goodbody’s life and work.
What was your research process like? Is there a biography, are there news clippings, did you speak to friends and colleagues?
Susan Ferrara: My first bit of research took me right to the RSC’s archives. There were a few articles. While there, I asked for five documents or articles for them to pull. The archivist slipped me a sixth document marked “not for public consumption.” It appeared to be a manifesto — something that looked as though it was very hastily typed — lots of typos. It was something Buzz had written and I was struck by her passion. Something like, “This is what I demand we do and this is how I demand we do it.” It was pretty damned fantastic.
In Manhattan, I met Mikel Lambert — the only American in Buzz’s Hamlet cast — who played Gertrude. She shared her thoughts about the process as did Chris Saul, who played Guildenstern in her production. Both of them were so gracious in sharing their experience in working with Buzz; that process. I also spoke to Cis Berry, who was in the room with her during rehearsals on Hamlet and who considered her a dear friend. Both Carrie and I have been fortunate in that people have been willing to share their experiences of Buzz and her process. Will be forever grateful for that.
Have you been rewriting and revising in Montgomery?
Susan Ferrara: Absolutely. For a solid week, we had new pages daily and after the first run-through, we cut 14 minutes off the play. To have so many smart and creative brains in the room has been a gift. Everyone dove right in and really helped us, daily, understand the story we’re telling. They’re all amazing. And there isn’t space enough here for me to talk about how much I love working with Carrie and how she inspires me daily. Her creative spark is like lightning in a bottle and it happens daily; hourly; every minute. It’s no surprise that I see Buzz come to life every time I see Carrie talk to an actor. She’s a comet in human for, filled with joy, intelligence, creativity and — most of all — humor and inspiration.
Carrie Preston (left) in rehearsal for “Buzz” with Zuhdi Boueri (in the Ben Kingsley role) and Elizabeth A. Davis as Buzz. (Photo courtesy ASF)
How did the play get to Alabama Shakespeare Festival and artistic director Rick Dildine?
Susan Ferrara: Like most great opportunities — over dinner! Our friend Kevin Earley was in Montgomery at ASF playing the Gentleman Caller in a production of The Glass Menagerie. Rick was looking for plays for the new season and, specifically, in bringing back ASF alums (Carrie being one of them!). Buzz with Carrie as director was the perfect fit. Within a week or so after the dinner, Carrie and I were on the phone with Rick discussing a potential production. His team read the play, liked it and here we are. I couldn’t be more grateful to Rick and his team at ASF. Every one of them has been so supportive and kind. It’s the perfect environment in which to bring to life a new work.
ASF is staging the play in a unique and intimate “found” space in its scene shop, dubbing it The Other Place as homage to Buzz’s staging of Hamlet, in a Stratford shack called The Other Place. Can you share a little bit about how that concept came about?
Susan Ferrara: Rick invited Carrie and I to Montgomery to check out alternate spaces. It was always our plan to pay homage to Buzz by doing our best to transform a space outside a theatre space. We saw many beautiful locations in Montgomery, but the moment we walked into the scene shop, you could literally see the play. Carrie visualized an immediate (and gorgeous) end moment for the play. Her face just lit up. We all had chills. That was it. We’d tell the story right there — in that huge space with all that history in it. Every ASF show was built in that space! And the folks who call the scene shop home have been amazing. We thank them daily. We’re in their space mucking about and they’re super cool about it. We’ve been fortunate, especially with a new play, in that we’re building it in the scene shop and for the scene shop. We were in the scene shop working on the first day of rehearsal. That’s a gift. The story works because the space is filled with history — every set piece; everything built in the scene shop — you can feel it when you sit in the audience.
Elizabeth A. Davis in rehearsal for “Buzz.” (Photo courtesy ASF)
Can you point to one or two theater experiences or plays that made you say, “This is what I want to do as my living!”?
Susan Ferrara: I don’t recall having a moment but just knowing that storytelling, like listening to my Aunt Rosie tell a story, was just a part of life for as long as I can remember. It was always the women in the kitchen, cooking and baking and telling stories and, because I was a quiet kid, I could sneak into any room and just listen. And that’s what I did. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t in theatre or telling a story. It just happened naturally — from listening in the kitchen to standing in the scene shop.
Where do you live now, and can you share a little about your writing routine?
Susan Ferrara: I live in Manhattan just off 97th Street so I do a lot of walking — to midtown and below — and a lot of my writing happens as I walk. At least, that’s where the ideas come. I usually work on two to three pieces at a time so that when I get stuck on one, I can move to another. There’s always one piece, though, that gets my full attention. I’m fortunate in that I know so many brilliant women and men, that I often find myself writing for my friends before I consider writing for myself!
Buzz died from a drug overdose. Was is accidental? Was it suicide?
Susan Ferrara: Her death was reported as a suicide. She called herself a “tortoise without a shell.” I don’t know what contributed to her death. I just know that, with her passing, we lost a truly great artist.
Greta Lambert knocks urgently at the door of Buzz (Elizabeth A. Davis) as Sam McMurray and Zack Calhoon muse above. (Photo courtesy ASF)
What was the most surprising thing you learned about Buzz and her world?
Susan Ferrara: Maybe not so surprising is the sense that very little has changed for women in the theatre since she left us. We’d love for Buzz to play everywhere — we’re working on that! And we hope that when people see the play, that they’ll remember the women in their life.
*
Award-winning actor-playwright Susan Ferrara is a three-time O’Neill semifinalist and a two-time New Dramatist and Leah Ryan finalist. Her play Buzz won the Hidden River Playwriting Award, Reverie’s Next Generation Playwriting Award and has had developmental readings with Off-Broadway’s Atlantic Theater Company and New York Theatre Workshop. Buzz was also a finalist for the Baltic Writing Residency (Brora, Scotland) and received an Honorable Mention for the Jane Chambers Award. Her play The Wonder, her own experience of the morning of 9/11 (writer/performer), won the United Solo International Theatre Festival Best Production/Best of the Festival and was nominated for the William Saroyan Human Rights/Social Justice Award. Her own experience of that morning has been recorded for the archives of the 9/11 Museum in downtown Manhattan.
*
Read about the upcoming March 2020 Montgomery premiere of Alabama Story by Kenneth Jones, to be directed ASF artistic director Rick Dildine and featuring Greta Lambert and Rodney Clark.
Announcing The Cast Of BUZZ, A New Work By Susan Ferrara
Alabama Shakespeare Festival presents the world premiere of Buzz by Susan Ferrara, on stage September 4 - 15, 2019. Directed by Emmy Award-winning actor Carrie Preston, the provocative new play will be performed in an alternative space, ensuring that every performance is a unique experience for the audience.
Buzz focuses on the charismatic, visionary director Mary Ann "Buzz" Goodbody, who was one of five women directing theatre in the UK in the 1970s and the first woman to direct at the Royal Shakespeare Company. During her tenure at RSC, she developed plays in The Other Place, a corrugated tin shack that lent itself to experimental productions. There, she famously directed a then-unknown Ben Kingsley in the title role of Hamlet, which was the Hamlet of their generation. Four days after it opened, Buzz was gone.
"Before we know who they are or what they've accomplished, women disappear. If we aren't inspired to write their stories - all their stories - we risk erasing our own history," said Ferrara. "Buzz isn't a history play but a reminder to support one another; to elevate stories not being told and to demand our seat at the table."
Tony Award- and Drama Desk Award-nominated actor Elizabeth A. Davis portrays Buzz. Her work has been seen on and off Broadway (Once, King Lear, Dust Can't Kill Me, Allegro), on television, and in film.
Zuhdi Boueri takes on the role of Hamlet in his Alabama Shakespeare Festival debut. Career highlights include touring an original play by Hansol Jung titled Double Think in South Africa and studying Shakespeare in London for six weeks.
Television and film veteran Sam McMurrayjoins the cast as Sidney. Film credits include Raising Arizona and L.A. Story. TV audiences will remember his roles in The King of Queens, Scandal, Breaking Bad, and Netflix's Grace and Frankie. His theatre credits include the original productions of Translations, A Soldier's Play, Savage in Limbo, The Taking of Miss Janie, and Kid Purple.
ASF MFA graduate Tarah Flanagan appears as Miss Soft. Previous ASF credits include Alice in Wonderland, An Ideal Husband, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Recent credits include An Iliad at Cleveland Playhouse and The Merchant of Venice at Utah Shakespeare Festival.
Spencer Davis Milford plays Mr. Right. Spencer made his Broadway debut as the titular character in The Winslow Boy. Other credits include national tours of Billy Elliot and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
The role of Ms. Cut is portrayed by ASF Associate Artistic Director Greta Lambert. As a company member for 33 years, she has appeared on stage at ASF in Fair and Tender Ladies, The Glass Menagerie, Steel Magnolias, and Death of Salesman.
Rounding out the cast is Christopher Gerson as Mr. Babble (last seen in ASF's productions of Our Town and Romeo + Juliet); Zack Calhoon as Leonard (recent credits include The Glass Menagerie at Fulton Theatre and Water by the Spoonful at Premiere Stages); and Broadway actor Robert Emmet Lunney as Mentor (A Delicate Balance, Born Yesterday, The Graduate, Dancing at Lughnasa).
The Buzz creative team includes Assistant Director Christopher Gerson, Scenic and Costume Designer Leslie Taylor, Lighting Designer Cat Starmer, Sound Designer Melanie Chen Cole, Stage Manager Victoria Broyles, and Production Assistant Madison Rutledge.
Buzz is presented in the ASF Scene Shop (aka The Other Place). General admission tickets are $50. To purchase, call 334.271.5353, visit the ASF Box Office (open Monday - Saturday, 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.), or go online: ASF.net/buzz. Evening performances begin at 7:00 p.m.; matinees start at 2:00 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays and at 3:00 p.m. on Sundays.
The national magazine for the American not-for-profit theatre
Alabama Shakespeare Festival at sunset.
SEASONS AUGUST 24, 2018 0 COMMENTS
Alabama Shakes Returns to Repertory for 2018-19 Season
The first programmed by ASF’s new artistic director, Rick Dildine, it features world premieres and musicals alongside classics.
BY AMERICAN THEATRE EDITORS
MONTGOMERY, ALA.: Artistic director Rick Dildine and executive director Todd Schmidt have announced their inaugural festival season at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, which will feature 14 productions over a full six weeks of spring repertory, along with unexpected theatrical experiences in found spaces.
“We are moving into a new stage of ASF’s history,” said artistic director Dildine in statement. “Our 47th season represents a return to the festival repertory format with more than one show running at a time, along with a renewed commitment to this community with plays that reflect who we are today. This slate of shows includes more Shakespeare, two plays by Christina Ham in repertory together, a residency from NYC’s Bedlam Theatre Company, and a world premiere of a new play by Susan Ferrara, directed by ASF acting alum and Emmy Award winner Carrie Preston.”
With the recent opening of the Equal Justice Initiative National Memorial for Peace and Justice and Montgomery’s primary position on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, the community of Montgomery has been nationally recognized as a top tourist destination in 2018. “There is tremendous opportunity in this moment for ASF to return to its festival roots,” said newly appointed executive director Schmidt. “ASF will enhance the already robust opportunities for visitors to Montgomery with multiple concurrent productions in three different venues.”
Carrie Preston will direct the world premiere of Susan Ferrara’s Buzz (Sept. 4-15, 2019), based on the true story of charismatic director Mary Ann “Buzz” Goodbody, one of only five women directing in the U.K. in the 1970s. In 1975, she famously directed Ben Kingsley in the title role of Hamlet. Four days later, she was gone.
Appropriately enough, Hamlet will run in rep with Buzz (Sept. 5-Oct. 6, 2019), in a production by NYC’s Bedlam Theatre, in residence at ASF, under director Eric Tucker.
Alabama Shakespeare Festival is the largest professional theatre in Alabama and one of the largest Shakespeare festivals in the world. Designated as the State Theatre of Alabama, ASF has been located in Montgomery since 1985, when it moved from Anniston because of Mr. and Mrs. Wynton M. Blount’s gift of a performing arts complex set in the 250-acre Wynton M. Blount Cultural Park.
2018-2019 SEASON
The 2018-2019 New Festival Season is engaging, collaborative, and focused on telling meaningful stories that celebrate the human experience.
We are moving into a new stage of ASF’s history, where the shows resonate with the people in our community and respond to the times. For the first time in over 15 years, the Festival experience is back with multiple shows running in repertory.
This theatre is the community’s center; a place where all are welcome.
Join us in embracing our community – one story at a time.
Come join us in October 2019!!!
LIVING ROOM SERIES INFO
All performances begin at 8:00pm and take place at
The Blank’s 2nd Stage Theatre
6500 Santa Monica Blvd, Hollywood
unless otherwise noted.
For reservations click on the button below each play description.
You have the option to donate ahead of time with a credit card. Every donation counts for both your taxes and our theatre magic.
Don’t fret, you can still make a reservation online and pay cash at the door or nothing at all. We just want you there to see a new play!
Monday October 14th
THE FALL
Written by Susan Ferrara
Directed by Julie Ann Emery
Two awkward neighbors meet and stumble toward love in a matter of 72 hours over cake, writing deadlines and hospital emergencies.
After a tragic loss, Holly, an anti-social and irascible sci-fi novelist, refuses to walk beyond a two-block radius of her apartment. All she needs is her laptop, her eighth cup of coffee, Chinese take-out and a new pair of glasses to replace the ones she just sat on. She doesn’t have time for the ridiculously good-looking Scottish guy who keeps showing up on her doorstep. THE FALL, a romantic comedy about love, expectation and better vision.
Buzz
by Susan Ferrara
directed by Carrie Preston
September 4 – September 15, 2019
Scene Shop AKA The Other Place
90 minutes, no intermission
Charismatic director Mary Ann “Buzz” Goodbody was one of only five women directing in the UK in the 1970s. In 1975, she famously directed Ben Kingsley in the title role of Hamlet. Four days later, she was gone. Directed by ASF alumna and Emmy Award winner Carrie Preston. A world premiere production in an innovative space.
“My brother calls me Buzz ’cause I never stop moving.” – Excerpt from Buzz by Susan Ferrara
Alabama Shakespeare Festival Unveils 2019 Season
BY OLIVIA CLEMENT
SEP 04, 2018
The 47th season will feature 14 shows, including Christina Ham's play about Nina Simone, Bedlam Theatre Company, and The Sound of Music.
Included in the 2018–2019 ASF lineup will be two plays by Christina Ham in repertory together (one of which, Nina Simone: Four Women, celebrates the iconic singer and features her music); a residency from New York City-based Off-Broadway company Bedlam (Saint Joan and Hamlet, both directed by Eric Tucker); the world premiere of Susan Ferrara's Buzz, a new play about Mary Ann “Buzz” Goodbody, RSC's first female director in the 1970s; and a revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music.
“We are moving into a new stage of ASF’s history,” said Dildine in a statement. “Our 47th season represents a return to the festival repertory format with more than one show running at a time, along with a renewed commitment to this community with plays that reflect who we are today.
Completing the season will be Duncan Macmillan’s intimate and immersive play, Every Brilliant Thing; The Gospel of Luke; Ham's play Four Little Girls: Birmingham 1963; Shakespeare’s As You Like It and Romeo and Juliet; Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, Robert Harling’s Steel Magnolias; and George Brant’s new comedy Into the Breeches!.
For more information visit asf.net.
Super excited to announce that I'm now working with Susan Gurman at the Gurman Agency! Excited to see where our collaboration takes us!
Changes are Coming for Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s 2018-19 Season
Posted: Aug 16, 2018 6:27 PM CDT
The Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery has announced several exciting changes for the 2018-19 season. As Alabama News Network reported Live from tonight’s announcement, there will be 14 productions — the most in ASF’s history.
The inaugural New Festival Season will have a full six weeks of spring repertory format with more than one show running at a time.
That’s not the only change. The season will start with “Every Brilliant Thing”, with the audience seated on the Festival Stage in an interactive performance. The season will end with the world premiere of “Buzz”, directed by Emmy Award winner and ASF alumna Carrie Preston.
Other changes include show times and pricing. Read the entire announcement for details on the upcoming shows.
Remembering these fantastic people while listening to POD SAVE AMERICA...me, Abe Goldfarb, Kristen Vaughan and Brian Silliman with Clay McLeod Chapman sneaking in at the bottom of the shot...THE PUMPKIN PIE SHOW...
The New York Innovative Theatre Foundation Announces Off-Off-Broadway Nominees
by BWW News Desk Jul. 24, 2018
On Monday, July 23, 2018, The New York Innovative Theatre Foundation, the organization who for the past 14 years has been dedicated to celebrating Off-Off-Broadway, announced the 2018 nominees at its annual event, The IT Party. Celebrating fourteen years and thousands of nominees at le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleeker Street.
The FREE event was open to the entire community, celebrating the best and the brightest in OOB. The announcement was made by the co-executive directors, Shay Gines, and Nick Micozzi and Company Manager, Akia, plus members of the community including: CK Allen, Ariel Estrada, Susan Ferrara, Gideon Pianko, Aimee Todoroff, and Kathleen Warnock.
The 2018 recipients will be awarded from a pool of 157 individual artists, 53 different productions, and 52 different theatre companies. Nominated productions were seen on stages in Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. In the past 14 years, the IT Awards have honored over 2,500 artists, over 700 productions and over 650 companies.
"It means so much to be recognized for our work. It is an honor to be nominated and our fellow artists truly inspire and motivate us," said Bethany Geraghty who is nominated for Outstanding Ensemble for New Dance Theatre's production of Asylum.
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL
Independence
Erica Knight, Teryn Gray, and Paige Felger
The Jewish King Lear
Metropolitan Playhouse
Manifesting Mrs. Marx
Loup Garou Internationale
Much Ado About Nothing
Hamlet Isn't Dead
Pericles: Born in a Tempest
Hunger & Thirst Theatre in association with The Guerilla Shakespeare Project
MATT FREEMAN'S THE HOLLOW...
The Hollow is an evening of expressionist short works written and directed Matthew Freeman (The Listeners, That Which Isn’t, The Zebra Shirt of Lonely Children).
in the great expanse of space there is nothing to see but More, More, More follows seven women through the fractured experience of a foreboding diagnosis.
a hand emerges from the water is a portrait of harrowing memory.
The Language dramatizes the excavation of an secret, lost language.
Matthew Freeman’s (Playwright/Director) plays have been seen on stages throughout New York City. His plays and monologues have been published by Samuel French, Applause, Smith & Kraus, the New York Theatre Experience and Playscripts, Inc. His plays include That Which Isn’t, When is a Clock, The Listeners (Nominee: Best Performance Art Production – New York Innovative Theatre Awards 2015), and Why We Left Brooklyn. As a director, Freeman has staged The Zebra Shirt of Lonely Children by Matthew Trumbull at the NY International Fringe Festival 2012 (Encore Series; Award, Overall Excellence in Solo Performance) and the Minnesota Fringe Festival 2013. He is a current resident playwright at New Dramatists and a MacDowell Colony Fellow.
Writer-director Matthew Freeman returns to the Brick with a new collection of expressionist short works that explore interior life.
The Hollow
Theater, Experimental The Brick , Williamsburg Wednesday May 30 2018 - Saturday June 2 2018
Currently writing THE FIELD, a
full-length play inspired by the work of female war correspondents.
“Our mission is to speak the truth to power. We send home that first rough draft of history. We can and do make a difference in exposing the horrors of war and especially the atrocities that befall civilians.” Marie Colvin (American journalist who worked for the The Sunday Times from 1985 until her death in 2012 covering the siege of Homs in Syria.)
What's new
INDEPENDENCE by Lee Blessing: A Female-Fueled Project To Open At Alchemical Theatre Laboratory
A powerful female-fueled project, INDEPENDENCE is the story of a family divided against itself.
"The more we act like a normal, happy family, the better the chance we'll become one someday." - Kess, INDEPENDENCE
Coming to Alchemical Theatre Laboratory on March 16th-26th, Lee Blessing's INDEPENDENCE is an exciting women-led production that dives into the world of a mother, her three daughters, and all the misconnections that occur between them. Co-Directed by Tony Award and Drama Desk-nominated actress Elizabeth A. Davis, and Srda Vasiljevic (Bway: Deaf West's Spring Awakening, Mothers & Sons).
Featuring award-winning playwright and actress Susan Ferrara*, Erica Knight*, Teryn Gray, and Paige Felger.
Produced by Erica Knight, Teryn Gray, and Paige Felger. Associate Produced by Maggie Snyder.
Welcome to Independence, Iowa - the lifelong home of Evelyn Briggs, and generations' worth of familial misconnections. Evelyn's oldest daughter, Kess, a university professor, has long since decided to cut her family ties, but has come home at the sudden request of her sister; Jo, an incurable romantic, is unexpectedly pregnant and has become increasingly worried about Evelyn's mental health; while Sherry, salty-tongued and proudly amoral, wants only to finish high school so she can leave home for good. The sisters struggle to meet the expectations of their demanding mother, while the fight to pursue their individual aspirations for life and love test the bounds of family loyalty.
After their paths crossed during an acting class, Erica Knight (Kess), Teryn Gray (Jo), and Paige Felger (Sherry) found that Lee Blessing's characters deeply resonated with them-and they set out to produce a reading of INDEPENDENCE at Shetler Studios in Summer 2017. Along with themselves, the reading also starred Susan Ferrara (Evelyn), and was directed by Elizabeth A. Davis. With an overwhelmingly positive response, and still feeling a need to share these characters' voices with a wider audience, Erica, Teryn, and Paige moved to put the show on its feet and present a fully staged production. After running a successful Indiegogo campaign and curating a women-powered musical fundraising event-along with the help of Associate Producer Maggie Snyder, INDEPENDENCE is gearing up for a 10 show run at Alchemical Theatre Laboratory from March 16th-26th.
"I'm so proud of the women in this production. I see more and more women in this industry that are saying, if i want to tell a story, it is my responsibility to find a way to tell it. I don't have to sit back and wait for somebody to tell me whether or not i get to do what I love to do. I think that is important and very freeing, as we need these voices more than ever" - Elizabeth A. Davis, Co-Director
Alchemical Theatre Laboratory, Studio A
104 W 14th St, 3rd Floor, NYC
PREVIEWS: Friday March 16th at 8pm, Saturday March 17th at 3pm & 8pm, Sunday March 18th at 7pm, Monday March 19th at 7pm
PERFORMANCES: Wednesday March 21st at 7pm (Opening Night), Saturday March 24th at 8pm, Sunday March 25th at 2pm & 7pm, Monday March 26th at 7pm
INDEPENDENCE runs 1 hour 55 minutes with a 10 minute intermission.
To purchase tickets, go to:
Independencenyc.bpt.me OR independencenyc.brownpapertickets.com
Or, find us on TodayTix!
35 and Under : $18.00
General Admission: $20.00
*Denotes member of Actor's Equity
Photo Flash: INDEPENDENCE: THE PLAY By Lee Blessing Comes to Alchemical Theatre Laboratory
by BWW News Desk Mar. 20, 2018
After a successful weekend of preview performances, INDEPENDENCE opens on March 21st at 7pm and has additional performances on March 24th at 8pm, March 25th at 2pm & 7pm, and March 26th at 7pm. All performances are at Alchemical Theatre Laboratory (104 W 14th St, 3rd Floor)
Co-Directed by: Tony Award and Drama Desk-nominated actress Elizabeth A. Davis, and Srda Vasiljevic (Bway: Deaf West's Spring Awakening, Mothers & Sons).
Featuring:
Susan Ferrara* as EVELYN
Erica Knight* as KESS
Teryn Gray as JO
Paige Felger as SHERRY
Produced by Erica Knight, Teryn Gray, and Paige Felger. Associate Produced by Maggie Snyder.
Assistant Director: Chelsea Drumel
Production Stage Manager: Lizzy Emanuel*
Assistant Stage Manager: Myra Lamphier
INDEPENDENCE runs 1 hour 55 minutes including a 10 minute intermission.
TICKET INFO:
To purchase tickets, go to:
independencenyc.brownpapertickets.com
Or, find us on TodayTix or TDF! Tickets are also available at the door!
Students w/ valid ID: $10.00
35 and Under: $18.00
General Admission: $20.00
FOLLOW:
Instagram: @independencenyc
Facebook: Independence: The Play
Ticketing issues or any questions about the production, please email independencetheplay@gmail.com.
INDEPENDENCE is an Equity Approved Showcase.
*Denotes member of Actor's Equity
Photos by Jorge Camargo
Sherry (Paige Felger), Evelyn (Susan Ferrara), and Kess (Erica Knight)
Jo (Teryn Gray) and Evelyn (Susan Ferrara)
Evelyn (Susan Ferrara) and Kess (Erica Knight)
Kess (Erica Knight)
Sherry (Paige Felger)
Sherry (Paige Felger), Kess (Erica Knight) and Jo (Teryn Gray)
Jo (Teryn Gray), Sherry (Paige Felger), Evelyn (Susan Ferrara) and Kess (Erica Knight)
Lee Blessing's INDEPENDENCE in Manhattan
Artwork by: Amanda Gay
The Hollow
Theater, Experimental The Brick , Williamsburg Wednesday May 30 2018 - Saturday June 2 2018
Dedicated to Serving the Unserved Artist
2017 SEMI-FINALISTS, FINALISTS AND WINNER
The winner of our 2017 award was Susan Ferrara, NYC, New York for her play, Buzz.
The entire list of semi-finalists and finalists are here below
Semi-finalists
Amatuzio, Nick, Ontario, Canada, Mick’s Last Line
Appel, Jacob M., NYC, NY, The Kindness of Strangers
Appel, Jacob M., NYC, NY, The Indelible Woodpecker
Appel, Jacob M., NYC, NY, A Marriage of Inconvenience
Auslander, Edward; Berry, Bill; Weiss, Terri, Van Nuys, CA, Monkey Mind, a musical
Baran, James and Kaminski, Steve, Windham, CT, Virgil, a musical
Bell, Kate, Brooklyn, NY, Blacked Out
Bierstock, Sarah, NYC, NY, Honor Killing
Binstock, Rae, Brooklyn, NY, We Are the Light of the World
Bonnema, Ben and Rose, Arianna, Howard Beach, NY, The Lost Girl, a musical
Buckallew, Robin, Hastings, NE, What Are Your Demands?
Carkeet, David, North Middlesex, VT, Six by Twain
Cavanaugh, Tom, Northridge, CA, Behold
Cowley, Sheila, St. Petersburg, FL, Flying
Craig, David, Toronto, Canada, Lysistrata and the Temple of Gaia
Delauder, Anthony, Aurora, WV, The People at the Edge of Town
Dorf, Fran, Stamford, CT, The Angel of Forgetting
Eberlein, Jared, Northfield, MA, Precious Thieves
Englar, Brent, Baltimore, MD, Deposition
Ferrara, Susan, NYC, NY, Buzz
Fischer-Smith, Jeffrey, Tucson, AZ, When the Son is Shining
France, Anna, Buffalo, NY, Hill Country
Freeman, Seth, Pacific Palisades, CA, The Cost
Frankel, Leland, Los Angeles, CA, The Better Part of Forever
Hardin, Frankie, Newnan, GA, Perfect Faith
Hoke, Donna, East Amherst, NY, Brilliant Works of Art
Holets, George, Ithaca, NY, Boronga Kazi: A Comedy of Cultures
Howland, Angelica, Phoenix, AZ, Forward
Karp, Steve, NYC, NY, Reunion
Kimmel, Mike, New Orleans, LA, In Lincoln’s Footsteps
Klein, Matthew, NYC, NY, Through the Eye
Kociolek, Ted (and Holland, Walter), NYC, NY, The Age of Innocence, a meta-operetta
Lundin, Robert, Glen Ellyn, IL, The Icon
Manley, Richard, San Fransisco, CA, The Truth Quotient
McGoldrick, Michael, Tempe, AZ, World’s End
McGregor, Rex, Auckland, New Zealand, Miss Imposter
Meche, Amy, Brooklyn, NY Smiling Porphyra
Menna, Robert, Los Angeles, CA, The Light at Arles
Merilo, Aleks, Tacoma, WA, The Snowmaker
Montero, Guillermo, Julio, Buenos Aires, Argentina, The Music Teacher
Nelson, Ross Peter, Helena, MT, Becoming Number Six
O’Connor, Sean, NYC, NY, Wound
Oliver, Ryan, NYC, NY, We Foxes, a musical
Orlock, John, Cleveland Heights, OH, The End of Summer Guest
Orloff, Rich, NYC, NY, Jennifer’s Birth
Panganiban, Conrad, Alameda, CA, New American Order
Patterson, Martha, Boston, MA, Charlotte & Amanda
Pepper, Cary, San Fransisco, CA, How it Works
Sadler, Lynn, Burlington, NC, Hanging-Cat
Shineman, Kirt, Peoria, AZ, Good Grief
Sirota, Eric, Flemington, NJ, Day of Wrath, a musical
Stubbs, Sally, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Our Ghosts
Tsokalis, Konstantinos, Nomos Attikus, Greece, Polar Bear
Tuttle, Jon, Florence, SC, Boy About Ten
Wambaugh, Michele, Houston, TX, No Regrets
Wells, Matthew, NYC, NY, Queen Mair
Finalists
Amatuzio, Nick, Ontario, Canada, Mick’s Last Line
Appel, Jacob M., NYC, NY, The Indelible Woodpecker
Appel, Jacob M., NYC, NY, A Marriage of Inconvenience
Bell, Kate, Brooklyn, NY, Blacked Out
Bierstock, Sarah, NYC, NY, Honor Killing
Cowley, Sheila, St. Petersburg, FL, Flying
Craig, David, Toronto, Canada, Lysistrata and the Temple of Gaia
Delauder, Anthony, Aurora, WV, The People at the Edge of Town
Ferrara, Susan, NYC, NY, Buzz
France, Anna, Buffalo, NY, Hill Country
Kociolek, Ted (and Holland, Walter), NYC, NY, The Age of Innocence, a meta-operetta
Menna, Robert, Los Angeles, CA, The Light at Arles
Merilo, Aleks, Tacoma, WA, The Snowmaker
O’Connor, Sean, NYC, NY, Wound
Orlock, John, Cleveland Heights, OH, The End of Summer Guest
Orloff, Rich, NYC, NY, Jennifer’s Birth
Sirota, Eric, Flemington, NJ, Day of Wrath, a musical
Stubbs, Sally, Vancouver, British Coloumbia, Canada, Our Ghosts
Wells, Matthew, NYC, NY, Queen Mair
Winner
Ferrara, Susan, NYC, NY, Buzz
Emmy-Award Winner Carrie Preston To Direct BUZZ At ASF
Alabama Shakespeare Festival presents the world premiere of Susan Ferrara's Buzz, September 4 - 15, 2019. Emmy Award-winning actor Carrie Preston returns to ASF to direct the provocative new play, which will be performed in an alternative space, ensuring that every performance is a unique experience for the audience.
Buzz is the story of charismatic, visionary director Mary Ann "Buzz" Goodbody, who was one of five women to direct theatre in the UK in the 1970s and the first woman to direct at the Royal Shakespeare Company, a prestigious organization and the ultimate boys' club. During her eight-year tenure at RSC, she developed plays in The Other Place, a small tin shack that lent itself to experimental productions. There, she famously directed a then-unknown Ben Kingsley in the title role of Hamlet, but four days after it opened, Buzz was gone.
"Susan [Ferrara]'s play epitomizes one of the main issues impacting women in our country right now: how to excel in what is still, remarkably, a man's world," said Preston. "We think of Buzz as a fighter, a trailblazer, a leader, and an iconoclast. Like so many of history's forgotten women, very few people have heard of her. Everyone knows Ben Kingsley. Why don't they know the name of the woman who helped put that man on the map? We want to remedy that."
Carrie Preston
Actor-director-producer Preston is best known for her roles on television. She played Arlene Fowler, the sassy, redheaded waitress in the Golden Globe-nominated True Blood and won an Emmy Award as the scatterbrained, genius lawyer Elsbeth Tascioni on The Good Wife. She currently stars in the TNT comedy-drama series Claws. A crucial role for Preston was Ophelia in Alabama Shakespeare Festival's 1994 production of Hamlet. It was there that she met her husband, Emmy Award-winning actor Michael Emerson, who was playing Guildenstern.
Preston describes her return to ASF 25 years later - to direct a play about a woman directing a production of Hamlet - as bringing things full circle. "I am thrilled to come back and share this story with the ASF audiences," she said.
Award-winning playwright Susan Ferrara is a three-time O'Neill semifinalist, and two-time New Dramatist and Leah Ryan finalist. Her script for Buzz has already garnered international acclaim: Winner, Hidden River Playwriting Award; Winner, Reverie Next Generation Playwriting Award; developmental readings with Off-Broadway's Atlantic Theater Company and New York Theatre Workshop's Mondays @ 3 Series; Finalist, Baltic Writing Residency (Brora, Scotland); Semifinalist, Women's Project Lab; Honorable Mention, Jane Chambers Award.
Susan Ferrara
"When Susan trusted me with this play, I knew that I had to honor Buzz's memory and stage the play in a nontraditional space," Preston commented. "Accustomed to going to the traditional main stages at ASF, our audiences will experience something magical and unexpected by watching a play in a space that never meant to be theatre."
The world premiere of Buzz will be presented in the ASF Scene Shop. General admission tickets are $50. To purchase, call 334.271.5353, stop by the ASF Box Office, or visit asf.net/buzz. Evening performances begin at 7:00 p.m.; matinees start at 2:00 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays and at 3:00 p.m. on Sundays.
Seating for this unique theatrical experience is limited, so it is best to reserve early.