Let’s Meet Another Playwright: Crystal Braeuner, “The Check Up”

Crystal Braeuner  is a founding member of Tiger Lily Theatre. She is excited to share “The Check-Up,” which is a very personal piece about her struggles with a chronic illness and the negative experience may women still have when they are trying to seek medical treatment –reimagined as a superhero story, because that’s more fun. Crystal dedicates the piece to anyone who has ever lost their powers, but gotten them back. Crystal is also delighted to be directing “Misconceptions,” a play written by her dear friend of over twenty years, Abigail Taylor-Sansom (having previously directed her play “Fine Art” for 2013’s Night of Shorts). Tiger Lily has been a very important part of Crystal’s life the past few years, and this night of shorts is one of the highlights of her year!

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Let’ s Meet Another Playwright: Mark McGinley, “SOLD!”

Mark McGinley is originally from south Knoxville. He graduated from Carson-Newman with his BA in theatre, and after a 10 year break, went to Louisiana Tech for his Master’s in theatre. While at Tech he also studied stage combat and stage craft. Adding these skills to his already eclectic tool bag, which includes skydiving, fire eating, and a license in massage therapy, has truly made him a jack of all trades and master of none. He has been writing sporadically for years, and SOLD! represents his first real effort as a playwright. He hopes you enjoy the performance.

 

Let’s Meet Another Playwright: Abigail Taylor-Sansom, “Hard to Get” and “Misconceptions”

Abigail Taylor-Sansom is a New York City playwright and performer, originally from South Knoxville.  Recent presentations of her writing include:  Misconceptions (Flush Ink, ON, Canada; Georgetown Theatre Company, DC), Hard to Get (PlayGround Theatre, FL; Altruistic Theater Company, NYC), The Brown and Serve Nativity (Onstage Atlanta, GA), Fancy Meeting You Here (Manhattan Repertory Theatre, NYC; Players Guild, NJ), Fine Art (City Theatre of Independence, MO), Guinevere (Manhattan Repertory Theatre, NYC), The Casey Anthony Variety Show (Co-Op Theatre East, NYC), and Don’t Call Us (We’ll Call You) (Grex Group, NYC; Take Ten Festival, NYC).  Fine Art is published by Heuer and was produced by Tiger Lily Theatre in 2013. While growing up in Knoxville, Abigail attended South Knoxville Elementary and South-Doyle Middle and High School. She is also a graduate of NC School of the Arts and UNC-Chapel Hill.  Member:  Dramatists Guild, Actors’ Equity, and SAG-AFTRA.  Thanks to Crystal for this opportunity, and love to Mom, Dad, and Rocky.

 

Let’s Meet a Playwright: Christina Scott Sayer Grey, “We are the .001%”

Christina Scott Sayer Grey is a professional theatre practitioner based in Staunton, VA. She writes murder mystery dinner theatre for Clever By Half Productions as well as children’s library plays, among other projects. On top of playwriting, she works professionally as an actor and a theatre marketer in the Shenanadoah Valley. She is pleased that one of her plays is seeing the stage at Tiger Lily!

 

Tiger Lily is Back!

Hello there, Lily Loves. Did you miss us? We missed you. Yes, after a brief hiatus, we are back at work and ready to celebrate more local talent. It’s that time again–time for our annual Night of Shorts! This year’s event will take place (again) at Broadway Academy of Performing Arts (706 N. Broadway, Knoxville, TN), April 10th and 11th at 8 PM, plus a 2 PM matinee on April 12th. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students, and proceeds will go toward TLT’s soon-to-be-announced fall production!

This time around, we are presenting seven new shorts from local and regional playwrights (plus a couple of former Knox-villains). They are:

“We are the .001.” – Christina Scott Sayer Grey

“SOLD!” – Mark McGinley

“Hard to Get” – Abigail Taylor-Sansom

“Misconceptions” – also by Abigal Sansom

“The Check-up” – Crystal Braeuner

Monologue from “Field Guide to the Birds” – Margy Ragsdale

Quite a variety of themes and tones this year, and we are very, very excited to share them. We also have a fantastic lineup of actors and directors. You will not want to miss it!

Speaking of the playwrights…in the coming days, we will be highlighting the playwrights involved in this year’s production. We want you to know a little bit about the people who are bringing you this fun-filled theatrical binge. Stay tuned!

 

Again With the Playwrights

Yes, again. Over and over, forever and ever because we love them! Today’s playwright is Laura King from Barnesville, Georgia, author of For Annie’s Sake and Mirror, Mirror. Check out her replies to our questions below.

Why do you write for theatre?

I’ve loved the theatre since I played the Cowardly Lion in my sixth grade production of The Wizard of Oz. However, it’s only been in the past 3 years that I’ve been writing plays. I write for theatre because I can experiment with topics and forms in a way that’s not possible in film and television. Film and television show us what we are. Theatre shows us what we can be.

What kind of theatre excites you?

Every kind! I love gritty plays that examine the human condition and wacky, screwball comedies. I love when playwrights experiment with form and show me something I’ve never seen before. I love musicals that unite an audience into a community. I love children’s plays that engage kids with the show and each other in a way that is becoming less and less available to them.

Who or what are your theatrical influences?

My major influences are my fellow emerging playwrights and my playwriting instructors. I’m constantly amazed at the generosity of both these groups of people when it comes to reading plays, offering feedback, and sharing submission opportunities.

Describe your play in one word.

For Annie’s Sake – Sacrifice

Mirror, Mirror – Motherhood

What prompted you to write this piece?

For Annie’s Sake – This piece was originally written as a curtain opener for a production of Antigone at Tesseract Theatre Company in St Louis, MO. The prompt was “A revolution is not an act of violence but the beginning of a process.”

Mirror, Mirror – This piece was written for my mother and my daughter because we are on the same journey, just at different stages.

What is your favorite theatre moment/memory?

Reading Long Day’s Journey Into Night when I was in high school and subsequently discovering Eugene O’Neill’s other plays. Performing in Caryl Churchill’s play Top Girls at Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College), Westminster, MD.

Anything on the horizon?

In May, my short play “Far From Connecticut” will be part of Onion Man’s Summer Harvest 2014 at Lionheart Theatre, Norcross, GA (5/29-6/8/2014).

In June, Showtimers Theatre, Roanoke, VA, will produce my full-length play “Independence Day at Happy Meadows” (6/18-6/29/2014).

In late summer/early fall, Punk Monkey Productions, Los Angeles, CA, will produce my short play “Kitty of Sawbuck City” as part of P.L.A.Y. Noir 2014.

 

Our thanks again to Laura for giving us the opportunity to produce her wonderful pieces. We are really looking forward to bringing them to you this weekend. What? That’s right. We are a mere 2 days away from opening night! Check out our website HERE for details and reservations. We hope to see you there!

 

Playwright #3 – Brett Hursey

Good afternoon, everyone. We’re back with another playwright profile. Today, we’ll be featuring Brett Hursey, author of Splitting Hares and Leap Year. We gave the same questionnaire to Brett. Okay, sure, we gave the same questionnaire to all the playwrights, but that is neither here nor there. So here, in his own words, are a few little details about the talented Mr. Hursey:

Why do you write for theatre?

It’s cheaper (and more fun) than therapy.

 

What kind of theatre excites you?

The kind that pushes the limits of convention and common sense.

 

 Who or what are your theatrical influences?

Chekov, Ives and Mamet — to name a few.

 

 Describe your play in one word.

Splitting Hares: Rabbititis

Leap Year: Sistertitis

 

What prompted you to write this piece/these pieces?

Both plays were written in order to reflect “real world” situations through a fun-house mirror perspective.

 

What is your favorite theatre moment/memory?

Being on-stage as a child actor.

 

Anything on the horizon?

I have shows forthcoming soon in Texas, Missouri, Ohio and Virginia.

 

To take in the rabititis and sisteritis for yourself, come to our production of the 2014 Night of Shorts. Visit our website for details. Hope to see you there!

 

Brandon Crose

Hi folks. Today I’d like to introduce you to another of our playwrights. Brandon submitted the extremely entertaining Going Viral for the 2014 Night of Shorts, and we are so glad he did. I think everyone is really going to love this piece. We sent a little questionnaire to Brandon to get some background information and his responses were so eloquent, I’m just going to post the whole thing here for all to see. So without further ado, ladies and gentleman, Brandon Crose:

 

My name is Brandon M. Crose—I grew up in South Portland, Maine, and currently live in Boston, Massachusetts.

Why do you write for theatre?

I love collaboration. Even if I never attend a single rehearsal, I still think of the production of my play as a collaboration between me (by way of my script) and everyone producing it. I try to include as few directions in my plays as possible; when I can, I won’t even specify the genders or ages of my characters. I want to leave room for the director and actors to do what they do, and I also want them to be free to make bold choices that might have not occurred to me. I write for theatre because I want to be surprised.

What kind of theatre excites you?

Pithy with a side of moving and/or epic. I love dialogue that crackles and story that startles. I may never get over my obsession with Tony Kushner’s Angels in America.

Who or what are your theatrical influences?

There might be some Pinter in there, and Kushner certainly, but my great influences are probably Aaron Sorkin and Joss Whedon. Sorkin used to write for theatre, so that counts, right? Whedon writes for television, film, and comic books, but I’m not going to apologize. He’s one of the best.

Describe your play in one word.

Misguided?

What prompted you to write this piece?

Our ever-increasing reliance on social media is, for me, an endless source of fascination/horror. When else in human history, for instance, have we been able to end a friendship by clicking a button? I tried and failed a few times to write my way into this idea before stumbling upon the premise for GOING VIRAL while under a (self-imposed) deadline for an online writing challenge called 31 Plays in 31 Days (www.31plays31days.com). There’s a lot more I want to say about social media and how it’s changed the very nature of friendship and family. In good ways, too! But also in a lot of other ways we probably don’t think about.

What is your favorite theatre moment/memory?

If I can be conceited, it was probably watching the very first rehearsal of my first-ever professionally produced play—THE INTERVIEW. It was immediately clear to me that the actors, Deb Martin and Adam Lauver, were going to have a lot of fun with the material. They discovered these deeply hilarious moments that I hadn’t even known were funny. (And then of course the director, Olivia D’Ambrosio, went and challenged them to be even funnier, even more nuanced.) I walked away from that rehearsal not only grateful that I had the team I had, but also feeling, for probably the first time, like I might maybe be on to something with this playwrighting thing…

Anything on the horizon?

Well, I hear that Tiger Lily Theatre is including one of my plays as part of their “Night of Shorts”! I’m pretty excited about that. Other exclamation points on the horizon include an appearance in an upcoming episode of Boston Play Café; the world premiere another of my ten-minute plays, THE FORMATIVE YEARS, at Pandora Theatre’s “Vox Feminina” festival in Houston; and publication of a monologue called DAVE RAMSEY WEPT in volume 3 of interJACtions: Monologues from the Heart of Human Nature. (Creep on me at http://www.brandoncrose.com for announcements about future projects!)

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Our immense thanks to Brandon for giving us the opportunity to bring his work to Knoxville. To see this Going Viral thing everyone’s talking about, come out to our production. Performances are May 9th & 10th at 8pm, with a 2pm matinee on May 11th. Visit our website for more information: tigerlilytheatre.org

 

Let’s Meet a Playwright

Happy Tuesday, everyone. I hope you’re enjoying Knoxville’s annual spring cold snap, rain and all. Today, we’re beginning the series of playwright profiles for our upcoming Night of Shorts. As we’re currently in the throes of a Knoxville weather ritual, I thought we’d start with one of our local playwrights; Greg Congleton.

Greg is a Knoxville native and has been working in local theatre for…well, he didn’t say exactly, but I’m going to guess quite a while since everyone in the community seems to know his name. He’s performed all over the city from the Clarence Brown Theatre to Theatre Knoxville Downtown, and is a regular company member for Shakespeare on the Square. As you may have guessed from the preceding sentences, Greg’s theatre career thus far has predominantly taken place onstage, but recently he’s begun exploring the playwrighting side of production.

Last year he attended a workshop by local playwright Staci Swedeen, in which he wrote the piece he then submitted to Tiger Lily Theatre; Let’s Make the Bed. The play looks in on a young newlywed couple the morning after their first night in a new house. When asked for a one word description of his play, Greg said simply “boundaries.”

Tiger Lily Theatre is very excited to be working with Greg again. Previously, he appeared in our 2013 production of Antigone as the Leader of the Chorus. Greg is also concluding work on another play called Socks, a show he describes as “a play with songs.” He’s almost finished writing all the music and is planning a staged reading performance within the next six months. We want to say thanks again to Greg for submitting his work and encourage everyone to come out to this premier production, opening Friday, May 9^th. Until then, stay dry Knoxville.

 

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

It’s spring in Knoxville again, and we all know what that means. The air is filled with that strange rotten fish smell of the Bradford Pear trees that line way too many streets in this city? Yes, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. It’s time for Tiger Lily Theatre’s annual Night of Shorts. This year, we were blessed with a tremendous number of contributions, which has made things easier and exponentially more difficult. The luxury of choice is a unique difficulty we haven’t experienced before this year. Among the 50 or so piece we received, there were dozens of great plays. Unfortunately, we don’t have the time or the resources to include all the deserving works.

To help narrow our options, we look at several categories, the first and most important of which, aside from quality, is content. If the content doesn’t fit with our mission statement of expanding opportunities for women, for whatever reason, we have to put it to the side. This year there were quite a few pieces that I had to reluctantly shelve. Other considerations include technical requirements and how the pieces may all work together as a show. After much hemming and hawing, I’m pleased to say we have a solid show on our hands that we are very excited about. So without further ado, the lineup for our 2014 Night of Shorts includes:

Let’s Make the Bed by Greg Congleton (a Knoxville local!)

For Annie’s Sake and Mirror Mirror by Laura King

Cosmo by Crystal Braeuner (another local)

Leap Year and Splitting Hares by Brett Hursey

Going Viral by Brandon Crose

Starting next week, we’ll be posting a little about our wonderful playwrights and their work. In the meantime, mark your calendars. Performances will be held at Broadway Academy of Performing Arts, our home away from home, May 9^th – May 11^th.

That’s all we’ve got for now. I hope everyone has a safe and spectacular weekend. If you didn’t already know it, Saturday is Knoxville’s annual Rossini Festival. Get downtown and take it in!