Writers Chosen for 2003 O'Neill Playwrights Conference

Waterford, CT, June 6, 2003 – James Houghton, artistic director of the O’Neill Playwrights Conference (OPC), has announced the playwrights selected for OPC 2003. These writers, chosen from almost 900 applicants, will join a cross-section of theater professionals from around the country at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center to form a learning community in support of new work for the stage. During their three-week residencies (June 27 – July 20) each play is given a four-day rehearsal period culminating in two staged public readings. 
 
The OPC 2003 plays are as follows:
 
DARK MATTERS by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa; A SMALL, MELODRAMATIC STORY by Stephen Belber; BARKING GIRL by Susan Bernfield; FUENTE by Cusi Cram; ROCK SHORE by Lisa Dillman; AFTER ASHLEY by Gina Gionfriddo; MR. FOX: A RUMINATION by Bill Irwin; SMOKING KILLS by Dominic Leggett; CASCARONES by Irma Mayorga; DEEDS by Sherry M. Shephard-Massat and FATHER JOY by Sheri Wilner. Writers-in-Residence working on special projects are Laura Maria Censabella, Wendy Hammond, Christine Jones and Adam Rapp.
 
OPC directors will include: Melia Bensussen, Carolyn Cantor, Loretta Greco, James Houghton, Moisés Kaufman, Darrell Larson, Pam MacKinnon, Maria Mileaf, Erica Schmidt, Seret Scott and Rebecca Taichman.
 
The Playwrights Conference will continue its free “All-Conference Series” of lunchtime speakers, beginning July 1 at 7:30 p.m. with the OPC 2003 PlaywrightS Panel and continuing with playwrights Lee Blessing (July 4) and Ed Bullins (July 11), Theatre Communications Group Executive Director Ben Cameron (July 19), director David Esbjornson (Edward Albeeís THE GOAT, OR, WHO IS SYLVIA?, July 2), composer Willy Schwarz (METAMORPHOSES, July 18), playwright Paula Vogel (July 17) and many others. The All-Conference Hours are open to the public and takes place from 1:15 p.m. ñ 2:15 p.m. except where noted.

Submissions to the annual O’Neill Playwrights Conference are evaluated by a national team of nearly 100 readers, comprised of theater professionals and assembled with the assistance of consultant Fran Kumin. After several readings, a smaller number of scripts were passed on to the final play selection committee. This year’s committee included Jo Bonney, Susan V. Booth, Ed Bullins, Alexandra Cunningham, Richard Greenberg, Rob Kaplowitz, Martha Lavey, Kenny Leon and Tanya Palmer. After consulting with the selection committee, Houghton decided which playwrights to invite to OPC 2003.
 
Playwrights who were in residence at The O’Neill last summer have maintained a high profile in the theater world this year, including premieres around the country and overseas. Three OPC 2002 playwrights had premieres in Chicago – August Wilson (GEM OF THE OCEAN, Goodman Theatre), Brooke Berman (UNTIL WE FIND EACH OTHER, Steppenwolf Theatre Company) and Jim Grimsley (FASCINATION, About Face Theatre). Mark Ravenhill’s TOTALLY OVER YOU played in England and Scotland. Lee Blessing’s WHORES opens at the Contemporary American Theater Festival July 11. Constance Congdon’s MOONTEL SIX and Sherry Shephard-Massat’s LEVEE JAMES will premiere at the American Conservatory Theater, following the January debut of A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff’s THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES. Victor Lodato’s MOTHERHOUSE won the Williamstown Theatre Festival’s Weissberger Award and will receive a reading there this summer.
 
The 2003 O’Neill Playwrights Conference is sponsored by Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, with major support from the State of Connecticut & Connecticut Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Jerome Foundation, the Chester W. Kitchings Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.
 
The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, founded in 1964 and based in Waterford CT, is a learning community dedicated to advancing the American Theater through programs that encourage creative excellence and develop diverse voices and new work. These include the Puppetry Conference (June 2 – 15) Playwrights Conference (June 23 – July 20), Critics Institute (July 8 – 20), Music Theater Conference (July 28 – August 10) and the National Theater Institute, a college-accredited training program for theater artists. The O’Neill also owns and operates the Monte Cristo Cottage, childhood home of America’s only Nobel Prize-winning playwright, Eugene O’Neill, and holds an annual celebration honoring the life and works of its namesake every October.
 
OPC 2003 public readings will be held Tuesday through Sunday, July 4 through July 20. Ticket prices range from $10 to $12, or $8 weekdays for O’Neill members. To reserve tickets or receive a summer schedule, call The O’Neill at 860-443-5378 or the box office at 860-443-1238 (after June 9).

 
O’Neill Playwrights Conference Summer 2003
Sponsored by Dominion Nuclear Connecticut and Pfizer Inc
 
A SMALL, MELODRAMATIC STORY by Stephen Belber
O falls in love with a cop named Perry. When O’s archivist friend, Keith, discovers secrets about Perry’s past, O is caught in a trap: How much does she want to know? A Small, Melodramatic Story is one woman’s search for truth through the suburbs, the city, the Freedom of Information Act and her self. Performances are July 4 at 8:00 p.m. & July 5 at 2:30 p.m. in the Barn.
 
FUENTE by Cusi Cram
FUENTE is the story of a desolate desert town that people want desperately to leave, but somehow can’t. Finally Soledad and Esteban, two of its own, hit the road – and nothing will ever be the same for those left behind. Performances are July 4 & 5 at 8:00 p.m. in the Edith.
 
AFTER ASHLEY by Gina Gionfriddo
Seventeen-year-old Justin is having a hard time getting over his mother’s murder. His father, on the other hand, has written a best-selling book about the crime and scored his own cable television talk show. America may be ready for a mega-marketing blitz of Justin’s mom, but he isn’t. Weeks before the premiere of “After Ashley,” he sets out to sabotage the show. Performances are July 5 at 8:00 p.m. & July 6 at 2:30 p.m. in the Dina Merrill Theater.
 
CASCARONES by Irma Mayorga
The West Side of San Antonio, TX; the “Mexican” side. The year is 1992 … or is it 1535? Or 1869? Eighteen-year-old Mary Margaret falls into history itself as she attempts to solve the dislocation, the economic struggles, and the intimate battlegrounds of her familia’s Texas-Mexican lives. Performances are July 8 & 9 at 8:00 p.m. in the Amphitheater.
 
FATHER JOY by Sheri Wilner
An unexpected consequence arises when Abigail, a twenty-six year old art student, begins dating Paul, her fifty-one year old professor: her father Harry begins disappearing. Literally. Yet their relationship has never been better. How far would a father go for his daughter? Performances are July 10 & 11 at 8:00 p.m. in the Edith.
 
DEEDS by Sherry M. Shephard-Massat
A prison inmate comes to terms with his past and present through the exploration of the relationship between himself and his deceased brother on Christmas Eve, 1974. Performances are July 11 at 8:00 p.m. and July 12 at 2:30 p.m. in the Barn.
 
BARKING GIRL by Susan Bernfield
Rae sees herself as young, capable, wistful, romantic. So when motherhood confers a strange new identity upon her, she protests with tiny abdications of responsibility. Then true sadness hits, and she slowly constructs her own kind of connection with her child. Performances are July 12 at 8:00 p.m. & July 13 at 2:30 p.m. in the Dina Merrill Theater.
 
ROCK SHORE by Lisa Dillman
To the residents of Rock Shore, a tuberculosis residency in the Adirondacks, each day is predictable – pulmonary calisthenics, small talk, and feverish inertia. Their routine is shaken by the arrival of a glamorous newcomer who helps them face their true yearnings and limitations. Performances are July 15 & 16 at 8:00 p.m. in the Amphitheater.
 
DARK MATTERS by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Susan Cleary has gone missing, and as her husband Reed and son Jeremy try to find her, they discover that the woman they thought they knew was someone else entirely. When she finally reappears – talking about strange visitations and unearthly beings – Reed is faced with a choice that threatens the entire family. Performances are July 17 & 18 at 8:00 p.m. in the Edith.
 
MR. FOX: A RUMINATION by Bill Irwin
A reflection on the life and work of America’s first celebrity clown, George L. Fox (1825-1877), Fox delighted audiences from the Bowery to Broadway with his raucous and ribald performances, but he could not escape his greatest success, the white-face role "Humpty Dumpty." One clown’s rumination on another, on the life of a performer, and on the act of performance itself. Performances are July 18 at 8:00 p.m. and July 19 at 2:30 p.m. in the Barn.
 
SMOKING KILLS by Dominic Leggett
A British soldier, injured in the Gulf, sends his ill son to the US for a risky experimental treatment. One of the doctors administering the treatment is an Iraqi émigré who lost her husband in the same war. Performances are July 19 at 8:00 p.m. & July 20 at 2:30 p.m. in the Dina Merrill Theater.
 
WRITERS-IN-RESIDENCE
 
THREE ITALIAN WOMEN by Laura Maria Censabella
Carla worked with the partisans during World War II. Victoria, her daughter, survived the war with her. Olivia, Victoria's daughter, tries to survive them both. A play about heroism, betrayals, the costs of surviving a war, gnocchi and the ephemeral nature of truth.
 
THEATRE FOR ONE by Christine Jones
Inspired by structures built for a one on one intimate exchange, specifically peep show booths and confessionals, THEATRE FOR ONE is a performing space designed for one actor and one audience member.  The goal of the work at The O’Neill is to develop future permutations of the project as well as to work with writers to create material specifically for this environment, this project-in-residence will not have a public performance.
 
GOMPERS by Adam Rapp
The town of Gompers hasn’t been the same since the steel mill closed. Its citizens struggle to make sense of their dislocated lives and hope for a miracle. Could the new casino boat, a golden greyhound, or a blue Jesus be the answer to their prayers?
 
Performances in the Amphitheater and the Edith Oliver Theater are outdoors, but will be moved indoors in the event of rain. Performance schedule is subject to change. Please call to confirm dates and times.  Some plays have adult themes.