BETSY AIDEM New York: The Metal Children (Vineyard Theater), Celebration & the Room (Atlantic Theater Company), The Triple Happiness (Second Stage), Stone Cold Dead Serious (Edge Theater Company), Balm in Gilead (Circle Rep). Regional: Sweet Bird Of Youth (Williamstown Theatre Festival), The Sugar Syndrome (Williamstown Theatre Festival), The Miser (Hartford Stage), 1000 Airplanes on the Roof dir. Phillip Glass (ART). Film: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants II, You Can Count On Me, Music of the Heart, Nine Months. Television: “Law & Order,” “The West Wing,” “Sex and the City.” Involved in premieres of works written by Adam Rapp, Kenneth Lonergan, Theresa Rebeck, Brooke Berman, Jessica Goldberg, Sam Shepard, Howard Korder, Jon Robin Baitz, Alan Ball, Arthur Laurents, Lucy Prebble, Abby Morgan, David Henry Hwang, George F. Walker, Jim Cartwright, Kathrine Treischman, Carrie Perloff, as well as revivals of Williams, Chekhov, Pinter, Molière, Strindberg, and Shakespeare.
Scene Study: 20th Century Mondays from 10:00am – 1:00pm
September 13, 20, 27, October 18, 25, November 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
MARK BLUM Broadway: Twelve Angry Men, Lost in Yonkers, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, A Thousand Clowns, The Graduate, My Thing of Love, and The Merchant. Off-Broadway: The Singing Forest, Mourning Becomes Electra, Buffalo Gal, The Long Christmas Ride Home, The Waverly Gallery, The Music Teacher, The Seagull, Key Exchange, Table Settings, Say Goodnight Gracie, Little Footsteps, It’s Only a Play, Mislansky Zilinsky, and Gus and Al, for which he received an Obie Award. Film: Shattered Glass, Desperately Seeking Susan, Crocodile Dundee, The Presido, Blind Date, Just Between Friends, Worth Winning, and Miami Rhapsody. On TV, he has appeared in the movies “The Indictment,” “The McMartin Trial,” “Steve Martin’s The Judge,” and “The Defenders,” as well as guest starring roles in “Law and Order,” “Fringe,” “The Sopranos,” “CSI Miami,” “Judging Amy,” “NYPD Blue,” “St. Elsewhere,” “Miami Vice,” “Frasier,” “Wings,” “Roseanne,” “The Practice,” and many others. He holds an MFA in Acting from The University of Minnesota, a Bachelor Of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania, and has studied at HB Studios and with Andre Gregory. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Acting program at Brooklyn College where he teaches Contemporary Scene Study and Intensive Scene Study of the works of Chekhov, Ibsen, and Shaw. He is also currently on the Acting Faculty at HB Studios and has taught at The University of California at Irvine, The Manhattan School of Music, The USDAN Summer Conservatory Program, in the Lincoln Center Institute for Education, for the Manhattan Theater Club Educational Program, and privately. He has written plays and screenplays, produced feature films, and produced, directed and written for the Internet.
Advanced Scene Study – Anton Chekhov Tuesdays from 11:00am – 2:00pm
September 14, 21, 28, October 5, 12, 19, 26, November 2, 9, 16
The Voiceover Tuesdays from 3:00pm – 5:00pm
October 19, 26, November 2, 9 16
MICHELLE BOSSY (Associate Artistic Director, Primary Stages) has held numerous positions at Primary Stages including Assistant Director, Company Manager, and Artistic Associate. She has produced the World Premiere of Dread Awakening and directed and produced the premieres of Sarajevo’s Child (2005 NYC Fringe Festival), Cumberland, Low Brow, and Missing Mike Vitelle. Most recently, she directed the workshop production of I Love You, I Think by Rebecca Brunstetter. Over the last seven years at Primary Stages, she has worked with playwrights such as Athol Fugard, Christopher Durang, Horton Foote, A.R. Gurney, Lee Blessing, Michael Hollinger, Lanie Robertson, and many others. In addition, Michelle is the Director of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group where she has worked with such writers as Julia Jordan, Andrew Case, Lucy Thurber, Courtney Baron, and Rogelio Martinez. Michelle holds the first undergraduate directing degree from Webster University’s Conservatory of Theatre Arts. She is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Plum Theatre Company. Member: Lincoln Center Director’s Lab.
Advanced Scene Study – 20th Century Wednesdays from 2:30pm – 5:30pm
September 15, 22, 29, October 6, 20, 27, November 3, 10, 17, December 1
KAREN BRAGA has been a signature voice-over artist for 20 years, branding national television campaigns for "viewers like you," advertising everything from dish soap to President Clinton. She has voiced documentaries, industrial films, and appeared on Garrison Keillor's “A Prairie Home Companion.” She is an Alexander Technique teacher whose gentle hands-on approach teaches students to embody their voices and speak from their hearts.
Alexander Technique Wednesdays from 2:00pm–4:00pm
September 15, 22, 29, October 6, 13, 20, 27, November 3, 10, 17
KARA LEE CORTHRON’s plays have been produced and developed by the Vineyard Theatre, Center Stage (Baltimore), ACT Seattle/Hansberry Project, New Dramatists, Naked Angels, New Georges, Raw Impressions (HERE Arts Center), E.S.T., Page 73 Productions, Manhattan Theatre Source, Electric Pear Productions, The Shalimar, Penumbra Theatre, Horizon Theatre (Atlanta), African Continuum Theatre (D.C.), and Voice & Vision, among a few others. Last year, she was a staff writer for the critically-acclaimed NBC drama, “Kings.” Kara’s honors include the Princess Grace Award, a 20/20 New Play Commission from InterAct Theatre, the Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, Lincoln Center’s Lecomte du Nouy Foundation Award (three-time recipient), commissions from South Coast Rep, Naked Angels, New Georges, and E.S.T./Sloan, the Theodore Ward Prize, the New Professional Theatre Writers Award, residencies at the MacDowell Colony, Skriðuklaustur (Iceland), the Millay Colony for the Arts and Ledig House, and she was a finalist for the second consecutive year for New Dramatists membership (‘08 and ‘09). Kara is an alumna of the Juilliard School and Interstate 73 (Page 73’s inaugural writers group), member of the Play Group at Ars Nova, the Dramatists Guild, ’Wright On! Play Group (co-founder), BMI/Lehman Engel Librettist Workshop, Blue Roses Theatre, the Writers Guild of America, the Barrow Group Women’s Development Project, and is a New Georges Affiliated Artist.
The First Draft Thursdays from 11:00am – 2:00pm
September 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21, 28, November 11, 18, December 2, 9
Television Writing 1 Tuesdays from 6:30pm – 9:30pm
September 21, 28, October 5, 12, 19, 26, November 9, 16, 30, December 7
CUSI CRAM’s plays include: A Lifetime Burning (Primary Stages), Dusty and the Big Bad World (Denver Theater Center), Lucy and the Conquest (Williamstown Theater Festival), All the Bad Things (LAByrinth Theater Company), Fuente (Barrington Stage), The End of it All (South Coast Repertory), Landlocked (Miranda Theater) and Bolivia and Euripidames (New Georges). Her work has also been produced and developed by The O’Neill Playwright’s Conference, Manhattan Class Company, The New Group, New York Theatre Workshop, The Actors Theater of Louisville, The Public Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, WET Productions, The Echo Theater and the Dag Hammarskjold Theater at the United Nations. She is the recipient of the 2004 Herrick Theater Foundation New Play Prize and fellowships from the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights program at Juilliard and the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France. Her plays are published by Smith & Kraus, Broadway Publishing, Playscripts, and Samuel French. Cusi has also received three Emmy award nominations for her writing on the animated children’s program “Arthur.” Her play Dusty and the Big bad World was recently optioned by Points West Pictures. She is a member of LAByrinth Theater Company, the MCC Playwrights Coalition, and The Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages and sits on New Georges’ Kitchen Cabinet and the board of Leah Ryan’s FEWW (Fund for Emerging Women Writers).
The First Draft Wednesdays from 2:30pm – 5:30pm
October 13, 20, 27, November 3, 10, 17, December 1, 8
Note: There will be two Saturday sessions from 11:00am - 2:00pm on October 30 and November 20
The Rewrite Tuesdays from 6:30pm – 9:30pm
October 12, 19, 26, November 2, 9, 16, 30, December 7
Note: There will be two Friday sessions from 6:30pm – 9:30pm on October 22 and December 3
GARY DONATELLI was a contributing director for "Another World" and currently directs for "One Life to Live." He is Co-owner of Dada LLC, which produced "Lean on Me," a post 911 drama series for Fire Department of New York Counseling Services units using real firefighters and EMT personnel. He won four National Emmys as a cameraman for ABC and was the Technical Director for ABC Daytime for six years. He taught as an Adjunct Professor at NYU Tisch School for the Arts and was a mentor for the ABC/Disney Talent Development Program. He currently mentors at the Bronx Digital Academy.
On-Camera Acting - Primetime Sundays from 5:00pm – 8:00pm
September 12, 19, 26, October 3, 17, 24
SARAH ELLIOTT Director of Teacher Training, Master Trainer, and Senior Staff at Core Pilates NYC, Sarah Elliott currently teaches full time, directs Core’s internationally recognized teacher training programs, trains teachers in the U.S. and abroad, teaches a bi-lingual Japanese/English mat course, and develops Pilates specific anatomy curriculum. She received her MFA in Acting from Yale School of Drama where she studied Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais Method, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Fitzmaurice Technique, Laban, Yoga and Pilates. Today Sarah works in New York City as an actress as well as Pilates instructor. TV and Film: “Law & Order: SVU,” “The Chappelle Show,” “Guiding Light,” and Birth, starring Nicole Kidman. As a fight choreographer, she's assisted Rick Sordelet on fight direction for New York productions of Flesh and Blood (NYTW) and The Fourth Sister (Vineyard). She also assisted Westport Country Playhouse's production of All My Sons, directed by Doug Hughes, starring Richard Dreyfuss and Jill Clayburgh.
Pilates for the Working Artist Wednesdays from 9:00am – 10:00am
September 15, 22, 29, October 6, 13, 20, 27, November 3, 10, 17, December 1, 8
CARL FORSMAN is the Artistic Director of New York’s Keen Company and Vermont’s Dorset Theatre Festival. Keen Company, a New York theater devoted to the production of sincere plays, received the 2005 Drama Desk Special Award, “for moving and enlightening audiences with plays that build upon our theatrical heritage,” and was the 2008 recipient of a Village Voice Obie Grant. His direction for Keen include the world premieres of his own adaptation of Beasley’s Christmas Party, Michael Murphy’s The Conscientious Objector, John Belluso’s Pyretown, Keith Reddin's Can’t Let Go and David Auburn’s adaptation of The Journals of Mihail Sebastian, the American premiere of Conor McPherson's The Good Thief (Obie Award & Drama Desk nominations for Brian d’Arcy James), the New York premiere of Gerald Sibleyras’ Heroes, Matthew Burnett’s Theophilus Nort, and revivals of Heinar Kipphardt’s In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Somerset Maugham’s The Breadwinner, Thornton Wilder’s The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden (Drama Desk nomination, Best Revival), John van Druten's Voice of the Turtle (Drama Desk nomination, Best Director), PG Wodehouse's Good Morning Bill, and Tina Howe's Museum. Other directing credits include Love Child (Primary Stages), Michael Murphy’s Sin: A Cardinal Deposed (OBIE Award, Production; Drama Desk nominations, Best Play & Best Actor) and Seth Zvi Rosenfeld’s Everything’s Turning Into Beautiful for the New Group, Tina Howe’s new translations of Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano & The Lesson for the Atlantic Theater Company, The Good Thief (Long Wharf Theatre), and A Few Good Men (Asolo Rep). At the Dorset Theatre Festival he oversees The Kaufman Collection, DTF’s commitment to produce all the stage comedies of George S. Kaufman. He teaches at New York University and The Atlantic Acting School. BA: Middlebury College, MFA: University of Minnesota.
Introduction to Directing Mondays from 6:30pm – 9:30pm
September 20, 27, October 4, 18, 25
Final class presentation on Saturday, December 5 at 6:00pm
JACKSON GAY Recently directed: End Days (People's Light and Theatre), Fabulation (Baltimore Centerstage), Made In Poland (The Play Company), The Wild Inside (Fordham University), Box Americana (Eugene O'Neill Center), 10 Things to Do Before I Die (Second Stage Uptown), Len, Asleep in Vinyl (Second Stage Uptown/Juilliard), workshops of Marie Antoinette (inaugural Sundance Institute Theatre Lab in Residence at the Public Theater, Goodman Theater, JAW/West), Guggenheim Museum Works & Process with Jennifer Tipton, Scarcity, Master Disaster, The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Atlantic Theater Company, 2006 Pulitzer Prize finalist; Yale Rep, Best Production Connecticut Critic’s Award). Faculty Affiliate at New York University 2005-2007. Guest Directing and Teaching credits include such institutions as Yale University, Dartmouth College, Stern College for Women, Denver Center's National Theatre Conservatory, The Guthrie, Mount Holyoke College, Juilliard, New York Film Academy and New York University. Recipient of the Jonathan Alper Directing Fellowship at Manhattan Theatre Club, the Williamstown Theater Festival Directing Fellowship and the Drama League's New Directors/New Works Fellowship. BFA: University of the Arts (2008 University of the Arts Silver Star Alumni Award), Directing MFA: Yale School of Drama.
Directing – Edward Albee Saturdays from 11:00am – 2:00pm
September 25, October 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, November 6, 13, 20, December 4
Scene Study: 20th Century Saturdays from 3:00pm – 6:00pm
September 25, October 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, November 6, 13, 20, December 4
JESSICA HECHT Broadway: A View from the Bridge, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Julius Caesar, After the Fall, The Last Night of Ballyhoo. Off-Broadway: Make Me (Atlantic Theater Company), Howard Katz (Roundabout Theater Company), The House in Town (Lincoln Center Theater), Flesh & Blood (New York Theatre Workshop), The Fourth Sister (Vineyard Theater), Plunge and Lobster Alice (Playwrights Horizons), Stop Kiss (Public Theater), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Theatre for a New Audience). Williamstown Theatre Festival: The Torchbearers, The Three Sisters, Blithe Spirit, The Autumn Garden, Top Girls, Light Up the Sky, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told. Film: Whatever Works, Dan in Real Life, Starting Out in the Evening, The Forgotten, Sideways, The Grey Zone; upcoming: 25/8, The Winning Season, Helena From the Wedding. TV: “Eleventh Hour,” “Breaking Bad,”“ER,” “The Jury,” all “Law & Order,” “Friends,” “The Single Guy,” “Homicide,” “Seinfeld.”
Scene Study: 20th Century Mondays from 10:00am – 1:00pm
September 13, 20, 27, October 18, 25, November 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
KAIT KERRIGAN is a bookwriter, lyricist and playwright based in New York City. Her first Off-Broadway musical, Henry and Mudge (written with longtime collaborator, Brian Lowdermilk), was commissioned by TheatreworksUSA and premiered in 2006. In 2009, Kerrigan was awarded the Kleban Award for most promising librettist, she had her original musical The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown produced at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, CA, and her song cycle Tales from the Bad Years was part of Theatreworks' New Works Festival in Palo Alto, CA. Additionally, her song "Say the Word," also written with Lowdermilk, was performed by Miss New York on the 2009 Miss America broadcast. Kerrigan's musicals and plays have been developed by the La Jolla Playhouse, Primary Stages, Lark Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Perry Mansfield New Works Festival, ASCAP/Disney Workshop, New York Musical Theatre Festival, National Alliance of Musical Theatre Conference, CAP21, Goodspeed and others. She also received a Jonathan Larson Award for her lyrics and was a Dramatists Guild Fellow. Other plays and musicals include Imaginary Love, The Freshman Experiment, Transit, The Woman Upstairs and Wrong Number. Kerrigan is a member of the BMI Advanced Musical Theatre Writing Workshop, ASCAP, and the Dramatists Guild. For more information, visit www.kerrigan-lowdermilk.com.
Libretto 1 Wednesdays from 6:30pm – 9:30pm
September 15, 22, 29, October 6, 13, 20, 27, November 3, 17, December 1
Advanced Libretto Thursdays from 10:00am – 1:00pm
September 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21, 28, November 4, 18, December 2
MICHAEL LAIBSON is an Emmy winning Producer of Daytime Dramas. Over the past twenty years, he has ledthe creative teams at “All My Children,” “As the World Turns,” “Guiding Light,” and “Another World.” He started in the business as an actor, working at many theatres in Los Angeles and New York in productions ranging from classical to musical. He directed productions of Loveliest Afternoon of the Year, Thieves, and Loneliest Game in Town, before moving into Television Production. He directed the award winning production of The Savior of Fenway at the New York International Fringe Festival and then in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is a Director for the Garage Theatre Group, an Equity Theatre in Teaneck, New Jersey, and teaches Acting for the Camera and Directing Actors at conservatories including the New York Film Academy and Montclair State University in New Jersey.
Transitioning to the Screen for the Theater Actor Mondays from 2:00pm – 5:00pm
September 13, 20, 27, October 4, 18, 25, November 1, 8, 15, 22
Advanced Acting for Television and Film Mondays from 10:00am – 1:00pm
September 13, 20, 27, October 4, 18, 25, November 1, 8, 15, 22
DAVID AND LINDA LAUNDRA David has acted in commercials and industrials and appeared on all the New York based soaps and in a variety of films and network TV shows, as well as served as the Technical Director, handling lighting and camera, for 26 half-hour episodes of “The New York Theatre Review” on PBS. Linda spent 12 years in Daytime Television as a producer and director. She began on CBS’s “The Guiding Light” then moved to NBC’s “Another World.” Most recently, she was with ABC’s “All My Children.” She has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy as a director and as producer. Her directing has also brought the work of Anne Sexton to the screen. Together, they have taught at the National Theatre Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, New York University, Long Island University, the New York Institute of Technology, Connecticut College and Weist Barron Professional Training Programs in New York City.
Auditioning for Television and Film Tuesdays from 6:30pm – 9:30pm
September 14, 21, 28, October 12, 19, 26, November 2, 9
On-Camera Acting - Primetime Mondays from 6:30pm – 9:30pm
September 13, 20, 27, October 4, 18, 25
ANDREW LEYNSE is now beginning his ninth season as Artistic Director at Primary Stages. He has produced, managed, and directed in the New York Theatre community for more than twenty years. Andrew began his career at Primary Stages after graduating from Carnegie Mellon’s Directing Program. At Castle Hill Productions he produced over twenty productions on and off Broadway. Upon returning to Primary Stages as Artistic Director he oversaw the move to their new home at 59E59 Theaters. Primary Stages productions have received considerable critical acclaim, including Tony, Obie, AUDELCO, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, Drama Desk (among others) awards and nominations. Recent productions include Dividing The Estate, Happy Now?, Opus, Shipwrecked! and Buffalo Gal to name a few. Primary Stages received the Lucille Lortel Outstanding Body of Work Award in 2008. Andrew is also the Artistic Director of Perry-Mansfield’s New Works Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Andrew recently directed the world premiere production of The Cherry Sisters Revisited by Dan O’Brien and music by Michael Friedman in the Humana Festival at Actors Theater of Louisville.
Auditioning for Contemporary Theater Tuesdays from 2:30pm – 5:30pm
September 14, 21, 28, October 5, 12
BRIAN LOWDERMILK is a composer based in New York City. His musical Henry and Mudge, written with playwright Kait Kerrigan, had an Off-Broadway run at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in 2006 and was commissioned by TheatreworksUSA. Since he and Kerrigan began collaborating in 2002, they have also written The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown, The Woman Upstairs, Wrong Number, Tales from the Bad Years and a web-based musical called The Freshman Experiment. Last season, The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown received a developmental production at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, directed by Daniel Goldstein and produced by Beth Williams and Broadway Across America. Their song cycle Tales from the Bad Years was recently presented at the New Works Festival at Theatreworks in Palo Alto, CA. Lowdermilk's musicals have been developed by the La Jolla Playhouse, Manhattan Theatre Club, Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival, National Alliance of Musical Theater Conference, CAP21, and Goodspeed Opera House. He was awarded the Jonathan Larson Award, the Richard Rodgers Award, the Alan Menken award and a 2004-2005 Dramatists Guild Fellowship. He is a member of the BMI Advanced Musical Theatre Writing Workshop, ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild. For more information visit www.kerrigan-lowdermilk.com.
Music Theater Composition Thursdays form 6:30pm - 9:30pm
September 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21, 28, November 4, 11, 18
CYNTHIA MACE created the role of Harper for the Mark Taper Forum’s ground breaking, multi-award winning production of Angels in America: Millenium Approaches and the world premiere of Perestroika. She has created roles for world premieres by Murray Schisgal, Lee Blessing, and John Mighton. She appeared with Naked Angels at the Coast Playhouse in Robbie Baitz’ Three Monologues, and in one of the last shows at the famed Tiffany Playhouse, Marvin’s Room, with Mary Steenbergen and Jean Smart. She played Stevie opposite Brian Kerwin in Edward Albee’s The Goat or Who is Sylvia? at The Mark Taper Forum (Ovation winner: Best Play, Garland Award winner: Best Actress, Ovation nomination: Best Actress.) Ms. Mace played Sally opposite Lynn Redgrave in the second of Ms. Redgrave’s family trilogy The Mandrake Root, and stood by for Ms. Redgrave in her one woman show Nightingale last season at MTC. Recent credits include Sean Cullen’s Safe Home for director Chris Henry at Women’s Interart Center, The Importance of Being Earnest (again opposite Ms. Redgrave) for director David Schweitzer at the Papermill Playhouse, Lillian Hellman’s The Autumn Garden for director David Jones at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Film: The Alphabet Killer, Fearless, Blast from the Past, Icebound and more.
Advanced Scene Study – Edward Albee Thursdays from 6:30pm – 9:30pm
September 30, October 7, 14, 21, 28, November 4, 11, 18, December 2, 9
ROGELIO MARTINEZ Plays include When Tang Met Laika (Sloan Grant/ Denver Center/ Perry Mansfield), All Eyes and Ears (INTAR), Fizz (NEA/ TCG Grant/ Besch Solinger Productions at the Ohio Theatre), Learning Curve (Smith and Krauss New Playwrights: Best Plays of 2005/ Besch Solinger Productions at Theater Row), I Regret She’s Made of Sugar (Princess Grace Award), Arrivals and Departures (Summer Play Festival), and Union City... (E.S.T, winner of the James Hammerstein Award). In addition, his work has been developed and presented at the Public Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Mark Taper Forum, and the Magic Theater, among others. Mr. Martinez is an alumnus of New Dramatists, and his plays are published by Broadway Play Publishing. He has received commissions from the Atlantic Theater Company, the Arden Theater Company, Denver Center Theater, and South Coast Repertory. Mr. Martinez teaches playwriting at Goddard College, Montclair University, and Primary Stages. In addition, he runs the Hispanic Playwrights in Residence Lab at INTAR, and is a member of the Dorothy Strelsin Writers Group at Primary Stages. Mr. Martinez was born in Sancti-Spiritus, Cuba, and came to the U.S. in 1980 on the Mariel boatlift.
The First Draft Thursdays from 6:30pm – 9:30pm
September 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21, 28, November 4, 11, 18
The Rewrite Thursdays from 2:30pm – 5:30pm
September 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21, 28, November 4, 11, 18
DAEL ORLANDERSMITH won an Obie Award for Beauty's Daughter, which she wrote and starred in at American Place Theatre in 1995. Her play, Monster, premiered at New York Theatre Workshop in November 1996. The Gimmick premiered at the McCarter Theatre and went on to great acclaim at the Long Wharf Theatre and New York Theatre Workshop. Yellowman also premiered at the McCarter in a co-production with the Wilma and Long Wharf Theatres. She was a Pulitzer Prize Award finalist in 2002 for Yellowman, which played at the Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles in 2005. Her play, Stoop Stories, was first performed in 2008 at the Public Theater as part of the Under the Radar Festival. Stoop Stories and her newest play, Bones, were presented this year as part of Center Theatre Group's DouglasPlus summer programming at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.
Solo Performance Tuesdays from 2:30pm - 5:30pm
September 14, 21, 28, October 5, 12, 19, 26, November 2, 9, 16
ADAM REIST’s career in the entertainment industry has spanned over two decades. Adam has directed three short films: the critically acclaimed Supertalk starring Kathleen Chalfant and Billy Crudup, the award winning Back to One and the award-winning The Last Lunch. Adam co-produced all three films and co-wrote Supertalk. He has performed on and produced two CDs with his band Twist of Fate and is currently working on a third. He most recently was a Director on CBS's daytime drama "Guiding Light." Adam is also a producer/director for independent commercials and videos. Adam has lectured at Yale Drama, Pace University and the Lee Strasberg Institute. Adam was a member of the 2004 DGA Award winning Outstanding Drama Series Directing team and 1994 Daytime Emmy winner for Outstanding Drama Series Directing Team. Adam is a member of the Directors Guild of America, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and The University of North Carolina’s Order of the Golden Fleece.
Introduction to Independent Filmmaking Wednesday from 6:30pm - 9:30pm
September 15, 22, 29, October 6, 13, 20, 27, November 3, 10, 17
EDWIN SANCHEZ 2009 saw the 20th anniversary production of Trafficking in Broken Hearts at the Celebration Theatre in Los Angeles as well as the World Premiere of his romantic comedy I’ll Take Romance at the Evolution Theatre in Ohio. Additionally his play La Bella Familia will be produced by Teatro Vista in Chicago in 2010. Other productions include: Diosa (Hartford Stage, New York Stage and Film), Trafficking in Broken Hearts (Bank Street), Unmerciful Good Fortune (Intar, Princess Grace Playwriting Award), Barefoot Boy with Shoes On (Primary Stages). Barefoot Boy was selected by the Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference to represent the National Playwrights Conference at the Schelykovo Playwrights Seminar in Russia. He was also among the playwrights involved with Brave New World, an organization commemorating the events surrounding September 11th.
The First Draft Sundays from 11:00am – 2:00pm
September 12, 19, 26, October 3, 17, 24, November 7, 14, 21, December 5
JULIAN SHEPPARD's plays include Buicks (Underwood Theater, two Drama Desk nominations, including Outstanding Play), Los Angeles (Flea Theater), Love and Happiness (Barrington Stage), and Skin & Bones (part of stageFARM’s Vengeance at the Cherry Lane Theatre). Other plays have been produced in New York at Soho Rep, Miranda Theatre, Blue Heron Arts Center, Lincoln Center Directors' Lab, Juilliard, The Cherry Lane, MCC Performance Lab, New York Performance Works, and Nada. His work has been developed at numerous theaters, including New York Theatre Workshop, New York Stage & Film, Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth, Manhattan Theatre Club, Primary Stages, MCC, WPA, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and the Workhouse Theatre. His plays have been produced regionally, in England and South Africa. Julian has been a resident at MacDowell, the Millay Colony, Blue Mountain Center, and the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. He has twice received the Le Comte de Nouy Award and is the Susan Lucci of the Heidemann Award, having been a finalist five times. Julian has also written for and developed numerous shows for ESPN. He is a member of MCC Theatre's Playwrights Coalition, The Writer’s Group and is a graduate of the Lila Acheson Wallace Playwrights program at the Juilliard School.
The First Draft Mondays from 7:00pm – 10:00pm
September 13, 20, 27, October 4, 18, 25, November 1, 8, 15, 22
SAVIANA STANESCU is a Romanian-born multi-award-winning playwright. Recent New York productions include Aliens with Extraordinary Skills (Women’s Project), Waxing West (La MaMa E.T.C.) and YokastaS Redux (winner of 2007 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Full-Length Script). Other works include The Inflatable Apocalypse, which won the Best Play of the Year UNITER Award in 2000. Her plays have been published by Samuel French. She is a member of EST, a Usual Suspect of New York Theatre Workshop, a former playwright-in-residence with Women’s Project, and is with Richard Schechner’s East Coast Artists. She has been a visiting instructor at Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, Fordham University, Helenico Institute in Mexico City, Dramalabbet in Stockholm, Desant Bucharest, and the Lark Transylvania Camp. She currently teaches Playwriting at New York University’s Tisch School of The Arts. For more information visit www.saviana.com.
Experimental Theater Mondays from 2:00pm - 5:00pm
September 13, 20, 27, October 4, 18, 25, November 1, 8, 15, 22
Docudrama for the Stage Fridays from 11:00am - 2:00pm
September 17, 24, October 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, November 5, 12, 19
DANIEL TALBOTT has most recently worked as an actor on The Merry Wives of Windsor (Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis), Master Builder (Irish Rep), Rocket City (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), Tartuffe (McCarter Theatre/Yale Rep), Marat/Sade (Classical Theatre of Harlem) and the feature film Pretty Bird. Recent directing work includes Footprint by Mac Rogers (part of +30NYC for Red Fern Theatre), Afterclap by Daniel Reitz, Birthday and Nobody, both by Crystal Skillman (Rising Phoenix Rep at the Seventh Street Small Stage at Jimmy’s No. 43), The Umbrella Plays (the teacup company/FringeNYC – Overall Excellence Award: Outstanding Play), Fall Forward (Sitelines/River to River Festival produced by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council), and The Reaching (Rising Phoenix Rep). His play Slipping was produced at Rattlestick this past summer with Piece by Piece Productions (named on of the top ten plays of 2009 by The Advocate), premiered in Chicago at The Side Project in Chicago, was part of the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, and will be published in 2010 by Dramatists Play Service. His play What Happened When was produced at HERE Arts Center and The Side Project and was published as part of the Plays and Playwrights 2008 Anthology. He received a 2007 New York Innovative Theatre Award for directing, a Drama-Logue Award, two Dean Goodman Choice Awards, a Judy Award for acting, and was also named one of the 15 People of the Year 2006 by nytheatre.com. He is a graduate of Juilliard and of Solano College Theatre’s ATP, a literary manager of Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and the artistic director of Rising Phoenix Rep (recipient of the 2007 NYIT Caffe Cino Fellowship Award).
Directing – Anton Chekhov Sundays from 2:00pm – 5:00pm
September 19, 26, October 3, 17, 24, 31, November 7, 14, 21, December 5
RICHARD TOPOL has appeared at Primary Stages in Opus, on Broadway in The Country Girl (directed by Mike Nichols), Cymbeline, Julius Caesar (with Denzel Washington), School for Scandal and as Sam in Clifford Odets’ Awake & Sing, for which he won a Drama Desk Award. This past season he was seen in Merchant of Venice and The Winter's Tale for Shakespeare in the Park and at Lincoln Center in When the Rain Stops Falling. Other off-Broadway credits include Mouth to Mouth (the New Group), Hamlet (Theatre for a New Audience), Omnium Gatherum, Twelfth Night (Public Theater), Playwrights Horizons, Soho Rep, and Naked Angels, EST, New Georges. Regional: Long Wharf, Yale Rep, McCarter Theatre, Hartford Stage, ACT. Film/TV: Mickey Blue Eyes, Party Girl, all “Law & Order,” “Rescue Me,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Damages,” “Ed,” “Gilmore Girls,” “Malcolm in the Middle,” “Drew Carey,” and “The Practice” (recurring). As a teacher and director, he has worked at Fordham University, Hunter College, Ramapo College of New Jersey, Brown University and with The Acting Company. He has taught Scene Study, Auditioning, Shakespeare, Acting for the Camera among many other classes. He holds an MFA from New York University, is a Fox Foundation Fellow, a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect and an Acting Company Alum.
Advanced Scene Study – William Shakespeare Mondays from 2:00pm – 5:00pm
September 13, 20, 27, October 4, 18, 25, November 1, 8, 15, 22
Build Your Book: The Contemporary Monologue Thursdays from 10:00am – 1:00pm
October 21, 28, November 4, 11, 18
FRANCINE VOLPE is a New York City based playwright, screenwriter and dramaturge. Her play The Given opened at Studio Dante in October, 2006 and was directed by the award winning actor Michael Imperioli. The play was subsequently named a finalist for the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Other plays include Late Fragment (Studio Dante, The New Company, London) and Giftbox (the stageFARM Theater, New York City). Giftbox was published in The Best Short as well as The Best Monologues for Women 2008. Francine's other plays have received readings and workshops at A.C.T., Arena Stage, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, SoHo Rep and The Juilliard School. Francine is Director of Play Development at Studio Dante Theater in New York where she has helped to develop the world premiere plays of some of our city’s most talented playwrights. Francine's screenwriting credits include Queenie and I'll Be Your Mirror, based on the life of Nan Goldin. Francine has worked extensively as a script consultant for award winning playwrights and screenwriters alike. Francine teaches playwriting and screenwriting classes at Primary Stages, The Stella Adler School in Los Angeles, and Studio Dante and sits on the artistic advisory board of the stageFARM Theater. Francine received her B.F.A. from New York University’s Tisch School of The Arts in Dramatic Writing and was later the recipient of a two-year Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwriting Fellowship at The Juilliard School where she completed her graduate study. She has twice received grants from the Lecomte du Nouy Foundation. Francine was nominated in 2008 for The Kesselring Award, The Wasserstein Prize, and The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She is a member of New Dramatists.
Screenwriting Sundays from 5:00pm – 8:00pm
September 12, 19, 26, October 3, 17, 24, 31, November 7
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