July 26th, 2011
Hi everyone,
This January, Interstate 73 Alum Heather Lynn MacDonald sat down with then current Interstate 73 Member Mary Hamilton to talk about the play she was working on, and on the way she talked about the difficulties of moving to New York, graduate school in Iowa, and her first grade premieres. Mary’s Interstate 73 reading is still to come this fall, and we hope this will pique your interest about her work!
July 14th, 2011
Summer in New Haven for Page 73 means hot weather, overeating, and a remarkably productive environment for playwrights to hunker down and do some serious work. This year we were thrilled to take with us to New Haven playwrights Emily Schwend, Aaron Landsman, Eric Pfeffinger and our 2011 Playwriting Fellow Janine Nabers who wrote, re-wrote, rehearsed, and took important steps (and some gigantic leaps) toward creating amazing new theater in our Fifth Annual Summer Residency at Yale. They even managed, with the help of the Page 73 Staff (general New Haven enthusiasts and Yale alumni) to enjoy the finer things the collegiate city has to offer (with a special focus on pizza and ice cream).
Emily (Interstate 73 ’09-’10) workshopped her as-of-yet-untitled play set in Muskogee, Oklahoma with director Wendy McLellan and Yale School of Drama (YSD) actors Carly Zien and Carmen Zilles, as well as John Patrick Doherty (Page 73 on Page 73 2011 Benefit), and Laura Esterman (CommComm). Emily investigated her characters’ stories in depth and found a new structure for her play, streamlining 6 scenes into 3.
Eric worked with Chicago-based director Richard Perez and recent YSD grads Shannon Marie Sullivan, Tomas Andren, Stephanie Hayes (Yale Residency ’10) and Aleta Mitchell (Yale Residency ’09, ’10), Eric was workshopping his latest play Barrenness, a dark comedy about pregnancy, fetishes, and fringe political beliefs. Even with minimal staging, Rich and the actors were able to bring Eric’s sometimes quiet, sometimes farcical humor to light, and in the process illuminated this very fresh script for Eric.
Aaron (Interstate 73 ’09-’10) and Janine (2011 Fellow) took the week to work independently. Aaron invited frequent collaborator Mallory Catlett to join us for two days to assist him with his continued work on his interactive theatre piece City Council Meeting; he also devoted time to some rewrites to his play Running Away From The One With The Knife. Janine began work on the play that she will focus on for the second half of her fellowship year, Serial Black Face, that tells the story of a mother struggling to raise her sexually curious daughter during the 1979 Atlanta child murders. On Friday night, the company eagerly gathered to hear the first draft of the opening pages of Serial Black Face as well as a wonderful table read of Aaron’s Running Away.
From carrying out an exorcism in a Crown Street basement, to listening to Aleta regale us with tales of playing Dussie Mae in the Broadway premiere of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, to stuffing our faces with New Haven’s famous “apizza” (which even this crop of New Yorkers had to admit was the real deal) this fifth year of the Page 73 summer residency was, as always, one to remember.
We closed out our time at Yale with a penthouse party at The Study, graciously hosted by board members Allison Blinken and John Beinecke. Here we took some much needed time to celebrate the success of the week, and take in the views of scenic New Haven.
In short, fun was had, pounds were gained, and great work was done by all. Check out more photos on our facebook page, and while you’re there be sure to like us! Thanks to all our participants for another great year, and we can’t wait to do it again in 2012!
June 23rd, 2011
On Monday, sadly, we had our last meeting of this year’s Interstate 73 Writers Group. We’re sorry to stop meeting with these seven fine playwrights, but there are still going to be two more readings from this group some time in the fall – we’ll let you know when we have official dates!
~Robert Askins~
~Madeline George~
~Mary Hamilton~
~Greg Keller~
~Michael Mitnick~
~Megan Mostyn-Brown~
~Richard Toth~
The good news is, this fall we’ll have an exciting new group of playwrights! We’ll be announcing them toward the end of the summer.
May 6th, 2011
Haven’t had the chance to get to know our 2011 Playwriting Fellow Janine Nabers yet? Well, you’re in luck. We’ve unearthed this interview between her and playwright Heather MacDonald recorded in February, before she set off to Sundance to work on her new play Annie Bosh is Missing.
Enjoy!
April 26th, 2011
A New Play Written and Directed by Seth Bockley
Adapted from the Short Story by George Saunders
Workshop Presentations will take place on
Friday, May 13th at 8pm
Saturday, May 14th at 3pm and 8pm
Sunday, May 15th at 3pm
At the 3LD Art & Technology Center at 80 Greenwich St.
It’s another day in the office of Community Communications at the DeLong Air Force Base — except the base is closing and there’s a funny smell coming from the copier closet. Ron Rimney, the boss from hell, promises Jim a job at the soon-to-be-built Dirksen Center for Terror if he’ll help him get rid of the smell, but Jim finds that executing that particular order is more complicated — practically and ethically — than he’d first imagined. This strange, funny and ultimately moving new play is the latest collaboration between adaptor Seth Bockley and MacArthur Fellowship-winning fiction writer George Saunders.
Seth Bockley is a director, playwright and performer. Chicago credits include 1001 by Jason Grote, Jon, winner of the 2008 Jeff Citation for Best New Adaptation (Collaboraction); The Twins Would Like To Say (Dog & Pony); and Laika’s Coffin and Winter Pageant 2010 for Redmoon Theater, where he spent two years as a Directing Apprentice through TCG’s New Generations program. Recent commissions include the book for February House, a collaboration with lyricist and composer Gabriel Kahane for the Public Theater, and his adaptation of George Saunders‘ CommComm for the Goodman Theater. In July he will direct the world premiere of Jason Grote’s Civilization (all you can eat) for Clubbed Thumb’s SummerWorks series at HERE Arts Center. In August he begins a collaboration with Mexico City-based clown artist Artus Chavez through TCG’s “Global Connections: On The Road” grant. He is a member of the Goodman Theater’s Playwrights’ Unit and a recipient of the Goodman’s Ofner Prize.
March 11th, 2011
Page 73 and its board of directors are excited to announce that they will hold their annual Page 73 on Page 73 benefit on
Friday, April 15, 2011!
Join us in the Garden Room at The Park restaurant right off the highline at 118 10th Avenue and 18th Street for up close encounters with your favorite Page 73 playwrights. Celebrations will kick off at 7pm with cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, surprise bags, a silent auction and more.
For more information on ticket prices and details, visit our Benefit Page.
We hope to see everyone there for what’s sure to be a great night!
November 24th, 2010
We’re thrilled to announce the 7 finalists for the 2011 P73 Playwriting Fellowship. They are:
LAURA JACQMIN
GREG KELLER
AARON LANDSMAN
ERICA LIPEZ
JANINE NABERS
ERIC PFEFFINGER
EMILY SCHWEND
Don’t miss EDGEWISE, running through December 4th. Take a sneak peek behind the scenes here:
The Making of Edgewise from PAGE 73 on Vimeo.
November 24th, 2010
Heather and Eli sat down to talk Page 73 on our first podcast. It’s pretty great. Check it out!
November 10th, 2010
Wow, what a show! We were so excited to finally see EDGEWISE on its feet at Walkerspace. Congrats to Eli, Trip, and the cast and crew for all of their hard work – it definitely paid off! We’re looking forward to celebrating at our benefit tomorrow night.
EDGEWISE continues previews through November 16th, and officially opens on November 17th and runs through December 4th. Buy your tickets today!
October 27th, 2010
The first preview of EDGEWISE is less than 2 weeks away and we’re getting super excited. You should also be getting super excited.
Stuff to make you even more super excited than you already are now:
1. Meet the cast and get a sneak peek into the first rehearsal in this snazzy video on EDGEWISE:
Meet the Cast of EDGEWISE! from Rehana Mirza on Vimeo.
2. Adam Szymkowicz interviews EDGEWISE playwright Eli Clark on his blog.
Find out about Eli’s 6 year-old backstage hijinks and what her dream theater would be like.
I guess it’s a childish fantasy, in that the dream is basically just, “I want a theater where I get to do whatever I want to do.†But it’s my fantasy, so it can be as silly as I want.
I Interview Playwrights Part 272: Eliza Clark
3. The double rainbow outside P73′s office! We just marveled at its utter gloriousness on the roof with our friends at Target Margin. Hope all of you got a chance to peek too.
More to come soon on EDGEWISE – get your tix today!
