• Smith and Kraus is pleased to offer regional theater reports in
    partnership with the Dramatists Guild of America. Posted bi-monthly to keep playwrights up to speed on what's happening within their region and
    across the United States.

Washington, D.C.

This summer marked the fourth Capital Fringe Festival. I e-mailed three area playwrights who had plays in the festival and asked them to briefly share their experiences. Renee Calarco: Was this your first time as a Fringe artist? Susan Austin Roth (MISSING PAGES): Yes. Anthony Gallo (LINCOLN AND GOD): This was my third fringe experience. Martin Blank (DRIVING [More...]
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Salt Lake City

It took me 50 years to become a playwright, but I’ve worked with new plays in some way most of my adult life.  Trained as an actress at the University of Utah, I played a role in one of David Kranes’s new plays–a highlight in my acting career.  Leaving the university setting, I nurtured young [More...]
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Portland

This year was the third year that Portland Center Stage offered the Made In Oregon section of the nationally acclaimed JAW festival. The festival focused on four writers Susan Mach, Brian Kettler, Nick Zagone, and me (Andrea Stolowitz). The readings were staged on the main stage (500 plus seats) at PCS from Monday through Thursday [More...]
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Pittsburgh

As you’re reading this report, it will be December, beginning of the holidays and winter gray skies will be covering Pittsburgh for the next three months.   But right now, it’s a beautiful blue sky September day, heralding a sense of transition and promise of change that always comes with this time of year.  For the [More...]
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Phoenix

In my ongoing effort to shine the spotlight on Guild members in my region, I’ve turned to a playwright whom I’ve gotten to know in the past few years through her work. Mare Biddle and I have had our plays featured in the same festivals three times and each opportunity has given me more reason [More...]
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Minneapolis

Cory Hinkle and Victoria Stewart met me at Common Roots Cafe on Lyndale and 26th Street in Minneapolis to discuss their lives as playwrights, the experiences that brought them to this career, and the ins-and-outs of being married to another playwright.   Tory Stewart grew up in the Boston area and received her undergraduate degree at Barnard [More...]
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Miami

If you subscribe to any South Florida theatre or arts group’s email list, you probably received a call to action in August and early September, asking to make your voice heard in support of local arts funding. Broward County’s original budget for 2009-2010 proposed a 30% cut to arts funding, and Miami Dade County’s mayor [More...]
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Houston

Steve Garfinkel has managed to stay below the radar among the Houston playwriting set, but with a glowing review in the Houston Press, he has come to the forefront. Steve’s original musical, P’s and Q’s: the ABC’s of Manners, with music/lyrics by the duo Trout Fishing in America, premiered at Main Street Theater this summer.  [More...]
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Chicago

“The Midwest has always been home for me,” states playwright Lisa Dillman.  “When I was growing up, Chicago, located two and a half hours from my hometown, was the place my family and I went for art, theatre, and shopping.  I spent many long weekends here from earliest childhood up through my teens.  I fell [More...]
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Boston

Greetings from Beantown.  My name is Hortense Gerardo and I have the daunting task of following in the footsteps of fellow Boston playwright Amy Merrill in the role of Regional Representative to the Dramatists Guild.  Our esteemed Executive Director and all-around champion for the plight of struggling playwrights, Gary Garrison, asked me to write a [More...]
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