BloomingPlays Development Series

FREE & OPEN to the public

Witness the future of Indiana playwriting. The Bloomington Playwrights Project (BPP) and the Indianapolis Theatre Association (ITA) will hold the first round of workshops in the the 09/10 BloomingPlays Development Series, a new play development program for Indiana-based playwrights, the weekend of August 1 & 2. Nine plays by playwrights across the state have been accepted for inclusion in the series.

The BloomingPlays Development Series features staged readings of nine new plays written by the Hoosier state's finest up-and-coming playwrights. Each reading will be followed by a feedback session where the audience is invited to provide the playwright with their commentary, thus aiding in the development of these new works to be featured as part of the BPP's BloomingPlays Festival in May 2010. It's your chance to see the seeds of next season's festival! Other readings will take place in November 2009 and January 2010. Sponsored by the Bloomington Playwrights Project and Indiana Theatre Association. The readings are free and open to the public. Light snacks and beverages are provided.

Round 2

Saturday, November 14th

11:00am: Virginia's Last Drive by Matt Anderson
12:15pm: The Good Daughter by Brenda Hiatt Barber
1:30pm: Things to Believe In by Josie Gingrich & Gayle Gingrich
2:15pm: How to Kill by Gabe Gloden

Sunday, November 15th

12:00pm: Kindred by Cairril Adaire & Lori Garraghty
12:50pm: Russ Miles by April Smallwood
2:10pm: Thespian by Chris White
2:40pm: Audition by Bob Berry

Round 3

January 9 & 10 from 11 - 5pm

The Audition

by Bob Berry

runtime: 90 min.

Synopsis: Auditioning actors are encouraged to reveal their innermost feelings. Painful and terrifying truths are revealed. It becomes apparent that they are dead, and their action is to endlessly audition. If they wish to stop auditioning, only one way out exists. It is every actor's dream... or worst nightmare.

Bob Berry (Playwright, The Audition) Prior to embarking on his career as a playwright, Bob's involvement with the theatre has been primarily as an actor. He studied acting with screen and television star Michael Moriarty, and appeared in the New York off-Broadway production of Sundance. As an Equity actor, he has most recently performed leading roles in three plays produced for the Indiana Repertory Theatre's Upper Stage. Bob has also starred in numerous plays, including Long Day's Journey into Night, Look Back in Anger, Night of the Iguana, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, After the Fall, and All My Sons. Bob had the leading role in the psycho-drama film, House of Dreams, was featured in the TV movies, The Power of Prayer and Deadline, and served as Associate Producer for the 1991 documentary Pearl Harbor: Surprise and Remembrance, which won critical acclaim with its debut on PBS. He is familiar in the Midwest for his appearance in numerous radio and TV commercials and print advertisements. Currently, Bob is conducting a weekly acting workshop at the Indianapolis Arts Center. He is the author of three plays: Audition, Noble Theft, and Eric and Geneva, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

Russ Miles

by April Smallwood

runtime: 45 minutes

Synopsis: Russ Miles is unfortunate enough to have an arch nemesis; a man who is an angry drunk, chemically imbalanced, and unable to show any sort of healthy love. What's even more unfortunate for Russ is that this arch nemesis is himself. With his lover just having walked out on him and his beloved dog missing, Russ puts the final nail in his coffin when his favorite son comes to visit him.

April Smallwood (Playwright, Russ Miles) is a graduate from Indiana University where she double-majored in Theatre and English. She has enjoyed working on several projects with the BPP and hopes to continue doing so. She is also currently working for Man Bites Dog Productions which is based in LA but is lucky enough to be able to do this from her cozy little home in Bloomington.

Things to Believe In

by Josie Gingrich & Gayle Gingrich

runtime: 15 minutes

Synopsis: A young woman's offhand question about JFK's assassination sends her mother on a path of remembrance about her own childhood. Written by a mother-daughter team, Things to Believe In is about parenthood, finding your place in the world, and above all, hope.

Josie Gingrich (Playwright, Things to Believe In) is from Michigan by way of Chicago. She is a member of the EOA and was recently seen at the BPP in "The Blizzard" (where she played Sarah Palin in the winning play), as well as "Partisan Theatrics" and "Return of the Alumni". When not occupied with theater-y things, she writes young adult novels and sings far too much karaoke.

Gayle Gingrich (Playwright, Things to Believe In), a Michigan native, is a family therapist and published song writer who recently moved to Indianapolis seeking a quiet semi-retirement. Instead, she got a geriatric house in need of constant repair and another job in the trenches of public mental health. This is her first foray into playwriting, encouraged by her lovely, talented daughter who lives in Bloomington.

The Good Daughter

by Brenda Hiatt Barber

runtime: 45min

Synopsis: When their aging mother appears to be slipping mentally, three daughters argue over who will take care of her. At first, they try to top each other's excuses but then, when they're given a substantial financial incentive, they compete to be chosen as her caretaker. However, Mom gets the last laugh.

Brenda Hiatt Barber (Playwright, The Good Daughter) is no stranger to writing, although The Good Daughter is her first play. As Brenda Hiatt, she has been writing and publishing novels, primarily historical, since 1992. To date, Brenda has published six Harlequin Regencies, one Harlequin Superromance, and eight single title historical romance novels with HarperCollins. Brenda has served as president of Novelists, Inc, an international organization of over 600 multi-published novelists, and teaches classes on the Internet on Writing the Romance Novel. In recent years, Brenda has rediscovered an interest in theatre, both as an actor and behind the scenes, and is now stretching her wings by writing plays.

Thespian

by Chris White

runtime: 10 minutes

Synopsis: Two construction guys from Brooklyn are riding uptown on the F Train. One's got aspirations to be an actor and is on his way to his first professional audition, but he's a little short on experience. His buddy is going to help him beef up his resume and find his footing, whatever it takes.

Chris White (Playwright, Thespian) received a BA in Theatre from the University of Colorado in Boulder, additional training at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Los Angeles, and earned an MFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Her plays have been produced at 13th Street Repertory, 18th Street Playhouse, Manhattan Theatre Source, and the Goldman Theatre in NYC; at Horizons Theatre and New Works Theatre in Washington DC; at Ki Theatre in Washington, Virginia; at Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis; at Hollins, DePauw, Ball State and New York Universities; and received readings and staged readings at venues that include Horizons Theatre in D.C., Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke, Virginia, the William Morris Agency in NYC, and the Guild Theatre in Boulder, Colorado. Her play, Rhythms, was awarded the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play (Charles McArthur Award); her play, Sin Eater, earned Honorable Mention in the American College Theatre Festival; her play, Thespian, was a finalist for the Heideman Award at Actors Theatre of Louisville and chosen for the 2001 Ten-minute Play Festival at New York University; and her play, Mud Lotus, was a finalist for the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Conference and winner of a Basile Award for Emerging Indiana Playwrights. Chris was commissioned to write a new play for Hollins University (Sin Eater), where she also taught workshops in playwriting. In 2007, she received a Mellon Grant to direct her play, Rhythms, which played in both university and regional theatre productions, with a cast that included Rae Dawn Chong and Nicole Halmos. Another commissioned play, Two-Character Play, will be published (and was filmed for inclusion) in an introduction to theatre digital textbook for Allyn & Bacon in 2008. Most recently, her screenplay adaptation of her play, Thaw, made first cut at the 2008 Sundance Screenwriters Lab. She is currently a full time faculty member at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana teaching dramatic writing and literature.

How to Kill

by Gabe Gloden

runtime: 30 minutes

Synopsis: Keith is a killer. In his head. Thanks to his new method of mental murder, he has conquered his crippling social anxiety. And you can too! Just remember two simple things: 1) Don't ever actually kill anyone, and 2) kill without joy!

Gabe Gloden (Playwright, How to Kill) is the Managing Director of the Bloomington Playwrights Project (BPP), a theatre dedicated to the encouragement of new American theatre and plays. He has acted in numerous shows and is the co-founder of Gunstar Productions with his brother, Brett. As a writer, Gabe has produced work for three super-short play showcases, known as The Blizzard at the BPP. He lives in Bloomington, Indiana, by way of Toledo, Ohio.

Kindred

by Cairril Adaire & Lori Garraghty

runtime: 15 minutes

Synopsis: One's on the board of the Junior League. The other volunteers at a homeless shelter. Two sisters, living opposite lives, are forced to examine their past as well as their future in light of their mother's pending return from the hospital.

Cairril Adaire (Playwright, Kindred) is a vocalist, composer, actor, and writer. She is best known for her work with Kaia, a world music vocal ensemble. She studied musical theatre during her formative years and was a voice major at Indiana University. She now owns her own brand development firm. She's performed under the direction of Richard Perez and George Pinney, and performed alongside Sophia Travis, Janiece Jaffe, LaraWeaver, Kevin MacDowell, and in five million ad hoc ensembles. She has published poetry, non-fiction, screenplays, and ghostwrote the A&E special The Papacy: Legacy of Peter. She spends most of her free time in the performing arts or reading impenetrable history books. She blogs at www.feraldiva.com.

Lori Garraghty (Playwright, Kindred) enjoys working behind the scenes. She has spent many happy years with the Bloomington Playwrights Project as a stage manager, producer, lighting & sound technician and actor. She recently finished her MPA at Indiana University concentrating in Nonprofit and Public Management and began working with UnitedWay. She planned to curtail her involvement in theater a bit, but found it impossible to resist. She most recently stage managed Treasure Island and Having Our Say with Cardinal Stage Company and Chicks with Dicks II at the BPP.

Virginia's Last Drive

by Matthew Anderson

runtime: 40 min.

Synopsis: It's a beautiful day at the DMV, and nearly-eighty-year-old Virginia Mills is taking the driving test again. Assigned to by-the-book Alex Jacobs as her tester, however, she finds it difficult to enjoy the ride... and her confounding lack of driving skill forces Alex to question her reasons for taking the test at all. But stuck together through one-way streets, blind spots, and an unplanned stop at the car wash, the two begin to discover how easily life can steer you off the scheduled route... whether you're the passenger or the driver.

Matthew Anderson (Playwright, Virginia's Last Drive) graduated magna cum laude from Beloit College in Beloit, WI as a Creative Writing major. While at Beloit College, a number of his plays were produced onstage, including the autobiographical My Life and the full-length musical Welcome to the Nuthouse. For the college's graduation ceremony, Anderson was voted by his peers to write and deliver the commencement speech--an homage to Dr. Seuss entitled Oh! The Spaces You'll Roam!--which received much acclaim and was later published in the Beloit Magazine. Following college, Anderson has worked at the Betty Brinn Children's Museum in Milwaukee, WI as a children's theatre writer and director, creating and producing stage adaptations of such stories as Jack and the Beanstalk and The Emperor's New Clothes. He currently works at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, writing original interactive children's scripts including All Aboard with the Reuben Wells and Captain Extraordinary's Villain, for the institution.