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Introducing 2012 NYMadness Playwrights

Two and Two. The second event of our second season is gearing up to be one slamming hot night of short plays and good fun.  You do not want to miss New York Madness this November 7th as we present the work of nine amazing playwrights at IATI (64 East 4th St., NYC).  A big thank you to Winston Estevez and IATI for their amazing support!  The event is Pay What You Can at the door.

Our master of ceremonies this go round will be J. Holtham.  As the Guest Artistic Producing Playwright, J. will choose the night’s theme, which will be given to the other eight playwrights one week before the big night.  We will announce the theme on Halloween at 10 am, and we know, given J.’s creative mind, the theme will be a great one.

Today, we introduce the November Nine — the awesome playwrights who will rock out New York Madness in less than two weeks time.

NEW YORK MADNESS GUEST ARTISTIC PRODUCING PLAYWRIGHT: J. HOLTHAM

His work has been seen at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, [the claque], BE Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Magic Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, the Vital Theatre, New Dramatists, Broken Watch, the 24Seven Lab, SUNY New Paltz. Webseries: In The ‘Wood (co-creator/co-producer/writer). He is a member of E.S.T. M.F.A.: The Actors Studio Drama School @ The New School. Co-Artistic Director of The New Black Fest. A proud product of the NY/NJ public education systems.

NEW YORK MADNESS UNIT PLAYWRIGHT: MICHELINE AUGER

Micheline’s first play Poop – A True Story was based on her experience being an art object in a NYC gallery and won an Audience Favorite Award in the 2003 NY Fringe Festival. Her full-length Feminism of a Soft Merlot (Or How the Donkey Got Punched) was part of the 2011 Primary Stages EspaDrills New Work Festival. Her short plays have been produced in NYC and regionally, one of which, Dick, was made into a short film by What Productions. She is currently commissioned by The Riot Act for her play, The There to Where You’re Headed (previously The Boogeyman) set for an upcoming production. Other written work includes Theaterspeak, a blog for and about theater artists. She is an originating member of the 15th floor writers’ collective.

NEW YORK MADNESS FOUNDING MEMBER: RYAN DOWLER

Ryan Dowler is the author of the plays, Spitz/her, The Atheist’s Guide to Sex, and The Gratifications. His short play, Mammals, was named the best ten-minute play in America by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival before touring the U.S. and the UK in 2007. Ryan’s work has been performed at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Hunger Artists Theater, Hyde Park Theatre, DC Source, Cherry Lane Theater, Main Street Stage, and the Kennedy Center in Washington. He is a member of Youngblood at Ensemble Studio Theatre.

NEW YORK MADNESS FOUNDING MEMBER: MOLLY HAGAN


Molly Hagan’s plays include The Swing of the Sea, a brief theory of the cosmos, and Spaceships and things that look like them. Her work has been published by the Northwest Playwrights Alliance and has been performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and Ohio University where she received herBFA in Playwriting.

NEW YORK MADNESS FOUNDING MEMBER/MANAGING DIRECTOR: JUDITH LEORA


Judith Leora. Full length plays:  broken, The Cookie Fight, Monkey-hearts and Bottomfeeders.  Recent one-acts:  Burrito, Class of ’88, Warming the Bench, and Quickie DateGate B23 (NYC Fringe 2010) – asst. director.   Inaugural member of 15th Floor Writers Collective and New York Madness.

NEW YORK MADNESS UNIT WRITER: CHARLOTTE MILLER  


Her play Raising Jo was part of PLAYPENN 2010 Playwrights Conference, it also received a public reading as part of Rattlestick Playwrights Theater’s F#$@ing Good Plays Festival. Her play Fur received a workshop production with Longstocking Productions in 2009 and was also a part of Labyrinth Theater Company’s Intensive Ensemble that year. She has participated in Rattlestick Playwrights Theater’s Theater Jam, and is writing a play for Rising Phoenix Rep’s Cino Nights, March 2012.

NEW YORK MADNESS UNIT WRITER: MEL NIEVES


Mel Nieves (Playwright). A member of the award winning LAByrinth Theatre Company under the artistic direction of Stephen Adly Guirgis, Yul Vazquez and Mimi O’Donnell. He is a graduate of the William Esper Studios. Most recently appeared in Mando Alvarado’s Sangre as part of City Parks Foundation’s Summer Stage and the feature film The Children of Hip Hop, written and directed by Antonio Dela Cruz. He has performed with INTAR, Public Theater, Theatre For A New City, Ensemble Studio Theatre and the Ridiculous Theatrical Company under the artistic direction of Everett Quinton. As a playwright his work has been presented by the Downtown Urban Theatre Festival (2005-2006), Repertorio Espanol (2006-2007), LAByrinth Theatre Company’s Summer Intensive Workshops at both The Saratoga Performing Arts Center (2001-2003) & Bennington College (2005-2007) and Bard College (2009-2011). His play Tours Of Duty was co-winner for the best short play award at the 2005 Downtown Urban theatre Festival. In 2006 he received the Brooklyn Arts Council’s NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Award for his theatre project Voices from the Front. His play Midnight Mass was a third place winner for the 2006 Metlife Foundation/Repertorio Espanol “Nuestra Voces” National Playwrights Competition. As a director/teaching-artist he has worked with LAByrinth Theatre Company’s Master Class Workshop, Developing Artist Theatre Company’s Rebel Verses Festival, Theatre for a New Audience,. Arts Connection, LEAP and the Brooklyn Arts Council.

NEW YORK MADNESS UNIT WRITER: JEFFREY PFEIFFER


Jeffrey Pfeiffer holds a Bachelor of Fine Art in Film-Drama from Syracuse University, and a Masters of Fine Art in Dramatic Writing from NYU.  His play The Battle of Spanktown was part of the 2010 New York International Fringe Festival.

NEW YORK MADNESS FOUNDING MEMBER: LISA RAMIREZ

Lisa Ramirez is an award-winning actor and playwright. Her solo show, Exit Cuckoo (nanny in motherland) was presented Off Broadway by the Working Theater (Directed by Colman Domingo). Other writing credits include; Art of Memory, a dance theatre piece that was presented by Company SoGoNo at 3-Legged Dog in New York. (Conceived and directed by Tanya Calamoneri); Invisible Women-Rise, a collaboration with the Foundry Theatre and Domestic Workers United. Ten domestic workers performed at the historic Riverside Church in New York (Lisa Ramirez directed); TO THE BONE, a new play that was commissioned by the Working Theater about the mostly Latina/immigrant women who live and work up in Sullivan County, New York’s poultry plants. To The Bone was a 2011 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Finalist and a 2011 Smith Prize Finalist. Currently, Lisa is one of four playwrights in residency at INTAR’s Maria Irene Fornés Hispanic Playwrights in Residency Lab and is writing a new play called All Fall Down.

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