Lark Play Development Center

MEET THE 2005-2006 FEATURED PLAYWRIGHTS...


Chantal Bilodeau	Douglas J. Cohen	Ian Cohen	Cheryl Davis


Brian Dykstra	Yussef El Guindi	Robert Fieldsteel	Javon Johnson


Koffi Kwahulé	Theresa Rebeck	Saviana Stanescu	Lloyd Suh

	Chantal Bilodeau (Playwright, PLEASURE AND PAIN; Translator, MISTERIOSO-119) is a playwright and translator originally from Montreal, Canada. Her plays have been presented by Alleyway Theatre, Brass Tacks Theatre, City Theatre Company, The Lark Play Development Center, The Met Theater, Ohio University, the University of Miami, ScriptLab, and Women’s Project & Productions. She is a recipient of a Katherine Cornell Award, a winner of the TV Writer.Com script competition, and has been supported by the Association Beaumarchais and Étant Donnés: The French-American Fund for the Performing Arts. Chantal is an alum of the Lark’s Playwrights’ Workshop and Women's Project & Productions' Playwrights' Lab.
	Douglas J. Cohen (Composer, BARNSTORMER) wrote the music and lyrics for the New York bound musical, THE OPPOSITE OF SEX, based on the Don Roos film, which recently debuted at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco directed by his co-librettist, Robert Jess Roth. He won two Richard Rodgers Awards and the coveted Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Theatre Foundation Award for writing book, music, and lyrics to NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY (produced twice off-Broadway – Outer Critics Circle nomination Best Revival, York Theatre Company – with over 150 productions throughout the world) and THE GIG (Goodspeed, Manhattan Theatre Club Stage II, Sacramento Music Circus). Other projects include: lyricist of CHILDREN’S LETTERS TO GOD, (produced at off-Broadway’s Lamb’s Theatre and recorded on Jay Records), composer/lyricist of THE BIG TIME, an original musical with a book by Douglas Carter Beane, and composer of GLIMMERGLASS (produced at Goodspeed-at-Chester). Doug recently contributed the original songs for the off-Broadway show, Boozy, written and produced by the Obie award-winning Les Freres Corbusier. He is a member of ASCAP and The Dramatists Guild.
	Ian Cohen (Playwright, VATTAGO) Mr. Cohen's play, LENNY & LOU, developed at The Lark, premiered September 2004 at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C. and was nominated for the Charles MacArthur Award for Best Play and Best Resident Play as part of the Helen Hayes Awards and was also nominated for the American Theatre Critic's Association's Annual ATCA/Steinberg New Play Award. Mr. Cohen's play, VATTAGO, presently being developed at The Lark, was a semi-finalist at PlayLabs, The Playwrights Center in 2005. GOD'S CREATURES, a semi-finalist in the Stageplays' International Playwrights Competition, was also developed at The Lark in 1999. BareBones of both LENNY & LOU and GOD'S CREATURES were presented by the Lark in 1999 and 2001, respectively. THE DESERT was featured by PSNBC in 2002 and received Honorable Mention in the Plays for the New Millennium Competition. LUNA PARK was a runner-up in the Jewish Ensemble Theatre's Spring Festival of New Plays. GOING, a one-act, was a semi-finalist in the Chutzpah Festival and will be published this year by Playscripts, Inc. Ian is an Artistic Associate at the Lark Play Development Center
	Cheryl Davis' (Playwright and Librettist, BARNSTORMER) work has been read and performed nationally, including at the Cleveland Play House, the Actors Theatre of Louisville, and the Kennedy Center. She is a co-recipient of the 2005 Kleban Award for her work as a librettist, and BARNSTORMER received one of the 2005 Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Awards, under the auspices of the Lark. Her play about the desegregation of the nations' school system, THE COLOR OF JUSTICE, which was commissioned by Theatreworks/USA, received critical acclaim, including excellent reviews in the New York Times and Daily News. Her play COVER GIRLS, which is an adaptation of the Bishop T. D. Jakes novel, was recently produced and toured by ClearChannel Entertainment. She received a commission from the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science and Technology Project to write THE BONES OF GIANTS, about 19th century American paleontologists O.C. Marsh and E.D. Cope; this play received readings as part of EST's 2003 and 2004 First Light Festivals and Octoberfest 2003, and a workshop presentation in May 2005. She has a degree in English and a Certificate in Theatre and Dance from Princeton University, and has studied playwriting with Jean-Claude Van Itallie and Jeffrey Sweet. She was a Dramatists Guild Fellow in 2002, and was mentored by playwright/librettist Alfred Uhry. She is an alumna of the Playwrights' Lab of the Women's Project and Productions, of the River Writers Unit of the Ensemble Studio Theatre, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild. She is a practicing attorney in Manhattan and works at the firm of Menaker & Herrmann LLP.
	Brian Dykstra (Playwright, SOMETHING ELSE AGAIN) Brian most recently saw productions of his play, HIDING BEHIND COMETS at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and 29th Street Rep. FORSAKING ALL OTHERS played in London, New York, and Los Angeles. His latest completed play, CLEAN ALTERNATIVES is slated to open in Feb. at 59E59. Other credits include: THAT DAMN DYKSTRA: THE BOX SET, A PLAY ON WORDS, I AM/LOT'S WIFE, A SANE POLICY, SEXRELIGIONPOLITICSISOLATIONLOVE & RAGE STRAIGHT UP/WATER BACK, and SPILL THE WINE. He preformed his critically acclaimed one-man show: BRIAN DYKSTRA: CORNERED & ALONE and is working on a follow up called, BRIAN DYKSTRA: THE JESUS FACTOR (INDICTING WAR CRIMINALS ONE U.S. PRESIDENT AT A TIME). As an actor, Brian most recently performed the role of Don in ROUNDING THIRD. His Off-Broadway and New York credits include BREAKING LEGS, THE UMBRELLA PLAY, OFFENDING THE AUDIENCE, THE UNDEADS, TATJANA IN COLOR, ANTIGONE, INCOMMUNICADO, and others. Regionally he has been seen in COPENHAGEN, A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, and ALL THE RAGE, among others. TV: THIRD WATCH, ALL NY SOAPS, LAW & ORDER, CHAPPELLE'S SHOW. Film: FREEDOMLAND, BODY, ANOTHER BED, THE INVITATION, OUT OF THE BLUE. Brian just finished Book: A Novel, his first novel.
	Yussef El Guindi (Playwright, JIHAD JONES AND THE KALASHNIKOV BABES) is a playwright living in Seattle. His most recent production was BACK OF THE THROAT, winner of the 2004 Northwest Playwright’s Competition, staged by San Francisco’s Thick Description and Golden Thread Productions and later presented by Theater Schmeater in Seattle. It is scheduled to be produced in Chicago, Anchorage, Alaska, Durham, NC, and in Cairo, Egypt. Another play, TEN ACROBATS IN AN AMAZING LEAP OF FAITH is scheduled for productions this year in both Chicago and Seattle, while his ACTS OF DESIRE is being staged by LA’s Fountain Theatre. Other recent productions: KARIMA’S CITY (in San Francisco and as part of 2004’s Cairo International Experimental Theater Festival, both presented by Golden Thread Productions), MURDER IN THE MIRROR (a radio play presented by Stage Shadows at the Museum of Television and Radio in NY), and MEN ON MARS (another radio play aired in 2004 by Shoestring Radio Theater in San Francisco). His adaptation of Chekhov’s A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL into an Arab-American setting was staged by the Arab Theatrical Arts Guild in Dearborn, MI and nominated for several PAGE awards. His short story, STAGE DIRECTIONS FOR AN EXTENDED CONVERSATION was recently published in Dinarzad’s Children, an anthology of Arab-American Fiction. Yussef holds an MFA from Carnegie-Mellon University and was playwright-in-residence at Duke University.
	Robert Fieldsteel's (Playwright, SMART) works include Crazy Drunk (L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award for Best World Premiere Play, Backstage West Garland Award for Playwriting), his adaptation (with Jennifer Maisel and April Vanoff) of Ansky’s The Dybbuk (5 L.A. Weekly Award Nominatons), Cotton (L.A. & Chicago, L.A. Weekly Pick of Week) and several youth theatre pieces for the Virginia Avenue Project. 2005 has seen premiere productions of his short plays Douglas, Bad Language and Essential Magick (Finalist, Actors Theatre of Louisville Heideman Award) in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles respectively, as well as festival readings of his new full-length, Smart, in the Lark Playwrights’ Week, Prop Thtr New Play Festival (Chicago) and Cypress College New Play Festival (Cypress, CA). He is also an L.A. Drama Critics Circle award-winning actor, has guest-starred frequently on television and been featured in films for such directors as John Cassavetes, Sidney Lumet and Joe Dante. He’s a founding member of Dog Ear, a collective of 10 Los Angeles-based playwrights. Visit www.dogearplays.org.
	Javon Johnson (Playwright, BREATHE) is a native of Anderson, South Carolina and a founding ensemble member of Congo Square Theatre Company in Chicago, IL. He is also a member of The Dramatist Guild, the Writers League of America, Screen Actor’s Guild, Actor’s Equity Association, a MFA graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, BA recipient from SC State University. Johnson is the recipient of several awards including 2004 Black Theatre Alliance Lorraine Hansberry Award for Best New Play, 2003 New Professional Theatre Playwriting Award, NYC, 2001 Jefferson Award Nomination for Best New Play, 2001 and 1999 recipient of the National Project Award sponsored by Pierians, Inc. Pittsburgh Chapter among others. He has had play readings at Lanford Wilson’s Playwrights Retreat, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Victory Gardens Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, National Black Theatre Festival, New Jersey Repertory, Edward Albee Theatre Conference in Valdez, A.K., CAP21 and others. Productions at the Grahamstown Festival in South Africa, Victory Gardens Theatre, Congo Square, and ETA Theatre of Chicago, Studio Theatre of D.C., St. Louis Black Repertory, Horizon Theatre of Atlanta. National Black Theatre Festival, N.C. featuring Malcolm Jamal Warner, Studio 52 I, “Things that Lovers Do” Tour featuring R&B sensations Kenny Lattimore & Chante Moore, Clifton Powell, and Kim Whitley, New Jersey Repertory Company, Dunbar Repertory Theatre of New Jersey, Kuntu Repertory Theatre, Jazz Actor’s Theatre, Columbia College, Pittsburgh’s New Voices, and H.E.R.E. Theatre of New York. Upcoming Events: SANCTIFIED at Alabama Shakespeare Festival Commission for new gospel musical.
	Koffi Kwahulé(Playwright, MISTERIOSO-119) was born in 1956 in Abengourou (Ivory Coast). He studied at the Institut National des Arts in Abidjan, at L’École de la Rue Blanche (Paris), and at the Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris) where he earned his doctorate in Theatre Studies. He is the author of more than twenty plays including CETTE VIEILLE MAGIE NOIRE (recipient of Grand prix Tchicaya U Tam’si, RFI/ACCT 92); LA DAME DU CAFÉ D’EN FACE (recipient of Prix SACD-RFI 94; directed by Johan Heldenberg, Theater Zuidpool in Anvers, 2004); BINTOU (directed by G. Garran, TILF, 1997); FAMA (directed by the author, Francophonies de Limoges, 1998); LES CRÉANCIERS (directed by René Paréja, théâtre forain, 1998); VILLAGE FOU OU LES DÉCONNARDS (directed by the author and S. Bakaba, Avignon Off, 1998; recipient of Prix UNESCO du MASA 99 in Abidjan); IL NOUS FAUT L’AMÉRIQUE(directed by Yves Sauton, Avignon Off, 2000), JAZ (directed by Daniela Giordano, Teatro del Fontanone in Rome, 2000); P’TITE-SOUILLURE (winner of Journées d’Auteurs de Lyon, directed by Serge Tranvouez, Festival Frictions 2002 in Dijon); HISTOIRE DE SOLDATS (directed by S. Koly et A. Dine, Glob’Théâtre in Bordeaux, 2002); and SCAT (directed by Yves Bombay, La Comédie de Saint-Etiennne, 2003). His plays have been published by Editions Théâtrales, Lansman, Actes Sud-Papiers, and Acoria, and have been translated in several languages.
	Theresa Rebeck (Playwright, MAURITIUS) Ms. Rebeck's work has been produced off-Broadway and regionally and includes THE BUTTERFLY COLLECTION, BAD DATES (Playwrights Horizons), VIEW OF THE DOME (New York Theatre Workshop), THE FAMILY OF MANN, LOOSE KNIT and SPIKE HEELS, all of which were presented at Second Stage. Recent projects include OMNIUM GATHERUM (co-written with Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros, and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize) and THE BELLS, slated for production at the McCarter Theatre for the 2004-05 season. THE WATER’S EDGE, workshopped at the Lark Play Development Center, was produced at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, summer 2004. Her work in film and television includes HARRIET THE SPY, BROOKLYN, BRIDGE, DREAM ON and NYPD BLUE, for which she received WGA, Edgar and Peabody Awards. Rebeck is a member of Naked Angels, was the Lark Writer-in-Residence 2002-2004, was recently elected to serve on the Dramatists Guild Council and serves on the Lark’s Board of Trustees.
	Saviana Stanescu (Playwright, LENIN'S SHOE)was born in Bucharest, Romania. She has published four books of poetry MAKING LOVE ON THE BARBED WIRE, ADVICE FOR HOUSEWIVES AND MUSES, and OUTCAST (all in Romanian), and DIARY OF A CLONE (English). Stanescu’s published dramatic writing includes THE INFLATABLE APOCALYPSE (best Romanian Play of the year 1999); BLACK MILK (four plays in Romanian and English) and FINAL COUNTDOWN /COMPTE A REBOURS (Antoine Vitez Center Award, Paris). Her plays have been presented in the U.S., the U.K., France, Austria, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, and, of course, Romania. Recent New York productions include YOKASTAS (co-author Richard Schechner) at La MaMa Theater, BALKAN BLUES at the Fringe Festival and WAXING WEST at The Lark Theatre. Saviana holds an MA in Performance Studies (2001-2002 Fulbright fellow) and an MFA in Dramatic Writing (John Golden Award in Playwriting), both from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. She is currently an associate artist and TCG New Generations international fellow with The Lark Theatre Company, playwright-in-residence of East Coast Artists (director Richard Schechner), a member of Women's Project lab, and adjunct faculty at NYU, Drama Department.
	Lloyd Suh (Playwright, AMERICAN HWANGAP) is the author of MASHA NO HOME (first produced at Ensemble Studio Theatre; West Coast Premiere at East West Players), THE CHILDREN OF VONDERLY (2004 NYFA Fellowship Winner), THE GARDEN VARIETY (South Coast Repertory commission), and AMERICAN HWANGAP (2005 NYSCA Grant Winner), as well as several shorter plays, including NOT ALL KOREAN GIRLS CAN FLY AND WITH A HAMMER & A NAIL (EST/Thicker Than Water 2002). His work has been developed and produced severally with The Lark, Second Generation, Ma-Yi Theater Company and EST, and at venues including the NYSF/Joseph Papp Public Theater, New Dramatists, the Korea Society, the Asian-American Writers' Workshop, and the New York International Fringe Festival. A graduate of Indiana University and The New School, he is an alum of the Dramatists Guild Playwriting Fellowship program, the Dasha Epstein Next Step Fellowship program, EST's Youngblood, and the Lark Theatre's Playwrights' Workshop, and is a current member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Ma-Yi Writer's Lab, and The Actors Studio.