Eric Coble's The Giver at DePaul

Eric Coble's adaptation of Louis Lowry's The Giver will be performed at DePaul University in Chicago. Details are here.

Congratulations Eric!

Melissa Gawlowski @ Lincoln Center

More info from Melissa:

Recently started working at Lincoln Center Institute. I have health insurance now! I'm the Education Assistant for Teaching Artists and Strategic Alliances. Yep. I help hire/assign TAs, which is an opportunity for peeps-- they hire actors, directors, and playwrights, as well as musicians, dancers, and visual artists.

When I left my old job at Premiere Stages in Jersey, I was placed on the Advisory Board (I was formerly the lit manager). They do all new works, so that's a good connection for playwrights who live in the northeast. I'm probably also going to be a panelist for their selection this year, so there's that. And, I am proud to say, I got paying gigs for Four OU alums in my two years there! Hope to keep that goin'.

Last thing: I'm lit manager for City Attic Theatre, an off-off-Broadway company, and we periodically do a call for plays, which can come from anywhere. Last year Justin Boyd was selected as a Finalist in our playwriting competition, and he received a staged reading.

Justin Boyd - Playwright

Justin reports:

Kathy and I live in Brooklyn, and we see fellow OU playwrights Chantal Bilodeau and Melissa Gawlowski fairly often. I’ve been keeping busy with writing and applying/submitting for EVERYTHING. Most recently, my play, Copy Man, was produced in August in Columbia, SC by Trustus Theater. It was a short run, but the play was well-received. In other playwriting news, I’m a 2007-2008 Dramatists Guild Fellow, which is a bi-weekly writers workshop, plus mentoring by, and occasional sessions with, theater bigwigs.

I’m also doing some theater journalism. I co-edit the Theater section of the Brooklyn Rail(www.brooklynrail.org). We cover mainly downtown and outer-borough artists and productions, a lot of stuff you don’t see in the Times or even the Village Voice. I’ve got an article in our October issue on Jason Grote’s excellent new play 1001, which is having its NYC premiere this month. I’m also an Affiliated Writer this year with American Theater magazine, which is a year-long association through which I’ll write three feature-length stories. My first – a profile of the director Anne Kauffman – was published in the October issue.

OU Emmy

Christopher De Paola is now... an EMMY AWARD NOMINATED ACTOR!!!

The good news was delivered yesterday. Judged by the New York chapter, I was nominated for my role on WCIU-TV's show "Green Screen Adventures." The official name of the category is:

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT FOR INDIVIDUAL EXCELLENCE ON CAMERA: PROGRAMMING - PERFORMER

The Emmy Award winners will be announced at a ceremony here in Chicago in November.

Christopher De Paola

Christopher De Paola reports:

For the past nine months, I've been working for Weigel Broadcasting (WCIU-TV) here in Chicago. I'm a head-writer and actor on the children's show "Green Screen Adventures." We take children's stories (grades 1-4) and adapt them for television. The show has been airing once a week for the last 6 months. But the powers that be have decided to amp it up. Original episodes begin airing weekday mornings, 5 days a week on September 17th. Channel 23 for all you Chicago folks!! Weigel Broadcasting is the only television station in Chicago creating original children's programming.

I was recently commissioned by Scott Foresman Publishing to write two short plays for a west coast reading/literature text book slated for publication next year.

I am also co-founder, with Aaron Carter, of Instant Theatre at Chicago Dramatists. Instant Theatre started on a trial basis at Chicago Dramatists this past summer. And lucky for us, Chicago Dramatists has signed us on as a permanent monthly fixture in their schedule. Aaron and I both organize and host the event every month. Check out our blog for details...
http://instanttheatre.blogspot.com/

As for my acting, I was in last season's production of "Cynical Weathers" at Victory Gardens Theater. Was in "Autobiography" by Sean Graney for Collaboraction's Annual Sketchbook Festival in June. I begin rehearsals next month for "Eye of the Storm"- an adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Tempest." I'll be playing the lead role of Trinculo. The show runs November 1 thru December 6 at the Vittum Theater.

Laura Jacqmin

Laura Jacqmin reports:

I was commissioned by Collaboraction to write the final piece in a modern take on the Herman Hesse novel, Siddhartha. The resulting play (made up of shorter vignettes by Sean Graney, Stephen Cone, Emily Schwartz, myself and J. Nicole Brooks and directed by Joel Moorman), The Siddhartha Project: A Down-Home, Apocalyptic Avalanche of Beauty, will play at Lumen (839 W. Fulton) in Chicago, Sept. 29-Oct. 14. See collaboraction.org for more details.

Jeni Mahoney

Jeni Mahoney reports:

I've got a play running right now in Denver: "The Feast of the Flying Cow... and Other Stories of War." The theater company (And Toto Too) just posted a My Space page for it at: http://www.myspace.com/andtototootheatrecompany I'm also teaching playwriting at Playwrights Horizons Theater School which is a part of the BFA Theater Program at NYU's Tisch School for the Arts.

I'm Artistic Director (and founder) of the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference in McCall, Idaho. We're based on the model of the O'Neill Playwrights Conference (I was there as a playwright in 97) - We've developed more than 50 plays in the past 7 years and worked with some great writers on some truly terrific plays -- and we've brought a number of Bob Cats out there inc.: Roger Truesdell (Director), Ed Baker (Actor, Production Manager), Danette Baker (Actress, Director), Greg Paul (Actor, Director).

Law & Order: Jacquelyn Reingold

Jacquelyn reports:

I am happily catching murderers in convoluted ways writing for Law & Order Criminal Intent. My next episode will air November 8th on the USA channel. In July I was at the JAW Festival at Portland Cetner Stage doing a workshop of "A Story About a Girl," which I started way back when at OU. It was great to meet fellow alum, fabulous actor, Rob Riley there.

Aaron Burns Up Nashville

An excerpt from my play Panther Burn will be read at the Shades of Black Festival on on September 13 at 6 p.m. at the Darkhorse Theater, 4610 Charlotte Ave. Nashville, TN.

Panther Burn was nominated for a Black Theater Alliance Award in Chicago. The awards banquet is October 8th. Fancy dress and everything.

Melissa Gawlowski amps Madness

This Thursday, [September 13th] I've got a show called Metis in Tribeca at a theatre called The Tank (279 Church St. at 9 p.m., for any New Yorkers reading the bloggage). It's an experimental interaction between six playwrights and six improvisational musicians. Essentially an amped-up Madness. I assigned each playwright (Qui Nguyen is one of 'em) to riff on a section of The Odyssey, and we're going to cast each other and rehearse for an hour or so, then meet up with the musicians/vocalists/sound artists and see what happens. I think it might be pretty cool. Or crazy bad. Interesting nonetheless, I hope. There's a website: www.TheMetis.org. Also www.myspace.com/MetisExperiment.