PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND COMMUNITY COLLEGE VALDEZ, ALASKA JUNE 14-20, 2015 The Twenty-Third Annual LAST FRONTIER THEATRE CONFERENCE i Prince William Sound Community College presents The Twenty-Third Annual Last Frontier Theatre Conference June 14-20, 2015 COORDINATOR’S WELCOME....................................................................... 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS SCHEDULE OF EVENTS.................................................................................. 2 PRODUCING COMPANY BIOS...................................................................... 15 JUNE 20 DAYTIME ENTERTAINMENT.......................................................... 17 EVENING GALA.............................................................................................. 18 JERRY HARPER SERVICE AWARD................................................................. 19 PLAY LAB PHILOSOPHY......................................................................................... 20 CAST LISTS............................................................................................. 21 FEATURED ARTIST BIOS................................................................................ 31 IN MEMORIAM................................................................................................ 38 PLAYWRIGHT BIOS....................................................................................... 39 READER BIOS................................................................................................. 50 NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD..................................................................... 72 BENEFACTORS................................................................................... BACK PAGE Welcome to the Twenty-Third Annual Last Frontier Theatre Conference. Prince William Sound Community College (PWSCC) and the community of Valdez are excited to share this week with you. It’s an exciting time at PWSCC. We have a leader without the word “interim” before his title. J. Daniel O’Connor is great for the college, using his extensive background in higher education to help it grown enrollment and maintain its usefulness to the communities we serve. Most importantly to anyone reading this, he has had nothing but unwavering support for this event. He sees the importance of what we do here each year, and under his leadership, our growth is assured. We are also in the process of changing our accreditation status. For many years, we have boasted of being the only independently accredited community college in Alaska. Now it’s time for us to let go of that independence and join the larger University of Alaska family as a part of UAA. Major transitions are almost always painful. They involve sacrifices, and changes in the status quo. They involve compromise. For me, it’s been great. The University is proud of our little event, and wants it to succeed. They’ve been very helpful with that this year, and I’d like to particularly thank my contact at UAA Development, Kelly Donnelly, for all her help in pulling together the event’s first-ever mass-mailing fundraising campaign. Her guidance has been invaluable. This year, we are very pleased to recognize Alaskan icons David Edgecombe and Elizabeth COORDINATOR’S WELCOME Ware with the Jerry Harper Service Award. They arrived in Anchorage 25 years ago, and have been major players in the Anchorage arts scene and this Conference since then. They’ll be leaving the state for warmer climes this year, and we couldn’t be more proud to honor their contributions to this Conference and, indeed, the entire state’s theatre. Thanks in advance to the staff I’m going to work pretty hard this week, particularly my assistant, Jay Stevens, for his amazing work ethic and dedication, and my long-time collaborator, Ryan Buen, who has been with me since I started here. I’m running out of space, but also special thanks to Michael Holcombe, Ted Hooker, and Shannon Foster. Thanks for being a part of our Conference family for this week. Have a great time, and let us know if you need anything: we’ll try to help. Welcome to Valdez! Dawson Moore Conference Coordinator 1 For the most up to date schedule, check the video display at the SATURDAY, JUNE 13 front desk or signage in front of the rooms. 10:00 a.m. Registration Desk open 7:00 p.m. Meet and Greet in the Mariner’s Room at the Valdez Harbor Inn 2 Room A Room B Room C 10:30 a.m. Room A: How the Play Lab Works, from Practicality to Philosophy, with Guillermo Reyes, Dawson Moore, and Aoise Stratford 12:45 p.m. Lunch Break 1:30 p.m. Joy of Phonetics, Part 1:30 p.m. Writing from Your One: Filling the Space, with Ben Unconscious with John Yearley Corbett 3:00 p.m. Monologue Workshop 3:00 p.m. It’s Not Just An Art with Laura Gardner and Frank (The Business of Playwriting and Collison, Part One Screenwriting) with William Missouri Downs 4:30 p.m. The Playwright Takes the Plunge: Into Directing, Your Own Play and Other People’s with Guillermo Reyes 6:00 p.m. Welcome Reception & Fish Fry for Conference participants 8:00 p.m. Truth Be Told: Sinners and Saints; An Evening with our Play Lab Panelists. Designed by Gregory Pulver. SUNDAY, JUNE 14 10:00 p.m. (approximate) Fringe Festival at The Fat Mermaid How the Play Lab Works, from Practicality to Philosophy, with Guillermo Reyes, Dawson Moore, and Aoise Stratford An overview of the Play Lab process, covering everything from its overarching philosophy to the nitty-gritty details of where you go to rehearse. Writing From Your Unconscious with John Yearley All your best ideas, the ones that are unique to you, are in your unconscious. They are there for you to use if you know how to get to them. This class will help you learn how to tell the stories that only you can tell. Joy of Phonetics, with Ben Corbett This week of workshops will enliven and broaden the actor’s experience of vowels and consonants. In an environment that encourages play and discovery, participants will explore virtually all sounds of the English language, physicalize and express attributes of individual sounds, and discover how those sounds carry the actor’s passion and need to communicate. Each workshop will awaken the actor’s body and senses, and prepare him/her for that day’s rehearsals and readings. Participants are free to come to one, some, or all of the week’s workshops. Sunday’s Workshop: Filling the Space Participants learn a warm up to free their voices in order to fill a performance space without undue force and strain. Workshop focus will be freeing tension in the lip, necks and torso. Monologue Workshop with Laura Gardner and Frank Collison, Part One How to research, rehearse, and make a monologue come to life for both you and for the writer. The Workshop gives actors the tools and hands on experience to fully inhabit, create, and bring themselves to the work. Actors come with memorized pieces and preliminary work done using the preparation sheet provided prior to the Conference. Work takes place over two classes and by individual appointment, and features memorized monologues written by this year’s participating playwrights. It’s Not Just An Art (The Business of Playwriting and Screenwriting) with William Missouri Downs Being a playwright or screenwriter isn’t just about writing, you must also know how to market yourself, your product and make a little money. This workshop highlights a few techniques to help with the business side of play and screenwriting, and the challenges of trying to make a living (and a life) as a writer. The Playwright Takes the Plunge: Into Directing, Your Own Play and Other People’s with Guillermo Reyes A discussion over the learning process for playwrights who find themselves eager to expand into directing, sometimes because they feel they need to self-produce and self-direct, or because they find themselves eager to expand their skills. Reyes discusses the pratfalls, dangers, and rewards of such a move, and delineates basic steps. 3 Rehearsal Schedule Men’s Dressing Room Women’s Dressing Room Green Room 10:45 a.m. Kyra Meyer’s 10:45 a.m. Andrew Joseph Brown’s Tree Forts The Choice is Yours 11:40 a.m. David MacGregor’s 11:40 a.m. Paul Braverman’s 11:40 a.m. Nicholas Walker Herbert’s Smoker No Good Deed Killing Grandma 2:10 p.m. Arthur M. Jolly’s 2:10 p.m. Andrea Staats’ 2:10 p.m. Thomas Pierce’s Straw, Sticks, Bricks Miss Dial Blue Lagoon 3:10 p.m. Tim Bohn’s 3:10 p.m. Tess Light’s 3:10 p.m. Catherine Weingarten’s Clean to the Bone To Conceive Gods Are You Ready to Get PAMPERED!? 4:00 p.m. (In ballroom C) Merridawn Duckler’s Origin Story Play Lab casts meet at the Front Desk. Tonight’s Show... 4 Room A Room B Room C 9:00 a.m. Joy of Phonetics, Part Two: Introduction to Phonetic Pillows, with Ben Corbett 10:00 a.m. to Noon Lunch Room: Individual Appointments for the Monologue Workshop with Laura Gardner and Frank Collison 10:00 a.m. Play Lab: 10:00 a.m. Play Lab: 10:00 a.m. Play Lab: Merridawn Duckler’s Kyra Meyer’s Andrew Joseph Brown’s Origin Story Tree Forts The Choice is Yours 10:45 a.m. Play Lab: 10:45 a.m. Play Lab: 10:45 a.m. Play Lab: David MacGregor’s Paul Braverman’s Nicholas Walker Herbert’s Smoker No Good Deed Killing Grandma 12:45 p.m. Lunch Break 1:30 p.m. Vision / Revision: 1:30 p.m. Warm-ups and Beat Generating Ideas and Solving Downs with Michael Hood Roadblocks with Aoise Stratford 3:00 p.m. Play Lab: 3:00 p.m. Play Lab: 3:00 p.m. Play Lab: MONDAY, JUNE 15 Arthur M. Jolly’s Andrea Staats’ Thomas Pierce’s Straw, Sticks, Bricks Miss Dial Blue Lagoon 3:45 p.m. Play Lab: 3:45 p.m. Play Lab: 3:45 p.m. Play Lab: Tim Bohn’s Tess Light’s Catherine Weingarten’s Clean to the Bone To Conceive Gods Are You Ready to Get PAMPERED!? 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Dinner Break 8:00 p.m. Perseverance Theatre presents Bostin Christopher and Lucy Peckham in Lisa Peterson & Denis O’Hare’s An Iliad; Directed by Art Rotch, Stage Managed by Nicoline Dawson 10:15 p.m. (approximate) Fringe Festival at The Fat Mermaid Joy of Phonetics, with Ben Corbett See Sunday’s description for full details.