Groundswell Playwrights' Conference
by groundswell
Jan. 23, 2016
Saturday
Effective Magic
by Kirk Lynn
Reading directed by Courtney Sale
A group of teens grow up suffering under the dark magic of being born poor in a small town in Texas. One girl must battle an evil stepfather who's enchanted mom, driven off her true dad, and won't stop harping on how his step-daughter should make more of an effort with her looks. A young man must fight his monstrous dope-smoking older brother who punches anyone who won't sits in his spot on the couch. And the twins have to find a way to break the spell of depression and anxiety that's
ruining their mother. Together these teens form a coven, there only spellbook, the self-help masterpiece: Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Can they learn enough magic to survive a showdown with the local bully, Marco, and reach the required escape velocity to get out of town and meet the actual world? No one they know has ever done it before.
Knotted
by Joanna Garner
Reading directed by Jess Hutchinson
Abby lives in a small town in Idaho making her money dominating men on the internet. Cheryl teaches fifth-graders and has nice, simple sex with her husband, Dan. When Cheryl ends up in Idaho to take care of Dan’s ailing mother, she’s desperate for a way to fill the summer break and her nights alone. Abby and Cheryl strike up a dangerous friendship—one with fuzzy boundaries, shifting power, and tangles of secrets. A play about fear and desire, Knotted asks, “What happens when you let go of control?”
Click for interview of Joanna Garner at groundswell.com
Slake
by Martín Zimmerman
Reading directed by KJ Sanchez
A former British colony cobbled by a strongman into a fragile kingdom. Massive, unexploited oil reserves waiting to be tapped. Into this explosive situation step two sisters, one of whom will be the first queen this divided nation has ever had. But which sister? The younger one, Ora, returned home right after graduating from Princeton hoping to forge a modern, democratic nation that will lift her people out of poverty. The older sister, Nasia, never had any interest in ruling. Until she returns home for her father’s funeral with a fiancé who’s an American post-doc in development economics. A fiancé who convinces Nasia she can exploit her connections with American business interests to more quickly and efficiently modernize her homeland. But what will the idealistic Ora say about her sister’s very pragmatic plans? And can this kingdom survive the conflict that arises between the two sisters? Slake explores how family dynamics can forever alter the history of a nation, and asks just how much the ends justify the means when the fate of millions is at stake.
From the University of Texas Department of Theatre and Dance, December 17, 2015:
Playwrights Kirk Lynn (faculty), Martín Zimmerman (M.F.A. 2010) and Joanna Garner (current M.F.A. candidate) will workshop new plays as part of the inaugural Groundswell Playwrights Conference (GPC) January 17-23, 2016 (Austin, Texas). The conference is a new initiative to connect the work of artists from The University of Texas at Austin M.F.A. Playwriting program with the Austin and national theatre communities.
The conference was founded on the notion of prioritizing writers over the selection of a specific script. Members of the newly-formed, Austin-based Groundswell Company invited three playwrights—a University of Texas alumnus, a Department of Theatre and Dance faculty member and a current M.F.A. candidate—and offered them time and resources to create new work.
“Many play development opportunities are all about the play you submit,” said Groundswellfounder Jess Hutchinson, a 2015 graduate of The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance. “We want to champion writers we love and trust them to bring in whatever strikes their fancy—a passion project; the play that they want to cheat on their other plays with.”
An artist-centric celebration of adventure and collaboration mirrors the aesthetics of the Department of Theatre and Dance's M.F.A. in Playwriting program. Using the resources available through the department, including a intelligent and responsive students, staff, faculty and local supporters, the conference capitalizes on the experimentation and discovery fostered at The University of Texas at Austin and the innovation and risk-taking that is a hallmark of Austin’s arts scene.
On Saturday, January 23, the three plays will be presented on The University of Texas at Austin campus as readings in a celebration of new work. These readings will be free and open to the public. Attendees will engage in discussions with the writers throughout the day and in the evening gather for a party and networking event. Reservations are strongly encouraged by visiting www.groundswelltheatre.com.
Groundswell Playwrights Conference is produced in collaboration between groundswell and UT’s Department of Theatre and Dance.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTS
Kirk Lynn is one of six co-producing artistic directors of Rude Mechs theatre collective. With the Rude Mechs, Lynn has written and adapted more than a dozen plays, including Lipstick Traces, Stop Hitting Yourself and The Method Gun, which premiered at the 34th Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays in the spring of 2010. Lynn is also working with composer Peter Stopschinski on a new opera about Bum Phillips: Cowboy, Coach, Christian, for Monk Parrots. His most recent play, Your Mother's Copy of the Kama Sutra, premiered at Playwrights Horizons in New York City in April 2014. His first novel, Rules for Werewolves, was published this fall. Kirk Lynn is the head of the Playwriting and Directing at The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance.
Martín Zimmerman (M.F.A. 2010) is a multi-ethnic, bilingual playwright whose plays include Seven Spots On The Sun, White Tie Ball, The Making Of A Modern Folk Hero, The Solid Sand Below and Let Me Count The Ways, which have been produced or developed at The Kennedy Center, Goodman Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse In The Park, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, and the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, among others. Zimmerman is a recipient of the Terrence McNally New Play Award, Steinberg/ATCA New A recipient of the Terrence McNally New Play Award, Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award Citation, Humanitas Prize New Voices Award, Sky Cooper New American Play Prize, McKnight Advancement Grant, Jerome Fellowship, Carl Djerassi Playwriting Fellowship, National New Play Network’s Smith Prize and a Core Apprenticeship at The Playwrights’ Center. Zimmerman was a staff writer on Season one of Netflix's Narcos, has been the Alliance for Latino Theater Artists (ALTA) Artist of the Month as well as a member of the 2011-2012 Playwrights’ Unit at Goodman Theatre, playwright in residence at Teatro Vista and a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists. He is an alumni of The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance.
Joanna Garner is a writer and musician originally from Seattle, Washington. Her work has been developed nationally and internationally, including at the Banff Centre Playwrights Colony, Tofte Lake Center, the NEWvember New Plays Festival, Seattle Repertory Theatre, On the Boards, Annex Theatre, Capitol Hill Arts Center, Live Girls! Theater and the New York and Hollywood fringe festivals. Her country musical, 100 Heartbreaks, was workshopped in Seattle Repertory Theatre's New Play Program, with the Northwest Playwrights Alliance and was presented at the country’s largest arts and culture festival, Bumbershoot. Her diverse body of work endeavors to build communities theatre enthusiasts, particularly in non-traditional spaces, often through immersive experiences involving music and/or food. Her plays include a light and sound-based performance for the very young (Fireflies), a raucous dinner experience of food and pleasure (Please Open Your Mouth), a political romance set in pre-revolutionary Iran (The Orange Garden) and a play about ghosts with bluegrass/mountain gospel music (Dead Leaves). She will receive her M.F.A. in Playwriting from The University of Texas at Austin this spring.
ABOUT GROUNDSWELL
groundswell is dedicated to developing and producing new plays in Austin, Texas. Founded in the summer of 2015, the company supports the work of theatre artists making their lives and careers in Austin and works to build links between the creative work of artists in Austin and the professional world beyond Texas.
MORE INFORMATION AND RESERVATIONS
http://www.groundswelltheatre.com
Groundswell Playwrights' Conference
by Martin Zimmerman, Kirk Lynn, Joanna Gardner
groundswell
January 23, 2016
Runs all day at WInship Drama Building, University of Texas, starting at 10 a.m.
Click to reserve seats, order lunch, sign up for after-party
