Playwright Videos

The resident theatre panelists - Randall Arney, Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre; Zelda Fichandler, Artistic Director of the Acting Company; Emily Mann, Artistic Director of McCarter Theater; Mac Pirkle, Artistic Director of Tennessee Repertory Theatre; Michael P. Price, Executive Director of Goodspeed Opera House; and Lloyd Richards, Artistic Director of Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center - discuss the beginnings of regional theatre as a place to develop new plays and playwrights, relationships with commercial theatre, marketing and building a subscriber base, and diversity in playwrights and audiences.

David Starkey talks about writing plays in his SBWC workshop

This week we have the pleasure of presenting Michelle A. Banks. Michelle Banks is a critically acclaimed and award winning Actress / playwright. Ms Banks is a graduate of the primer deaf university in America, Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. Ms. Banks has appeared in commercials such as yahoo, her television roles include Showtime Series, Soul Food, and UPN's Girlfriends were she has a recurring role as Lynn's boss, and on Lifetimes Strong Medicine just to name a few. She established and ran the Onyx playhouse in New York for eleven years before coming to Los Angeles to pursue her film career. Michelle is a powerful and gifted stage actor having performed in plays such as Red Rive at Mark Taper Theater and her own one-woman play entitled "Reflection of a Black Deaf Woman". This is the third of a three show series on her talents. Michelle has overcome being deaf in her chosen field and first love of acting. The show is in both American Sign Language and Spoken Word through the assistance of "Momma T " (Teresa Sharp) Voice /ASL interpreter. DEAF CULTURE ROCKS! www.michellebanks.com/html/oneshow.htm

Daniel Jenkins, Lisa Kron and David Pittu - who have appeared both on stage and written works for the stage - talk about how they balance these dual roles; what they learn about being playwrights from their acting; where they get inspiration for their plays; how audiences help them enhance their performance as both actors and writers; whether or not it's more satisfying to act in a play they wrote; and their relationship with directors when they're performing the role of both playwright and actor.

From http://www.gaycenter.org/out The Center hosted a benefit staged reading of Terrence McNally s Lisbon Traviata. The play portrays one man s fevered quest for a bootleg recording of Maria Callas singing La Traviata in Lisbon. This audio podcast is produced by Out at the Center, a TV show of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of New York City. To see more episodes go to gaycenter.org/out. The show is made possible thanks to members of the Center and viewers like you. To find out more, join or donate go to http://www.gaycenter.org/support

Fire & Ink III: Cotillion is on the way! Hundreds of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer writers of African descent will be descending down to Austin, Texas, one year from tonight. We thought it was about time we asked them why they aren't going to miss it. We know why we aren't. Visual artist Priscilla Hale, Director of Organizational Development at Fire & Ink sponsor, allgo, was among the first to respond. How about you? Send us your videos at fireandink2009@gmail.com and tell us why you're coming! Fire & Ink III: CotillionOctober 8-11, 2009 Austin, TexasOriginal music (c) Phillip Alexander.

Fire & Ink III: Cotillion is on the way! Hundreds of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer writers of African descent will be descending down to Austin, Texas, one year from tonight. We thought it was about time we asked them why they aren't going to miss it. We know why we aren't. Calvin Glenn of Black Gay USA was among the first to respond. How about you? Send us your videos at fireandink2009@gmail.com and tell us why you're coming! Fire & Ink III: CotillionOctober 8-11, 2009 Austin, TexasOriginal music (c) Phillip Alexander.

The panel of directors Walter Bobbie ("Chicago"), director/choreographer Wayne Cilento ("Dream"), Scott Elliott ("Present Laughter"), Ron Lagomarsino ("Last Night at Ballyhoo"), Gene Saks ("Barrymore"), and playwright Alfred Uhry ("Last Night at Ballyhoo") talk about how they got started, developing their current productions, a show's relevance to contemporary audiences, determining the length of a play, and how directors maintain an ongoing show.

The panel of playwrights Vernel Bagneris ("Further Mo'") and Tom Cole ("About Time"), lyricist John Driver ("Shogun"), director Tony Giordano ("About Time & Handy Dandy"), lyricist Sheldon Harnick ("The Rothschilds"), Executive Director of the Dramatists Guild David LeVine, and director Lonny Price ("The Rothschilds") discuss how they got started in their careers, writing for the stage, and the role of the Dramatists Guild.

A multimedia presentation of PLAY Magazine's weekly nightlife photo spread. From the March 26, 2008 issue: The Playwright in New Haven, CT.

The panel -- director Scott Ellis ("That Championship Season"), director Robert Falls ("Death of a Salesman"), playwright David Marshall Grant ("Snakebit"), director/choreographer Robert Longbottom ("The Scarlet Pimpernel"), playwright Paul Rudnick ("The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told"), and director John Tillinger ("Night Must Fall") -- discuss working with rewrites, revisions and multiple versions of a script, the playwright's input during rehearsals, and the role of a dramaturg.

Poet and educator Thylias Moss reads selections from her award-winning collection, Small Congregations. Series: Artists on the Cutting Edge [12/1997] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 3386]

Playwrights David Auburn ("Proof") and Charles Busch ("The Tale of the Allergist's Wife"), director/choreographer George Faison ("For Colored Girls"), choreographers David Marques ("The Adventures of Tom Sawyer") and Jerry Mitchell ("The Full Monty"), and director John Rando ("The Dinner Party") discuss their experiences in professional theatre, including their backgrounds, creative processes, rehearsals, and transfers to Broadway from off-Broadway and out-of-town productions.

german speaking essaye on sarah canes crave , gier by thomas reisinger

A panel of current New Dramatists playwrights -- Carlyle Brown, David Grimm, Quiara Alegría Hudes and Lucy Thurber -- talk about their differing styles of playwriting, what inspired them to start writing, how the world of the playwright has evolved and changed, what influences their writing and the challenges in getting their work produced. The program also includes an interview with New Dramatists Artistic Director Todd London, discussing how New Dramatists serves as haven for emerging playwrights and describing the new voice of the playwright, the opportunities for playwrights on and off Broadway and the different types of work being written today.

In a one-on-one interview with playwright Horton Foote he talks about his early career as an actor, who was responsible for his becoming a playwright, how his connection to the past inspires his writing, what it was like to write for television's Golden Age, writing for different mediums, including his Oscar winning screenplays, and the influence his hometown of Wharton, Texas has had on his life and his work. He's then joined by four artists who have worked with him in recent years - his daughter, actress Hallie Foote; James Houghton, Artistic Director of Signature Theatre; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director of Primary Stages; and Michael Wilson, Artistic Director of Hartford Stage - who discuss their roles in interpreting Foote's stories, the impact regional theatre has had in presenting his works, and how Horton Foote's plays relate to today's audiences.

Playwrights Jon Robin Baitz ("Hedda Gabbler"), John Guare ("Sweet Smell of Success"), Peter Parnell ("Q.E.D."), and directors Gene Saks ("Mr. Goldwyn"), Daniel Sullivan ("Proof"), and Mary Zimmerman ("Metamorphoses") discuss their approaches to writing, directing, and adaptations; the collaboration process with directors, writers, producers, sets, and actors; reactions to a production's first preview; and the source of ideas for playwrights.

Director Bob Balaban ("Y2K"), playwrights Richard Greenberg ("Take Me Out") and Suheir Hammad ("Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam"), choreographer Luis Perez ("Man of La Mancha") and director David Petrarca ("A Year With Frog and Toad") discuss the condition of American theatre both in New York and around the country, and some of the shifts that are occurring both in audience expectations and the direction of new works.

The extraordinary legacy of playwright August Wilson and his 10-play cycle of African-American life in the 20th Century is explored in a two-part program. First, a panel of Wilson's collaborators -- producer James Houghton (Signature Theatre Company), dramaturg Todd Kreidler, director Kenny Leon ("Radio Golf", "Gem of the Ocean"), actor/director Ruben Santiago Hudson ("Gem of the Ocean", "Seven Guitars"), producer Jack Viertel ("Radio Golf") -- discuss the process of developing and producing Wilson's plays. In the second half, the depth and variety of Wilson's characters are explored by Stephen McKinley Henderson ("Jitney", "King Hedley II"), Harry Lennix ("Radio Golf"), Tonya Pinkins ("Radio Golf") and Phylicia Rashad ("Gem of the Ocean"), joined by director Kenny Leon.