School of Performing and Visual Arts
Blaine Quarnstrom Playwright Series
Nov. 16-19, 2022
USM English and theatre students will spend three days learning the ropes from this
year's Playwright-in-Residence, Gab Reisman, as part of the Blaine Quarnstrom Playwrights
Series.
Reisman will host:
- Two public Q&A sessions on the Reisman's working methods and on industry trends;
- Four dedicated writing workshops for students in the Departments of English & Theatre;
- A staged reading of a scene from the playwright’s work.
For the workshops, we encourage student participants of all levels with interests
in creative writing for theatre to sign-up. If interested in attending, please contact
Dr. David Coley at david.coleyFREEMississippi.
Playwright-In-Residence
Meet Gab Reisman
Gab Reisman's plays explore the ways place writes itself on our bodies- examining the connections between geography, history, and identity. Inherently queer and keenly irreverent her work looks at what it means to live on the precipice of chaos.
Besides her own work, Gab builds immersive and devised performances in non-traditional spaces, most recently with utopia-based trio Bender/Mars/Reisman, and her own incubator Brooklyn Yard.
Gab has developed work with Fusebox, Clubbed Thumb, Page 73, Sundance Theatre Lab, and the Playwrights' Center among others. She's received commissions from the Humana Festival of New Plays, EST/Sloan Project, the NOLA Project, New Plays at Barnard, Clubbed Thumb, and ZACH Theatre.
Gab is a MacDowell Fellow, an Orchard Project, Ingram New Works, I-73, and New Victory Lab alum and a former NNPN Playwright in Residence. Her plays Spindle Shuttle Needle and Catch the Wall have appeared on multiple Kilroys Lists and won the Holland New Voices Award. Gab has taught playwriting and theatre making at the University of New Orleans, NYU, and SUNY Purchase. MFA: UT Austin
Gab splits her time between NYC and New Orleans, where she moonlights as a realtor named Gigi and is developing a new piece about Jewish identity and the Florida real estate boom/bust of the 1920s.
Schedule
Wednesday, Nov. 16
| Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 7:30-9:30 p.m. |
First Writing WorkshopThis workshop is open only to students specifically interested in playwriting who register for the workshop (participation limited to students in English and Theatre programs). |
Theatre and Dance (TAD) Building - Green Room |
Thursday, Nov. 17
| Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 3:00-5:00 p.m. |
Second Writing WorkshopThis workshop is open only to students specifically interested in playwriting who register for the workshop (participation limited to students in English and Theatre programs). |
TAD Building - Green Room |
| 7:30 - 9:00 p.m. |
Opening Q&AA detailed Q&A session moderated by Dr. Angella Ball with the Playwright-In-Residence.
|
TAD Building - Hartwig Theatre |
Friday, Nov. 18
| Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 9:30-11:00 a.m. |
Q&A on State of American TheatreA detailed moderated Q&A session with the Playwright-In-Residence focused on the current state of American theatre. Session open to students, faculty, and the public. |
TAD Building - Hartwig Theatre |
| 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. |
Third Writing WorkshopThis workshop is open only to students specifically interested in playwriting who register for the workshop (participation limited to students in English and Theatre programs). |
TAD Building - Green Room |
| 7:30-9:00 p.m. |
Performances of Selections from Playwrights WorkThe performance will include two new short works by USM students. Session open to students, faculty, and the public. |
TAD Building - Hartwig Theatre |
Saturday, Nov. 19
| Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 10:00-12:00 p.m. |
Fourth Writing WorkshopThis workshop is open only to students specifically interested in playwriting who register for the workshop (participation limited to students in English and Theatre programs). |
TAD Building - Green Room |
About the Series
Founded in 2006, The Blaine Quarnstrom Playwrights Series fosters the writing of dramatic literature by students from both the Theatre and English programs. The goal of the Series is to foster student writing through Q&A sessions and creative writing workshops led by a leading American playwright. Over a single weekend, the playwright in residence structures four consecutive writing workshops derived from personal writing methods and techniques. In the past these sessions have focused on format writing for ten-minute plays, crafting expressive dialogue, and conceiving and developing effective structure and engaging characters.