Jun 21, 2009 : FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Kelly DuMar, diarydoor@aol.com, (508) 647-0596

Playwrights’ Platform www.playwrightsplatform.org, is pleased to announce the outcome of Audience Choice and Playwrights’ Choice awards voting for Best Plays, Best Actors and Best Directors for Series A and B of their 37th Annual New Play Festival which was held at the Boston Playwright’s Theatre, June 11-20, 2009.

Performing for sold out crowds the following winners were selected by audience and playwright ballot from six shows:

For Series A, June 11, 12, 13, 2009:

Best Play, Audience Choice – PERSPECTIVE, by Peter Floyd
Best Play, Playwright’s Choice – PERSPECTIVE, by Peter Floyd
Best Actor, Female, Audience Choice – Yvonne Murphy*
Best Actor, Male, Audience Choice – Tie: Charles Schwager & Robert Bonotto
Best Director, Playwright’s Choice – Lau Lapides

For Series B, June 18, 19, 20, 2009:

Best Play, Audience Choice – SMOKE, by Dan Bancroft
Best Play, Playwright’s Choice – SMOKE, by Dan Bancroft
Best Actor, Female, Audience Choice – Lis Adams*
Best Actor, Male, Audience Choice - Wayne Fritsche*
Best Director, Playwright’s Choice – Tie: Gail Phaneuf* & Ronni Marshak*

In second place for all shows the following winners include:

Runners Up For Series A, June 11, 12, 13, 2009:

R.U. Best Play, Audience Choice –JUST SOME FATHERLY ADVICE, Scott Welty
R.U. Best Play, Playwright’s Choice–JUST SOME FATHERLY ADVICE, Scott Welty
R.U. Best Actor, Female, Audience Choice – Patti Hathaway
R.U. Best Actor, Male, Audience Choice – Jon Popp*
R.U. Best Director, Playwright’s Choice – Jerry Bisantz*

Runners Up For Series B, June 18, 19, 20, 2009:

R.U. Best Play, Audience Choice – VOID, by Don Tongue
R.U. Best Play, Playwright’s Choice – CLASS ACT, by Holly Jensen
R.U. Best Actor, Female, Audience Choice – Zillah Glory
R.U. Best Actor, Male, Audience Choice – Jon Popp*
R.U. Best Director, Playwright’s Choice – Tie: John Sefel & Lida McGirr*

*Denotes Actor-in-Residence Member of Playwrights’ Platform

Plublishing Prize for Winners:

Heuer Publishing, (www.hitplays.com), of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, sponsor of the Best Play Awards for the fourth year in a row, will offer a publishing contract opportunity to each of the Best Play winners.

Special Recognition Awards 2009:

Special Recognition Awards were given to Phyllis Rittner, co-coordinator of the Actor-in-Residence program for “her outstanding contribution to casting,” and Geralyn Horton, for “her many years of outstanding contribution to Playwrights’ Platform as an actor, playwright and board member.”

Festival Playwrights, Series A – June 11, 12, 13

ENVIA! - At Work & Play by Kelly DuMar; So Far, So Good by Hortense Gerardo; Angela & Her Dad by George Matry Masselam; Home for Christmas by William Miller; Just Some Fatherly Advice by Scott Welty; The Randomness of Nature by Lynne S. Brandon; Del Mar by Judith Plummer; Misha Chekov by Ludmila Anselm; Bridge by Ron Radice; Perspective by Peter M. Floyd

Festival Playwrights, Series B – June 18, 19, 20

Write Something For Me by Robert Boulrice; List by Ron Pullins; Smoke by Dan Bancroft; Void by Don Tongue; Boy Meets Girl by Michael Quint; Love at First Sight by Bruno Alterescu; Class Act by Holly L. Jensen; Her Honor by Ellen Davis Sullivan; Amerika! by Lydia Bruce and Sandy Burns

Producers:

The 37th Annual Festival was produced by co-president Chris King, christolking@comcast.net assisted by Dan Bancroft, dban@me.com executive board member.

For More Information:

For more information, please contact Kelly DuMar, Awards Coordinator, at diarydoor@aol.com, or (508) 647-0596.

Apr 6, 2009 : THE LOVE NOTE , a new musical written and directed by Gail Phaneuf, will be performed at Curry College, in the Keith Auditorium at 1071 Blue Hill Ave. in Milton, MA from Saturday, April 25th through Tuesday, April 28th.

Show times will be at 7:30 p.m. One matinee performance will be performed on Sunday April 26th at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are $10, with some discounts available to groups. Tickets can be reserved at www.currytheatre.com or by phone at 617-333-2259.

For further information about the show, or to listen to sample recordings, please visit www.thelovenote.com . THE LOVE NOTE is ideal for children of all ages.

Apr 1, 2009 : Gail Phaneuf's play - "STOP REQUESTED" will be performed at The New Play Festival on Social Injustice in South Camden NJ.

The South Camden Theatre Company, Inc.,located in Camden, New Jersey will premiere “And Justice For All” a new one-act play festival that begins Friday, April 24 and runs through Sunday, May 10, 2009. The festival features five plays focused on political and social injustice in America.

Producing Artistic Director Joseph M. Paprzycki states, “I selected these plays from an International call for scripts and chose those that best fit our mission and that highlight different perspectives on injustice in our society. My new play “Hung Jury”, also in the festival, focuses on the recent events surrounding the violence against Philadelphia Police officers”.

The selected works for “And Justice For All” include new plays from Michael Burgan, Victoria T. Joseph, Robin Rice Lichtig, Joseph M. Paprzycki and Gail Phaneuf and will be directed by Christopher Schimpf, Tom Juarez, Connie Norwood, Ray Croce and Brad Reiter.

Performances will be held on Friday and Saturday evenings at 8pm and Sunday afternoons at 1:30pm at the South Camden Theatre Company’s stage currently located in the basement theater of the Sacred Heart Church in Camden, New Jersey. Tickets are available for purchase at the door and online at www.southcamdentheatre.org or may be reserved by calling 1-866-811-4111. The South Camden Theatre Company, Inc., has been staging productions for four years in the basement of Sacred Heart Church and plans to move its performances across the street into the new 99 seat Waterfront South Theatre in the fall of 2009. Located at the corner of 4th and Jasper Streets in Camden, New Jersey, the new building is currently under construction at the site of the former bar named Walt’s Café an establishment previously owned by Paprzycki’s grandparents and is the setting for his first play and forthcoming book, “Last Rites”.

Mar 17, 2009 : Please support Platform Playwrights and Actors-in-Residence who will be involved at the upcoming 3rd Annual SWAN Day Celebration co-produced by Platform member Regina Eliot-Ramsay and Debbie Wiess: March Madness! Women on the Edge - Readings of Short Work and Music By Boston-area Women Playwrights and Artists to be held at the Boston Playwrights' Theatre 949 Comm. Ave Boston, Saturday, March 28, 2009, 2:00 - 5:30 p.m.

New work includes short plays, scenes, monologues, a poem and songs by area artists: Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro, Kelly DuMar, Dara Eagle, Hortense Gerardo, Kim Hoff, Leslie Powell, Monica Raymond, Ellen Davis Sullivan, Sandra Weintraub and Debbie Wiess. Diane Ripstein will be Mistress of Ceremony for the event.

Some of the Boston-area theatre scene's favorite directors and actors will be involved. Please join us after the program for a party with light refreshments for mingling and socializing! Donation: ($5 suggested) at the door are welcome. All proceeds of the event will go to The Fund for Women Artists organization.

To reserve seats: Debbie Wiess at 617-437-0352 or djwiess@msn.com. Last year's show sold out so reservations are recommended. Directions: www.bu.edu/bpt

SWAN Day, established in 2007, is an annual event that takes place on the last Saturday of March, which is Women's History Month. The idea for SWAN Day grew out of a collaboration between organizers of The Fund for Women Artists and Women in the Audiences Supporting Women Artists Now. For more information about SWAN Day and other SWAN Day events happening around the world, please visit www.SwanDay.org.

The Fund for Women Artists (www.WomenArtists.org) is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women artists get the resources they need to do their creative work. Its emphasis is on women in film, video and theatre. Over the past decade it has raised over $4 million (including an endowment of $425,000) and built a website that provides networking, advocacy, and fundraising services to approximately 2,000 visitors a day.

The International Centre for Women Playwrights www.netspace.org/~icwp/index.html supports women playwrights around the world by bringing international attention to their achievements; encouraging production of their plays; providing means for communication and contact among the sister community of the world's women dramatists; encouraging scholarly and critical study of the historical and contemporary work of women playwrights; and supporting their efforts to express their own personal, artistic, social, and political vision without censorship, harassment, or personal danger.

Mar 9, 2009 : Playwrights' Platform will sponsor An Experiential Writing Workshop with Visiting Playwright Sybil Roberts, Ph.D., April 4, 2009, 1:00 – 3:30 p.m. at Turtle Lane Playhouse, 283 Melrose Street, Newton, MA. The cost is $15 for Playwrights’ Platform Members (and AiR Members) and $25 Non-Members. Playwrights of all levels & experience are welcome to attend. Advanced registration is required by E-mailing Kelly DuMar at diarydoor@aol.com. Participation is limited & is on a first come first served basis.

About Sybil Roberts, Playwright & Dramaturg

Sybil is a playwright, dramaturge and adjunct professor at The University of the District of Columbia and The Catholic University in D..C. Currently, she is working on The Legacy Project: Celebrating the Little Rock Nine at the The Arkansas Repertory Theater. In addition, she is working on a new play titled A Dawta's Prayer at Rebel Theater in Harlem. Recently she served as dramaturge at the Lark Theater's workshop production of Breathe by Javon Johnson. Ms. Williams teaches Postmodern, Caribbean, and African theater.

www.turtlelane.org

Mar 9, 2009 : Our Voices Festival III, a Celebration of Playwrights’ Platform Women’s Plays, will take place April 4, 2009, 7:00 p.m. at Turtle Lane Playhouse, 283 Melrose Street, Newton, MA. There will be a reception starting at 7:00 with refreshments will served. The suggested donation for the evening is $5. No reservation is necessary.

ACT I

Ellen Davis Sullivan, A Scene from The Warmth of Jupiter
Phyllis Rittner, A Scene from Tween
Marika Barnett, The Last Thought
Lynne S. Brandon, A Scene from The Randomness of Nature
Hortense Gerardo, Goddamn Mad Dog

ACT II

Ludmilla Anselm, True or False
Regina Eliot-Ramsey, A Scene from Coincidence of Memory
Kelly DuMar, No Strings
Geralyn Horton, Sarah of Wasilla
Leslie Powell, All the Way to Chattanooga

Post- play discussion will be facilitated by Visiting Playwright & Dramaturg, Sybil Roberts, who will also offer a workshop from 1-3:30 p.m. earlier in the afternoon at Turtle Lane ($15 members/$25 non-members; register by e-mailing Kelly DuMar at diarydoor@aol.com)

The Festival is Produced by: Regina Eliot-Ramsay (elram@comcast.net)

www.turtlelane.org www.playwrightsplatform.org

Mar 3, 2009 : Celebrate International SWAN Day (Support Women Artists Now), Saturday, March 28 at 2:00 p.m. at the Boston Playwrights' Theatre, 949 Comm. Ave., Boston! This year, SWAN Day Boston will feature a program of songs, a poem, plays and monologues from 10 local women artists, including a number of Playwrights' Platform playwrights:

Hortense Gerardo, (God Damn Mad Dog), Leslie Pullins (Enough), Ellen Davis Sullivan (Her Honor), and Kelly DuMar (monologues from ENVIA! At Work & Play).

This annual festival is co-produced by Platform member Regina Eliot-Ramsay and Debbie Weiss, and Platform member Judith Plummer is public relations coordinator.

Singer/songwriter, Dara Eagle, a Platform Actor-in-Residence, will perform original songs, and other AiR members will perform, including Geralyn Horton, Renee Donlon, Penny Benson, John Popp and Chris King (directing).

Other Featured Artists include: Sandra Weintraub,Debbie Wiess, Kim Hoff, Rosanna Alfaro, and Monica Raymond.

Boston Playwrights' Theatre is at Boston University, 949 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA.

Free and open to all with a $5.00 suggested donation to raise money for SWAN and support women artists. No reservations required--just show up!

Feb 13, 2009 : Actors in Residence Jerry Bisantz and Jonathan Popp have been nominated for the 2008 IRNE Awards!! Jerry is nominated for Best Actor in a Drama for Kerouac's Last Call (Image Theatre) Jon is nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for The History Boys (SpeakEasy) and This is Our Youth (Gurnet Theatre Project) Congratulations to Jerry and Jon!!!

Feb 5, 2009 : The Platform needs your help! I am looking for someone who is talented and capable of doing some web design work for our site. You need to know your way around basic HTML and CSS. I need someone who can improve the look and feel of our site and let me continue to focus on delivering functionality. Surely in our membership is the web designer we need! Contact me through the webmaster link or by asking anyone on the board to put you in touch with me.
Thank you,
Patrick

Dec 30, 2008 : On Saturday January 31, 2009, in vivo Productions and CAMBRIDGE CENTER FOR ADULT EDUCATION bring the first installment of The First [W]rites Series, its new play-reading showcase, to Cambridge at 56 Brattle Street, January 31 at 8pm. The First [W]rites Series, which will have installments on the last Saturday of January, February and March, 2009, was inspired by the Gecko in Winter Series begun in Cape Cod in 2000 and will feature selected works from writers of the PLAYWRIGHTS PLATFORM, the New Opera and Musical Theatre Initiative (NOMTI) and in vivo Productions.

The January 31st reading will showcase juried works by four Playwrights' Platform playwrights: Marika Barnett, ESCAPE, Jerry Bisantz, MEMORIES FOR SALE, Kelly DuMar, , BLUEBIRD, and Ron Radice, WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN, featuring the acting talents of their highly regarded ACTORS-IN-RESIDENCE program. Audience members will participate in the stimulating development process during a feedback session with the playwrights and actors following the plays. For more information go to PLAYWRIGHTS PLATFORM.

Featured actors include: John Carozza, Perri DuMar, Dara Eagle, Jennifer Fogarty, Kamau Hashim, Claire McClanahan, William Miller, Bob Murphy, Bob Mussett, Joe Orrigo, Will Sahlein, and Rick Sherburne.

This reading series is co-produced by The CAMBRIDGE CENTER FOR ADULT EDUCATION and in vivo Productions. There will be two more readings in the series, held on the last Saturdays in February (2/28) and March (3/28),CAMBRIDGE CENTER FOR ADULT EDUCATION, Blacksmith House, 56 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA 02138. Tickets: $10 CCAE Box Office - 617-547-6789.

Nov 22, 2008 : The film of a screenplay written by Playwrights' Platform member, Hortense Gerardo , won an award for Best Film in the Cape Cod Section of the 17th Annual Woods Hole Film Festival (WHFF).

The narrative feature romantic comedy, Fourhand, will screen in the Dinner and a Movie Series on
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at the Captain Kidd Restaurant in Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Dinner begins at 5:30PM, the screening will start at 7:30PM

For information and directions, check the Woods Hole Film Festival website at:

www.woodsholefilmfestival.org

For information about the film, go to:

Dinner & a Movie Film Selections 2008-2009

Oct 18, 2008 : Join YELLOW TAXI PRODUCTIONS in Nashua, NH, for a CELEBRATION OF THE PLAYWRIGHT with new plays, classes and a panel discussion November 6-9, 2008. Each event is $10 or get a play festival pass for $25. All events will be held at YTP's venue 5 Pine Street, Extension, Mill Annex #6, Nashua.

Events include:

Thurs Nov 6 8pm "After Denmark" a new play by David Robson

Fri Nov 7 8pm WEEKEND AT THE DREAMING CLOUD a new play by Kelly DuMar with a talk back led by David Robson, featurng Playwrights' Platform AiR member STEVE TRIEBES and new playwright member DON TONGUE)

Sat Nov 8 10AM "Writing the Docudrama" a class led by Sybil Roberts

Noon "Writing About Race" a panel discussion (free!) with Kirsten Greenidge, Sybil Roberts, David Robson & Lowell Williams

2pm "After Denmark" a new play by David Robson, talk back led by Sybil Roberts

Sun Nov 9 Noon "Writing the Fight" a class led by Meron Langsner

2pm WEEKEND AT THE DREAMING CLOUD a new play by Kelly DuMar

For more detailed info, go to YELLOW TAXI PRODUCTIONS

Oct 6, 2008 : Holly Jensen's, one act play, Lizzy Izzy, will be featured during the 14th Annual Women's Playwriting Festival at Perishable Theatre in Providence, RI.

Lizzy Izzy is about 18-year-old Isabella, who sings Fado to quiet the voices in her head. Her mother would rather get laid then take care of her daughters. Her loathsome Tio Carlos can’t keep his hands to himself. Her knight in shining armor is a nerd going through a midlife crisis. Her best friend Amy now thinks she’s uncool. And her lawyer can’t even remember to show up at the right courthouse. Lizzy Izzy Looks at how modern life might push a young woman over the edge. The play was read several times at Playwrights' Platform and an excerpt was read during the "Our Voices Together" Festival at Wellesley College in May 2006.

The festival runs from October 2 - November 2, Thursdays-Saturdays 8pm, Sundays at 3pm. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit: www.perishable.org

Congratulations, Holly!

Oct 6, 2008 : ANDREA MCARDLE, JOY FRANZ & NICOLETTE HART FACE THEIR “MONSTERS”
IN READING OF MONSTERS - The Musical, ON OCTOBER 17, 2008

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/122051.html

On Friday, October 17th there will be an ‘invitation only’ reading of the new musical “MONSTERS” which is currently in development. The Book and Lyrics are by Boston playwright Gail Phaneuf, with Music and Lyrics by Ernie Lijoi. “MONSTERS” has been in development for several years with Lijoi penning a number of the songs at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop. The show was a finalist in the Emerson College Rod Parker Playwriting Competition and went on to have a successful 2006 production at CentaStage in Boston, receiving favorable reviews. There has also been a reading of “MONSTERS” at the York Theatre.

TONY NOMINATED Andrea McArdle (ANNIE, LES MIZ, STATE FAIR) heads the cast of six. She will be joined by Joy Franz (INTO THE WOODS), Catherine Carpenter-Cox (GODSPELL, JOYS OF SEX), Nicolette Hart (LEGALLY BLONDE, RENT), Patti Hathaway and Sam Belanger.

Steven Yuhasz (FLAMINGO COURT) directs and Michael Larsen (MENOPAUSE) serves as musical director for the reading.
Visit MONSTERS THE MUSICAL for more information.

Sep 29, 2008 : Two Plays Premiere during YELLOW TAXI PRODUCTIONS' Gala Weekend November 7-9, 2008

YELLOW TAXI PRODUCTIONS, Nashua’s only professional theatre organization, will premiere two new full length plays during the first weekend of November at their new venue located in the mill yard district of Nashua. The company held an open play contest in 2006, chose four plays which were given staged readings in 2007, and chose two of those to produce at this year’s Susan McIntyre Play Festival. Tickets are $10 for each performance and seating is by general admission. This is the fourth multi-day play festival that Yellow Taxi has produced since 2003.

WEEKEND AT THE DREAMING CLOUD is written by Kelly DuMar, who resides in the Boston area. The script examines old heartbreak when a middle aged woman returns home determined to sell the bed and breakfast she inherited but is instead surrounded by memories of the past and choices for her future. Directed by Leah Belanger of Manchester who directed the reading last year, the show will be performed on Friday, November 7 at 8pm and Sunday, November 9 at 2pm. Cast members include Susan Rundbaken, STEVE TRIEBES, and Barbara Bourgeois of Massachusetts and John Decareau and Don Tongue of New Hampshire.

In keeping with the Susan McIntyre Play Festival’s spirit of repertory theatre, AFTER DENMARK, by Delaware playwright Dave Robson will be performed on Thursday, November 6 at 8pm and Saturday, November 8 at 2pm and Steve Triebes, Barbara Bourgeois and Don Tongue will also perform in this production. Directed by Tajoura Davis who acted in the 2007 reading of the script, After Denmark concerns a mixed race man who learns that he might be a decent of the famous freed slave Denmark Vesey and goes on an odyssey to learn the truth of his identity. Other actors performing in this play include Lindsay Duso of Washington, DC, Maria Mendes and Teddy Hendricks of Rhode Island and Marc Pelletier of New Hampshire.

Both plays will perform at Yellow Taxi Productions’ new venue located at 5 Pine Street, Extension, Mill Annex #6, Suite 2B in Nashua. Panel discussions and workshops on playwriting will also occur throughout the weekend. A full schedule will be announced soon. In addition, Yellow Taxi’s Gala will swing into action on Saturday November 8th at 8pm at the Courtyard Marriott hotel and will feature three short plays by past Yellow Taxi playwrights David Preece, Deb Matson and Warren Perry, live music and a silent auction. Tickets for the Gala only are $50 and can be purchased now at www.cityartsnashua.org.

Sep 4, 2008 : FALLING UNDER YOUR SPELL - Short Plays for Lovers & Tricksters, Written & Directed by Kelly DuMar, will be performed during the NEW ENGLAND FRINGE FESTIVAL, at the BOSTON CENTER FOR THE ARTS, Thurs., Sept. 25, 2008 at 8:00 p.m., and Sat., Sept. 27, 2:00 p.m. and Sept. 27 at 8:00 p.m.

Two short plays by award-winning playwright Kelly DuMar, conjure the magic and mystery of the risky connections young people make and break while growing up: THE CELL, a contemporary myth about Persephone’s descent to the Underworld, in which a young man seeks to capture a young woman’s soul on his cell phone; and THE ACOLYTE, in which a hung-over preppie finds absolution for his sins by trying to seduce a girl at his parent’s church. Boston singer/songrwriter DARA EAGLE's, enchanting vocals, orignal songs & acoustic guitar weave a musical narrative connecting the plays.

Performed by Playwrights' Platform Actor-in-Residence Members, JOE ORRIGO, and PERRI DUMAR, these plays will charm and chill you.

Tickets for the NEW ENGLAND FRINGE FESTIVAL, at the BCA are bought through the BOSTON CENTER FOR THE ARTS. Tickets also available at the door. For more info, e-mail info@nefringefestival.com

Aug 31, 2008 : The Playwrights' Platform 2008-2009 season of playwright readings will begin with our first meeting on Sept. 21, 2008, 7:00 p.m. in Rosen Auditorium at Lasell College in Newton, MA. This meeting is open to the public. New members are welcome. CALENDAR. DIRECTIONS

We look forward to seeing you!

Aug 13, 2008 :
Portland Friends:
Fleeting Theatre Company is presenting Lizard Claw plays that employ film noir conventions.
WHEN: 8pm, August 14
WHERE: X-Miami, 7635 SE 42nd St, Portland OR.
WRITTEN BY: Kathleen Akerley, Hortense Gerardo, Callie Kimball, and Kate Tarker.
DIRECTED BY: Kate Tarker.
PERFORMED BY: Neima Jahromi, Jesse Van Buren, Euphrates Dahout and Alise Scheeler.

Aug 2, 2008 : Playwrights' Platform member, Hortense Gerardo, has been awarded a competitive artist residency in the Leighton Artists' Colony at The Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada.

The studios offer a retreat environment to professional artists engaged in the creation of new work. Applications are accepted from artists of a variety of disciplines: writers, composers, singer-songwriters, visual artists, screenwriters, playwrights, literary translators, curators, art theorists, and professionals working in theatre, dance and film at the conceptualization or research stage of a project. Acceptance is based on an application/adjudication process.

Hortense's residency will be subsidized in part by a grant from the Berwick Fund for the Humanities.

Jul 30, 2008 : The film of a screenplay written by Playwrights' Platform member, Hortense Gerardo , is an official selection in the 17th Annual Woods Hole Film Festival (WHFF).

The narrative feature film, Fourhand, will premiere on Wednesday, July 30 at 5 PM at the Redfield Auditorium of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole.

For information and directions, check the Woods Hole Film Festival website at:

www.woodsholefilmfestival.org