Archive for February, 2011

Gnap! Theatre Projects joins the Festival

We have a Lyndon B. Johnson, people. The very talented and enthusiastic Gnap! Theatre Projects in Austin, TX, creators of the soon-to-be-remounted 69 Love Scenes, has, fittingly, chosen Lyndon B. Johnson as their company’s President and plans to join the Festival in 2012. More details will follow.

Needless to say, we’re seriously happy about this.

So far we’ve got Chicago and Austin. Obama and LBJ. Two down, 42 to go.

Meet our new Festival Co-chair

Sean Daniels (Two-time director of 43 Plays for 43 Presidents) is in his fourth season as the Associate Artistic Director of Actors Theatre. Mr. Daniels is the former Associate Artistic Director/Resident Director of the California Shakespeare Theater and before that spent a decade as the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Dad’s Garage Theater Company in Atlanta, Ga. He is also an Associate Artist of Geva Theater Center in Rochester, N.Y. He has directed for The Cleveland Play House, Alliance Theatre, Neo-Futurists and Crowded Fire, and has developed work with the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Ars Nova, PlayLabs, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Magic Theatre, Kennedy Center and others. Mr. Daniels has developed new plays with many delightful playwrights including: Greg Kotis, Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, Deborah Stein, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Deborah Zoe Laufer, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Carly Mensch, Kristoffer Diaz, Dan Dietz, Jordan Harrison, Steve Yockey and Lauren Gunderson. Upcoming projects include developing a new Lauren Gunderson musical for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Broadway-bound Under My Skin by Robert Sternin and Prudence Fraser, and BOB by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb for the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

The Neo-Futurists of Chicago are pioneers again

In case you didn’t know, the Neo-Futurists of Chicago, my old artistic home, world-premiered 43 Plays for 43 Presidents there in 2002.

I was tremendously excited to be given the green light then and I find it extraordinarily fitting and humbling that the Neo-Futurists agreed to be the very first to join the 44 Plays for 44 Presidents Festival.

Welcome aboard, Neo-Futurists!

They are: The Barack Obama Production
The Neo-Futurists
Chicago, IL
Director: Halena Kays

The show dates:
Sept. 27, 2012 - Nov. 6, 2012 (Election Night)

44 Plays for 44 Presidents festival plans announced

Today, we launch our Festival plans to the public at large. Wish us luck.
Our first goal is to get enough producers to commit the Festival so that we begin to build what looks like a newsworthy event. When will that be? We’ll know it when we see it.
Then we’ll continue to reach out, recruit and ask our collaborators to do the same.
If you’re interested in the Festival but want to keep an eye on it from a safe distance as it develops, connect with us on Facebook.