Playwright Festival takes center stage for OU School of Theater

By Erica Blocher, Staff Writer

May 24, 2007 | 1:49 p.m.

The Seabury Quinn, Jr. Playwight Festival will arrive on campus on May 24-26. The festival will contain staged public readings of OU MFA plays, guest playwrights and the studio production of "Real Girls Can't Win!"

The Playwright Festival is held annually every year in May, and its purpose is to showcase the work of OU playwrights, along with allowing the guests in residence. The festival also permits audiences to give feedback on the readings and plays.

This year's Third Year MFA Thesis Play and Studio Production is playwright Merri Biechler's "Real Girls Can't Win!" Biechler says she picked a female dominated theme to showcase female actors.

"I had wanted to write a play suitable for the acting pool of women here at OU," Biechler said. "A lot of contemporary plays don't have the pool that I want, so I created a play for and to showcase the skills of college-aged female actors."

The play focuses on two groups of females --"popular girls" and "real girls" -- as they run for election in the Miss Freshman B Dorm contest, and the play revolves around the days leading to the election. "Real Girls Can't Win!" will be performed tonight, tomorrow and Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Virginia Hahne Studio Theater. Tickets are $7.

In addition to the studio production, the festival contains staged readings in the Forum Theater at the RTV Building. These reading are done by second year MFA students, according to Biechler.

"Third-year MFA students get to do a workshop production for the festival, second-year students get do a staged reading and first-year students get to do a seated reading," Biechler said.

Of course, the guest artists in residence cannot be forgotten. According to the OU School of Theater Web site, this year's festival is boasting the talents of playwrights Deborah Brevoort, Julie Jensen and the artisitc director of the Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens Theater, Denis Zacek. For more information and to view biographies of the guest artists, visit OhioPlaywriting.org.

Biechler said she is excited to be a part of this year's Seabury Quinn, Jr. Playwright Festival.

"The really cool thing about the festival is the audience feedback," Beichler said. "The idea is to give the audience a voice in the development of the play."

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The School of Theater's Schedule of MRA Readings

Dana Formby's "Loaded Gavel" - Thursday, noon
G. William's "Trinity" - Thursday, 3 p.m.
Nicholas Sgouro's "School by the Sea" - Thursday, 8 p.m.
Laura Jacquim's "The Revisionists" - Friday, 3 p.m.
Joseph Gallo's "2 Man Kidnapping Rule" - Friday, 8 p.m.
Kara Dunn's "Red Lane" - Saturday, noon
Reginald Edmund's "Juneteenth Street" - Saturday, 3 p.m.

"Real Girls Can't Win!" will be performed tonight, tomorrow and Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Virginia Hahne Studio Theater. Tickets for the studio performance are $7, but all other readings are free.