OCPA Studios Presents…
Water Closet, a new play by Erica Bennett
SATURDAY, May 26 – 2:00pm
Hunger Artists Theatre Company
699-A S. State College Blvd., Fullerton
$5 suggested donation

On May 26 @ 2:00pm, the Orange County Playwrights Alliance’s OCPA Studios series returns to the Hunger Artists Theatre Company with the reading of Erica’s Bennett’s drama Water Closet. The resumption of the series also marks a new chapter: OCPA Studios is now a benefit series of play readings, with 100% of the box office going to the host theatres.

The Play
Home from a tour of duty in Afghanistan and descending into the depths of PTSD, Dr. Mary Lorenz, a cognitive psychologist and expert interrogator in the U.S. Army Reserves, finds that secrets will not stay buried in her mind or the past. Her relationship with her boyfriend unravels in a Vegas hotel room. Rescued by her grandmother Oma, the two journey home together. On the way, Mary confronts the physical and emotional trauma endured as the orphaned granddaughter of a German Nazi while Oma finally comes clean about their family’s past and what happened in the water closet. How do we continue to live when we are already dead?

Last November, Water Closet was read by the White Horse Theater Company at the Dramatists Guild of America’s Frederick Loewe Room in New York. The play was also workshopped and presented in a staged reading at the Fullerton College New Play Festival in January.

The Playwright
Erica Bennett is a playwright and a tenured librarian at Fullerton College. Her short documentary Mendez v. Westminster: Families for Equality (about the 1945-1947 desegregation case) has aired on KOCE-TV (PBS) since October 2010. The film is centered around her play El Primer Dia de Clases, performed by Fullerton College Mendez Project students for the community and OC high school students in 2008-2009. Her plays Freed and Jolly and Bean were respectively presented in staged readings at the Laguna Beach New Play Festival and Newport Theatre Arts Center in 2009. Bennett received her BA in Theater from California State University, Fullerton, and studied acting with Jose Quintero and Stella Adler. She is featured in Benicio Del Toro’s short film Submission, and she worked for nearly a decade in TV production on such shows as The Young Riders, Gabriel’s Fire, Under Suspicion and The Big Easy. Bennett has a Master of Library & Information Science degree from UCLA and is a member of the Society of California Archivists, the Dramatists Guild of America and OCPA.

The Orange County Playwrights Alliance (OCPA) began on April 1, 1995 with an informal meeting in an oncologist’s office in Anaheim. Since then, OCPA has become the fundamental group for playwrights in O.C., presenting staged readings and productions of plays at intriguing local theatres. Its playwrights have been produced across the U.S., and have won national and regional playwriting awards.

Named after a short story by Franz Kafka, the Hunger Artists Theatre Company was founded in 1996 and quickly emerged as a crucial destination for new plays in Orange County. The ensemble has received sustained acclaim and numerous awards for producing contemporary American plays, including notable new works such as The Gog/Magog Project, The Land Southward, The Flying Spaghetti Monster Holiday Pageant, Sans Merci, Cockfighters, The Pledge Drive: Ruminations On The Hunger Artist, The Cantor’s Tale and the current Great Western Wanderlust. The ensemble’s Beyond Convention festival annually pushes the boundaries of the short play form.

RESERVATIONS: 714.902.5716

Eric Eberwein’s Great Western Wanderlust @ Hunger Artists

The Fullerton ensemble presents the second production of Eric’s award-winning seriocomedy through May 13, directed by Anthony Galleran. Tix and details here.

Ken La Salle’s The Myth of the Cubicle in the Chanceathon

Ken’s one-act comedy – produced in the 2011 OC-centric festival – will get another OC staging as part of the Chance Theater’s 24-Hour Chanceathon, 24 hours of non-stop performances at the Anaheim Hills venue. Ken’s play is on at 1:00am on May 26.

3 OCPA Plays in Chapman U.’s 2012 OC-centric Festival

The lineup for the 2012 edition of OC-centric, Orange County’s New Play Festival, Aug. 17-26 @ Chapman University includes Isosceles by John Lane, dir. Paul Tavianini; Thug 4 Life by Ken La Salle, dir. Mark Majarian; and Obsession by Colleen Bevacqua, dir. Richard Stein.

Johnna Adams plays onstage in Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, West Virginia & NYC

Johnna’s acclaimed drama Sans Merci recently concluded a run at Iowa City’s Dreamwell Theatre, whose 2012-13 season features work entirely from women playwrights. Its next production: Theatre Non Nobis, Indianapolis, May 18-June 2. Gidion’s Knot, her 2-character drama about the aftermath of school bullying, was recently named a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Gidion’s Knot gets its world premiere in West Virginia at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival July 4-29, dir. Ed Herendeen. In March, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presented a staged reading of the play in its Ignite! new play festival at Webster University. Johnna’s play Alcestis in Bagdad was just featured in Hunter College’s Hunter Playwrights Festival 2012.

Tira Palmquist’s Ten Mile Lake @ Seven Devils Playwrights Conference

Tira’s brand-new drama has just selected for the 2012 edition of the nationally renowned new works festival held annually in McCall, ID (near the Seven Devils mountain range). The festival runs June 11-23.

Eric Eberwein’s The Return Engagement in New Mexico

This ten-minute drama gets its world premiere in June at Albuquerque’s FUSION Theatre Company as part of The SEVEN, its annual short play festival.

Ken La Salle’s Murielle’s Big Date in San Francisco this fall

Its world premiere production will run November 2-18 at San Francisco’s Dark Room Theatre, produced by Writing Man Productions.

Go ahead. Take a tour.

These links will take you to the web pages and web sites of OCPA playwrights.

Johnna Adams

Bev Arrowsmith

Donna Bader

Erica Bennett

Jerry Berning

Bob Bevacqua

Colleen Bevacqua

Eleanor Brook

John Byrd

Karen Fix Curry

Eric Eberwein

Sean Engard

Max Espinoza

Frank Farmer

Gene Fiskin

John Franceschini

Art Gottlieb

Lorin Howard

Arthur Kraft

John Lane

Jeffrey Lo

Ken La Salle

Yolanda Mendiveles

Lynn Wells Nelson

Tira Palmquist

Andrea Sloan Pink

John Richardson

Robert Riemer

Dorothy Weston Stauch

Christopher Trela

Martin E. Williams

Jordan R. Young

We are a dues-paying membership organization that exists primarily to develop and workshop the plays of our 30+ members. We develop plays through

• Table reads in our twice-monthly meetings (some of the best actors in OC sit in and read roles for us)
• Our Discoveries staged readings series (primarily featuring one-acts)
• Our OCPA Studios @ Hunger Artists series (featuring new full-length plays)

These are all steps toward the goal of a fully realized production, whether it happens here in Orange County or elsewhere. When you hear your play interpreted by actors, it helps you see what works and what doesn’t – you see the pacing and structure of scenes on their feet, you see how well the audience is getting caught up in the story.

Actors, directors and progressive theatres like working with us because we provide new, fresh plays – the lifeblood of any good theatre scene. The OC theatre scene has really changed in the last 15 years and we have been proud to be part of that change.

16 YEARS OF NEW WORK

OCPA started in 1995 when a group of students in South Coast Repertory’s Advanced Playwriting Workshop got the idea to create a self-sustaining playwrights organization in Orange County.

In September 1996, OCPA presented the first installment of the Discoveries series at Fullerton’s Vanguard Theatre, presenting new works from OC playwrights in staged readings. It continues to this day.

Leslie Joyce, Kyle Spiller & Luis Kelly-Duarte in the Discoveries staging of John Lane's Welcome to Puerto Seco! @ STAGEStheatre. Photo: Geoffrey Gread

In 1998, Chapman University‘s theatre department produced a collection of ten-minute plays from OCPA; we were welcomed back for two more productions. Later, we co-produced two shows with Vanguard Theatre Ensemble (The Writes of Spring in 2000 and American Stories in 2004), and presented a free lineup of comedies at the Orange County Theater Festival in 2004.

More recently, OCPA plays were featured in the two Laguna Beach New Play Festivals produced by Gallimaufry Performing Arts. Holiday Stimulus Package - our co-production with STAGEStheatre – drew packed houses in 2009.

In summer 2009, the OCPA Studios series started to keep an ongoing stream of worthy full-length plays from the Alliance in the public eye. Now it is OCPA Studios @ Hunger Artists – a collaboration with the Hunger Artists Theatre Company in Fullerton.

We have been a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization since 1998.

So, what have we done?

We might as well answer the old Hollywood question. Here are some works penned by OCPA dramatists, and what they’ve won and/or where they’ve been staged or produced.

A BRUSH WITH FATE • Joni Ravenna • west coast ensemble, hollywood

A MEMORY OF WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN • Robert Riemer • zju theater group, north hollywood

AGE OF BEES • Tira Palmquist • winner, company of angels visions of dystopia competition

AGING WITH GRACE • Frank Farmer • winner, long beach playhouse new works festival

COCKFIGHTERS • Johnna Adams • OC WEEKLY award for best new play • silver prize finalist, pinter review prize for drama • finalist, national arts club playwrights first award • hunger artists theatre company, fullerton • oberon theatre ensemble, NYC

DEAD RECKONING • Martin E. Williams • STAGEStheatre, fullerton

EL PRIMER DIA DE CLASES • Erica Bennett • mendez vs. westminster civil rights curriculum, CA state public schools

FOR PETE’S SAKE • Joni Ravenna • chance theater, anaheim hills

GOAT • Arthur Kraft • elite theatre company, oxnard

GOOD BREEDING • John Lane • winner, scripteasers playwriting competition

GRANDPA WAS A BACHELOR • Gene Fiskin • bedlam ensemble, NYC

GREAT WESTERN WANDERLUST • Eric Eberwein • winner, las vegas little theatre new works competition • las vegas little theatre

HOLLYWOOD IS A STATE OF MIND • Jordan R. Young • california artists radio theatre, KPFK-FM

OBSCENITIES • Art Gottlieb • winner, long beach playhouse new works festival

OUT OF YOUR MIND • Arthur Kraft • winner, long beach playhouse new works festival

PHILADELPHIA LAWYER • Arthur Kraft • STAGEStheatre, fullerton

PRESIDENTIAL HOPELESS • John Richardson • STAGEStheatre, fullerton

SANS MERCI • Johnna Adams • winner, reva shiner full-length play award • finalist, princess grace foundation USA playwriting fellowship • finalist, abingdon theatre company brian wolk award • bloomington playwrights project, IN • hunger artists theatre company, fullerton

SHYLOCK’S DAUGHTER • Eleanor Brook • winner, long beach playhouse new works festival

SIDE EFFECTS • Eleanor Brook • winner, long beach playhouse new works festival

SOTTO VOCE • Robert Riemer • zju theater group, north hollywood

SPLENDID MISERY • Robert Riemer • the actors temple, NYC • zju theater group, north hollywood

THE ANGEL EATERS TRILOGY • Johnna Adams • flux theatre ensemble, nyc

THE DIARIES OF DAVID KIND • Eric Eberwein • theatre publicus jury prize for dramatic literature

THE HERMIT BIRD • John Byrd • virago theatre, alameda

THE MIRACLE OF MARY MACK’S BABY • Johnna Adams • STAGEStheatre, fullerton

THE OLD BIRD • Lynn Wells Nelson • winner, long beach playhouse new works festival • winner, dezart performs play reading festival • los angeles women’s theatre project 20% festival

THE SACRED GEOMETRY OF S&M PORN • Johnna Adams • rude guerrilla theater company, santa ana

THE SWITCH • Arthur Kraft • the next stage, los angeles

In addition to these full-length plays, our members have somewhere in the vicinity of 100 one-acts and 10-minute plays produced.

OCPA is always interested in new playwrights.

New and striking playwriting voices – from all walks of life – intrigue us.

That said, we accept new members selectively. We don’t want to have 50, 100 or 500 members, or grow so fast that our meetings become gatherings of strangers and we serve our playwrights inadequately.

If you’re interested, submit a sample of your work (a full-length play or a one-act) to ocpabox@gmail.com. Our Board will read it and consider you for membership.

Some FAQs.

Q: Does OCPA teach playwriting?

A: At the moment, no. OCPA meetings are not playwriting classes (though playwrights can and do learn much about the craft of playwriting at our meetings). Most of our playwrights have been through the equivalent of Playwriting 101 and have had many productions. If you are seeking an excellent playwriting course, South Coast Repertory’s Professional Conservatory, Fullerton College and Long Beach City College frequently offer them.

Q: Will you produce my play?

A: We sometimes get calls or emails from people who have written a one-person show or musical. It frequently turns out that is the only play they have written, and they want to know if we would like to produce it. While we do occasionally produce, our productions feature works from our member playwrights – works that have commonly been developed through our process.

Q: Are OCPA playwrights asked to write in a certain style?

A: No. Never. We have had playwrights from age 19 to age 85 as members, coming from different paths in life, their playwriting informed by different points of view and different life experiences.

Q: What is the new play climate like in Orange County?

A: Very sunny. Across the LORTs and various non-Equity storefronts, there are a dozen or so new plays produced here annually (sometimes closer to two dozen). Theatres tend to be very receptive to new work. In addition to brand new work, there are another dozen-to-two-dozen “newer” plays from American and foreign playwrights that reliably go up, some of them California, west coast or even U.S. premieres.