Sad Playwright

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JONI MCGARY
Bloomington, Indiana

I am sad because I didn’t start writing plays until I was old.

My plays have been read or produced in Bloomington, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, MInneapolis and Albuquerque.

My short play Carbon Credit will be part of the 2012 Source Festival in DC. www.sourcedc.org/sourcefestival/index.html

I’m based, sadly, in Bloomington, Indiana.

Brief Bio:

After gigs as a Coconut Research Specialist, Biotechnology Business Development Manager and Full-Time Martha-Stewartesque stay at home mom and wife, I took up my pen in earnest to write plays. I’d be very happy about my new career if only I weren’t so sad.

LINA PATEL
Los Angeles, CA

Lina Patel is a playwright/performer born in what was called Bombay but is now called Mumbai, which makes up for about a hundred years of colonialism. Lina lives near Los Angeles, which means she has a very, very sad commute, with her scholar-husband, Dan, (who is sad because, let’s face it, he knows too much), their increasingly-prone-to-worry nine-year old German Shepherd, Zooey, (who they rescued when he was two from a sad shelter), and their not sad-at-all-because-she’s-too‐young‐to-know-better‐kid, Franny. Is this playwright’s picture sad? Or pissed? Is there a difference? Lina’s website, which tries to make sense of, and quantify a career in the arts is at: www.dogear.org.

MATTIE LENNON
Dublin, Ireland

The story of the pic is as follows; I worked for Dublin Bus for thirty seven years until my retirement in January 2011. The last 25 years I spent as an inspector. That photo was taken, on Batchelors Walk, by a famous photographer the late Bill Doyle. It was taken in 1996. You ask wahat was happening? Nothing in particular. The young lad was passing leading the donkey and I happened to be there. It’s in a book titled Images of Dublin.

For more information on Mattie, please visit www.mattielennon.com

DAN O’BRIEN
Los Angeles, CA

Dan is a playwright and poet from New York, currently living in Los Angeles with his wife Jessica, a sad-funny comedienne, and a very lovable, slightly blurry, serious-minded mini-schnauzer named Emma. Website: danobrien.org.

GREG MACHLIN
Los Angeles, CA

Greg Machlin is a sad playwright currently living in North Hollywood who received his MFA from the University of Iowa. Greg’s the co-founder, with Joe Luis Cedillo, of Company of Strangers, which presented a world premiere of Dreams from a Dead City (co-written with Cedillo), this past summer in the Hollywood Fringe Festival, the first play in history in which audience members were instructed to leave their cell phones *on.* And loud. (The show involved cast members calling random audience members and interacting with them; tweeting during the play was encouraged.) Greg’s also a Heideman finalist for “Family Portrait” and has been published in the pictured anthology 60 Seconds to Shine IV. So why is Greg so sad?

Greg doesn’t know. It could be increased distractability, or the fact that Greg is not a famous writer yet. You can read some of his non-sad work at www.gregmachlin.com.

CIARÁN MYERS
Kitchener Ontario, Canada

Ciarán is young, impressionable and brilliant, making him the saddest of all.

His plays are sometimes too political

And dramaturges sometimes make him feel little.

But he loves his work enough to hate himself enough to do what he does—

But never quite enough.

His first play was published in 2007

And his newest play is actually making him enough money to nearly eat.

Enough.

www.ciaranmyers.wordpress.com

MICHAEL ROSS ALBERT
Astoria, NY

Michael Ross Albert is the author of several sad plays, including Starfishes, Chagrin, Pillars of Salt, For the Winter, and Tough Jews. He grew up in a land of melancholy and infinite sadness (Canada). Now he lives in a sad part of New York City, where he received an MFA in sadness. Sometimes, his sad plays get produced, or read out loud, or even published. And that makes him happy for a while.

ANDREW KRAMER
New York, NY

Based in NYC, Andrew is a sad playwright. Sad because someone’s trying to steal his delicious cupcake on the benches of Prospect Park. He has two Basenjis who can’t even make it better. His work has been seen in NYC, Louisville, Nashville, Houston, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Australia.

NANDITA SHENOY
New York, NY
(photo: A. Rey Pamatmat)

Nandita Shenoy writes plays in her one-bedroom apartment on the Upper East side. Some of them have received productions in New York City and Washington, DC. Her plays have also been read at the Kennedy Center, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Salaam Theater, the Bleecker Street Theater, The Lark Play Development Center, and by the Red Harlem Readers. A few of her plays are listed on southasianplaywrights.org. She is a member of the Ma-Yi Writers’ Lab with some other sad playwrights. She also acts and directs, but never at the same time. BA, Yale University.

MA-YI WRITERS LAB
New York, NY

www.ma-yitheatre.org/lab

Balcony (L-R)
Eugen Oh, Sung Rno, Kyoung Park, Mrinalini Kamath, Mia Chung, Nandita Shenoy, J.P. Chan, Don Nguyen, Samantha Chanse, Jon Kern

Mezzanine (L-R)
Edgar Mendoza, A. Rey Pamatmat, Nora Chau, Dustin Chinn

Orchestra Front and Center (L-R)
Michael Lew, Rehana Mirza

JOSH HARTUNG
Brooklyn, NY

When this photo was taken, Josh was contemplating the solitary nature of man, that our lives end all too soon and most are not remembered, that one day the sun will explode and all humanity’s efforts will return to the stardust from which it came.

And then a pigeon crapped on him.

Josh writes a serialised play called Unlicensed, produced by Dysfunctional Theatre. There are poop jokes.

PATRICK KARL CURLEY
Sligo, Ireland

In the photograph I have just had a lovers’ tiff with a piece I was writing (we’ve managed to patch up our differences since then).

Patrick Karl Curley has an M.A. in Drama and Theatre Studies from N.U.I. Galway. Previous works include: “The Judas Cradle”, “Jack The Ripper is In Love Again” and “Grace”. He has also co-authored and performed an adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”.

LARRY KUNOFSKY
New York, NY

Larry Kunofsky is a New York-based playwright and the Artistic Director of the sadly underfunded theatre company Purple Rep. He wrote a play called The Un-Marrying Project about New Yorkers fighting to make gay marriage legal, but every character’s life in the play turned sad. The play was produced in NYC before the laws had actually changed, but the play had no real effect on this, sadly. His play is now a period piece. A sad period piece. He hoped to tour the play across the country but sadly has no idea how to do this. His current play, The Myths We Need - or - How To Begin, directed by Jose Zayas, is having a good production in NYC that is going really well, but the run will soon be over, sadly. purplerep.com

LLOYD SUH
Brooklyn, NY

CRYSTAL SKILLMAN
Brooklyn, NY

Even though Crystal can’t ride this crazy awesome pony ride at Centerville Island (in Toronto!) she sure loves riding the crazy awesome ride of writing plays yo! Better than the Zoom Flume! More about her here: https://profiles.google.com/crystalskillman/about

More about Centerville craziness here: www.centreisland.ca/