THE LAST F TRAIN ON EARTH at the New York Transit Museum

Jess Honovich (MFA '17) and Robert M. Stevenson created a site-specific play for the 1936 subway station that is home to the New York Transit Museum, as part of the commissioning program PLATFORM: CREATIVE MUSINGS ON MASS TRANSIT. Seriously, could that possibly sound more fabulous?

SPACE GIRL in Chicago

20% Theatre Company Chicago has announced its 15th season, in which SPACE GIRL by Mora V. Harris (MFA '16) will feature alongside plays by Caridad Svich and Emily Dendiger. 20% is dedicated to strengthening the presence and raising public awareness of women artists in theatre. It is estimated that only 20% of theatre professionals are women. By building a community of theatre professionals and fostering emerging female artists through workshops and new plays, we provide opportunities for women directors, producers, designers, and playwrights.

Sloan Science & Film interview with Daniel Hirsch '17

Gay sheep? The Museum of the Moving Image interviews Daniel Hirsch '17 about SHEEPISH, a winner of the 2017 Sloan/CMU Script Competition.

The Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama is one of six institutions chosen to participate in the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film School Awards. The competition presents $35,000 in prizes annually to current students in the Dramatic Writing program at CMU for their original screenplays or television pilots.

The competition encourages the MFA candidates to write scripts that will further the public understanding of science and technology. The Sloan Foundation's goal is to see the resulting scripts into commercial production at major studios and networks. To that end, it maintains development programs with the Tribeca, Sundance, and Hamptons film festivals.

Apply to the dramatic writing MFA at Carnegie Mellon School of Drama

When I think of who went to Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, where I teach, I think of Denée Benton, Leslie Odom Jr., Renée Elise Goldberry, Telly Leung, Josh Gad, Leigh Silverman, Katherine Brook.... My students in the MFA dramatic writing program work with actors and directors of this caliber every day. You can't help but step up to their level; you become a better writer for collaborating with them.

That list also reflects the diversity and fierceness of our community. Over the past year, the fact that this community is made up not only of bold artists but also bold citizens has become crystal clear.

The next class that enters the dramatic writing MFA program, in 2018, will join me for my tenth year at CMU. I've been teaching long enough now to see graduates recognized for the great plays I knew they would write. For example: Liza Birkenmeier (Public Theater Emerging Writers Group, Ars Nova Play Group, Playwrights Realm Fellow), Dan Giles (BREEDERS at New Light Theater Project), Joshua Harmon (BAD JEWS, SIGNIFICANT OTHERS, SKINTIGHT), Dan O'Neil (Incubator Arts Project, Theater Editor of Culturebot), Isabella D'Esposito (Playwrights Realm Fellow), Carolyn Kras (Playwrights Union, LA),  Mora V. Harris (City Theater Momentum Series, Pittsburgh), and Daniel Hirsch (Tête à Tête opera festival, London). Other alumni are writing for television and film in LA, touring plays for Seder tables and punk rock clubs, and making bonkers puppet extravaganzas in Texas.

You or someone you know should come here for two years and advance your work. The deadline is January 1 at http://drama.cmu.edu/

Thanks---
Rob Handel
Associate Professor of Dramatic Writing
Carnegie Mellon University


Here's some more information:

Combining playwriting, screenwriting, and writing for television, the Dramatic Writing MFA at Carnegie Mellon University School is focused on collaboration, intellectual vision, and experimentation. Central to the curriculum is Theater Lab, in which writers, directors, and actors collaborate on new work. Full-length plays by graduate playwrights receive workshop productions in the New Works Series, performed by the School of Drama's acclaimed student actors. The Sloan/CMU Script Competition awards $35,000 in prizes to current CMU students each year for original screenplays and TV pilots. MFA candidates may also have the opportunity  to teach undergraduate courses in playwriting or screenwriting. Both during and after their time at CMU, writers have access to an established framework of professional connections. Students are encouraged to pursue their professional careers while enrolled in the MFA program, supported by the Dramatists Guild's “First Year Out” program, which provides students with access to new play development and production opportunities.

Recognizing that we practice a marginalized art form, we interrogate the state of the contemporary play and by what brave and daring acts we might contribute to its ascension. We are committed to an inclusive theater that resists bigotry and oppression.

Guest faculty are a vital presence in the program. Recent guests have included Clare Barron, Sheila Callaghan, Kia Corthron, Erin Courtney, Kristoffer Diaz, Jessica Dickey, Madeleine George, Lucas Hnath, Aurorae Khoo, Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, Richard Nelson, J.T. Rogers, Cori Thomas, Andrea Thome, Francine Volpe, Anne Washburn, and Mac Wellman.

Applications are due January 1. Information at http://drama.cmu.edu/

Carolyn Kras '10 inducted into LA's Playwrights Union

Carolyn Kras (MFA '10) was inducted into The Playwrights Union, a network of LA theater artists writing for stage, TV, and film. Previous inductees have included Julie Tosh (MFA '09) and Matt Schatz (MFA '04).

BREEDERS by Dan Giles '15 now running at New Light Theater Project

BREEDERS, a play by Dan Giles (MFA '15) about two men and two hamsters, won the 2017 New Light New Voices Award and is now running at New York's Access Theater. The play, written at Carnegie Mellon, had previously received the 2016 Mark Twain Prize from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.

Isabella D'Esposito '17 is a Playwrights Realm Writing Fellow

Isabella D'Esposito (MFA '17) (that's right, she only got her MFA a couple months ago) has been named one of five 2017–2018 Writing Fellows by The Playwrights Realm. The fellowship, designed to help artists reach their professional and artistic goals, includes presentation of a new work in the Spring 2018 INK'D New Play Festival.

D'Esposito hails from the excellent town of Poughkeepsie, New York.

Mora V. Harris '16 in Momentum at Pittsburgh's City Theatre

Mora V. Harris (MFA '16) will become the latest dramatic writing graduate to have her work in City Theater's Momentum Reading Series when YOU ARE WHAT YOU is presented in March.

Chris Dimond '07 is writing songs for Disney Channel's VAMPIRINA

Chris Dimond (MFA '07) and Michael Kooman are writing songs for Disney Channel and Disney Junior's series VAMPIRINA. Does this sound like the best job in New York? Yes.

Carnegie Mellon reaffirms support for undocumented students

Farnam Jahanian, Interim President of Carnegie Mellon University, has restated that "a diverse and inclusive community is the foundation for excellence in learning, research, creativity and human development." The university, said the President, stands by its statement in support of DACA students as well as specific commitments the university has made.

Message from CMU about Charlottesville

Farnam Jahanian, Carnegie Mellon University's Interim President, has shared a message with the CMU community, reaffirming that "a diverse and inclusive community is the foundation for excellence in learning, research, creativity, and human development. Our commitment to that value stands at the center of our mission. I ask all of you to join me in living out that commitment in the year to come, and throughout our time at CMU."

Amy Gijsbers van Wijk '16 in residence at Pipeline Theatre Company

Amy Gijsbers van Wijk (MFA '16) was selected for a yearlong residency in the Pipeline PlayLab at Pipeline Theatre Company in Manhattan.

Atlanta world premiere for SPACE GIRL by Mora V. Harris '16

The Weird Sisters Theatre Project in Atlanta will produce the world premiere of SPACE GIRL by Mora V. Harris (MFA '16). The comedy had been a finalist in the 2016/17 Alliance/Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition. You can learn more about Mora's work here.

ROMANCE AT THE SHOE FACTORY by Gillian Beth Durkee '18 in the Samuel French OOB Festival

ROMANCE AT THE SHOE FACTORY by Gillian Beth Durkee (MFA '18) will be produced this August in the Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival. You can read an interview with the playwright here.

ID, PLEASE by Daniel Hirsch '17 onstage in London

ID, PLEASE, an opera with a libretto by Daniel Hirsch (MFA '17) and music by Soosan Lolavar, will travel to London's Tête à Tête festival in July. The production was originally mounted as part of Co-Opera, an extraordinary collaboration between the Carnegie Mellon School of Music, the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, and Pittsburgh Opera.

ID, PLEASE made international news in February when Ms. Lolavar's ability to attend rehearsals in Pittsburgh was cast into doubt by the U.S. executive branch's initial attempt at a travel ban on people carrying passports from Muslim-majority countries.

John-Paul Nickel '08 is now a producer on JUST ADD MAGIC

John-Paul Nickel (MFA '08) has been promoted to producer on Amazon Studios' JUST ADD MAGIC. Nickel was a 2017 Writers Guild Award nominee for last season's episode "Just Add Mom." A Pittsburgh native, he previously wrote for WAREHOUSE 13.

Annie Pulsipher '17 takes THE TROUBLE WITH DEAD BOYFRIENDS to Chicago

Annie Pulsipher (MFA '17) and a team of collaborators from CMU have been invited to bring their musical THE TROUBLE WITH DEAD BOYFRIENDS to MCL Chicago's Premier Premieres festival. The show was originally produced in the School of Drama's annual Playground Festival of student work. In addition, Pulsipher was a runner-up in the University of Tulsa's WomenWorks competition.

Isabella D'Esposito '17 in Seven Devils Conference and Ars Nova ANT Fest

Isabella D'Esposito (MFA '17) will have a very busy June. Her spaceship musical GRAVITY OF ME GONE will be produced in Ars Nova's ANT Fest in New York, and her spaceship play HORIZON THREE has been selected for the Playwrights Intensive at the Seven Devils Conference in McCall, Idaho.

Pulsipher, Palmero, Hirsch win monologue prizes

Three playwrights from the MFA class of 2017 and the School of Drama actors with whom they collaborated received prizes at the Energy Week dramatic monologue competition at Carnegie Mellon.


First Place: "Power to the Potato"

Writer: Annie Pulsipher
Actor: Amanda Fallon Smith ($2,000)

Second Place: "Mother Nature has Gas"

Writer: Seanan C. Palmero Waugh
Actor: Lea DiMarchi ($1,000)

Third Place:  "In the Dark"

Writer: Daniel Hirsch
Actor: Aubyn Heglie ($500)


Energy Week, sponsored by the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, included a wide range of programming dedicated to making energy more efficient, affordable, and sustainable.

Annie Pulsipher '17 wins Tribeca/Sloan Grand Jury Prize

The Tribeca Film Institute-Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize is awarded annually to the best screenplay from amongst those that have received a Sloan award during the year. Six graduate film programs award Sloan screenwriting grants. The Grand Jury Prize is a $30,000 cash prize plus $20,000 in mentoring from the Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) as well as from scientists and industry professionals.

On March 16, Annie Pulsipher from Carnegie Mellon University was awarded the prize for her script THE GLOWING GENE. A reception followed at The Park on 10^th Avenue in Chelsea, which had specialty cocktails for each drink (“The Glowing Gene” had a fluorescent green straw.)

British composer missing rehearsals of collaboration with CMU Drama librettist due to travel ban

The Times of London (paywall): "Soosan Lolavar, 29, is having to rethink plans to visit the US next week for rehearsals of an opera she has composed. Ms Lolavar was born and brought up in London and holds dual British-Iranian citizenship because her father is from Iran. She recently returned from studying at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh after winning a Fulbright scholarship. Her opera, ID, please, is due to begin in April." The opera is a collaboration with librettists Daniel Hirsch (MFA '17) as part of a project assembled by CMU School of Drama, CMU School of Music, and Pittsburgh Opera.

The story is also being followed by The Hollywood Reporter.

Karina Cochran's WHERE ALL GOOD RABBITS GO premieres at SF's FaultLine

The world premiere of WHERE ALL GOOD RABBITS GO by Karina Cochran (MFA '16) will run at FaultLine Theater in San Francisco from February 10 to March 4. The play started life as a thesis production in the New Works Series at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, and was invited to be presented at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Region 2 as well as receiving a student production at Alfred University,