Year: 2002-2003

Jenny Giering

Awards & Honors

Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award

Constance Klinsky Prize from Second Stage Theatre Company

National Art Song Award (for The Mistress Cycle)

National Music Theatre Network Director’s Choice Award (for The Mistress Cycle)

Meet the Composer Grant (for work with the Broadway Theatre Institute)

Frederick Loewe Award (for The Hotel Carter)

Weston Playhouse Theatre Company New Musical Award (for Saint-Ex)

Tilles Music Chair from Chicago Shakespeare Theater Company (for As You Like It)

National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s Production Grant (for Saint-Ex)

Residencies

Rhinebeck Writers Retreat (for Summerland and Alice Bliss)

Weston Playhouse Theatre Company’s Writer’s Retreat (for Alice Bliss)

Goodspeed Musicals’ Johnny Mercer Writers Colony (for Summerland and Alice Bliss)

Sundance Playwrights Retreat at UCross

Sundance Theatre Lab at White Oak Residency (for Saint-Ex)

Clifton Artist in Residence, Harvard University

Dramatists’ Guild Jonathan Larson Fellow

Collaborative Arts Project Writers in Residence Program (for Saint-Ex)

UPCOMING WORKS

The Mistress Cycle

Saint-Ex

CREDITS

Selected Discography

“Look for Me”

“Over the Moon: The Broadway Lullaby Project”

“Way Back to Paradise”, Audra McDonald, Nonesuch Records”

“Windflowers: The Songs of Jerome Moross”, PS Classics

“Songs from an Unmade Bed”, Ghostlight Records

“New, Emerging, Outstanding, Live at the York Theatre”, Jay Records

Productions

Silent Sky

Elizabeth Rex

As You Like It

Crossing Brooklyn

Alice Unrwrapped

Princess Caraboo

The Mistress Cycle

Songs from an Unmade Bed

The Hotel Carter

Still Life

Arthur’s War

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Website: http://www.jennygiering.com

Sammy Buck

Sammy Buck has written seven shows with composer Dan Acquisto, notably Like You Like It (Playscripts, NYIT Best Musical) and StinkyKids® The Musical (Vital, TRW, Off-Broadway Alliance Best Family Show). With composer Brandon James Gwinn, he’s the co-lyricist /bookwriter of Small Town Story (NY Theatre Barn, Village Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals, NAMT Writers Residency Grant, Richard Rodgers Award Finalist). He’s also written a horror movie (Red Hook, Phase 4 Films) and two NYMF dance shows. Former Dramatists Guild Fellow, MAC Dottie Burman Award and Emmy® winner. Member: BMI, Dramatists Guild, Inc.

UPCOMING WORKS

Small Town Story

CREDITS

Like You Like It [http://www.playscripts.com/play/2413] StinkyKids The Musical
…And Then I Wrote a Song About It 

Website: http://sammybuck.com/
Twitter: Sammy_A_Buck
Twitter: likeyoulikeit
Facebook: Facebook

Jeff Blumenkrantz

Composer: Urban Cowboy (Tony nomination – cowriter). 2011 Fred Ebb Award. Commissions from Carnegie Hall, Guggenheim. Songs recorded by Audra McDonald, Sutton Foster, Rebecca Luker, Victoria Clark, et al. Actor: Broadway: Into the Woods(1987), Threepenny Opera(1989), Damn Yankees (1994), How to Succeed… (1995), A Class Act (2001). Off Broadway: Murder for Two (Second Stage Uptown, New World Stages), Anyone Can Whistle (Encores), Sweeny Todd, Candide (NY Philharmonic). TV/Film: 30 Rock, The Good Wife, Joseph … Dreamcoat, Will and Grace, Candide(Great Performances), Sweeny Todd (Live from Lincoln Center).

CREDITS

Urban Cowboy
Month Upon a Time

Website: http://www.jeffblumenkrantz.com/
Twitter: blumietunes
Facebook: Facebook

Beth Blatt

Beth Blatt has won the Director’s Choice Award (NYMF), National Art Song competition, NAMT grant, Klinsky Award(2econd Stage), GBH Lyricist Award (the O’Neill), Jonathan Larson grant, Dramatists’ Guild fellowship. Her work has been performed at the Kennedy Center, UN, Lincoln Center, across US, Asia, Europe. The Mistress Cycle was produced in New York, London, twice in Chicago; Island of the Blue Dolphins (TheatreWorks USA) toured the US. She has received commissions from The Village Theatre and TheatreWorks USA. She is founder of Hope Sings, the for-benefit music business whose mission is to harness the power of song/story to support women.

Daniel Acquisto

Sammy Buck (bookwriter & lyricist) and Daniel Acquisto (composer), collectively known as “Bucquisto” met at the BMI Workshop in New York City in 2000. Bucquisto songs have been performed at the N.E.O. Benefit at the York Theatre, Broadway Bound at Merkin Hall, NAMT/ASCAP’s “In The Wings’ at the NAMT Festival, and New York Theatre Barn. Their song “Be With Me” is featured on the N.E.O. at the York Theatre CD, performed by Matt Cavenaugh, and was performed by Anthony Rapp in the New Globe’s Shakespeare on Broadway.

Individually, Daniel has written over a dozen children’s musicals for The Kaufman Center in NYC, and composed rock musical Antigone (Studio Arena), Dancing in the Dark (MusicalFare!), Anything About School Almost (Tada!), Raw Impressions, A-Train Plays, and Wild About Harry (NYMF commission). Non-theatre commissions: Audubon Trail (USAF Clarinet Quartet), Sing No Sad Songs for Me (Shawnee Press, publisher), the upcoming film Fade to White as well the short films Swept and Death of Nathan’s Ghost. Daniel is also a percussionist, orchestrator/arranger, music director, and music educator. Member of ASCAP.

Website: http://www.bucquisto.com/index.html

Dominic Taylor

Author of Hype Hero, Wedding Dance, Personal History, Upcity Service(s) and I Wish You Love among others. Directing projects include, Fresh Faust, Uppa Creek, Destiny, Ride the Rhythm, The Wiz, and Black Nativity. He has worked with Penumbra Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf, New York Theatre Workshop, Crossroads Theater, Rites and Reasons Theatre, and Ensemble Studio Theatre, among others. He is a Board Member for The Givens Foundation for African-American Literature. He is an alumnus of New Dramatists. He holds a Bachelors and a Master of Fine Arts from Brown University. He is an Associate Professor, University of Minnesota.

PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTIONAL EXPERIENCE
Associate Artistic Director – Penumbra Theatre, St. Paul, MN July 2007 – September 2012
Developed the OKRA: New Play Development Program
Associate Artistic Director – America-in-Play, NYC 2006 – Present
Board of Directors – Givens Institute for African American Literature September 2007 – Present
Board of Directors – New Dramatists 2004 – 2007
Administrator – Van Lier Fellowship – 2004
Mentor – New Dramatists Fellowship – 2003
Participant in the Lincoln Center Theatre Directors’ Lab June 2000
Participant Black Theatre Summit- Hanover, NH March 1998
One of the Presenters of the paper on the African American Aesthetic.
Public Transportation Productions – 1995- 2000
Partner in a Film Production Company
New York University, Creative Consultant- Gallatin Division 1988

ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
University of Minnesota, Associate Professor, Fall 2007- Present
Bard College, Visiting Professor, Fall 2000- Spring 2007
City University of New York, Adjunct Professor Spring 2000
New York University, Guest Artist/Lecturer Spring 2000
Brown University, Instructor, Beginning Playwriting, Fall 1994
Bennington College, Guest Artist/Lecturer, Fall 1994

EDUCATION
Brown University, Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
Department of English, May 1995.

Brown University, Bachelor of Arts, Engineering May 1987

PROFESSIONAL AWARDS/FELLOWSHIPS
Rockefeller Foundation – Bellagio Center, Belagio, Italy. An examination of Neo-Blackness – Summer 2009.
McKnight Grant (Framing Suzan-Lori Parks) University of Minnesota, Fall 2007
Tennessee Williams Fellowship, University of the South, September 2006- May 2007
The Lippman Family New Frontier Award – May 2006
National Endowment for the Arts – Production Grant 2003
Dramatist Guild Fellow, 2002
Artist in Residence HERE Theatre, 2000
Theodore Ward Prize (Finalist), 1999
Van Lier Fellowship, New York Theatre Workshop 1997
AT&T Production Grant, 1997
Steppenwolf New Play Labs, Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago, IL 1996
Scott McPherson Award (Commission), Goodman Theatre, Chicago, IL 1995
Illinois State Council on the Arts, Finalist 1995
George H. Bass Play-Rites Award, Finalist 1994
U.S.- Africa Fellowship, Ragdale Foundation, Lake Forest, IL 1993
National Artist in Residency Fellowship, Theatre Communications Group 1993
MacDowell Colony, Residency Fellowship 1992
BACA Downtown, New Works Project Member 1989-1991
Jerome Fellowship, The Playwrights’ Center, Minneapolis, MN 1990

PUBLICATION
UpCity Service(s) Published by Broadway Play Publishing
Wedding Dance Published by Playscripts.Com
Personal History Published by Playscripts.Com
Sound Check (Callaloo, Winter 1997 Emerging Male Writers, Published by the University of Virginia Press.)
Photo Op (NuMuse Volume II, Published by Brown University)
Wedding Dance work from featured in Best Monologues for Women 1997 & Best Monologues for Men 1997, published by Smith and Krause
A Variety of On-line publications including HOWL ROUND

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers
New Dramatists – Alumni
Lincoln Center Directors Lab – Alumni 2000
New York Theatre Workshop – Usual Suspect

CREDITS

Written Work – SELECTED STAGED READINGS AND PRODUCTIONS

I Wish You Love

Ensemble Theatre, Houston, TX (Production) July 2014
Penumbra Theatre Company, St. Paul, MN (Production) April 2011
Kennedy Center, Washington, DC (Production) June 2011
Hartford Stage, Hartford, CT (Production) July 2011
Penumbra Theatre Company, St. Paul, MN (Production) November 2011

Hype Hero: King Patch
Brown University (Production) October 2014
National Playwrights’ Conference, Eugene O’Neill Center, Waterford, CT 2012
Playwrights Horizons,(Staged Reading) NYC May 1999
New York Theatre Workshop,(Staged Reading) October 1998

Wedding Dance
Kennedy Center, Washington DC (Production) Feb. – Mar. 2003
Crossroads Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ (Production)Mar.-Apr. 1997

Personal History
Kennedy Center, Washington, DC (Production) Feb. – Mar. 2002
Arena Stage, Washington, DC (Staged Reading) June 2000
Hartford Stage Company, Hartford, CT (Staged Reading) April 1998
Playwrights Horizons (Staged Reading) April 1998
New York Shakespeare Festival, New Works Now Festival (Staged Reading) May 1997
Steppenwolf Theatre, New Play Labs, (Staged Reading) March 1997

Stacks (An Adaptation of Heracles by Euripides)
HERE Theatre, NYC (Staged Reading) March 2000

UpCity Service(s)
Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. (Staged Reading) September 2003
New Perspectives Theatre Voices From The Edge Reading Series Oct. 2002

Ground Appearances
42nd Street Collective, NYC (Production) February 1994
Rites and Reasons Theatre (Staged Reading ) October 1993

Sunshine Playlot
New York Shakespeare Festival, New Works Now Festival (Staged Reading) May 1994
Crossroads Theatre, NJ, Genesis Festival, (Staged Reading) April 1993
Brown University (Production) February 1994
Boston University Playwrights Theatre, Dark Room Series (Production) April 1994

Baychester Ave-The Bronx
The Playwrights Center, Chicago, IL(Production)Nov-Dec. 1993
Group Theatre, Seattle WA, MultiCultural Festival (Staged Reading) August 1990
Tribeca Studio, New York (Staged Reading) August 1993
Sanford Misner Studio, New York(Staged Reading) July 1990

Reflexions in D. Minor
BACA Downtown, Brooklyn, NY (Production) November 1990

Intimate Relations
West Bank Cafe, New York (Production) March 1989
The Playwrights’ Center, Minneapolis, MN (Staged Reading) April 1991

Sound Check
Theatre Praxis, Chicago, IL (Production) May 1993
Red Eye Theatre, Minneapolis, MN (Staged Reading) May 1990
Rites and Reasons Theatre, Providence, RI (Staged Reading) January 1994

But I Get Benefits
Chicago Dramatists Workshop, Playwrights for the 90’s, (Production) Feb. 1992

O’Neills
Wild Onion Theatre Company, Chicago, IL (Production) November 1991
Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Waterford, CT(Staged Reading) May 1988

Public Transportation
The Pelican Studio, New York, (Production) September 1988

Feathered Obsequies
Rites and Reasons Theatre, Providence, RI (Staged Reading) November 1993
Company One, Hartford, CT (Staged Reading) November 1992
The Playwrights Center, Minneapolis, MN (Staged Reading) September 1990

Photo Op
Brown University (Production) February 1995

Session One
New American Radio, Radio Drama, National Public Radio Affiliates (Production) March 1995

Twitter: @dominictaylor

Rich Orloff

The New York Times called my two-character play Big Boys “rip-roaringly funny” and named Funny as a Crutch a Critic’s Pick. Show Business Weekly called my play Skin Deep “a rare gem of a comedy”. My two-person comedy Romantic Fools has had over 60 productions in the USA, Africa, Asia and Europe, including a 20-month run in Madrid. My short plays have had over 1200 productions on six continents – and a staged reading in Antarctica. Seven have been included in the annual Best American Short Plays anthology, more than any other playwright in the last 20 years.

CREDITS

Advanced Chemistry– winner, 2002 Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence
Big Boys – winner, 2000 Auricle Playwriting Award
2nd place, 2002 Kaufman & Hart Prize for New American Comedy

Chatting with the Tea Party – finalist, 2014 Woodward/Newman New Play Award
Domestic Tranquility – winner, 1999 Theatre Conspiracy New Play Contest
Engagement Rules – world premiere at Detroit Repertory Theatre, 2011
Foreign Affairs – New York magazine Off-Off-Broadway Pick, 2005
Funny as a Crutch – New York Times Critic’s Pick, 2008
HA! – over 20 productions in the United States and Europe
Love Happens – winner, 1994 Playwrights First Award
Nothing Serious – over 50 productions in the United States, Europe and Australia
OY! – over 20 productions in the United States and Europe
Romantic Fools – over 60 productions in the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa
Shedding Light – winner, 2000 Abeles Foundation Playwrights Award
Skin Deep – winner, 2008 Larry Corse Playwriting Prize
Someone’s Knocking – Back Stage Critic’s Pick, 1998
Tropical Heat – winner, 2013 Maxim Mazumdar New Play Competition
Veronica’s Position – winner, 1995 Festival of Emerging American Theatre
Vietnam 101: The War on Campus – 30 productions across the country
plus over 80 short plays (mostly comedies).

Website: http://www.richorloff.com/

Lorna Littleway

I have taught African American theatre at Queens College, the University of Louisville and at Iowa State University in Ames. I am the recipient of two AUDELCO awards, Special Pioneer (2103) and Outstanding Ensemble Performance (2010) for “August Wilson’s Women”, which I adapted and directed. I am the co-Founder and Producing Director of Juneteenth Legacy Theatre (1999 – 2012). I have received summer residencies from the Paden Institute (2012-14) as well as other recognition of my work including: Tower Award for Women Leaders Arts & Communication, Presentation Academy,KY (2009); Star Award for Arts Excellence, Pleiades Women’s Theatre Company,KY(2005); Playwriting Fellowship, Kentucky Arts Council and Dramatists Guild; Sallie Bingham Award, Kentucky Foundation for Women (2002); Smith Playwriting Fellowship, Kentucky Arts Council (2000); Playwriting Grant, Kentucky Foundation for Women (1999);

Finalist, Theodore Ward Playwriting Contest/Columbia College (1996);Finalist, George Houston Bass Playwriting Festival/Brown University (1992); Finalist, Seattle Group Theatre’s 7th Annual MultiCultural Playwrights Festival (1991);

Best Play, “If You Love Me”, 1st Annual One-Act Festival, Performing Arts Center, Bath Me. (1990).

CREDITS

(Plays Produced)

2015, “DARASA: A Civil Rights Tribute in Song”,University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

2011/12, “Billy, Lena and The Duke: a Night of Ellington Music!”, Nuyorican Poets Cafe (NYC)

2010/11, “Juneteenth Blues Cabaret”, National Black Theatre Festival (NC)

2007/08, “Bang! Bang! Bang! Again and Again”, Abron Arts Center/NYC

“Juneteenth Blues Cabaret”,Alhambra Theater and KY State Fair, Lafayette Bar & Grille and Hamilton Grange Senior Center/NYC

“DARASA: A Civil Rights Tribute in Song”, Hamilton Grange Senior Center/NYC

2006/07, “Juneteenth Cotton Club Revue”, Purdue University & Richard Allen Center for Culture & Art/NYC

“A Lil Chat With God”, Abron Arts Center/NYC

2005/06, “The Best of the Genius of Ray”, Juneteenth Legacy Theatre@Big Hopps/Louisville

“Motion and Location”, Midtown International Theatre Festival, NYC

2004/05, “The Lives of Young Black Folk,” New York International Fringe Festival (NYTimes review)

2003/04, “Young Sistas”, Vital Theatre, NYC

“Billy, Lena and The Duke: a Night of Ellington Music!”, Galaxy Bistro/Louisville

2001/02 “If You Love Me”, Rudyard Kipling/Louisville

2000/01, “A Collective Piss and the Devil’s Beating His Wife”,Rudyard Kipling/Louisville

“Kindler Genter Nation”, Kentucky Center for the Arts

“Motion and Location”, Luna Sea Performing Arts Center (San Francisco)

Jakob Holder

Jakob Holder’s plays have had productions and readings throughout the U.S., the U.K., in Helsinki and Rome. He is a two-time winner of the Last Frontier Theatre Conference Playlab Award and a three-time winner of the NAAA New Play Competition.  In 2009 he was selected to be the sole Cherry Lane Theatre Mentor Project playwright for his play HOUSEBREAKING.  His full-program plays include: BEDTIME SOLOS; HOUSEBREAKING (Dramatists Play Service, 2012); REPEAT PLAY; GREEN SETTING SUN; THE SHOULDER;  THE OPEN CIRCUIT and TO THE SEA IN A SIEVE. His short plays include: ONE SLIP; DARKTIME IN SKIPLAND; ERSATZ; FINDINGS; and SUMATRA MANDHELING, which was published in Post Road #18. He has led playwriting workshops for children in Alaska, teenagers in Florida, and adults in Finland.  A resident of New York City, he is a 2002 Dramatists Guild Fellow, a 2003 Lark Theatre Fellow, a 2006 Oriveden Opisto Resident Artist, and a member of The Dramatists Guild.