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The Playwrights READING3: persist

KATHLEEN CAHILL (Women Who Love Science Too Much) currently lives in Salt Lake City where she is playwright-in-residence at the Salt Lake Acting Company. Her dance/play/romance, Silent Dancer, premieres there in April.  She has received three Edgerton Foundation Awards, the Jane Chambers Playwrighting Award, two Connecticut Commission on the Arts Playwrighting Awards, a Massachusetts Artists Foundation Award, a Rockefeller Grant, and a Drama League Award. Her play Charm was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize; her play The Persian Quarter was nominated for a Steinberg Award. 

 

JUDY DODD (He Said, He Said) is a New York City based Actor and Director. This is her first play. Judy is grateful to have the opportunity to bear witness; and thanks those she has leaned on while writing and performing.

 

SARAH ELIZABETH GRACE (Crush) is a playwright, actor, and head of Badass Lady Productions. Plays: Mental Nudity (Standard Toykraft and PIT Underground); More (Secret Theatre's UNFringed Festival and EAT’s New Works series). Upcoming: Implied Consent at the Access Theater in October of 2018. Non-fiction: substance.com, The Huffington Post (under pseudonym Grace Kemeny) and OnStageBlog.com. Education: NYU Tisch BFA in Drama. Website: sarahelizabethgrace.com. Currently crowdfunding for Implied Consent on Indie GoGo! 

 

MZURI HANDLIN (Gift For A Dying Father) is a former scientist and current playwright and day-job-hater who likes writing about loss and hope. Although he still misses the Oregon home he grew up in, he has spent the last five years falling in love with his new home (by which I mean surprisingly well-lit basement apartment) in Chicago. He likes the potential of science fiction, the human connection of D&D, and the shameless defiance of gender norms.

 

MERCEDES SEGESVARY (If Only It Were True) is a playwright and fine art illustrator whose work often reflects the clashing of cultures, genders and generations while painting colorful depictions of congruency within humanity. She is first generation; her mother from the Dominican Republic and her Father from Hungary. Her plays have been on stages in many cities including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Acadia, Nova Scotia. She received an MFA in Dramatic Writing for Television, Film and Theatre from California State University – Los Angeles.

 

SCOTT C. SICKLES (The Bedroom Summit) in an LGBT playwright of Asian descent whose plays have been performed in New York City, across the U.S., and internationally in Canada, Australia, the UK, Hungary, Singapore, and Lebanon. His comedy Perfecting the Kiss just appeared in the Capital Fringe in DC. His bioplay Nonsense and Beauty will receive its world premiere at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis next spring. His play Composure was a 2018 Lambda Literary Award finalist.

 

JEFF STRAUSSER (Wounded Warrior) is an author, a playwright, and a freelance writer. His short stories have been published in various literary journals, and his articles regularly appear in magazines and online journals. In addition, Barron’s Educational Series has published four of his textbooks for middle school and high school students.  Strausser’s plays have been produced in theatres throughout the United States, England, and Australia. He lives in Houston, Texas with his wife, Beth.

 

BILL WALTERS (Washington Monument) started writing and directing in self-defense. Washington Monument was written in 1992 for the Village Gate One Act Play Festival down on Bleeker Street. It was performed twice for the festival in a somewhat longer version. Back then it was considered to be sort of a fantasy, but these days it seems pretty timely to say the least. It was inspired by several actual incidents, but as we all know, truth is stranger than fiction. Walter’s plays have seen the light of day in readings at The Players Club, The Wilma, HB Playwrights and on his living room sofa in Manhattan Plaza. Since 1963 he has worked in NYC with NBC, The New York Shakespeare Festival, The Playhouse of the Ridiculous, and many Off-Broadway groups. He worked for over 50 years touring the world as the irascible stage manager for Peter Schickele's presentations of the music of PDQ Bach.

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DIRECTORS

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JUDY DODD (Crush) has Directed and taught in Schools and Theaters all over the New York area, including Ramaz, 92nd St. Y and The 42nd St. Workshop. Acting Credits include Broadway (Fiddler on the Roof); Off-Broadway (Manhattan Class Company, The Open Eye, Triangle Theatre); Film (The Coming, Newark Needs Insurance); TV (Spenser: For Hire, Another World, The City); and Regional Theatre (Fulton Opera House, Gloucester Stage Company, Fleetwood Stage Company). 

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DANIEL CAPALBO JR (Washington Monument)  has been directing plays for about three decades now. His intent was to come and direct one play for The #Metoo Plays project in May, but found himself surprisingly connected to the work and what it represented. Capalbo is happy and proud to still be involved in the project in its third cycle. His background in theatre includes directing, acting, writing and teaching both privately and at a university level.

  

CHRISTINE CIRKER (Wounded Warrior) New York directing credits include (FAB Women@TBG, The Barrow Group, Pulse Ensemble, Core Artists Ensemble, Neighborhood Playhouse, Our East, Resonance Theatre Co., Strawberry Festival).  NYC producing credits include: Letters to Sala, Einstein & Mileva, The Basement Plays, Origin-8, Unframed, and Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. A University of Michigan Theatre Dept. graduate, Cirker is currently developing new plays with several playwrights and is a founding member of F.A.B. Women@TBG. 
 
STEVE PETRILLO (The Bedroom Summit) New York Directing credits include Moonlight and Love Songs, also by Scott Sickles, at The Abingdon Theater, A Christmas Carol at The WorkShop Theater (Innovative Theater Award Nominee), Catching Up!, Living Together, Rumors, Sessions, et. al.; various solo/cabaret shows. As a performer Steven’s Broadway and National Tour credits include Peter Pan, Man of La Mancha and Jesus Christ Superstar; also various TV/Film, Commercials. Mr. Petrillo helms classes/workshops for singer-actors, as well as musical theater writers.<stevenpetrillo.com>
 

ILLANA STEIN (If Only It Were True) is a NYC-based director. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Queens Players), or What She Will (FringeNYC’12, directing award). Assisting: OSF, Signature, Yale Rep, Pearl Theatre; Associate Director: Tamburlaine the Great & Pericles (Theatre for a New Audience) and Fingersmith (A.R.T.); Readings: La Mama, New Dramatists, EST Youngblood/Bloodworks. Member of League of Professional Theatre Women, New York Madness directing company, LCT Directors Lab ’12, and 2018 Drama League First Draft Residency.  Upcoming: directing Julius Caesar (HVSF tour).  www.illanastein.com

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