HamiltonLit a Fire in 2009 - Read about our successes here
Hamilton Dramaturgy’s Current Projects:
2010
I
visited London in January on a League of Professional Theatre Women
trip, meeting with UK theatre practitioners and seeing shows. I also
spent two days in Oxford , visit St. Catherine's College where I
studied the philosophy of aesthetics as an undergraduate. I was honored
to meet with Roger Ainsworth, Master of St. Catherine's, as well as some university administrators and faculty members at New College.
I also took the opportunity to introduce others to Noah Lukeman'sTHE TRAGEDY OF
MACBETH – PART TWO, THE SEED OF BANQUO.
(See details of the April 22nd staged reading in NYC below)
Caridad Svich accepted me as a playwright member of NO PASSPORT, an unincorporated
theatre alliance & press devoted to cross-cultural, Pan-American
performance, theory, action, advocacy, and publication. In January I read
my new short plays MARIA, THE DAY AFTER and THE LAST STONE – OR, THE
ADULTERESS SPEAKS FOR HERSELF at the Hibernating Rattlesnakes event at the
Nuyorican Poets Café in New York City. On March 15th, I will
begin to read THE STACY PLAY, starting with YOU
ARE HERE - PART I.
I have had the privilege of sending a stunning
new play to all my contacts across the country and abroad. THE TRAGEDY OF
MACBETH – PART TWO, THE SEED OF BANQUO is a new blank verse drama by Noah
Lukeman. It is bloody, fierce, and engaging. He will direct a staged reading of
the piece on April 22nd at the Cherry Lane Theatre, 38 Commerce
Street, in NYC. Reservations are not required. Please see www.macbeth2.com for more information. Noah
is a best-selling author and one of the country’s leading literary agents. If
you run a theatre and would like a copy of this play, please contact me at hamiltonlit@hotmail.com .
I serve on the Mentoring Committee of the League
of Professional Theatre Women under Chairwoman MargeryKlain. The committee is
dedicated to providing mentoring opportunities to female theatre artists who
are members of the League. Please see www.theatrewomen.org
for an application.
Welcome to two new Hamilton Dramaturgy
consultants: Linsey Bostwick serves as our Artistic Producing Associate and
Muhlenberg College junior Zach Trebino is our new intern. Linsey serves as Designer for ScriptForward! and Editor for TheatreNow! Zach directed his play OUROUBOROS at Muhlenberg College in October, and he will work on TheatreNow! as well as a new oral history series featuring LPTW members.
Fall, 2009
The League of Professional Theatre Women presented my one-woman play AND THEN I WENT INSIDE starring Kathleen Chalfant (WIT, ANGELS IN AMERICA, DEAD MAN'S CELL PHONE) at 8pm on November 9th at the Cherry Lane Theatre in NYC. Miss Chalfant's performance was riveting and emotional.Thank you, Kathleen, for your marvelous performance and for being such a joy to work with.
I launched the audio podcast series TheatreNow!, an oral history of leading American female
theatre artists. The inaugural segment features playwright and librettist
QuiaraAllegriaHudes, who wrote ELIOTT, A SOLDIER’S FUGUE, and the libretto for IN THE HEIGHTS (2008 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, and
2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama nominee). Please listen to the podcast
through the homepage of www.hamiltonlit.com . Upcoming podcasts will feature Actress Claire Lautier, Playwright/Musician/Librettist/Lyricist
Ruth Margraff, and St. Ann’s Warehouse favorite Cynthia Hopkins.
I have had the privilege of sending a stunning
new play to her contacts across the country and abroad in the hopes of finding
a production. THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH, PART
II - THE SEED OF BANQUO is a new blank verse drama by Noah Lukeman. It is
bloody, fierce, and engaging. Noah is a best-selling author and one of the
country’s leading literary agents. If you run a theatre and would like a copy
of this play, please contact me at hamiltonlit@hotmail.com
.
I completed a
terrific project at Muhlenberg College as the Dramaturg for the New Voices
festival of new student plays which ran from October 7th through 11th.The American College Theatre Festival judges
were quite impressed. Idramaturged three productions and three staged
readings. Congratulations, students, and thank you to Samantha Sembler, who
served as Apprentice Dramaturg.
Broadway Veteran George Marcy performed his one-man musical play in a cabaret at November 6th
and 12th at Don’t Tell Mama on 46th Street
in Manhattan. George performed the role of Bernardo
opposite Chita Rivera in the original WEST
SIDE STORY, and I happily served as “Dramaturg to Mr. Marcy” during
the development of this wonderful show. Miss Rivera and Miss Carol Lawrence (Broadway's original Anita and Maria) were in the audience on opening night.By George, what a wonderful show! Bob Goldstone served as co-writer and musical director.
I have been giving ongoing dramaturgical
advice to several new clients across the country on many new scripts this Fall.
This month’s highlight: ARM CANDY by
Barry Manheimer is a sexy noir murder mystery.
My interview with KhenpoRatsa Geshe Tenzin
Dargye was published in October's WISDOM
magazine and NATURAL AWAKENINGS
magazine. KhenpoDargye is a Tibetan Bon Buddhist monk who is the head of his
order, who spoke about the necessity of kindness and compassion in everyday
life. You may request a copy of the article through www.hamiltonlit.com/contactus
WMNF in Tampa,
Florida featured me in an interview on the topic of “Healing Through the
Arts” on September 4th. The radio internet show aired on the
program, “Art in Your Ear” with guest host Dewey Davis-Thompson. You may request
an MP3 file of the interview through my website's contact us page.
The Abingdon Theatre in New York City did a
staged reading of Carrie Robbins’ THE DEATH & LIFE OF DR. CUTTER on
September 14th. I dramaturgedDR. CUTTER and am extremely gratified
that such a marvelous theatre has chosen to develop it in this way. Brava,
Carrie!
I was appointed an Adjunct Professor of Theatre at
Lehigh University this Fall. I’m teaching a theatre history class which covers the
topics of Ritual through the Renaissance.
I served on a panel at the ATHE conference in
NYC on August 9th entitled“Guerrilla ‘Turgs: Dramaturgy’s Place in Academia”.
During the summer I served as Archival Supervisor of THE LOOP, Gary Garrison’s e-magazine
for playwrights. Three marvelous interns who attended my dramaturgy class at
Muhlenberg – Louisa Balch, Samantha Sembler, and Justin Schwartz –archived over
two years of back issues and are currently working on a Table of Contents to
make the articles easier to access by author, topic, and date. Thank you,
interns! Please sign up for THE LOOP at thelooponline.net. It’s priceless!
Finally, the League of Professional Theatre
Women has elected me to its Executive Board in the position of Co-Secretary. I
have been working hard this summer with MargeryKlain, a veteran producer, to
help create a Mentoring Committee. Ilook forward to serving the League Members in the coming year.
Summer 2009 Successes:
Anne gave two radio internet interviews on the topic “Healing Through the Arts”. The first was aired on June 11th and she described her healing process during the writing of her play ANOTHER WHITE SHIRT. The program, “Healing the Grieving Heart”, helps people to cope with loss and gain hope and strength for recovery. A transcript of the interview will be posted on our website shortly.
The second interview was recorded as an evergreen piece on August 31st with host Dewey Davis-Thompson.Itwill air on a Florida radio station in the coming month. Please check the home page of hamiltonlit.com for more information.
With great anticipation, it looks like we’ll soon see the opening of THE BALLAD OF #49,George Marcy’s one-man musical play in a cabaret. George performed the role of Bernardo opposite Chita Rivera in the original WEST SIDE STORY, and Anne happily served as “Dramaturg to Mr. Marcy” during the development of this wonderful show.It will play in New York before Christmas. Once again, check in to our website for more details.
Anne has signed on to serve as the Dramaturg for the New Voices festival of new student plays running October 7th through 11th at Muhlenberg College.
Fran Tarr’s screenplay TOGETHER, about two young girls growing up in the Lodz Ghetto, was read to a nearly-full house at the Atlantic Theater in NYC on August 3rd. Anne has been Ms. Tarr’s dramaturg for years, and is very happy to have assisted her with this vivid and deeply compassionate script.
Anne has been giving ongoing dramaturgical advice to several new clients across the country on many new scripts this Summer. Thank you all for sharing your work with me.
It’s time to study up on theatre history. Anne has been named an Adjunct Professor at Lehigh University in Bethlehem. She will teach a class covering theatre history from Ritual through the Renaissance this Fall. There’s nothing like a bit of light summer reading.
Anne will serve on a panel at the ATHE conference in NYC on August 9th. The panel, entitled“Guerrilla ‘Turgs: Dramaturgy’s Place in Academia”, will take place from 3:45pm to 5:15pm in the Gilbert Room of the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. There is an entrance fee for the conference.
This summer Anne has served as Archival Supervisor of THE LOOP, Gary Garrison’s e-magazine for playwrights. Three marvelous interns who attended Anne’s dramaturgy class at Muhlenberg – Louisa Balch, Samantha Sembler, and Justin Schwartz – have archived over two years of back issues and are currently working on a Table of Contents to make the articles easier to access by author, topic, and date. Thank you, interns! Please sign up for THE LOOP at thelooponline.net. It’s priceless.
Finally, Anne has been working hard this summer to help create a Mentoring Committee for the League of Professional Theatre Women. She looks forward to serving the League Members in the coming year.
Spring, 2009 Successes!
It has been a wonderful Spring - with Anne branching out into many new areas:
Teaching the dramaturgy class at Muhlenberg College was a true pleasure. Anne will be on campus again in the Fall in the role of Dramaturg for the New Voices student play festival, taking place in early October.
She has dramaturged several new plays, and a new musical about Australia in the early 1900's.
On June 11th, she was privileged to give an interview on the leading health and wellness radio internet show "Healing the Grieving Heart" on the topic HEALING THROUGH THE ARTS. Click here to download the podcast through the griefblog.com website.Just look under "Radio Show Archives" and click on the MP3 file for June 11, 2009.
Anne continued to develop her play ANOTHER WHITE SHIRT at Julia's Reading Room, a program of the LPTW held at the home of legendary producer Julia Miles. She expanded the play, and received very positive feedback. Julia herself deemed it "producible". While continuing to put the finishing touches on the script, she has been offered a developmental workshop at a prominent theatre in New York City in early 2010.
Anne has just penned a short play named PILES, which she will submit to the Humana Festival and the LPTW New Play Festival.
She has continued to e-publish as a contributor to the Open to Hope Foundation website. Click here for her article on Gerald Schoenfeld(the lead feature in the foundation's June newsletter), and on How Grief Moves Through the Body, which includes a monologue from ANOTHER WHITE SHIRT.
Anne continues to be involved with THE LOOP, Gary Garrison's leading e-newsletter for playwrights. THE LOOP has printed her two profiles of Kate Fodor and Sheilah Rae, and she is serving as the Loop Archive Coordinator. Three Muhlenberg students from her class are providing the bulk of the work on the project: Louisa Balch (Class of 2009), and Justin Schwartz and Samantha Sembler (both Class of 2011). Thank you, brave young theatre-makers!
TheBCWJ's June/July "Page & Stage" column is entitled, "Healing with Playwrighting" and describes Anne's experience of healing during the process of writing and developing ANOTHER WHITE SHIRT. Many thanks to Gary for republishing this article at www.thelooponline.net.
And for short and long-term strategic planning, Anne consulted the marvelous Judith Teitelman in Los Angeles. Now she has many more dreams to accomplish. Thank you, Judith!
Winter, 2009: Anne lecturing at Muhlenberg College
Anne taught a class in dramaturgy at MuhlenbergCollege during the Spring semester. She introduced the art form to the curriculum. The writing-intensive course included the history of the field of dramaturgy, approaches to research on classic and new plays, season planning, and studies in the comparisons of various texts. Muhlenberg has been named the #6 undergraduate theatre program in the nation by the PRINCETON REVIEW. Thank you, Muhlenberg, for the opportunity!
Publications...
Annewas featured as a "trailblazer" in American dramaturgy by STAGE DIRECTIONS magazine last April. Her fellow theatre artists included Ken Cerniglia of Disney Theatrical Productions, and Carolyn Balducci, book writer, lyricist, professor, and translator of Dovizi's 1513 comedy LA CALANDRA.
Anne has recently E-published a few articles in ScriptForward!, including:
A New Web Column! Anne has been invited by renowned psychologist, radio host and grief counselor Dr. Heidi Horsley to contribute a column to her Open to Hope Foundation website. The Foundation's mission is, "to help those who have suffered a loss to cope with their pain and find hope for the future." Anne's first article is entitled, "What Happens When You Lose the Father of Your Heart?". The piece is a memorial to Gerald Schoenfeld, who mentored Anne for nearly twenty years.
Anne also published her third "Page and Stage" column in the February/March issue. The article is the final part of a profile on playwright Kate Fodor. Future articles will feature female scriptwriters who live or work in Bucks County, as well as more educational articles on playwrighting. Memoirist and educator Linda C. Wisniewski shares the column as the "Page" in "Page and Stage".
Anne is privileged to have published an article on Paula Vogel in ROUND UP (Volume VIII), the annual magazine of The League of Professional Women. The Pulitzer-Prize-winning playwright gave a presentation on her 1994 play DESDEMONA: A PLAY ABOUT A HANDKERCHIEF for the Edith Meiser History Project at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. She recently covered a NYPL event about the 1942 Paul Robeson/UtaHagenOTHELLO, and her article will appear in next year's volume of ROUND UP.
2008 Dramaturgy Highlights... Anne recenltydramaturgedSTONE DANCER, a new screenplay by legendary Israeli filmmaker JuddNe'eman and American novelist Wayne Karlin. STONE DANCER, set in the Vietnam War and contemporary Maryland, loosely shares the story of Karlin's just-published novel MARBLE MOUNTAIN. The collaboration with Mr. Ne'eman was truly the chance of a lifetime, which will hopefully be furthered as the film prepares to go into production next year. The introduction to Mr. Ne'eman was made by Anne's former college advisor Janet Burstein (mother of Studio 360's Julie Burstein), whom she chanced to meet in Penn Station some twenty years after graduating.
Here is what Mr. Ne'eman said about his experience with Anne: " I must tell you that I have not yet received such eye opening and detailed comments like yours. As I now proceed, I find the rewrite so smooth and easy and rewarding when I follow your precise and to the point remarks on almost each and every scene in the script. Your elaborations on scenes, dialogue and film-structure point out to me the strong points as well as the weak sides in character and action building. Your contribution to putting the script on track was highly critical, and I hope very much that when you read the finished draft you’ll see that your effort was worthwhile. " Click hereto read the full recommendation.
Anne continues to work as dramaturg to Fran Tarr, Education Director of the Atlantic Theater, NYC. Fran's new TV Pilot WELCOME TO KATRINALANDfeatures a New Orleans policewoman who rebuilds her community through grass roots efforts. Anne dramaturged the script after a reading at the Atlantic Theatre School this summer. Broadway veteran Billie Allen, a fellow LPTW member, read the featured role of Pansy. Anne also dramaturgedTarr'sTOGETHER, a screenplay about two girls growing up in the Lodz Ghetto in Poland during World War II.
Congratulations! to Randy Hobler, whose new musical BANJO BOY,about the life of composer Meredith Willson received a world premiere production at the Stephen Sondheim Performing Arts Center in Fairfield, Iowa. Hobler chose Anne in February after interviewing several other dramaturgs he found on the LMDA website. After a close and rewarding collaboration lasting four months, BANJO BOY was chosen to premiere at the only American venue to which Mr. Sondheim lends his name in August. It was Mr. Hobler's first attempt to get his show on the boards, and the production received great reviews!
Anne continues to work on new TV pilot and film scripts with long-time client Tom Cavanaugh, who lives in Los Angeles. He recently won the Irene Bashore Award for Playwrighting from L.A.'s FirstStage for his one-act play WONDER. Read his acceptance speech here. She is shopping his play play BEHOLD, about the disintegration of a family after its son/brother is killed in a Columbine-like school shooting.
THE BALLAD OF #49, a one-man musical play in a cabaret written by George Marcy, will premiere in NYC sometime this September. A Broadway veteran, George performed the role of Bernardo opposite Chita Rivera in the original WEST SIDE STORY. Bob Goldstone is serving as Musical Director and Co-writer. Anne had a marvelous time as dramaturg to Mr. Marcy on this hilarious and touching show.
PHILLIS: A SLAVE TO POETRY by Cheryl L. Davis is a play about African-American poet Phillis Wheatley, which Anne was privileged to dramaturg in early Summer.
SAVING THE LIVES OF STRANGERS by Alex Beech, enjoyed an SRO crowd at a recent reading at Primary Stages in NYC. Alex is a fellow Columbia University of the Arts graduate and one of six playwrights in the theatre's Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group.
Finally, Anne consulted on a new drama by a prominent downtown playwright/screenwriter about the late 1990's clearing out of squatters in Alphabet City by the NYPD under the Giuliani administration. The play dealt with the subjects of child homelessness, trust between different age groups, and the gentrification of the Lower East Side (when it was Losada v. LES).
Congratulations to our clients...
Lynn Nottage'sLAS MENINASwas published by Dramatists Play Service Inc. Anne dramaturged the play at Crossroads Theatre Company's Genesis Festival before its first professional production at San Jose Rep in California. Congratulations also to Lynn on her 2007 MacArthur Foundation "Genius Award".
Samuel French has published Andrew Barrett's play CIRCUITRY (formerly titled RAINY DAYS & MONDAYS). Anne served as production dramaturg for RAINY DAYS at the University of Iowa, and it was named one of the best plays written in an American graduate playwrighting program in 2004. A hit at the 2006 New York International Fringe Festival, it was extended in the first annual Encore Series. Anne included CIRCUITRY on the syllabus for the first class in Dramaturgy at Muhlenberg College.
Leslie Lee's play SUNDOWN NAMES AND NIGHTGONE THINGS has been published in BEST BLACK PLAYS: THE THEODORE WARD PRIZE FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN PLAYWRIGHTING 2002-2003 (Ed. by Chuck Smith, Northwestern University Press, 2007). Anne dramaturged the play while she was working as Mr. Lee's exclusive dramaturg in NYC, and she provided program notes entitled, "Bronzeville, USA" for a reading at the Maverick Theater in NYC in early 2002. Congratulations, Leslie, also for your current production of FIRST BREEZE OF SUMMER as the first presentation in the Signature Theatre's homage to the Negro Ensemble Company.
Enrique Menendez' short film AboutFace was chosen for the 2007 New York AIDS Film Festival and was one of the first films screened on World AIDS Day on December 1st. Anne served as dramaturg, helping Enrique to turn his poem, "Trigger" into the narrative for the film, and assisting with other artistic decisions, including continuity, image choice, and structural integrity. Other collaborators included Henry B. Lee (Director of Photography/Editor) and DJ/Producer Randy Bettis (Sound Editor).
Ivan Fuller's drama EATING INTO THE FABRIC was a semi-finalist for last year's Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference. Anne was interviewed on South Dakota Public Radio about her direction of the staged reading at Augustana College in Sioux Falls. She also served as dramaturg to Professor Fuller, and he received a 15-minute interview on the play's genesis and development history. In December, 2007 Anne enjoyed great success in a one-week Guest Artist residency at Augustana, where she taught three master classes (Dramaturgy, Playwrighting and Collaboration), and three writers' workshops.
2007 Highlights...
In 2007, Anne dramaturged several new scripts in New York City including Dorothy Leeds' one woman show GOOD LESSONS FROM BAD WOMEN; Costume Designer Carrie Robbins' full-length play THE DEATH & LIFE OF DR. CUTTER; and a new translation by Carolyn Balducci of Dovizi's 1513 comedy LA CALANDRA. These three writers are members of the League of Professional Theatre Women. The Naked Stage presented a reading of LA CALANDRA at the Montauk Public Library on February 8, 2008. This classical comedy was even more engaging on the stage than on the page! All three plays are currently seeking production. Please use our contact page for any inquiries.
Hamilton Dramaturgy: The League of Professional Theatre Women is devoted to promoting visibility and increasing opportunities for women in the professional theatre and has accepted Anne as a full member. Anne's article, "Visiting MRS. PACKARDin Princeton" about a trip to McCarter Theatre, was published in the League's newsletter ROUNDUP (Volume VII). An article on Paula Vogel discussing her 1994 play DESDEMONA: A PLAY ABOUT A HANDKERCHIEF at the NYPL was published in ROUNDUP (Volume VIII). Her article about Milly S. Barranger's lecture on the 1942 UtaHagen/Paul RobesonOTHELLO, directed by Margaret Webster, will be published in Volume IX.
Other Successes: Tom Cavanaugh's film THE SHIFT (Directed by Chuck Parker) won the Best Short award in the Garden State Film Festival in March, 2007. It was also a finalist for the 2007 Best Short Film Award at the San Fernando Valley International Film Festival. Congratulations once again, Tom!
Tomwas featured in SCRIPT magazine (March/April 2006) as a "Writer You'll Wish You Knew When". Anne was mentioned as Tom's long-time collaborator in the article, along with Bobby Moresco (Producer, CRASH). Tom continues to collaborate as a member of Moresco's development group The Actor's Gym in Los Angeles.
