On Saturday, June 1st and Sunday, June 2nd, The Hub Theatre will present their first ever Play Fest, a staged reading festival showcasing new plays by contemporary. Helen Pafumi, Artistic Director of the Hub Theatre, and I had a chance to connect about what inspired this festival and why these four playwrights are essential voices in the American Theatre. JACQUELINE LAWTON: What inspired this festival of new plays? HELEN PAFUMI: I don't like selecting plays in a vacuum. I know what kinds of plays I am drawn to and my gut tells me what I think will work, but, in the end, The Hub is a service organization. Part of our mission is to share plays that celebrate our common humanity. There is something intangible in what I look for in plays, something that speaks to the mystery of human connection. When I think it is there, then I want to share that work with my community. With an audience in the room, I can tell very quickly in a reading if that piece is there. In the past we have spread out our readings over the course of several months. I look forward to a concentrated weekend of hearing these plays and the conversations they spark. All four of these shows grasp something which I wish was more common in American writers today - hope. SHE RODE HORSES LIKE THE STOCK EXCHANGE JEL: What excited you about programming SHE RODE HORSES LIKE THE STOCK EXCHANGE by Amelia Roper? HP: As artists, I think we are still contending with how to talk about the economic crisis that hit our country and with the corporations, politics and people who brought it on. As well as with our society's collective ignorance of warning signs. Amelia's play illustrates how well the blinders were on, and does so with humor until the truth is undeniable. And yet it still has a sense of possibility - even when everything crumbles around you. JEL: Why is she an essential voice in the American Theatre? HP: She has a quick pacing and wit that keeps the play moving. This is the first of her work that I have read, and her artful dialogue and humor make me want to read more. Her writing feels like you are eavesdropping on a gem of a conversation. JEL: What do you hope audiences will walk away thinking about after experiencing this play? HP: That we cannot let our future be ripped away by our own ignorance and inaction. And that there is is still hope for us after coming out of a loss of our material world; that we can transcend our economic definition and be freed from it. Experience She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange by Amelia Roper on Saturday, June 1 at 1 PM. All events are free, but seating is limited. Click here to reserve a ticket! Amelia Roper is an Australian playwright currently studying at the Yale School of Drama. Her work has been developed at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Old Vic (London), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the National New Play Network, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, the Moscow Playwright & Director Center (Russia). Her work has been shown in Australia at the Melbourne Theatre Company, La Mama Theatre, FreshInk and World Interplay. Her plays have been produced at Barrington Stage Company, St Martins Youth Arts Centre, The Melbourne Arts Centre, The Dog Theatre and the Yale Cabaret. Awards include the Cheryl Crawford Scholarship (Yale 2012), the Howard Stein Scholarship (Yale 2011), the St Martins Emerging Playwrights’ Award (Australia 2007), a MUST National Playwriting Award (Australia, 2003), two Ian Potter Cultural Awards (2010/11) and a Dame Joan Sutherland Cultural Trust Award from the American Australian Association. Roper is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America. THE ELECTRIC BABY JEL: What excited you about programming THE ELECTRIC BABY by Stefanie Zadravec? HP: I saw a very early reading of this play back when TFA was working on it. Stefanie brought it back to my attention recently, and I was so thrilled with the work she had done on it - making story lines clearer and characters richer. I love how these different lost people find their way to each other. It's beautiful how she has them intertwine and fulfill, sometimes happily, sometimes painfully, each other's destiny. She also has a magical element to her writing - which I am a sucker for. JEL: Why is she an essential voice in the American Theatre? HP: I find her writing to be a beautiful mixture of complex and simple. The idea that nothing is easy in life, and yet it's a story that can be artfully told. I also see redemption in her characters - oh how I am attracted to writers who let us see moments of great personal change on stage. JEL: What do you hope audiences will walk away thinking about after experiencing this play? HP: A sense of connectedness and importance in their lives. I hope they will feel the deep and beautiful pang of this play - that our most precious treasures can be taken away but the sweetness of them echoes on. Experience The Electric Baby by Stefanie Zadravec on Saturday, June 1 at 4 PM. All events are free, but seating is limited. Click here to reserve a ticket! Stefanie Zadravec is a resident playwright at New Dramatists and a 2012-2013 Lark Play Development Center Playwright Workshop Fellow. Her plays have been developed at The Kennedy Center, PlayPenn, The Working Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival and The Women’s Project among others. Honey Brown Eyes (Theater J, Washington D.C., Working Theater, NYC) received the 2009 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play and was published in American Theatre magazine. The Electric Baby (Quantum Theatre, Pittsburgh) received the Women in Arts and Media Coalition’s 2011 Collaboration Award. Save Me (The Barrow Group) received the Baltimore Playwrights Festival Outstanding New Play Award as well as the Phoenix Theatre’s National Playwriting Award. Stefanie’s collaborations include: We Play for the Gods (The Women’s Project, NYC), The Fear Project (The Barrow Group, NYC), 167 Tongues (Theatre 167, NYC), You Are Now The Owner This Suitcase (Theatre 167, NYC). Awards and Residencies include: Dramatists Guild Fellowship, Women’s Project Lab, a Playwrights Realm Fellowship, Sustainable Arts Foundation Writing Award, The Sewanee Writers Conference Dakin Fellowship, and a NYSCA individual artist grant. She is currently working on commissions for The Working Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Epic Theatre Ensemble, and teaching playwriting at Primary Stages’ ESPA school. Upcoming: The Electric Baby at Two River Theater Co. and Rivendell Theatre Ensemble in Chicago, Spring 2013 www.szadravec.com FAILURE: A LOVE STORY JEL: What excited you about programming FAILURE: A LOVE STORY by Philip Dawkins? HP: This piece is so much fun. Philip's FAILURE: A LOVE STORY allows a heightened theatricality and takes a stylistic risk. I love the rich way he blends fable and old movie qualities with a great comic wit but still beds the entire story in an honest family interaction and a classic love tale. JEL: Why is he an essential voice in the American Theatre? HP: Anybody who is willing to take a risk with their writing the way he does should be nourished. He adds variety to the theatrical landscape. It is also so important for us to have writers who can take on comedy with heart and truth. JEL: What do you hope audiences will walk away thinking about after experiencing this play? HP: That we are shaped by the richness of our family background. That love can happen in an instant or grow over a long time, and that it lasts long after we are gone. Experience Failure: A Love Story by Philip Dawkins on Sunday, June 2 at 1 PM. All events are free, but seating is limited. Click here to reserve a ticket! Philip Dawkins' critically-acclaimed play The Homosexuals received a Joseph Jefferson Nomination for New Work after its world premiere with About Face Theatre in the summer of 2011, under the direction of Bonnie Metzgar. His playFailure: A Love Story premiered at Victory Gardens Theater under the direction of Seth Bockley, with productions slated at Azuka Theatre in Philadelphia and Illinois Shakespeare Festival in Bloomington-Normal in Summer 2013. His play Miss Marx or The Involuntary Side Effect of Livingreceived a staged reading as part of Steppenwolf's 2010 First Look Series. Other credits: Dead Letter Office (Dog and Pony Theatre); Yes To Everything! (Chicago, New York, California, DC); Perfect (The Side Project);Ugly Baby (Chicago Opera Vanguard/Strawdog Theatre Company); A Still Life In Color (T.U.T.A. Company). His plays for young folks are published through Playscripts, Inc. A graduate of Loyola University, Chicago, Mr. Dawkins is an Artistic Associate of About Face Theatre, an Ensemble Playwright at Victory Gardens, and a founding member of Chicago Opera Vanguard. Mr. Dawkins teaches playwriting at Northwestern University and through the Victory Gardens ACCESS Program for writers with disabilities. He also teaches Kung Fu to little Chicago kids through Rising Phoenix Kung Fu. Hi-Yah! CHING CHONG CHINAMAN JEL: What excited you about programming CHING CHONG CHINAMAN by Lauren Yee? HP: It's no secret that I love Lauren Yee's writing, as we just closed A MAN, HIS WIFE, AND HIS HAT. CHING CHONG CHINAMAN is very different but still retains what I love about her work - its unique, absurd and magical look at the human condition. The play is incredibly irreverent, but she brings the audience along with her so that we can all laugh together at our follies. JEL: Why is she an essential voice in the American Theatre? HP: Lauren has an innate sense of structure and character, so she is able to throw caution to the wind when she writes. Her work feels uninhibited. The result is a full exploration of cultural identity. She is also writing stories that reach the gamut of our social and cultural spectrum. And she is funny - has an amazing sense of humor and hope. JEL: What do you hope audiences will walk away thinking about after experiencing this play? HP: That our cultural history is more than just face value, and that it will be lost if we don't work to keep it. The play also highlights that cultural myopia and prejudice can happen to anyone, absolutely anyone. Experience Ching Chong Chinaman by Lauren Yee on Sunday, June 2 at 4 PM. All events are free, but seating is limited. Click here to reserve a ticket! Lauren Yee’s work explores the line between humor and heartbreak to create wildly theatrical plays filled with magical realism. Her plays include Ching Chong Chinaman; Crevice; Hookman; in a word; A Man, his Wife, and his Hat; Samsara; and The Tiger Among Us. Her work has been produced at AlterTheater, Artists at Play, City Lights Theatre Company, Company One, fu-GEN, the Hub Theatre, Impact Theatre, Moxie Theatre, Mu Performing Arts, Pan Asian Rep, SIS Productions, and others. Lauren’s plays have been also developed at Lincoln Center Theatre/LCT3, The Magic Theatre, The Public Theater, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, Victory Gardens Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Aurora Theatre, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, the Hangar Theatre, Kitchen Dog Theatre, Orlando Shakespeare Festival, and PlayPenn. She is a MAP Fund grantee and has been a Dramatists Guild fellow, a MacDowell fellow, and Public Theater EWG member. She was a finalist for the Jerome, the PONY, the Princess Grace, and the Wasserstein Prize. She is a Time Warner Fellow at the Women’s Project Playwrights Lab and a member of the Ma-Yi Theatre Writers Lab, as well as the Shank playwright-in-residence at Second Stage Theatre. She is currently under commission from Lincoln Center Theatre/LCT3 and Encore Theatre Company (with support from the Gerbode Foundation. BA: Yale. MFA: UCSD. The Hub Theatre is an award winning, professional non-profit theatre making its home in Fairfax County, Virginia. The Hub Theatre is a member Theatre Washington. The Hub has received grants from Target, the Fink Foundation, the Arts Council of Fairfax, The Friends of Lake Anne, Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Arts Council of Fairfax, Integrity Applications, and Booz Allen Hamilton. Mission The Hub Theatre endeavors to produce work that highlights our common humanity, providing a theatrical experience that is at once challenging and inclusive. We strive to be the physical center of a dynamic circle of story, art, and community, to create the transcendent exchange unique to live theatre.
1 Comment
5/26/2013 05:05:50 am
Though we have theatres in LA, there's nothing like The Hub. Great, good work you're doing promoting emerging and, even better, not yet visible playwrights.
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
My BlogI'm a playwright, dramaturg, and teaching artist. It is here where you'll find my queries and musings on life, theater and the world. My posts advocate for diversity, inclusion, and equity in the American Theatre and updates on my own work. Please enjoy!
Categories
All
Archives
June 2020
Reading List
|