Assistant Professor of Theatre Named Semi-Finalist in National Playwrights Conference
March 3, 2008
Robin Reese, actor, director, playwright, and assistant professor of theatre, Penn State Altoona, has been selected as a semi-finalist in the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's 2008 National Playwrights Conference in Waterford, Conn. Founded in 1964 in honor of one of America’s Nobel Prize-winning playwrights, the Eugene O’Neill Theatre is a learning community that fosters the growth of theatre in America through the development of new writing and training of theatre people.
Established in 1965, the Conference hosts playwrights who live on the grounds of The O'Neill for a month and engage in a six-day process of rehearsals and two script-in-hand public readings of their play. Up to 15 plays and playwrights are chosen for this process each summer. Conference participants represent a wide range of experience from playwrights working on a first play to Broadway veterans. Over 765 playwrights had applied from which 150 semi-finalists were selected.
Reese has written several plays that have been performed across the United States at art festivals, New York off-Broadway venues and in regional theatres. She was the executive artistic director of The Women's Ensemble Theatre Company in Philadelphia, co-founding director of New York's Drunken Lotus Productions and managing director for New Legends Productions. In 2007, she was selected as one of five playwrights to compete in The Cardboard Box Collaborative's SPEED THE MUSE competition, and her new play will be performed in September at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.
Reese is a member of Actors Equity Association, having appeared in regional, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway musical and theatre productions. She also is a professional stage director with recent Off-Broadway credits.
For more information on the the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's 2008 National Playwrights Conference, visit http://www.oneilltheatercenter.org/.
Contact: Flora W. Marynak, fwm1@psu.edu