SAN FRANCISCO, March 12, 2010 — Professor Roy Conboy and student Nick Pappas direct the eighth annual festival of one-act plays written by SF State student playwrights. Running March 15–19 at 6 p.m. and March 20 at 2 p.m., this year’s One-Act Fringe is perhaps the school’s most ambitious ever, featuring eight plays by students in Creative Writing and Theatre Arts. Admission is $5.
“We’ve never done this many plays,” says Conboy, head of SF State’s Playwriting Program and interim production manager in the Theatre Arts Department. “We had a call for one-acts last semester and received more than 40 scripts. We wanted to produce as many as possible.”
This year’s plays include Matthew Keuter’s “Holding Bay,” which takes place in a purgatory populated entirely by suicides. Keuter, a graduate of Arizona State University, is the author of poetry collection “The Short Imposition of Living” and has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize. His plays have been produced in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, New York and London.
In “Inside/Out: A Lovesong for Orson Welles,” Marilyn Harris Kriegel explores identity, love and misunderstandings between men and women. Kriegel has worked as a schoolteacher, union organizer, editor, psychotherapist, nonfiction author, and yoga teacher. She also co-directed the Ford/Esalen project in confluent education at the Esalen Institute, which applied applied theories of humanistic psychology to elementary education, and was co-chair of Antioch West University’s graduate program in Holistic Studies.
“Impervious” by Roberta D’Alois follows Katherine, the charismatic secret optimist, and Dave, the introvert posing as an extrovert, through their loopy and dysfunctional relationship. D’Alois’ most recent play, “Rapture Makes Perfect,” was awarded honorable mention in Theatre Bay Area’s Playwrights Showcase, as well as a development grant from the International Centre for Women Playwrights in Boston. She is also the dramaturg of Mark Jackson's "Juliet," which premiered at SF State this month.
Jeremy Forbing’s “Ghostlight” depicts a grieving married couple coming to terms with a ghost in their lives. Since graduating with a B.A. in Drama, Forbing has gone on to act and direct for theatre companies such as Murphy’s Creek Theater, Gnosis Theatre Co. in Lodi, the Gutpunch Theatre Experiment in Stockton, and the Impact Theatre in Berkeley. Forbing will perform in Caryl Churchill’s “Vinegar Tom” at SF State this May.
In “Icarus,” by Bay Area native James Wilson, an architect warns his son against getting “too close to the son” as tragedy strikes on a foggy island off the coast. Wilson graduated with a degree in theatre from McGill University in Montreal, then attended the Jacques Lecoq Theatre School in Paris, where he studied physical and collaborative theatre and playwriting. He is an M.F.A. candidate in Playwriting at SF State and is the 2009 recipient of the Jim Highsmith award. His plays “misc romance” and “Frank and Christopher” received readings last year in San Francisco.
Dublin, Calif., native E.D. Hardy Jr. zeroes in on an old man in his bathtub, who listens to life passing by as his son tries to moor him to reality in “The Trash Collectors.” Hardy, the son of a mechanic in a chocolate factory and a homemaker in Alameda, hopes to start a small press after graduating with a B.A. in Creative Writing this May.
Dylan Ross’ “Clapton and Jessica” takes place in a drug rehabilitation center, where the title characters don’t feel they truly belong. "Clapton and Jessica" is Ross’ debut as a playwright. Ross, originally from Malibu, will graduate this semester with a B.A. in Creative Writing.
Finally, “Lost Keys” by Scott Patrick Wagner is told from the perspective of a set of lost keys, who question a couch potato about what else is lost in his life. Wagner received his B.A. in Theater Arts from UCLA and is delighted to be working toward his Playwriting M.F.A. at SF State. He is a writer, choreographer and dramaturg.
Over the past eight years, the One-Act Fringe Festival has acted as a springboard for emerging playwrights such as Marcus Gardley and Peter Sinn Nachtrieb. Gardley, whose one-act "Livin Tired" was produced in the 2005 Fringe Festival, went on to earn an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama, and now teaches creative writing at Columbia University. Nachtrieb, who earned his M.F.A. in Playwriting from S.F. State in 2005,won the Emerging Playwright Award from S.F. State for his play "Self Help", and he has since written five successful plays, including "Hunter Gatherers," a comedy for sketch group Killing My Lobster.
Conboy says that the festival is as much about the collaboration between playwrights, directors, dramaturgs and actors as it is about the end result. Audiences can expect a diverse offering of one-acts set in the 85-seat Studio Theatre, and have the option of going directly to the main-stage production of “Juliet” down the hall for a full night of College of Creative Arts entertainment.
Location and Parking
The Studio Theatre is located in the Creative Arts Building on the SF State campus, 1600 Holloway Ave. (at 19th Ave.), San Francisco. Public parking is available in Lot 20, accessed from Lake Merced Boulevard between Winston Drive and Font Boulevard. On weekends and evenings only, public parking is available in Lots 1 and 2, on Holloway Ave. (at 19th Ave.). Parking is $1 per hour with a $5 daily maximum. Nearby street parking is readily available on weekends. For details, visit www.sfsu.edu/~parking.
Calendar Editors, Please Note:
“One-Act Fringe”
Directed by Roy Conboy and Nick Pappas
Monday, March 15 – Friday, March 19, 6 p.m,
Saturday, March 20, 2 p.m.
Admission: $5
Studio Theatre, Creative Arts Building, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Ave. (at 19th Ave.), San Francisco
Tickets/Information: 415/338-2467; http://creativearts.sfsu.edu/node/1654
Professor Roy Conboy and student Nick Pappas direct the eighth annual festival of one-act plays written by SF State student playwrights. Plays featured in this festival include: “The Holding Bay” by Matthew Keuter, “Inside / Out: A Lovesong for Orson Welles,” by Marilyn Harris Kriegel, M.S, “Impervious” by Roberta D’Alois, “Ghostlight” by Jeremy Forbing, “Icarus” by James Wilson, “The Trash Collectors” by E.D. Hardy Jr., “Clapton and Jessica” by Dylan Ross, and “Lost Keys” by Scott Patrick Wagner. One-Act Fringe is a collaboration with the Creative Writing and Theatre Arts departments at SF State.
Julia Halprin Jackson, an M.F.A. candidate in Creative Writing at SF State, wrote this press release.
Contact: Matt Itelson, 415-338-1442, matti@sfsu.edu, College of Creative Arts, San Francisco State University 1600 Holloway Avenue San Francisco, CA 94132