Two Screenplays Chosen for Inaugural Film and Television Writing Conference

For Immediate Release:
Inquiries please contact Courtney Weber at 860-443-5378 x288.

(July 6th, 2005: Waterford, CT) The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center announced today the two screenplays chosen for its inaugural Film and Television Writing Conference. The pilot program will run in tandem with the flagship O’Neill Playwrights Conference. Under the leadership of award-winning director Oz Scott, the process will include collaboration between the screenwriters and industry professionals assigned to assist each writer in developing their projects for the screen.

“There were so many submissions, so many wonderful voices,” Mr. Scott said when asked to comment on the Conference selection process. “In making the selections, we were looking for special voices that we could help develop’. This year, we have chosen what I feel are very special voices.”

Executive Director Amy Sullivan said the addition of the Film and Television Writing Conference was a natural outgrowth of the work done at the O’Neill. “More and more,” she said. “today’s dramatists are writing for stage, screen and television. This new conference provides writers with the opportunity to develop in new ways and further our mission to develop creative new voices. We look forward to an exciting launch of the Film and Television Writing Conference and expect the program to be expanded for summer 2006.”

The development of screenplays at the O’Neill is not unprecedented. Screenplays were often developed as part of the Playwrights Conference. This year, O’Neill Conference alum Jacob Estes received the 2005 Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award for best feature produced for under $500,000 for his screenplay “Mean Creek.” The script was developed at the O’Neill in the summer of 1997. A preview of Mr. Estes’s film was held at the Garde Arts Center in New London this past July. This summer’s pilot conference will not include screenings, but will include public readings of the screenplays in progress.

Wayne Duvall, Lisa Chess, and Tyrone Giordano, Elizabeth Moss, David B Jaffe and Shoshanna Stern join a company of more than 15 for this years outing led by Artistic Director Oz Scott and supported by Max Wilk, Jacob Estes, Joseph Meagel and Michael Pressman.

Tyrone Giordano was last seen in the Broadway production of Big River, which originated at the Mark Taper Forum. He also performed in Arena Stage’s production of The Miracle Worker. Film work includes The Family Stone as well as A Lot Like Love.

Wayne Duvall is a veteran of stage and screen with such film credits as O’Brother Where art Thou, Evolution, Apollo 13 and stage credits Antigone, As You Like It and On the Wing.

The public performances are as follows:

The Sound of Silence by Craig J. Weiner
July 13th at 8:00 p.m.
A young deaf scientist must choose between her loyalty to the fiercely independent deaf power movement of the early 1980s and the opportunity to develop the first cochlear implant after a tragedy strikes her closest friend. Produced in American Sign Language, with subtitles.

The Boy Next Door by Jennifer L. Baum
July 14th, 8:00 p.m.
Violent familial dysfunction thrives in high school senior Jessica Turner’s neighborhood. When her 15-year-old neighbor murders his mother, Jessica attempts to help him, jeopardizing her plan to escape her own dangerous family. She finds herself questioning the responsibility of everyone involved as she fights for her friend’s freedom.

Please call the O’Neill Box Office at 860-443-1238 for ticketing information. Some material may not be appropriate for children.

The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, founded in 1964, has been home to more than 1000 new works for the stage and 2500 emerging artists and is itself the winner of a special Tony Award, the National Opera Award, the Jujamcyn Award of Theater Excellence and the Arts and Business Council Encore Award. Today, the O’Neill is home to the National Playwrights Conference, Music Theater Conference, Puppetry Conference, National Critics Institute, and the fully accredited National Theater Institute, a 14-week theater intensive. In addition, the O’Neill owns the Monte Cristo Cottage, the childhood home of Nobel Prize-winning playwright, Eugene O’Neill.

For more information regarding the Center, please visit the O’Neill website at www.TheONeill.org or call 860.443.5378 x 0.