Beckett’s Babies

Hello listeners! Get ready to LEARN something today! We're super stoked to have Dr. Kate Busselle joining us to discuss Intimacy Design and Training in Theatre. This was such an insightful discussion. We know you will learn a thing or two!

Dr. Kate Busselle is Founder of Heartland Intimacy Design & Training, which offers academic, accessible, and affordable intimacy training entirely online through self-paced asynchronous modules. She is also Assistant Professor of Movement and Stage Combat at the University of Oklahoma and is an Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors. As a researcher, Kate is invested in not only providing the tools of staging intimacy, but providing context as to how and why theatrical intimacy, nudity, and sexual violence needs to be staged. Most recently, she served as the Conference Intimacy Consultant for the Great Plains Theatre Commons Playlab.

To learn more about Dr. Kate and her work, be sure to check her out on social media!

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/heartlandintimacydesign

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Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode with your friends, or follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @beckettsbabies

And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting, and we might discuss it in our next episode. Email: [email protected]

For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

Theme Music: "Live Like the Kids" by  Samuel Johnson, Laura Robertson, Luke O'Dea (APRA)

Hello listeners! This week’s guest joining us on the show is G.FLORES! We first met Lupe at Iowa Playwrights Workshop. We're so excited to have him on the show to share his playwriting journey and all his thoughts on playwriting. This was such an enlightening conversation and we hope you enjoy!

Guadalupe Flores has worked in communications and public relations in the non-profit sphere for over two decades, with a primary focus in the arts, higher education, higher education policy and election policy. Some of his creative achievements include “The Coyote Stratagem,” published in Applause Books’ “The Best American Short Plays 2010-2011,” the 2012 Kennedy Center’s Ken Ludwig Scholarship, and was a finalist for the 2012 Arizona Theater Company’s National Latino Playwriting award. Flores has an adult son who is (fortunately) smarter and better looking than he was at that age. He holds a BA in English and theatre arts from the University of the Incarnate Word, an MA in playwriting from Texas State University, and an MFA in playwriting from the University of Iowa.

To learn more about Lupe and his work:

Twitter: @theliterateGeek (The Bad Hombre Your Parents Warned You About)

GLISTENS:

Cho - Stranger Things Season 4

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Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode with your friends, or follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @beckettsbabies

And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting, and we might discuss it in our next episode. Email: [email protected]

For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

Theme Music: "Live Like the Kids" by  Samuel Johnson, Laura Robertson, Luke O'Dea (APRA)

Hello listeners! This week’s guest on the show is STEVEN STRAFFORD! Sarah first met Steven at the Great Plains Theatre Conference where they bonded over playwriting and new plays. We're so excited to have him on the show!!!

Steven Strafford is a playwright and actor, Brooklyn-born and New Jersey-raised. His acting credits include Spamalot directed by Mike Nichols, Wonderful Town directed by Mary Zimmerman. He's been on TV, in commercials, and a movie or two. As a writer, his plays include the one man show, Methtacular! along with The Match Game, Mona Quimby: Age 38, Greater Illinois, The Model Congressman, and Small Jokes About Monsters which will be published and licensed by Broadway Licensing this fall. He lives in Athens, Ohio with his husband and ludicrously adorable foster son.

To learn more about Steven and his work:

GLISTENS:

Cho - Great Plains Theatre Conference

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Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode with your friends, or follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @beckettsbabies

And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting, and we might discuss it in our next episode. Email: [email protected]

For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

Theme Music: "Live Like the Kids" by  Samuel Johnson, Laura Robertson, Luke O'Dea (APRA)

Hello, listeners!  In today’s episode we discuss the history of Musicals! Sam taught a class all about musicals so we figured let's see what Sam learned and bring it to Beckett's Babies! We share our general thoughts on musicals, preconceptions, misconceptions, and so much more. We hope you enjoy!

GLISTENS

Cho - Sarah Ruhl “Letters from Max”

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Hello listeners! This week’s guest on the show is CHRIS LEYVA! Chris Leyva was one of our first guests on the show. He returns to share with us what he's been up since we last talked to him and what the pandemic has taught him when it comes to playwriting. 

Chris uses humor and whimsy to ask larger questions about our humanity. His plays take place in heightened worlds and are grounded by authentic characters. He is a playwright and director based in Columbus, OH. Chris was awarded an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award and his plays have been commissioned and developed by the Contemporary American Theatre Company, CLIMB Theatre, MadLab Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Curtain Players New Play Initiative, Great Plains Theatre Conference, and the Columbus School for Girls, among others.  He received an M.F.A. from the Playwrights Workshop at The University of Iowa, a B.A. in Directing from Coe College, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

GLISTENS:

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Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode with your friends, or follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @beckettsbabies

And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting, and we might discuss it in our next episode. Email: [email protected]

For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

Theme Music: "Live Like the Kids" by  Samuel Johnson, Laura Robertson, Luke O'Dea (APRA)

Every month, we pick a play to discuss, and for this week's episode we read "David's Redhaired Death" by SHERRY KRAMER. We discuss what we noticed, what we liked, and questions that came up while reading the play. SPOILER ALERT: There are going to be some spoiler alerts! We highly recommend you read the play before listening to this episode!

Glistens:

Sam - Lost and Found by Kathryn Schulz

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Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode with your friends or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter:  @beckettsbabies And as always, we would love to hear from you!  

Hello listeners! This week’s guest on the show is DARCY PARKER BRUCE! Darcy is a playwright, theater activist, and coffee enthusiast. We were so excited to have Darcy on the show and had a great time chatting. We know you will enjoy this interview too!

Darcy Parker Bruce is a playwright and educator from New Haven, CT, and a graduate of the MFA Playwriting program at Smith College. In the summer they join the Sewanee Writers’ Conference as part of their staff. Darcy was the recipient of a 2017 Tennessee Williams Scholarship through the Sewanee Writers' Conference, a 2019 LAMBDA Literary Fellowship, and was granted ATHE's 2018 Judith Royer Award For Excellence in Theater for their play SOLDIER POET. They are currently working on several projects including commissions from Chester Theatre Company and Acadiana Repertory Theater, and a cycle of plays investigating the relationship between small towns, queers, and American Glory. Their play Always Plenty of Light at the Starlight All Night Diner can now be purchased through Broadway Play Publishing and their play The Place That Made You, the second play in the Piedmont Cycle, is forthcoming from the same press.

To learn more about Darcy and their work, be sure to visit their New Play Exchange!

GLISTENS:

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Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode with your friends, or follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @beckettsbabies

And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting, and we might discuss it in our next episode. Email: [email protected]

For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

Theme Music: "Live Like the Kids" by  Samuel Johnson, Laura Robertson, Luke O'Dea (APRA)

Hello, listeners!  In today’s episode we discuss the topic of working with a Dramaturg! Sam also shares her experience working as one as well! We get into discussing what's helpful and what's not helpful when working with a dramaturg. Check it out!

Article Mentioned:

GLISTENS

Cho - Pachinko on AppleTV

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Hello listeners! This week’s guest on the show is SHANNON TL KEARNS! A former fundamentalist who became the first openly transgender man ordained to the Old Catholic priesthood, Shannon TL Kearns believes in the transformative power of story. As an ordained priest, a playwright, a theologian, and a writer all of his work revolves around making meaning through story.

Shannon TL Kearns was a recipient of the Playwrights’ Center Jerome Fellowship in 20/21, a playwright in residence at the Inge House in 2021, a Lambda Literary Fellow for 2019, and a Finnovation Fellow for 2019/2020. Shannon’s plays include Body+Blood, in a stand of dying trees, Line of Sight, Twisted Deaths, The Resistance of My Skin, and Who Has Eyes To See. His television pilots include The Family Unit, Transformed, and Freedom, Kansas. He and his plays have been: a finalist for the Equity Library Theatre of Chicago’s Reading Series, 2019 TransLab, and American Stages 2019 New Play Festival, semi-finalist for the New Works series at Garry Marshall Theatre. He was a semi-finalist for SPACE on Ryder farm in 2020.

To learn more about Shannon and his work, be sure to visit his website and on social media:

GLISTENS:

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Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode with your friends, or follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @beckettsbabies

And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting, and we might discuss it in our next episode. Email: [email protected]

For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

Theme Music: "Live Like the Kids" by  Samuel Johnson, Laura Robertson, Luke O'Dea (APRA)

Hello listeners! This week’s guest on the show is BEN STASNY! Ben is a second-year graduate student at CU Boulder. Ben's research is centered around queer theory, eco-criticism and performance studies. How can theatre act as a space for ethical action on queer and climate justice?

Ben served as the Artistic Director for the opening fall show The Climate Cabaret--an evening of short plays about the climate crisis. We partnered with Climate Change Theatre Action out of New York City to bring this project to life.

Ben worked with his/bevs advisor, Dr. Beth Osnes, this summer on an interspecies arts/science partnership between humans and barn swallows. They were led by a group of courageous youth which culminated in a film and public performance titled Side by Side.

Ben was a recipient of the Hazel Barnes Flat which brought bev to London, UK in November. While there, Ben led workshops on climate comedy with a local arts/science organization, Your Canal Boat CIC.

Ben served as the Artistic Director for the 6th Annual New Plays Festival at CU Boulder in Spring 2021.

Ben graduated with a BFA in Acting from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Ben lived and worked as a professional actor for several years in New York City. New York credits include: Off-Broadway: Harry in When Harry Met Nancy (New York New Works Festival), Voice of Mayor Humdinger in Paw Patrol (Event Box). Other credits: The Narrator in The Soldier's Tale (Boulder Philharmonic), The Genie in Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular (Disney Cruise Line), Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, Pirelli in Sweeney Todd, Henry Etches in Titanic (Arizona Broadway Theatre), Zach in A Chorus Line, Ernst Ludwig in Cabaret, Fred in A Christmas Carol (The Palace Theatre), Father in Ragtime (Interlakes Summer Theatre) Ernst Ludwig in Cabaret (Sierra Repertory Theatre), The Cat in the Hat in Seussical the Musical (Highland Summer Theatre). Touring Theatre: Punchin in A Commedia Cinderella (Sierra Repertory Theatre, Northern California), Shaggy in Scooby-Doo and the Mystery of the Pyramid, Maddie in Care Bears (Event Box in Saudi Arabia).

Ben is filled with more questions than answers these days...which feels just about right for grad school.

To learn more about Ben and his/bevs work, be sure to check out his/bevs instagram!

https://www.instagram.com/snackfishbenji/

GLISTENS:

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Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode with your friends, or follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @beckettsbabies

And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting, and we might discuss it in our next episode. Email: [email protected]

For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

Theme Music: "Live Like the Kids" by  Samuel Johnson, Laura Robertson, Luke O'Dea (APRA)