Theatergoers usually get to see a play in its final form, but at this week's Seabury Quinn Jr. Playwrights' Festival, audience members get the chance to witness a work in progress.
It is like we're just dropping in on the rehearsal process and seeing where they are (in developing the play)
and all of the plays will be at different points of that process said Charles Smith, the head of Ohio University's Master of Fine Arts playwriting program.
From today until Saturday, first-year graduate students will present their plays in the form of sit-down readings while second- and third-year students present their work in staged readings, script-in-hand productions or full studio productions.
Even though the purpose of the festival is to show the many stages a play goes through during production, it also gives the playwrights a chance to receive feedback from the audience and guest artists.
It's exciting and intimidating (to be critiqued by the guests) and you definitely want to hear what they have to say about your piece because they are out there doing what we want to do
said Kara Dunn, a second-year MFA playwright.
This year's guests include playwrights Darrah Cloud and Brian Dykstra, actor and writer David Toney and Sandy Shinner, who is the associate artistic director of the Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens Theater. Seabury Quinn Jr., who currently lives in New York, also returns every year for the festival, Smith said.
In addition to the readings and productions, the festival will also include a special one-man performance by Dykstra and the first public presentation of The Sugar Plays, a collaborative effort between the playwriting program and the School of Nursing.
The Sugar Plays consist of three 20-minute plays ' Sugar Bear by Dana Lynn Formby, a second-year MFA playwright, Lucille by G. William Zorn, a second-year MFA playwright and A Family History by Nicholas Sgouros, a third-year MFA playwright. The plays are designed to help spread information about diabetes, Smith said.
This is the first time the program has tried something like this, Smith said. Apart from this, the rest of the festival will follow tradition.
Smith added that one exciting aspect of the festival is seeing some of the plays being turned into full studio productions within the School of Theater and around the country.
That's really exciting when I hear somebody who says
'I saw a play at the festival three years ago
and I just saw it in New York.' G? That's really exciting when that happens
Smith said.
The OU playwriting program only accepts three new students per year, and the program tries to recruit students from diverse backgrounds, Smith said.Every playwright is unique, he said.
It's really hard to compare the plays (in the festival) because the writers are so unique and distinct G? they all stand out in their own unique way. It's very difficult to compare them. Saying that one is more unique than the other is almost impossible to do
Smith said.
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