The Berkshire Fringe

The only program of its nature in the region, EarlyStages is an intensive play development residency in which three emerging writers are chosen to develop new work under the mentorship of a skilled professional playwright.

Each writer is selected from an open application process and given a full scholarship, room and board. The two week residency and rehearsal period allows each writer to immerse themselves fully in the creative process while drawing inspiration from the vibrant artist community of the Berkshire Fringe.

The 2010 EarlyStages Program has come to a close. Information about the three world premiere staged readings of new plays by our 2010 participants can be found below.

1 John 4:20 by Margot Connolly

Three estranged brothers are reunited when their father becomes gravely ill. All three left home as young men to be part of an extreme religious movement. Gideon and Thomas have defected, but Chris remains faithful. The play questions the meaning of family and tackles themes of abandonment, guilt and religion.

Margot Connolly from Pleasantville, NY will be a third-year student at Bennington College in Vermont.

To Wake by Max Rissman

Ben awakes in a holding cell with no recollection of how he got there. Irene, who is in a coma because of Ben’s actions, appears to him in a series of visions. To Wake examines free will when one seems hopelessly trapped. Will Ben be able to take responsibility for his actions? Will Irene be able to forgive him?

Max Rissman, who calls Monterey home part of the year, is a student at Washington Universtiy in St. Louis, MO.

Hero Collage by Sinead Daly

When Franklin takes his secret obsession with movie star JD too far, the paparazzi descend on his small town. With Olive, the president of the JD fan club, his mother and her new boyfriend, this quirky coming-of-age story adds new insight into the story of a young man trying to discover himself as he seeks acceptance from his mother and friends.

Sinead Daly, from nearby New Preston, CT is a recent graduate of Yale College.

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EarlyStages is sponsored in part by the TADD GERO FUND FOR EMERGING WRITERS

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2010 Playwright Mentor

Laura Maria Censabella

Laura Maria Censabella’s plays have been produced or workshopped by The Philadelphia Festival Theatre for New Plays, The Women’s Project & Productions, The Working Theatre, Interact Theatre in L.A., the American Living Room Series at The Ohio, the AthenaWorks Marathon, the Belmont Italian American Playhouse (which commissioned her play Some Girls), the Pacific Resident Theatre, The Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin College, and Ensemble Studio Theatre, where she is a member and runs the Playwrights Unit. Her children’s musical O’Sullivan Stew (for which she wrote the libretto) was produced by Greene Arts Productions at the Hudson Theatre this past May.

She has been awarded three grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts: two in playwriting for Abandoned in Queens and Three Italian Women, and The Geri Ashur Award in Screenwriting for her original screenplay Truly Mary. Truly Mary was developed at The New Harmony Project with Angelo Pizzo and Michael London. She has also been a two-time participant in the O’Neill Playwrights Conference for Abandoned in Queens and Jazz Wives Jazz Lives and has received writing fellowships from Yaddo, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, The New Harmony Project and the O’Neill. Her short play Posing was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and The Actual Footage won the Tennessee Chapbook Prize for Drama. Both plays are published in Poems & Plays (Volumes Five and Seven) as is her play Stones Fall, Birds Fly (Volume Sixteen).

Ms. Censabella’s teaching experience includes the New School for Drama (current), Sarah Lawrence College (current), the Actors Studio Drama School, Columbia University’s School of the Arts, Columbia College’s Undergraduate Writing Program, City University’s MFA Writing Program, The Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and Summer Literary Seminars in St. Petersburg, Russia.

She has written the short film adaptation Physics for HBO’s Women: Breaking the Rules series, and for two years she wrote for daytime television, winning two Emmy Awards. Her half-hour independent film Last Call (directed by Robert Bailey and starring Jude Ciccolella and Dana Dewes) screened in festivals throughout the world, including the Avignon Film Festival, the Other Venice Film Festival, the Hermosa Shorts Film Festival, the Sedona International Film Festival, the Queens International Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives’ New Works Series, Long Island International Film Expo, and the Breckenridge Film Festival where it won the Best Short Drama Award. It is available on the DVD entitled Second Sight: Cinequest Favorite Short Films, Volume II and on Netflix by searching “Second Sight, Vol. 2″.

She is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Writers Guild of America, East, and the League of Professional Theatre Women. She received a B.A. in Philosophy from Yale University.

2010 Director of EarlyStages Readings

Keith Bulla

Mr. Bulla returns to The Berkshire Fringe for his fourth season to stage the work of three young playwrights in the EarlyStages program. New York credits include Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love); Mission Falls, USA; At Home (Split, Part 1) and Safe Sex: On Tidy Endings (all at The Actors Studio); Three Clowns on a Journey and This Is a Play (Chashama Theatre); the dreamer examines his pillow (The Neighborhood Playhouse); The Tortoise and the Hare (Project PLAY/NYC Parks); Limited Engagement; Never Swim Alone; flood; Hysteria; and Time Flies. Regionally, he assisted Marion McClinton with Thunder Knocking on the Door (The Guthrie). He was also assistant director for George M. Cohan: In His Own Words (Chashama Theatre); How I Learned to Drive (Charlotte Rep), and Henry V (Orlando Shakespeare). Keith is a Lifetime Member of The Actors Studio and participates in its Playwright/Director Workshop (moderated by Tony Award winner Carlin Glynn). He has also taught acting at Pace University in New York City and is currently working on the development of a new musical. Keith holds degrees from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and New School University/Actors Studio Drama School (MFA).

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

During the first two weeks of August, the beautiful Berkshire hills will be home again to EarlyStages, a young playwright mentorship program, created by Bazaar Productions, the presenters of The Berkshire Fringe. In the forth year of this unique program, three young writers, who either reside or attend college in the Berkshires or surrounding counties, will be chosen from an open application process.

Applications process for summer 2010 is closed.

Each participant will be given the opportunity to focus intensively on developing a play under the mentorship of Emmy Award winning professional playwright Laura Maria Censabella, who has extensive experience as a teaching artist.

The young playwrights’ work will be developed with the guidance of the mentor during an intensive two-week seminar and rehearsal period on the lovely campus of Bard College at Simon’s Rock.

The program will be tailored to address the objectives of each participant. Every other day the playwrights will attend a workshop lead by the mentor. Alternating days will be reserved for writing/developing the scripts. Actors will be available to read the plays during at least one seminar session. In addition, each participating writer will have three rehearsals with the actors and a professional director to prepare for the concert reading which will take place as a free event at The Berkshire Fringe.

Participants will be supplied room and partial board, complimentary tickets to each Berkshire Fringe performance, and the opportunity to attend the community workshops.

The Waypoint by Iris Dauterman, which was developed at EarlyStages in 2008, was recently workshopped at MASS MoCA by Bazaar Productions.  It is the hope of the Artistic Directors of Bazaar Productions, that EarlyStages creates opportunities for successful participants, like Ms. Datuerman, to have their work further developed or given full productions.

Applications Guidelines:

• Applicants must be between the ages of 18 and 26.
• Applicants must reside in or attend school in the following counties:
  • Berkshire, Franklin, Hamden, Hampshire Counties in MA
  • Columbia, Dutchess, Rensselaer Counties in NY
  • Bennington County in VT
  • Litchfield County in CT

For more information about the EarlyStages Program contact Ryan Olson at ryan(at)berkshirefringe.org or 413-320-4175

Applications for the 2010 EarlyStages program are closed.  The application below is provided for reference only.

Download the 2010 EarlyStages Application – (For Reference Only)