& IN PARTNERSHIP PRESENT
LLENNIEENNIE DDEANEAN FFESTIVALESTIVAL DDIRECTORIRECTOR
Gravediggers
ELIZABETH VANPATTEN
GPS
MALENA ELJUMAILY
Special
Delivery
Turn the
Other
Answer
Me Now
JEAN WONG
BFF
Dream Girl
20122012
NANCY LOCKARD GALLOP
There
There,
Now
AMANDA MCTIGUE
HARRY REID
GENE GRIFFITH
TERESA LEYUNG-RYAN
The Play Is
the Thang
ELAINE MAIKOVSKA
“A ten-minute play is a streak of
theatrical lightning. It doesn’t last
long, but its power can stand your
hair on end.” Jon Jory
Ten-minute plays have become a
popular genre across the theater
world. Anything can happen in ten
minutes: A couple of good ol’ boys
encounter more than they bargain for
when faced with diggin’ a grave, a
despondent woman comes to terms
with her mother’s influence, a trou-
bled young man learns how he can
best serve his Meals on Wheels cli-
ent, a hurried businessman encoun-
ters directions he never expected with
his GPS. These are examples of life-
changing upheavals: comic, tragic, or
perhaps an unexpected breakthrough
— in short, all the variety of life that
ten-minute plays capture.
Nine plays by nine different play-
wrights, fifteen actors taking on
twenty-four characters directed by six
directors, all make for a ferocious
endeavor. This collaboration of Red-
wood Writers has afforded our thea-
tre community a unique opportunity
to explore this exciting genre.
In addition, we have added a
Master Playwright Workshop by a
renowned Bay Area playwright, Gar-
ret Jon Groenveld, and a panel dis-
cussion with the playwrights that will
continue to inspire and enrich your
theatre experience. We hope you en-
joy our smorgasbord offerings as
much as we have enjoyed dishing
them up.
Tick, tock ...
Lennie Dean, Festival Director
Denise Elia-Yen Denise Elia-Yen last por-trayed Paulette i n L e g a l l y Blonde and last directed Stalag 17, a 2011 Top Ten Torn Ticket at Spreckels. Twice nominated for the Bay Area Theater Critic’s Circle Award for her solo performance in 9 Parts of Desire at 6th Street, other credits include Laura (The Glass Menagerie), Cath-erine (A View from the Bridge), Adri-ana (The Comedy of Errors), and Helene (Sweet Charity). She re-ceived her BFA in Theater and BA in Italian from the Center for the Arts, SUNY Buffalo. See her as Fräulein Kost in the Napa Valley Broadway Playhouse’s debut, Caba-ret, weekends through July 1. Love to her husband David, and stepsons Jesse and Thomas.
Craig A. Miller Craig is Artistic and Educational Director of 6th Street Playhouse. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree at the nationally acclaimed Illinois State University School of Theatre, founded a theater in Chicago, and before coming to 6th Street Playhouse, served as Artistic Director of the Texas Repertory Theater Co. in Houston. He is an actor, director and teacher. Craig has directed over 80 professional productions at regional theatres across the United States. Promot-ing new playwrights has been part of his personal goal and he is delighted that 6th Street and Redwood Writers have partnered to present this three-day Play Festival.
Jacinta Gorringe Jacinta Gorringe has di-rected, staged, choreo-graphed, and performed throughout California. Shows include Cards, Touch the Miracle-$20, Stage Fright, All You Can Eat for $5.99, Kingdom Come, Showboat, Fiddler on the Roof, Mame, Fan-tasticks, Darling of the Day, and Something for the Boys. Venues include: Magic Theater, San Jose Civic Light Opera, Plush Room, 42nd St Moon Lost Musicals, Thea-ter Artists of Marin, P.C.P.A., S.R. Actors' Theater, S.R.T., Marquee Theater, and Spreckles Performing Arts.
Meet Our Directors
Linda Loveland Reid Linda has directed theater for various groups for over 30 years, including Santa Rosa Players, Sonoma Vintage Theater, Novato Theater Com-pany, 6th Street Playhouse and Spreckels Per-forming Arts. Some favorites are: Odd Couple: female version, Merchant of Venice, Biloxi Blues, My Left Breast, Gin Game and Oleanna. In 2010, Linda directed The Ticking Clock for 6th Street’s first celebration of Women’s History Month. Linda is Past President of Redwood Writers and serves
on Sonoma County Literary Art Guild. Her first novel, Touch of Ma-genta, was released in 2009; the second will follow this year. In Sep-tember Linda will teach a class in Art History at the Osher Life Long L e a rn i n g In s t i t u te a t So n o m a S t a te Un i ve r s i t y .
www.lindalovelandreid.com
Lennie Dean Lennie has been a veteran theatre participant in Sonoma County for 40 years. She co-founded and served as artistic director for the Marquee Theatre and Studio Be Thea-tre. She has also contributed her talents to Actors’ Theatre, Cinnabar Theatre, Santa Rosa Players, Academy of Arts in San Francisco and Summer Repertory theatre. Her many capacities include director, actor, teacher, producer, education director and dramaturgy. Lennie received the Independent Eye award in 1999 for contributions to Sonoma County theatre. She most recently directed Bug by Tracey Letts for Narrow Way Stage Company for which she was named second on David Templeton’s Top Ten Torn Tickets of 2011. She is currently Program Events director for Women’s Month History events and teaches acting classes at 6th Street Playhouse.
LC Smith LC Smith gradu-ated with honors from UC Berkeley in Theatre and P e r f o r m a n c e Studies. She wrote and di-rected Refusing Ophelia for Cal’s Celebration of
Women in Theatre in 2004. After writing and directing Entre Deux Mondes at l’Universite de Bordeaux, she assistant directed The Full Monty at San Luis Obispo Little Theatre. Since relocating to the North Bay she has performed with Narrow Way Stage Company, 6th Street Playhouse and most recently she was assistant choreographer for Legally Blonde: The Musical at Spreckels.
Gravediggers
Playwright: Gene Griffith Director: Craig A. Miller Cast: Cuss — John Browning Jake — Eyan Dean Clem — Jeff Savage
Answer Me Now
Playwright: Teresa LeYung-Ryan Director: Lennie Dean Cast: Woman — Stacey Marie Kerr
Special Delivery
Playwright: Malena Eljumaily Director: Linda Loveland Reid Cast: Miss Hobbs — Monica McKey Milo — Eyan Dean
BFF
Playwright: Jean Wong Director: Denise Elia-Yen Cast: Joan — Diane Dearmore Lila — Tiffany Claire Robert — John Browning
Turn the Other
Playwright: Amanda McTigue Director: Lennie Dean Cast: Bernice — Lois Pearlman Hazel — Laura J. Davies Kitty Pearl — Erin King Cherille — Monica McKey
2012 Festival Program
ACT 1 ACT 2
Dream Girl
Playwright: Elizabeth VanPatten Director: Denise Elia-Yen Cast: Susan — Dana Nelson-Isaacs Ian — Scott Lummer Evan — John Browning
GPS
Playwright: Harry Reid Director: Linda Loveland Reid Cast: She — Erin King He — Norman A. Hall
There There, Now
Playwright: Nancy Lockard Gallop Director: LC Smith Cast: Charlie — John Browning
Jane — Laura J. Davies Rhonda — Kelsey Mielle Byrne
The Play’s the Thang
Playwright: Elaine Maikovska, J.D. Director: Jacinta Gorringe Cast: Al Minton — Scott Lummer
Ben Applegate — Jeff Savage Dimitri Renee — Patrick O. Reilly
Festival Staff:
Lennie Dean, Festival Director Linda Loveland Reid, Redwood Writers Play Contest Chair Craig A. Miller, Artistic & Education Director, 6th Street Playhouse Beulah Vega, Stage Manager
Stage Manager, Beulah Vega
Beulah Vega has been doing theatre on and off for about 20 years now. She has most recently been directing with both Narrow Way Stage Com-pany (of which she is a board member) and with The Pegasus Theater Company in Rio Nido. She is very thankful to Lennie Dean for giving her the opportunity to be part of this production, and to Rusty for letting her use the car.
Sound Board Operator, Greg Carter
Thank you to:
Stephen Dietz, sound for GPS and Special Delivery; Santa Rosa Senior Center; and Scott and Rene Lummer.
There will be a 15 minute
intermission between acts.
Performances: June 29, 8 p.m., June 30, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., July 1, 2 p.m.
Workshop: July 1, 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. ($10) with award-winning playwright
Panel Discussion (free): July 1 following 2 p.m. performance
Meet the Cast
Kelsey Mielle Byrne Kelsey Mielle Byrne spent last summer in New York City with SpringboardNYC, presented by the American Theatre Wing with Tony Award Winning director Kath-leen Marshall, Seth Rudetsky, and many other well-respected mentors. She studies Musical Theatre at Chico State University and loves the banjo.
John C. Browning John C. Browning graduated with a BA in Theatre Arts from Sonoma State University and served as Marketing Director for Narrow Way Stage Company for two years. His credits include both directing Alice: The Rebellion of Wonderland, House Full of Letters and acting in a number of NWSC productions including Bug, Richard III, and Coriolanus.
Stacey Kerr Stacey Kerr is a teacher, a family physician, a published writer, a professional speaker, an advocate for women-empowered child-birth, a mother, and a daughter. Her book Homebirth in the Hospi-tal has opened doors all over the world for her to speak to Mother Nature and medicine. Her last stage appearance was as Susan Miller in My Left Breast which was performed in Sonoma, Napa, Ukiah, and at the Wells Fargo Center in Santa Rosa. She dedi-cates this performance to Laura who still haunts her, and to her mother who understood the healing power of theater.
Erin E. King Erin has been attending classes at 6th Street Playhouse for the past year and is thrilled to be making her stage debut. Erin grew up in Wyoming and has been living in Sonoma County for two years. She would like to thank Lennie Dean for pushing her to stretch herself creatively and her family and friends for their love and sup-port. Thanks for coming to the theater! Tiffany Claire
Tiffany met Diane and Denise in the 2005 production of Guys and Dolls at 6th Street Playhouse in which she starred as Miss Adelaide, her favorite role to date. Tif-fany works full-time as a Human Resources Analyst, but loves the theatre world. Special thanks to Mom, xoxo!
Laura J. Davies Laura is thrilled to be back at 6th Street, where she was most recently seen in The Tennessee Menagerie, her fifth consecutive role since returning to the theatre in 2011. Laura trained towards a BFA in Acting at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. She has per-formed at 6th Street Playhouse, Narrow Way Stage Company and numerous venues throughout the Min-neapolis/St. Paul area.
Scott Lummer Being on the stage for the first time in 40 years, Scott is thrilled to be part of the long-lived theater tradition of investment portfolio managers becoming actors in their 50s. He thanks his family for their support, and Lennie Dean of the 6th Street Playhouse drama school for her tireless efforts.
Monica McKey Monica McKey has been active in Sonoma County theatre for 30 years. Although most of her work has been in Sonoma, two of her favorite roles were Elinor in The Lion in Winter and Olive in The Odd Couple for Santa Rosa Players. She also enjoys directing and singing.
Eyan Dean Eyan Dean is a recent graduate of Santa Rosa High where he was a member of the ArtQuest Advanced Acting program. He was most recently seen as Hades and Bacchus in Metamorphosis for ArtQuest, as Rob-inson in Kite’s Book at 6th Street Playhouse and Sir Hughs in Merry Wives of Windsor for Narrow Way Stage Company.
Diane Dearmore Diane is a native of Dallas, Texas. She has enjoyed relationships with a variety of venues having per-formed in musicals, straight plays, live radio programs and dance performances. She feels privileged to be invited to bring a playwright's new work to life.
Dana Nelson-Isaacs Dana is honored to be part of the festival! She was most recently seen in Willy Wonka (Mrs. Gloop) and Our Town (Mrs. Gibbs) at SRJC and in Legally Blonde, The Musical (Enid) at Spreckels Performing Arts Center. Thanks to Denise for this opportunity, and to Sky, for making this, and all good things, possible.
Patrick O. Reilly Patrick Reilly is in his last semester at Sonoma State University where he will receive a BA in Theatre Arts and a minor in English. His most recent works include The Fantasticks as Mortimer, A Midsummer Night's Dream as Puck, and Go Dog, Go! as Red Dog.
Lois Pearlman Lois Pearlman was a judge for the Redwood Writers short play festival last year and performed in two of the plays. At 6th Street she played The Women in The Ticking Clock. She has also ap-peared with Pegasus Theater, the Raven Players and Sonoma County Repertory Company, and is the creator of Tapas New Short Play Festival for Pegasus.
Jeff Savage The theater feels like home to Jeff Savage. He grew up onstage, enrolled as a child at a professional theater arts school in Michigan. An award-winning public speaker and seasoned improvisational actor, he currently performs with Inside/Out, a local improv troupe.
Norman A. Hall This is Norman’s fourth collaboration with his dear friends Linda and Harry Reid. It has always been a true pleasure working with them. Norman has been in-volved with theatre for over 50 years, in New York and in the Bay Area. He lives in Sonoma County with his wife, actress and director Shirley Nilsen Hall.
Malena Eljumaily (Special Delivery)
Malena Eljumaily has been a member of Redwood Writers since 2008. She is on the board of the Northern California chapter of Sisters in Crime and mostly reads and writes mysteries. As luck would has it, her sister, who is an actor, was visiting her earlier this year and she was able to pick her brain about writing a ten-minute play. She is also grateful to Natasha Yim, whose blog about the contest got her inter-ested in trying her hand at drama.
Nancy Lockard Gallop (There There, Now)
Before her 26-year career as technical writer, editor and public relations specialist with a multi-national information technology corporation, Nancy Lockard Gallop’s short stories and articles appeared in a variety of publications. Now free to approach her material subjectively, she finds writing “more fun but just as challenging.”
Gene Griffith (Gravediggers)
Gene Griffith likes to write funny characters and witty dialogue. He co-wrote Shakespeare’s Home Improvement. (Check out the “mocumentary” on imdb.com, featured at the Temecula Film Festival.) He wrote a number of skits for CAPS of the Sonoma Theatre Alli-ance and Thistledew Theater (Sacramento). He enjoys having dinner guests read for their supper, and his poetry has been rejected by The New Yorker.
Teresa LeYung-Ryan (Answer Me Now)
As editor/story consultant, Teresa LeYung-Ryan identifies themes and universal archetypes for clients. As author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW, she says: “Make your name synonymous with the issues you write about.” Teresa has built her own platform happily; her novel Love Made of Heart is used in college composition classes. She says her novel and her play Answer Me Now carry the theme closest to her heart: the mother-daughter relation-ship. Go to http://writingcoachteresa.com for Coach Teresa’s Blog and other resources.
Elaine Maikovska (The Play Is the Thang)
Elaine Maikovska practiced law in Washington D.C. until she moved to California in 1983. Her writing has appeared in The Medical Liabil-ity Reporter, Tiny Lights, the Argus Courier, and the anthology, 95% Naked. A memoir will appear in the 2012 Vintage Voices. In 2011 her play, Dying Secret, was performed at the Redwood Writers Play Festival. She is married with two grown children who inspire her writing. She posts on her blog at elainemaikovska.wordpress.com
Amanda McTigue (Turn the Other)
Amanda McTigue is a storyteller on the page and for the stage. An author, teacher and stage director, she’s looking forward to a banner year in 2012 . Her debut novel, Going to Solace, will be released this summer, published by Harper Davis. In September, a full program of her lyrics will be featured at the Sunrise Choral Consecration celebrating the grand opening of the Green Music Center. Locally, she coaches acting and directs productions through her affiliations with the National Association of Singing Teachers and Sonoma State Uni-versity. Meanwhile, she works as a concept thinker/writer for international entertainment and design firms on projects based, most re-cently, in Houston, Japan and several sites in China. Her short play, Turn the Other, was adapted from her forthcoming novel.
Harry Reid (GPS)
Harry Reid is an architect, playwright and writer. An opera and a half dozen of his plays have been performed in the Bay Area. His works include The Connected, a novel; Nikita Khrushchev Waved at Me, a memoir, and Three Tall Tales, a collection of short novels. Currently he's working on The Concert, a novel about a stolen Vermeer painting. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Elizabeth VanPatten (Dream Girl)
Elizabeth VanPatten was born in Petersburg, Alaska, raised in California, and attended Oregon State College in 1944-45. She has self-published the books Rhyme and Punishment, Waging Golf (cartoons), Golf Shots of the Girls (cartoons), Boys in the Attic, Nook & Granny and The Gazelle in the Gazebo. She was also a contributor to the anthology Wisdom Has a Voice, and to the California Writers Club Liter-ary Review, Spring 2012 (Milkman of Human Kindness) She is a student in Ana Manwaring’s class at Napa Valley College.
Jean Wong (BFF)
Jean Wong has been a contributor to a variety of publications. One of her poems has been set to music and is currently played internation-ally. She placed first in a Redwood Writer’s short story contest, and her work was performed at the Petaluma Reader’s theater. Jean loves the idea that she is a writer, but then she has to shift out of her stay abed stew mode and cough something up.
Meet the Playwrights
Garret Jon Groenveld is a founding writer of PlayGround and recently ap-peared in his Seventh PlayGround Festival. His play Missives received a world premiere at Theatre Rhino in 2005 and a New York Premiere in New York in 2008. The Serving Class won the Global Age Project in 2010 from the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley and as of this writing is a semifinalist for the Mountain Play-house International Comedy Playwrighting Contest.
His newest full-length play, The Hummingbirds, won the Global Age Project this year and was a semi-finalist for the O'Neill Summer Playwrights Conference. It has also won the Internationalist Global Playwrighting Contest, with upcoming presentations in six or more countries by the end of March 2013.
Groenveld was an inaugural Writer in Residence at the Playwrights Founda-tion and has appeared in the Bay Area Playwrights Festival twice (1999 and 2004). He received his MFA in Poetry and Playwriting, and studied playwrighting with Edward Albee at his workshop at the University of Houston.
Special Workshop with Famous Playwright
Sunday, July 1, 10 a.m.—12:30 p.m.
GARRET
JON GROENVELD
Tickets $10 Call (707) 523-4185 or inquire at the box office
Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to learn about the craft of playwrighting from an award-winning master!
Craig A. Miller
Artistic Director, 6th Street Playhouse
Dear Festival Patrons, There is no doubt that producing new works is an important and
sometimes a very daunting part of a theatre company's mission. Here at 6th Street, I am hoping to bring this aspect of our vision and mission to the forefront in the years to come, and I can think of no better way to initiate the move towards the celebration of new plays and their playwrights than by hosting the Redwood Writers Ten-Minute Play Festival this year.
It has been an amazing collaboration — not only organization to organization, but all of the playwrights, their directors, and the actors in these brand new pieces are all working together famously, experiencing the wonderful and inspired work of attacking a new piece of theatre. I am proud to be directing one of the pieces, Gravediggers, and look forward to all of the other works, as well as welcoming our illustrious guest playwright and speaker, Garret Von Groenveld.
We hope you enjoy the entire festival offerings, and thanks for being with us!
Linda Loveland Reid
Redwood Writers Play Contest Chair
Sometimes you dream a dream and it comes true before your very eyes!
How exciting for our authors to see their own words come alive on stage. It is amazing to work with 6th Street Playhouse on our 2nd Annual Play Festival, honoring the winning playwrights from the Redwood Writers Play Contest, a terrific event involving writers, actors, directors, and, of course, the audience who will enjoy new works presented on a professional level. What a team! What a show! What a dream!
Note: Redwood Writers, with over 250 local mem-bers, is the largest of 18 branches of the California Writers Club, founded over 100 years ago by Jack London and friends, offer-
ing monthly meetings with professional speakers, workshops, conferences, public and private readings, and contests. www.redwoodwriters.org
