7:30 a.m. -7:30 p.m.

Conference Registration and Information Center

SCC 1^st Floor Lobby

9:30–10:15 a.m.

Welcome and Orientation

SCC 201 A

10:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Theatre Workshop – Session One

Writing in the Moment – with Constance Congdon

Using timed exercises and given circumstances, Congdon allows the writer to ignite the imagination without worry, frustration, and belabored results.  Just bring lots of paper, writing implements, and a willingness to let go and write.  Come out of the class with plays and not just entries Notebook Limbo.

Starting at the Start – with Lee Wochner

How many ways are there to tell a story? Eleventy billion — if you could just get started. After revisiting the fundamentals of playwriting, participants will share and trade story ideas and get launched on a new play that gets them writing and leaves doubt in the rearview mirror.

Acting: Stage vs. Film: Is it really a question of big vs. little? – with Bostin Christopher

Actors are called upon to perform in a variety of medium these days: stage, film, tv, webisodes, etc. How does an actor switch between the mediums and give their best performance? This workshop will explain the differences in the mediums and explore the techniques used to bridge the gap. This workshop will work on tape.

Mac Wellman: Master Class

Design Wing

Mule Barn 101

Mule Barn 102

Mule Barn 106

Mule Barn 112

Mule Barn Atrium

12:00 p.m.

Lunch

SCC 201 B

12:30–1:15 p.m.

Luncheon Panel Series

Design in the Creative Process

With panelists Justin Townsend and Peter Ksander

Moderator Max Sparber

SCC 201 B

12:15–12:45 p.m.

PlayLab Panelist Orientation Meeting

SCC 201 D

1:30-4:00 p.m.

Concurrent PlayLab Readings

Like Poetry by Kristian O’Hare

Directed by Mark Schnitzler

In Like Poetry, memory, regret, and new-age remedies are all brought to bear on a frustrated young man struggling to make sense of his formative years in the “sticks” of Michigan – along with the help of Walt Whitman and the insect world.

Panelists: Javon Johnson, Lee Wochner     Dramaturg: Walter Chon

SCC 201 A

Stagger -  Josh Ryan

Card/Doorman – Derek Copenhaver

Trout – Michael Judah

Doc – Will Muller

Alice – Danielle Smith

Mom – Charlene J.B. Willougby

Dad – Cody Thjielen 

Walt Whitman/Walter  - Andrew Suydan

Stage Directions – Lauren Gentry

The War Room by Clark Morrow

Directed by Stephanie Anderson

On New Year’s Eve a homicide squad turns on itself as detectives are forced to solve one final case before the year ends.

Panelists: Sibyl Kempson, Amy Lane     Dramaturg: Anne Hamilton

SCC 201 D

Berstien – Geoffrey Steinblock

Mauer – Cullen Chollet

Yates – Matt Allen

Hudson – Don Harris

Kimble – Doug Marr

Stranahan – Matt DeNoncour

Stage Directions – Dylan Marr

On the 8’s by Stacey Isom

Directed by Becky Key Boesen

Tammy’s routine as a housewife, mother, and Weather Station watcher, are interrupted when her only daughter leaves for college and finds out that her former lover, punk rock legend Bobby Foster, dies of a drug-overdose.  She finds watching the Weather Station is no longer enough to keep the illusion that she’s fulfilled, normal, and happy, so she begins to create the weather in her living room.

Panelists: Colby Kullman, Max Sparber     Dramaturg: Heather Helinsky

SCC 201D F

Tammy - Sasha Dobson

Ed - Tom Crew

Cindy - Noemi Berkowitz

Aaron – Tyler Hale

Donna Storm - Melissa Lewis

Hunter Lacroix - Brad Boesen

Stage Directions/The Storm - Scott Herr

7:30 p.m.

Kick-off Party

Muazzez  by Mac Wellman        Performance at 8:00 pm

Directed by Elena Araoz

Performed by Tim Siragusa
Costumes by Audio Helkuik

Music performed by Gus and Call

House of Loom

1012 South 10^th Street

9:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Concurrent PlayLab Readings

Sweet Pea’s Mama by Robert Lawrence Nelson

Directed by Anthony Clark-Kaczmarek

On the day of Martin Luther King’s assassination, what happens when the housekeeper’s love for the white woman’s developmentally challenged son exceeds the mother’s love for her own son?

Panelists: Elena Araoz, Bostin Christopher     Dramaturg: Walter Chon

SCC 201 A

Coralee – Eschelle Childers

Abigail – Kim Clark-Kaczmarek   

Georgie – Noah Diaz

Jerome – Aaron Ellis

Stage Directions – Steve Hartman

Black Sheep Gospel by Katie May

Directed by Teri Fender

With the impending death of their abusive step father. Three very different sisters must return home to confront each other and their pasts in a play that explores faith, memory, and the secret keeping in families.

Panelists: Josh Hecht, Max Sparber     Dramaturg: Anne Hamilton

SCC 201 D

Elizabeth - Julia Hinson

Dee - Erika Hall

Dot – Sarah Liken

Stage Directions - Teri Fender

End Times by Robert Kerr

Directed by Jenny Pool

Penelope, a teenager seeking her place in a fallen world tended by hazmat-suited angels, hatches a plot to learn the identity of her estranged father.  When Penelope’s father learns of her existence, he is determined, despite her mother’s objections, to meet his daughter in an attempt to achieve redemption.

Panelists: Javon Johnson, Darin Anthony     Dramaturg: Heather Helinsky

SCC 201D F

Penelope - Ashley Spessard

Quentin - Eric Grant-Leanna

Vera - Shannon Jaxies

Jess - Greg Jaxies

Doctor - Eric Green

Stackhouse - Zach Cook

Haz Mat Angels/Aunt Rae - Meganne Horrocks

Stage Directions - Laura Langan

9:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Design Wing

Mule Barn 112

12:00 p.m.

Lunch

SCC 201 B

12:30–1:15 p.m.

Luncheon Panel Series

New Directions – Dramaturgy in the Changing Theatrical Landscape

With panelists Walter Chon, Anne Hamilton and Heather Helinsky

Moderated by Kathryn Walat

SCC 201 B

1:30–3:00 p.m.

Theatre Workshop – Session Two

Creating Complicated Characters – with Rebecca Gilman

Often in drama we’re encouraged to make our characters and their motivations crystal clear.  Sometimes we forget that real people are rarely as predictable as the people we put on stage.  In this writing-intensive workshop, we will work to create characters that are as complicated, mysterious, and self-contradictory as ourselves.  Through a series of writing exercises, we will work to create characters, give them voices and circumstance, and put them in a basic blueprint for a play. 

Everybody Should Be Their Own Press Agent: Self-Promotion for Playwrights – Max Sparber

Playwright and journalist Max "Bunny" Sparber takes you on an insider's tour of public relations -- why a playwright needs to do their own promotion, how to do it, and why they can't count on a theater to do it for them. Playwrights who are serious about building an audience need to have basic skills in public relations, and this workshop will introduce you to the tools you need.

Starting at the Start – with Lee Wochner

How many ways are there to tell a story? Eleventy billion — if you could just get started. After revisiting the fundamentals of playwriting, participants will share and trade story ideas and get launched on a new play that gets them writing and leaves doubt in the rearview mirror.

Site Specific Writing – with Josh Hecht

This workshop will explore the way paying close attention to your surroundings can spark your creativity.  Location-based writing exercises will help you get below your "censor" to tap into your unconscious and write! Critical feedback method will help you uncover the richest veins of your automatic writing and pose questions for further discoveries.  Explore and imagine the city around you!

Mac Wellman: Master Class

Mule Barn 101

Mule Barn 102

Mule Barn 105

Meet in SCC 1^st Floor Lobby

Mule Barn 112

3:30-5:30 p.m.

Concurrent PlayLab Readings

Heretics by Richard Zinober

Directed by Lorie Obradovich

Lisa, a member of a new religious group has been abducted by two deprogrammers hired by her mother. As they try to get her to reveal the secrets of the group and to convince her to leave it, the session becomes a psychological battle between Lisa and Mel, the head deprogrammer who has some disturbing secrets of his own.

Panelists: Max Sparber, Lee Wochner     Dramaturg: Walter Chon

SCC 201 A

Lisa - Shannon Jaxies

Mel - Wes Clowers

Jerry - Ben Klingermann

Wendy - Jenny Cupak

Voice of Pizza Delivery Person/Stage Directions - Rob Baker

The Rock Farm by Donna Salli

Directed by Kim Clark-Kaczmarek

As a treacherous first storm builds one November evening, the women of an extended family, gathering for the weekend, are waiting for late arrivals.  Hours pass as they worry and remind one another of what it means to be a family, even as they trip over one another’s tender spots.

Panelists: Sibyl Kempson, Ron Zank     Dramaturg: Anne Hamilton

SCC 201 D

Raija Kivisto Korpi - Carrie Feingold

Ann Korpi Middleton - Julie Huff

Sarah Korpi - Tracy Wernsman

Helmi Kivisto Meyer - Marion Priesman

Carolyn Meyer Driscoll - Erin Stoll

Stage Directions - Anthony Clark-Kaczmarek

Four Days in the Delta by Kristen D. Boers

Directed by Todd Brooks

Sadie and Oliver are planning their dream wedding when she stumbles across the case of Emmett Till's 1955 lynching. Obsessed with learning more about the unknown woman who was the catalyst for the event, Sadie becomes so fixated on the past that she threatens her future.

Panelists: Darin Anthony, Gail Renardson     Dramaturg: Heather Helinsky

SCC 201 F

Oliver - D. Kevin Williams

Sadie - Liz Mulhern

Lanessa/Actor 1 - Rusheaa Smith-Turner

Actor 2 - Sara Planck

Actor 3 - Gary Planck

Stage Directions - Andy Niess

7:30 p.m.

PlayFest 2012

Raskol by Kira Obolensky

Directed by Julia Hinson

Music composed/performed by Bill Hoover & Pearl Boyd

Set designed by artist Kristin Pluhacek

Inspired by Dostoyevsky's book Crime and Punishment, Raskol tells the story of a young student who commits a horrific crime under the influence of a dangerous idea—that there are extraordinary people who can commit crime without any fear of punishment. Raskol— in a post-crime delirium— meets Sonya, a religious whore, and Perfidy, a police investigator who befriends the student even as he suspects him of the crime. Set in a timeless world that is connected both to our contemporary times and to the 19th-century St. Petersburg of the novel, the play features songs set to an improvisational "soundtrack".

Talkback after performance.

Burlington Train Station

1001 S. 10^th St.

9:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Concurrent PlayLab Readings

The Confessions of Deacon Jim by Jason Aaron Goldberg

Directed by Jonathan Wilhoft

The deadliest man in the history of the west was a quiet, well dressed, church going, family man who was hired by many to dispense justice during his long career.  This is the story of his final days, and the climactic event deemed by many historians as the “end of the wild west.”

Panelists: Javon Johnson, Gail Renardson     Dramaturg: Walter Chon

SCC 201 A

Samuel Wyatt - Rick Tritz

Annie Wyatt - Jennifer Tritz

Jim Miller - Brian Zealand

Sheriff Tom Smith/Man 4 – Clark Anderson

Bud Nestor/Sid Higgins/Pete/Mob Man 2/Man 3 - Vernon Wheeler

Walter Goyne/Tom Snow/Man 1/Mob Man 3 - Don  Harris

Jesse West - Matt Kellehan

Joe Allen - Andy Niess

B.B. Burrell - J. Scott Fowler

John Williamson/Dick/Doc/Judge/Photographer/Man 2 & 1 – Jamie Lewis

Stage Directions - Andrea Lang

A Change of Plans by Tim Blough

Directed by Beth Thompson

Brothers Corey and Red spend weeks methodically planning to rob the local check cashing store, but when the job goes awry they spontaneously kidnap a  young mother to cover their tracks. As tensions rise to a volatile pitch, one of the brothers befriends the women, forcing A Change Of Plans.

Panelists: Darin Anthony, Colby Kullman     Dramaturg: Anne Hamilton

SCC 201 D

Corey -  Scott Kroeker

Red - Nick Zadina

Cheryl - Ashley Spessard

Yawna - Aaron Ellis

Ann - Rebecca Davis

Stage Directions - Sarah Liken

Alligator by Hillary Bettis

Directed by Elena Araoz

Lucy, a doe-eyed runaway, shows up on the front porch of Emerald and Ty's 'gator farm in the backwoods of the Florida Everglades desperate to win them over…even if it leads to murder. The only hope left rests on Emerald who must face the demon that haunts her every waking moment.

Panelists: Sibyl Kempson, Jeanette Plourde     Dramaturg: Heather Helinsky

SCC 201 F

Rex – Bostin Christopher

Emerald – Erin Mallon

Ty/Sasha  –

Lucy – Eliza Bent

Dianne – Megan Gaffney

Merick – Gavin Price

Danny – Shane Steiger

Stage Directions – Kristin Tripe

9:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Design Wing

Mule Barn 112

12:00 p.m.

Lunch

SCC 201 B

12:30–1:15 p.m.

Luncheon Panel Series

The View from Here – Young Artists Speak

With members of St. Fortune Productions, Red Theatre Omaha and Lone Tree Productions

Moderated by Eliza Bent

SCC 201 B

1:30–3:30 p.m.

Concurrent PlayLab Readings

The Gin Dialogues by Kit Williamson

Directed by Brad Dell

A young boy becomes fixated on the idea of entering into a pederastic relationship with his fourth grade teacher after reading “The Symposium” by Plato and convinces him to begin tutoring him after school.  The platonic bond that they form ultimately has a profound effect on both of their families and lives.

Panelists: Gail Renardson, Lee Wochner     Dramaturg: Walter Chon

SCC 201 A

Marshall Howard - Matt Foss

Gin Pallas - Brent LeBlanc

Jack D. Pallas - Jeff White

Amaretto Pallas - Madison Welterlen

Vivica Howard - Kelly Schaefer

Paxson - Josh Ster

Stage Directions - Austin Kopsa

The Highway Play by Erin Phillips

Directed by Ron Zank

How do we say goodbye to someone who disappears?

Panelists: Bostin Christopher, Josh Hecht     Dramaturg: Anne Hamilton

SCC 201 D

Paula - Molly Welsh

Lyle -

Bill - Michael Markey

Martha - Kim Jubenville

Bonnie - Stephanie Kidd    

The Trucker – Joshua Waterstone

Stage Directions – Shawna Mefferd Carroll

Turquoise Pontiac by Ellsworth Schave

Directed by Greg Jaxies

A guy walks into a bar and says to the bartender, “I was nearly run off the road and killed by a diesel train speeding down the highway with a Wagnerian soprano balanced on top of it, singing and waving a spear!”  The bartender says, “Was she a pretty woman?”

Panelists: Elena Araoz, Colby Kullman     Dramaturg: Heather Helinsky

SCC 201 F

Traveler – Zach Cook

Bartender – Thomas Becker

Soprano – Mary Beth Becker

Engineer – Randy Vest

Stage Directions – Shannon Jaxies

3:45–5:30  p.m.

Concurrent PlayLab Readings

There Is No Woman by Robin Buckallew

Directed by Kathleen Lawler

A perky young co-ed volunteers for a psychological experiment, and finds herself subjected to a series of mind-games that gradually convince her she is someone else. Things get complicated when the person she believes herself to be turns up and claims his identity; only through evaluation of their own deeply held beliefs can they untwist themselves and outwit the unseen experimenter.

Panelists: Gail Renardson, Lee Wochner     Dramaturg: Walter Chon

SCC 201 A

Voice - Molly Welsh

Jane - Mallory Freilich

Jeff - Bill Grennan

Stage Directions - Jonathan Hustead

Sisters Under the Skin by Paulette MacDougal

Directed by Bonnie Gill

Shortly after the American Civil War, three women, a slave-holding abolitionist, her slave, and the First Lady herself, divulge their complicated relationships and, inadvertently, their influence on the history of our country. At a time when women were not allowed to speak in public, each is addressing a public group, revealing courageous acts, divergent beliefs about the morality of slavery, and her role in the heartache with which that war was won and lost. 

Panelists: Bostin Christopher, Josh Hecht     Dramaturg: Anne Hamilton

SCC 201 D

Elizabeth Van Lew - Sherry Fletcher

Mary Bowser - Beaufield Berry

Mrs. Jefferson Davis - Danielle Smith

Stage Directions - Stephanie Elrod

The Egg Play by Candice Benge

Directed by Gavin Price

Beth is a distinguished literature professor and Robert is an OB-GYN specializing in fertility treatments.  They both have successful careers and a happy marriage until a break-through in Robert's research reveals some insecurities about their own (in)fertility.

Panelists: Elena Araoz, Colby Kullman     Dramaturg: Heather Helinsky

SCC 201 F

Bethany Fleagle - Sara Farrington

Clare Tinsley - Megan Gaffney

Robert Fleagle - Frank Boudreaux

Stage Directions  - John Gasper   

7:30 p.m.

PlayFest 2012

Raskol by Kira Obolensky

See Sunday, May 27 schedule for details.

The Burlington Train Station

1001 S. 10th St.

7:30 p.m.

Fringe

Mickey & Sage by Sara Farrington

Toilet Times with Eliza Bent by Eliza Bent

Please Do Not Feed The Balloon Animals by St. Fortune Production

Stair Lift by Brigid Amos

Negatives by Richard Corum

Katie F-S

SCC 201 A/B/D/F

9:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.  

Concurrent PlayLab Readings

Assassin by David Robson

Directed by Danielle Smith

Three decades ago, feared NFL defensive back Jack Tatum, nicknamed the “Assassin,” ended receiver Darryl Stingley’s career, and put him in a wheelchair. Tonight, Jack desperately seeks a meeting with the man he paralyzed and looks for a chance at some measure of redemption. Standing in his way is a young attorney and a secret that may destroy them both.

Panelists: Kip Fagan, Sibyl Kempson     Dramaturg: Walter Chon

SCC 201 A

Jack -  Carl  Brooks

Lewis - Javon Johnson

Stage Directions -  Danielle Smith

Honor Student by Michael Erickson

Directed by Krystal Kelly

A student in a college creative writing class writes a story about a mass shooting on campus featuring the professor and many of her students in the class. Should the student be allowed to read his story in class, or be expelled? Is the story protected speech, or a blueprint for a future mass murder? 

Panelists: Bostin Christopher, Ron Zank     Dramaturg: Anne Hamilton

SCC 201 D

Noami Orozoco-Wallace - Ashley Spessard

Jason Kemp - Bill Grennan

Davis Hrring - Jeffrey Bell

Donna Hellinger – Tammy L. Meneghini

Stage Directions - Krystal Kelly

Dancing Turbo Chess Masters of the Universe by Drew Katzman

Directed by Fran Sillau

This cosmic, comic tragedy explores the deepest secrets of the universe, of the human heart and of the repercussions of living the American dream circa the early twenty-first century – oh yeah, that’s now, huh?

Panelists: Josh Hecht, Colby Kullman     Dramaturg: Heather Helinsky

SCC 201 F

David Braylock – Eric Griffith

Millie Braylock - Mia Linn Morris

Andy Braylock - Connor Maynihan

Rainbow Braylock - Samantha Brown

Francine Braylock - Sara Farrington

Kent Franklin - Preston Taylor

Stage Directions - Stephanie Anderson

9:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.  

Design Wing

Mule Barn 112

12:00 p.m.

Lunch

SCC 201 B

12:30–1:15 p.m.

Luncheon Panel Series

Directors Speak – Faustian Paths – Commercial Pressures and Producing New Work

With panelists Kip Fagan and Todd Olson

Moderated by Hughston Walkinshaw

SCC 201 B

1:30–4:00 p.m.

MainStage Series Reading

Three Views of the Same Object by Henry Murray

Directed by Sonia Keffer

The story of love that endures to the end of life. An elderly couple is forced to renegotiate their suicide pact when one of them becomes seriously ill.

Panelists: Rebecca Gilman, Constance Congdon, Kira Obolensky

Dramaturg: Walter Chon

SCC 201 A

Jesse 1 - Pat Kies

Poppy 1 - Dick Mueller

Jesse 2 - Mary Kelly

Poppy 2 - Jonathon Wilhoft

Jesse 3 - Pegi Georgeson

Mrs. Widkin - Kim Jubenville

Alison - Amy Lane

Stage Directions - Doug Hayko

7:30 p.m.

PlayFest 2012

at the vanishing point by Naomi Iizuka

Directed by D. Scott Glasser

Music composed/performed by Shane Aspegren

Set designed by artist Ying Zhu

Snapshots of a moment in time... A story of how we remember and how we see; of people and a place, of ghosts and hauntings; a story of what we know and all that we can never know. A story of what we hold on to and what we let go.

at the vanishing point is based on the Butchertown neighborhood of Louisville, KY and inspired by the photography of Ralph Eugene Meatyard.

Talkback after performance.

KANEKO

1111 Jones Street

9:00 p.m.

House of Loom/BlueBarn’s Witching Hour’s Karaoke Theatre

On the last Tuesday of every month, Karaoke Theatre picks a local theater or troupe to highlight and support. This month they chose the Great Plains Theatre Conference. The theme for the night is John Hughes Songbook, so get your ‘80’s on and join us!

This event is optional.

No transportation will be provided to or from.

No Cover / 21+

House of Loom

1012 South 10th Street

10:30-noon

Theatre Workshop – Session Three

Creating Complicated Characters – with Rebecca Gilman

Often in drama we’re encouraged to make our characters and their motivations crystal clear.  Sometimes we forget that real people are rarely as predictable as the people we put on stage.  In this writing-intensive workshop, we will work to create characters that are as complicated, mysterious, and self-contradictory as ourselves.  Through a series of writing exercises, we will work to create characters, give them voices and circumstance, and put them in a basic blueprint for a play. 

Curious Text – with Kira Obolensky

We live in a time when we are inundated by language--most of it generic --that clutters and obfuscates.  How do we write language that is intended to be heard above the din? Working with text generated in class exercises as well as students’ own works-in-progress, we’ll consider how spoken language can allow us to we see and hear at the same time, as well as techniques for transforming dialogue into gripping, unforgettable, entirely "hear-able" language for the theatre. 

Freefall: Cultivating the Unknowable in Making Theatre – with Jeanette Plourde

This theatre-making workshop explores ways the creative impulse can manifest when we place ourselves in the (destabilizing and sometimes terrifying) position of creating devised performance without a pre-existing text.  The workshop will ask us inherently to reconsider our personal notions of narrative and seek new possibilities of form in storytelling.  It will encourage us to position ourselves in realms of the unknown (and unknowable) to cultivate the creation and discovery of meaning in performance.  This workshop will explore the territory of theatre-making where such things as sound can be character, light an agent of dramatic action, and non-literal gesture an integral component of plot.  We will look at how formal concepts such as repetition, juxtaposition, counterpoint, scale, and time (as they manifest across movement, speech, sound, light, objects, color, and the universe) – both planned and accidental – function in our perception of performance.  No prior experience with devising theatre necessary.  Writers, designers, performers and fabricators across disciplines are encouraged to participate.  Please dress comfortably. 

Intuitive Research – with Sibyl Kempson

What is your relationship to your research? Does it feel like work? Drudgery even? Do you get stuck? Do you get bored? Is it, for you, a necessary evil? You might be using the wrong side of your brain. Consider these pithy quotes from some of the greatest and most famous ‘geniuses’ of our age:

“Genius lies in the obscurity of one’s sources. “ – Albert Einstein.

“I never search, I only find. “ – Pablo Picasso.

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” – Albert Einstein (again).

“Try working with the second or third most obvious association that presents itself.” – Mac Wellman.

“The only real valuable thing is intuition.” – Albert Einstein (AGAIN!).

This workshop will be held in the library, so that we can do some actual research. Please bring a piece of writing, or the seeds of a piece of writing, that you are currently working on that requires research of some kind. We will work as one large group, and also in pairs, to better our relationship to our research, and to open the doors of our own individual “passionate curiosity.”

Mule Barn 101

Mule Barn 102

Mule Barn 112

MCC Library – Bldg. 8

Meet in SCC Lobby at 10:15 for transportation to library

10:30 am – 12:00 pm

Design Wing

Mule Barn Atrium

12:00 p.m.

Lunch

SCC 201 B

12:30–1:15 p.m.

Luncheon Panel Series

Sustenance in the Alternative

With panelists Sibyl Kempson, Jeanette Plourde and Mac Wellman

Moderated by Eliza Bent

SCC 201 B

1:30-5 p.m.

MainStage Series Reading

Joe Corso Re-enters From the Wings by Todd Olson

Directed by M. Michele Phillips

What happens when a major regional theatre posthumously produces the world premiere by an American icon…only to learn that the playwright might not have written the play at all? Joe Corso, a comedy about the inner battles of a regional theatre, tackles touchy areas like sexual orientation, politics in the theatre, board members with subversive agendas and marketing directors who will do anything to get butts in seats.

Panelists: Rebecca Gilman, Constance Congdon, Kira Obolensky      Dramaturg: Anne Hamilton

SCC 201 A

Joe Corso -  Scott Working

Buddy - Eric Grant-Leanna

PJ - Nick Zadina

Catherine Contantine - Judy Radcliff

Jeremy Remi - Matt Allen

Bertie - Kim Jubenville

Stage Directions - M. Michele Phillips

7:30 p.m.

PlayFest 2012

Tales of the Lost Formicans by Constance Congdon

Directed by Cindy Melby Phaneuf

Music composed/performed by The Answer Team

Set designed by artist Littleton Alston

Narrated by a group of alien archaeologists, the play follows a suburban family sliding into dysfunction as the patriarch succumbs to Alzheimer's disease, a daughter moves back home after leaving her husband and her son runs away and ends up sleeping in shopping malls. Tripping over their own efforts, the family's search for love parallels the quest of alien visitors to understand our absurd human world.  

Talkback after performance.

Reception following in the MCC Elkhorn Valley Campus art gallery.

On top of a prairie hill

at the eastern edge of

Metropolitan Community College’s Elkhorn Valley Campus

829 N. 204^th St.

Elkhorn

Rain location:

Lied Education Center for the Arts

2500 California Plaza

In the event of rain, the decision to move this performance to the alternate location will be posted on the GPTC website and Facebook page.

7:30 p.m.

PlayFest 2012

at the vanishing point by Naomi Iizuka

See Tuesday, May 29 schedule for details.

KANEKO

1111 Jones Street

9:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.  

Concurrent PlayLab Readings

The King of Cage Street by Michael Oatman

Directed by Scott Working

The King of Cage Street, the story of D-Bear: and ex-drug dealer trying to figure out the second phase of his life can best be described as a cross between The Crying Game and High Noon.

Panelists: Elena Araoz, Max Sparber     Dramaturg: Walter Chon

SCC 201 A

D-Bear - Javon Johnson

Dime - Roderick Cotton

Skully - D. Kevin Williams

Rio - Devel Crisp

Rossdale – Kim Estes

Stage Directions - Raydell Cordell, III

Alice in Black and White by Robin Rice Lichtig

Directed by Ron Zank

The true story of photographer Alice Austen's struggles to maintain her independence despite straight-laced Victorian society. 

Panelists: Bostin Christopher, Gail Renardson     Dramaturg: Anne Hamilton

SCC 201 D

Oliver Jensen – Mark Schnitzler

Sally Lally - Kim Gambino

Alice Austen - Sara Wagner

Elizabeth/Homeless Woman - Tammy L. Meneghini

Gertrude/Julia - Shawna Mefferd Carroll

Grandfather/Rufus/Peter/Rodgers Wintrhop - Randy Vest

Minn, etc  - Eliza Bent

Stage Directions – Ron Zank

Match by Jennifer Maisel

Directed by Lee Wochner

Match is a journey into the underbelly of bartering for your organs…and perhaps for your soul.

Panelists: Josh Hecht, Darin Anthony     Dramaturg: Heather Helinsky

SCC 201 F

Leo -  Matthew Pyle

Leyla - Andrea Hart

Ben -   Donald Seaman

Maddy - Rebecca Davis

Moss -  Paul Boesing

Stage Directions -  Haley Haas

9:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.  

Design Wing

Mule Barn 112

12:00 p.m.

Lunch

SCC 201 B

12:30–1:15 p.m.

Luncheon Panel Series

StageWrite – The Work of Women in American Theatre

With panelists Rebecca Gilman, Constance Congdon and Kira Obolensky

Moderated by Andrea Lang

SCC 201 B

1:30–3:00 p.m.

Concurrent PlayLab Readings

Death on Roller Skates by Emily Daly

Directed by Amy Schweid

On the sidelines of a roller rink, Death is taking her lunch break. When she meets the rink’s soda fountain girl Sheryl, they discover they have a lot more in common than either of them had thought.

Panelists: Elena Araoz, Javon Johnson     Dramaturg: Walter Chon

SCC 201 A

Dee - Julia Hinson

Sheryl - Kristin Tripe

Stage Directions - Melissa Carnahan

Fallbeil by Liz Maestri

Directed by Roxanne Wach

Two girls meet in a graveyard. Although the odds are stacked against them, they both fight to free themselves and the ones they love from the inevitability of time and tragedy. 

Panelists: Lee Wochner, Ron Zank     Dramaturg: Anne Hamilton

SCC 201 D

Sophie Scholl - Suzanne Withem

Fritz - Jay Huse

Hans - Eric Grant-Leanna

Else - Liz Mulhern

Karl – Adam Haverman

Stage Directions -  Dan Wach

German language assistance - Sherry Fletcher

Sister Thimble by Levi Smith

Directed by Demian Ryder

In the bedroom of an Amish farmhouse somewhere out in the Midwest, Rebekah discovers a grim secret involving her older sister’s recent illness, an illness that Rebekah believes is purely for show. 

Panelists: Sibyl Kempson, Max Sparber     Dramaturg: Heather Helinsky

SCC 201 F

Rebekah - Jesse Hager

Anna - Sandra Mollman

Mary Bowser - Devin Tumpkin

Dr. Beiler - Nick Zadina

Stage Directions - Lauren Carlson

3:15–5:30 p.m.

MainStage Series Reading

Nureyev’s Eyes by David Rush

Directed by Darin Anthony

Over the course of several years, Jamie Wyeth paints a series of studies on Rudolph Nureyev, and both lives are irrevocably changed. Based on actual history. 

Panelists: Rebecca Gilman, Constance Congdon, Kira Obolensky

Dramaturg: Heather Helinsky

SCC 201 A

Jamie Wyeth – Hughston Walkinshaw

Rudolf Nureyev – Kevin Lawler

Stage Directions – Krystal Kelly

7:30 p.m.

PlayFest 2012

YOU’RE LOOKING GOOD! (cabin pressure) with Jeanette Plourde

Directed by Jeanette Plourde with the GPTC Movement Wing

Music composed/performed by David Downing

Set designed by artist Angeles Cossio

YOU'RE LOOKING GOOD! (cabin pressure) is a site-specific workshop wherein a group of artists, working together for eight days have come up with an assembly of text, movement and design all in relation to the place of performance. It is an ensemble piece conceived and directed by Jeanette Plourde in collaboration with all the performers and designers involved.

YOU'RE LOOKING GOOD! (cabin pressure) will explore our perceived place in the universe as grasped from the roof of a parking garage. It is an attempt to consider making theatre from formal ways, allowing text and narrative to emerge from the situation, rather than the other way around. It is also a chance to encounter performance on different terms using space, language and story in refreshing, innovative combinations.

GPTC Movement Wing participants:

Erin Clark

Colin Ferguson

Kim Gambino

Kat Lessor

Catie Miller

Olivia Sather

Amy Schweid

Jason Thomas

Vernon Wheeler

Talkback after performance.

Top Floor

Omaha Park Two Parking Garage 

1313 Harney

Rain location:

One  floor down

Omaha Park Two Parking Garage 

1313 Harney

7:30 p.m.

PlayFest 2012

Tales of the Lost Formicans by Constance Congdon

See Wednesday, May 30 schedule for details.

On top of a prairie hill

at the eastern edge of

Metropolitan Community College’s Elkhorn Valley Campus

829 N. 204^th St.

Rain location:

Lied Education Center for the Arts

2500 California Plaza

In the event of rain, the decision to move this performance to the alternate location will be posted on the GPTC website and Facebook page. Box office staff will make every effort to contact ticket holders.

9:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Concurrent PlayLab Readings

The Butcher by Gwydion Suilebhan

Directed by Javon Johnson

An Iranian American butcher and his wife, a reporter and an investigator, and one innocent family try to make sense of a small but perplexing act of suburban terrorism.

Panelists: Darin Anthony, Colby Kullman     Dramaturg: Walter Chon

SCC 201 A

Massoud Esfahani - Frank Boudreaux

Sholeh Esfahani - Elena Araoz

Jane Horvath - Eliza Bent

Wes Horvath - Joshua Waterstone

Elaine Carlo - Sarah Wiggin

Stage Directions - Maddie Radcliff

Solomon’s Blade by Lisa Beth Allen

Directed by Steve Hartman

Who wouldn't want to raise their own sister's child?  Tamar Greenwold, until she discovers the adopting mother isn't who she seems to be.

Panelists: Gail Renardson, Ron Zank     Dramaturg: Anne Hamilton

SCC 201 D

Hannah Greenwold -  Zoey Newman

Michelle Greenwold - Olivia Sather

Clark Garrison - Derrick Crawford

Tamar Greenwold - Mary Kelly

Kristin Joseph - Kim Gambino

Sahrrah Shouman - Rebecca Davis

Amahr Reddy – Doug Blackburn

Stage Directions - Steve Hartman

feeling. by Paul Cameron Hardy

Directed by Danny Carroll

After Emma's longtime boyfriend leaves her, she begins spending most of her waking hours with long-deceased Jeffrey Dahmer.

Panelists: Kip Fagan, Jeanette Plourde     Dramaturg: Heather Helinsky

SCC 201 F

Emma - Erin Mallon

Alex - David French

Oliver - Jack Frederick

Janet - Sara Farrington

Ben - John Gasper

Jeffrey Dahmer - Gavin Price

Stage Directions – Danny Carroll  

9:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Design Wing

Mule Barn 112

12:00 p.m.

Lunch

SCC 201 B

12:30–1:15 p.m.

Luncheon Panel Series

Open Mic: Sharing of Community Resources

SCC 201 B

1:30–3:00 p.m.

Theatre Workshop – Session Four

Locating the Tone – with Kip Fagan

Many contemporary playwrights influenced by experimentalists like Mac Wellman and avant-garde companies like the Wooster Group have returned to “well-made play” narrative conventions while retaining the blown-out structures and inventive theatricality of their influences. Is there a common language for approaching these plays in rehearsal? This workshop examines the tools needed — and the tools that need to be invented — for rehearsing this kind of work.

Writing in the Moment – with Constance Congdon

Using timed exercises and given circumstances, Congdon allows the writer to ignite the imagination without worry, frustration, and belabored results.  Just bring lots of paper, writing implements, and a willingness to let go and write.  Come out of the class with plays and not just entries Notebook Limbo.

Everybody Should Be Their Own Press Agent: Self-Promotion for Playwrights – Max Sparber

Playwright and journalist Max "Bunny" Sparber takes you on an insider's tour of public relations -- why a playwright needs to do their own promotion, how to do it, and why they can't count on a theater to do it for them. Playwrights who are serious about building an audience need to have basic skills in public relations, and this workshop will introduce you to the tools you need.

Disorder and the Post-Dramatic – with Sibyl Kempson & Jeanette Plourde

This performance workshop navigates the rarely-addressed continuum between stage presence per se and absence of self on stage. We will look at stage absence as an essential component of possible Post-Dramatic theater forms. Disorderly are our attempts to break free of the cause-and-effect logic that drowns the actual experience of theater. And then we must find meaning in an experience whose meaning is not decided and told to us ahead of time. Participants will work with text and also examine the body as a potentially interesting template upon which to make theater. Dress to move!

Mule Barn 101

Mule Barn 105

Mule Barn 106

Mule Barn 112

3:15–5:30 p.m.

MainStage Series Reading

Conk and Bone by Joe Musso

Directred by Josh Hecht

A tale of two hapless men from New Orleans preparing the dead to meet Charon, Hades' boatman.

Panelists: Rebecca Gilman, Constance Congdon, Kira Obolensky       Dramaturg: Walter Chon

SCC 201 A

Conk - Gavin Price

Bone - Danny Carroll

Rod - Bostin Christopher

Achilles - Jack Frederick

Stage Directions – Stephanie Kidd

7:30 p.m.

PlayFest2012

The Crowd You’re in With by Rebecca Gilman

Directed by Denise Chapman

Music composed/performed by George Walker

Set Designed by artist Wanda Ewing

In the backyard of a Chicago two-flat on the 4th of July, three intelligent and liberal couples engage in what begins as friendly conversation, but soon evolves into a heated debate about the pros and cons of starting a family. Jasper and Melinda are considering having a baby, Dan and Windsong are enthusiastically expectant and Tom and Karen have opted not to have children. As the innocuous barbeque turns into an ideological confrontation, each couple must ask themselves how much the crowd they're in with determines the course of their lives.

Talkback after the performance.

Outdoors at the

Union for Contemporary Art

2417 Burdette St.

Rain location:

The Burlington Train Station

1001 S. 10th St.

In the event of rain, the decision to move this performance to the alternate location will be posted on the GPTC website and Facebook page. Box office staff will make every effort to contact ticket holders.

7:30 a.m. -4:00 p.m.

Conference Registration and Information Center

SCC 1^st Floor Lobby

9:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

MainStage Series Reading

BLISS (or Emily Post is Dead!) by Jami Brandli

Directed by Kip Fagan

How far does a woman have to run in order to escape her fate? Four women stand at the edge of a cliff.  If they jump, they’ll fall…Or perhaps they will fly.

Panelists: Rebecca Gilman, Constance Congdon, Kira Obolensky

Dramaturg: Anne Hamilton

SCC 201 A

Clementine (Clytemnestra) - Sara Wagner

Maddy (Medea) – Kim Gambino

Antonia (Antigone) – Erin Mallon

Apollo/Doctor Smith/Jason's Voice/Uncle's Voice  - Jeffrey Bell

Cassandra (Cassandra) -  Beaufield Berry

Stage Directions – Megan Gaffney

12:00 p.m.

Lunch

Mule Barn Atrium

12:30–2:00 p.m.

Luncheon Panel Series

GPTC Design Wing Presentations

With panelists Peter Ksander and Design Wing participants

Mallory Prucha

Charles Fisher

Juliana Beecher

Cecilia Durbin

Rachel Peterson

Moderated by Peter Ksander

Mule Barn Atrium

2:00–3:30 p.m.

The 2012 PlaySlam

The PlaySlam is a GPTC tradition of sharing short plays written throughout the week of the conference.

Mule Barn Atrium

6:30–9:30 p.m.

7:30 pm

Closing Gala Reception

Gala Evening honoring Rebecca Gilman

with presentation of the 2012 Great Plains Playwright Awards

Program

Fort Omaha Campus,

Outdoors at the SCC Patio

Rain location SCC 201