Theater News

Letts, Loomer, Meadow, Mills, Taylor, Wright, et al. Set for 2008 O’Neill Conference

Lynne Meadow
(© Joseph Marzullo/Retna)
Lynne Meadow
(© Joseph Marzullo/Retna)

The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut has announced the participants for its 2008 National Playwrights Conference and its National Music Theater Conference.

Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts and playwright Lisa Loomer will be this year’s artists-in-residence. Eight plays and four musicals will be given workshop productions between June 29-July 18. The line-up is as follows:

John Mercurio’s musical Myth (June 29, July 2, 4 & 5) is a contemporary riff on Greek myths, focusing on a disenchanted rock star, a frustrated mother, and a slacker teenager in present-day New York

Alex Lewin’s The Near East (July 3 & 5) is about an American archaeologist who teams up with an Arab activist to unearth an ancient scripture, a controversial mission that affects a secret gay Arab radical, a British spy, and the ghost of a 13-year old boy.

Jason Grote’s Box Americana: a dream of WalMart (July 4 & 6), follows Kelly, a perky and passionate cheerleader for Wal-Mart and Danae, a devoted mother escaping a violent past.

Kristen Anderson-Lopez, James-Allen Ford, Russell M. Kaplan, and Sara Wordsworth’s In Transit (July 5 & 6) is an a cappella musical focusing on the loves of random New Yorkers.

Rachel Axler’s Smudge (July 10 & 12), to be directed by Lynne Meadow, is a very dark comedy about a couple whose first child doesn’t turn out as expected.

Nancy Carlin and Michael Rasbury’s Max Understood (July 11 & 13) is a musical about the transformative journey of a 7-year-old autistic boy and those who love them.

Regina Taylor’s Magnolia (July 11 & 13) is an adaptation of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard set in Atlanta, 1963. It will be produced by Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.

Susan DiLallo, Peter Mills, and Stephen Weiner’s musical Iron Curtain (July 12, 16, 18 & 19) concerns two down-on-their-luck songwriters in 1956 who are kidnapped by the KGB and brought to Moscow to write Communist propaganda musicals.

A Rey Pamatmat’s Thunder Above, Deeps Below (July 17 & 19) is about three young homeless friends struggling on the streets on Chicago.

Craig Wright’s Mistakes Were Made (July 18 & 20), to be directed by Wendy C. Goldberg, focuses on a small-time Broadway producer trying to launch his pet project about the French Revolution.

Ann Marie Healy’s The Legend of Minnie Willett (July 24 & 26) is about a town where ladies start doing all sort of strange things.

Ursula Rani Sarna’s Without You (July 25 & 27) is about how much we are truly willing to sacrifice for love.

Tickets go on sale on June 11, and can be ordered by calling 860-443-1238. For additional information, visit www.TheONeill.org.