Here’s vegetarianbacon’s incredible thoughts about LIDLESS
We go to haunted houses, we gorge ourselves on horror movies. We want to be chased out of parlors in old mansions by headless ghosts, to high-tail it through cornfields and leap over hay bales away from men in hockey masks with chainsaws, to feel werewolves’ claws reaching out from behind…
LIDLESS begins previews on Sept 20th exploring the same issues of the lasting legacy on Guantanamo Bay.
It’s getting closer and closer…
With Page 73’s first rehearsal last week (we live-tweeted through the earthquake), we are thrilled by all of the talented people working on LIDLESS. (See photos on Facebook.) The dynamic Tea Alagić directs a cast that includes…
Danielle Skraastad (All My Sons on Broadway; The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide…, Public/Signature; The Wake, Public)
Laith Nakli (Aftermath, NYTW; War, Rattlestick)
Thom Rivera (Distracted, Oregon Shakespeare; Much Ado About Nothing, NY Classical Theatre)
Maha Chehlaoui (Aftermath, NYTW; Peer Gynt, Guthrie)
Emma Galvin (David Cromer’s Our Town Off-Broadway; The Power of Birds, 3Graces Theatre)
Lidless will have scenic design by Scott Bradley, costume design by Jessica Pabst, lighting design by Tyler Micoleau, sound design by Daniel Kluger and fight direction by Thomas Schall.
LIDLESS
by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig
directed by Tea Alagic
September 20 - October 15
Monday - Saturday at 7:30pm
at Walkerspace
46 Walker Street
Tickets on-sale soon!
Semi-finalists announced!
We’ve spent the summer enjoying the nearly 250 applications for Page 73’s development programs for playwrights. We love this process of getting to know new writers, and it gives us great pleasure to announce the 25 semifinalists for the 2012 P73 Playwriting Fellowship. Congratulations to our semifinalists and thanks again to all of our applicants!
(And thanks to this year’s selection committee who helped us in early rounds of reading: Mark Blankenship, Christie Evangelisto, Kip Fagan, Liz Groth, Davis McCallum, Rebecca Phillips, Stella Powell-Jones, Tommy Smith, Lisa Timmel, and Krista Williams.)
Without further ado, the semi-finalists:
Deron Bos
Jonathan Caren
Mia Chung
Amy Evans
Dana Formby
Dorothy Fortenberry
Dipika Guha
Mary Hamilton
David Jenkins
Meghan Kennedy
Kimber Lee
Libby Leonard
Victor Lesniewski
Ian MacAllister-McDonald
Kara Manning
Megan Mostyn-Brown
Leah Nanako Winkler
Scott Organ
Dominic Orlando
Jason Gray Platt
Max Posner
Harrison Rivers
Andrew Rosendorf
Sarah Sander
Matt Schatz
To help get you excited for Page 73’s upcoming production of LIDLESS, we asked playwright Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig for a moment of her time before she hopped on a train from Texas to New York (really!) to begin rehearsals.
What was the first scene of LIDLESS that you wrote?
The scene in which Alice, the interrogator, uses a tactic called “Invasion of Space by a Female” to get Bashir, the Muslim detainee, to stop escaping her interrogations through prayer.
What’s the significance of the title?
If you don’t have eyelids you are forced to always see the consequences of your actions.
This play deals in part with politics. Were you concerned about being “balanced”?
I was concerned about making sure each character had great conflict and complexity, but not too concerned about political balance.
What are your goals for this production?
To have interesting, dynamic collaborations with amazing artists.
What is exciting about working with Page 73 on this production?
They actually listen to me and also let me choose the director.
What does it mean to have your work produced professionally in NewYork for the first time?
It means I get to work with amazing artists who the smaller theatres that produce my work in other parts of the country wouldn’t be able to afford because they would have to fly them out and put them up.
What do you consider the highest compliment you could receiveas a playwright?
Probably ones from teenagers struggling with despair, depression or apathy who find a way to “wake up,” or see/think differently during their experience of the play.
What do you think are the key challenges facing emerging playwrights in America today?
Timidity, giving the existing system too much credit, insufficient funds, despair, and insular lives.
What’s next for you?
Moving back to Austin, Texas and figuring out how to work in wage slavery as little as possible and do what I want as much as possible.
It’s been an exciting year, and by the looks of it, a rather attractive year for all of us at Page 73. As we gear up for the 2011-2012 season with our upcoming production of Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s Lidless, let’s take a look back — in photos!
Karen Walsh and Eddie Kaye Thomas in Jack’s Precious Moment by Samuel D. Hunter, directed by Kip Fagan May-June 2010 at 59E59 Theaters
2010 P73 Playwriting Fellow Eliza Clark and Director Trip Cullman in rehearsal for Edgewise, which premiered December 2010 at Walkerspace
Megan Mostyn-Brown, Samuel D. Hunter, Heidi Schreck, and Greg Keller working hard to create 5 one-page plays to be presented at our benefit event in April 2011: Page 73 on Page 73 (Not pictured: fifth playwright Michael Mitnick)
Associate Director Michael Walkup (in his first week on the job!) with Page 73 on Page 73 musical guest Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino.
Executive Directors Liz Jones and Asher Richelli
John Doherty and Marylouise Burke reading the short pieces created for Page 73 on Page 73
Page 73 on Page 73 performance directors Stella Powell-Jones and Lila Neugebauer
Actor Aleta Mitchell and playwright Aaron Landsman discussing theatre, red hats at our Summer Residency at Yale
John Doherty and Laura Esterman reading a new play by Emily Schwend, directed by Wendy McClellan at the Summer Residency at Yale
Stephanie Hayes and Tomas Andren reading from Barrenness by Eric Pfeffinger, directed by Richard Perez at the Summer Residency at Yale
2011 P73 Playwriting Fellow Janine Nabers and Emily Schwend at the Summer Residency at Yale
Summer Residency after party at The Study
Stay tuned for more great times (and hopefully more great photos) in the season to come!
Janine Nabers is currently halfway through her time as the 2011 P73 Playwriting Fellow. Her plays include Annie Bosh Is Missing, part of the 2011 Sundance Theatre Lab at Banff, A Swell In The Ground, which received readings with both Primary Stages and Page 73 earlier this year, and Welcome To Jesus, originally conceived as part of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, and to receive further developmental support later this year through Page 73. Janine recently workshopped her new musical A Beautiful Something (written with Sharon Kenny) at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and traveled to London as part of the T.S. Elliot Old Vic Young Voices US/UK Playwright Exchange. This podcast was recorded back in January with I-73 alum Heather Lynn MacDonald.
Page 73 has made a name for itself as a home for the development and production of new work by early-career playwrights who have yet to receive substantial production opportunities in New York. We produce 1 or 2 productions a year, and offer several development programs. Each year Page 73 awards the P73 Playwriting Fellowship to one early-career playwright; past fellows are Kirsten Greenidge, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Jason Grote, Krista Knight, Tommy Smith, Heidi Schreck and Eliza Clark; the current fellow is Janine Nabers. Page 73 also hosts a yearlong writing group called “Interstate 73″ and a weeklong summer residency at Yale for 3 or 4 early-career playwrights. This past spring, Page 73 produced a workshop of Seth Bockley's COMMCOMM, an adaptation of the short story by George Saunders. This fall we will present the New York premiere of Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's LIDLESS in a production directed by Tea Alagic. If you like what we do be sure to check out www.p73.org
