Mike Aguirre's Almost a Fantasy

There are two posts up on nytheatre.com about Almost a Fantasy.  A q. and a. with John Grabowski, the show's director and the director of the Chelsea Rep Lab (and until very recently, my boss), and one with Mike Aguirre, my student.

Here's the beginning of Mike's q. and a.:

Almost A Fantasy:
Michael Aguirre

An nytheatre.com FringeNYC Q&A

Q: What is your job on this show?
A: Playwright

Q: Where were you born? Where were you raised? Where did you go to school?
A: I'm a Midwesterner (originally from a suburb of Chicago) and a Hoosier at heart (I graduated from Indiana University)

Q: Have you been part of FringeNYC in the past? If so, how did you particpate? (Be specific! Name shows, etc.)
A: I, myself, have not been a part of the Fringe, but the company who is producing the play, Chelsea RepLAB, was a co-producer of a Fringe show in 2010 which was awarded Excellence in Directing (Kym Gomes)

Q: How did you meet your fellow artists/collaborators on this show?
A: I was taking writing classes through Chelsea RepLAB about a year ago in Anne Phelan's playwriting class.

To read more, go to http://www.nytheatre.com/NytheatreNow/QandA/michael-aguirre-almost-a-fantasy

Almost a Fantasy- More

My student Mike Aquirre's play, Almost a Fantasy, is in this summer's Fringe Festival.  They finally have the particulars. 

Performances are Tuesday, 8/14/12 @ 9:45pm; Thursday, 8/16/12 @ 3:00pm; Sunday, 8/19/12 @ 2:00pm; Tuesday, 8/21/12 @ 8:15pm; Wednesday, 8/22/12 @ 4:00pm; Thursday, 8/23/12 @ 3:00pm.  All performances are at the Robert Moss Theater at 440 Studios, 440 Lafayette Street, 3rd floor (pretty much across the street from the Public; the nearest cross street is Astor Place).   Go to fringenyc.org for tickets.

Paula's Visitor

My Chelsea Rep Lab student Keith Filangieri has a play in this summer's Strawberry One-Act Festival.  Some years ago I too had a one-act (Strike Two) in the Festival, in the old space, before it burned down.

Paula's Visitor came out of my Beginning Playwriting class last fall.  Keith claims that in his teenage years, he "wanted to be Stephen King."  There's certainly an eerie quality to the play.  Two married couples are on safari in South Africa, but things do not turn out quite the way any of them had expected.  The play will be performed at St. Clement's, 423 West 46th Street in Manhattan, on August 3rd at 8PM.  For $22 tickets, www.therianttheatre.com.  At the box office, tickets are $25.

Almost a Fantasy

My student, Mike Aguirre, has a play (Almost a Fantasy) in rehearsal for this summer's Fringe Festival.  He developed the play in my advanced playwriting class.  The press release follows. 
For Immediate Release
Contact: Patrick Avella at 646-691-0576

Chelsea Rep LAB Presents
ALMOST A FANTASY

The New York International Fringe Festival – FringeNYC
A production of The Present Company
August 10th – 26th
Tickets: $15-$18. For tickets visit www.FringeNYC.org

Chelsea Rep LAB is proud to present Almost a Fantasy as part of the 16th annual New York International Fringe Festival – FringeNYC. A new play written by Mike Aguirre, and directed by John Grabowski, Almost a Fantasy is a two-person play, which will debut at this year’s New York International Fringe Festival in August.

Almost a Fantasy maps the sometimes ardent and often turbulent relationship of an immigrant piano teacher (Dolores) with her young student (Youthney) over a ten-year period of piano lessons. Their time together forces them to cope with their past and learn to survive the present. The piano on which Dolores and Youthney play out their fantasies is an important element in the production, which should make this a must-see for classical music lovers as well as for lovers of new plays.

This show is being produced by Chelsea Rep LAB spearheaded by LAB members Patrick Avella and Greg Cohan, along with other members of Chelsea Rep LAB.

Michael Aguirre (playwright) is a graduate from Indiana University with a B.A. in Theatre and English. He is a suburban Chicago native, and has worked with the Windy City Players, First Folio, Steppenwolf, The Wilma Theater (Philadelphia), and the Hexagon Theatre (South Africa). Since arriving in New York, he's worked with the Pearl Theatre (City Centre), Wide Eyed Productions, Chelsea Rep and Lab, Coffee Black, ReniGraef, and he is a company member of Rising Sun.

John Grabowski (director) is the associate director of The Acting Studio, Inc. and has directed numerous productions including Stage Door (Ferber and Kaufman) Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare); One Flea Spare (Wallace); Getting Out (Norman); Moonchildren (Weller). He also wrote and directed Knoxville, 1915, adapted from James Agee's novel A Death in the Family, and The Loves of A, based on Arthur Schnitzler's The Anatole Plays for Chelsea Rep.

Chelsea Rep LAB is an on-going workshop environment intended to encourage experimentation in the creation of theatre and the formulation of a non-traditional methodology to help actors realize their potential. The LAB is comprised in large part of graduates of The Acting Studio, Inc. headed by director, James Price (http://actingstudio.com/). The LAB sponsors a developmental writing workshop under the tutelage of Anne Phelan (http://www.annephelan.com/). Besides the Fringe Festival production of Almost a Fantasy, the LAB is currently at work on a series of one-act plays based on news accounts and stories about NYC’s Stop and Frisk policy.

Almost a Fantasy was featured in the LAB’s Emerging Artist Festival in the summer of 2011. The LAB’s work has been previously seen at the Fringe in 2010 in a co-production with Brava Company of By Hands Unknown, for which director Kym Gomes won a FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award for direction. The original material that comes from the LAB’s playwriting seminars reflects sensibilities not often heard from in the established venues of New York Off-Off Broadway theatres, perhaps because the LAB makes a concerted effort to draw its writers from outside the usual mix of university MFA program and established regional theatre playwrights. This results in the presentation of unique and diverse voices in our staged readings and festival productions.

Find out more about the production at: http://www.almostafantasy.net/.

The Second One (and so soon!)

Another of my Chelsea Rep Lab playwriting students, Keith Filangieri, has got a play in a festival.  His "Paula's Visitor" is included in this year's Riant Strawberry One-Act Festival.  Keith has taken my Beginning class (from whence this play sprung), and wound up the Advanced class last Monday night.  He has been working very diligently on his playwriting, and I am glad to see that it has paid off.

The First One

My student, Mike Aguirre, got a play that he worked on in my Chelsea Rep Lab class into the Fringe this summer.  I believe it's his first full-length play.  It's about a singular piano teacher, Dolores, from the former East Germany, and her relationship with her young male student.  The writing and the way Mike has the piano pieces inform the story are really interesting.  Mike is a hard-working guy.  He's my first student to have work in a Fringe festival.  So it's exciting for both of us.
Here's more information about the Lab classes.  Mike is in the Advanced class now.
http://www.actingstudio.com/chelsea_rep/chelsea_rep_lab.html

Another Happy Student

We continue to gear up for a new round of playwriting classes taught by me at Chelsea Rep LAB. The classes will begin in mid-February. The beginning class meets on Sunday afternoons, 1-4. The advanced class meets on Monday evenings, 7-10. This week, I have been working on the syllabi for both classes. The beginning class will read two of my favorite one-acts: Cheryl Davis' "Child of the Movement" and Richard Hellesen's "Layin' Off the Lizard-Boy." The advanced class is reading full length plays, including Frank Wedekind's "Spring Awakening" and John Webster's "The White Devil" (I like my Jacobean tragedies!).
My student Claudia Anel (nee Tubrides) has written a lovely endorsement of our playwriting program:
"The LAB’s playwriting class is a phenomenal opportunity for anyone interested in developing a playwriting technique. Anne is extremely knowledgable; not only in terms of the actual writing, but also in the history and significance of all the works we studied. She is a stickler for proper form, which is great! What resonated with me the most, as a beginner, was the opportunity to start projects almost every week.
Through different in-class writing exercises and take home assignments, I was able to come up with several ideas that I later developed into one act plays. The reading assignments and in-class critiques set a foundation for analytical thinking that helped me as I worked on re-writes. I felt practicing as a beginner, was the opportunity to start projects almost every week.
I was able to come up with several ideas that I later developed into one-act plays. The reading assignments and in-class critiques set a foundation for analytical thinking that helped me as I worked on re-writes. Finally, I feel students of this class will benefit greatly from the tone set by Anne and the LAB which is one of hard work, mutual support and commitment."

A link to the Lab's website is above (we're working on the page, so the class information may not be up yet- check back in a few day).

Chelsea Rep Lab Playwriting Classes

My colleagues and I at Chelsea Rep Lab have been working on expanding our program. In the spring, we will offer a beginning class on Sunday afternoons, and an advanced class every other Monday night. We are quite excited about it. Because we're connected to an acting school (The Acting Studio), every student gets to go through the rehearsal process with actors and a director.
One of my former students, Gregory Cohan, has just written me about his experience in the beginning and advanced classes this year:
"When Anne came to one of the monthly Labs do to give a crash-course in playwriting it opened up a whole new perspective. I remember after doing some writing exercises to get our pens to the paper, Anne was running out of time and said something to the extent of, "If anything, taking a playwriting class will make you a stronger actor." I wanted to be a stronger actor, and it just turned out I really liked to write. One of my favorite components of Anne's class was our reading assignments. We were given plays to read, some one-acts and even some full lengths (depending on the class level) and we sat around and broke them down: protagonist v. antagonist, themes, dramatic images, rhythm, etc... It made you look at pieces of work differently. This carried over into our own work as playwrights. We would read our plays or scenes in class, and it was very similar to how an actor might approach a scene that they're given in a class: what does "A" want? What' does "C" want? "A" wants "B" in spite of "C". I'll never forget that formula. We would break down beats and the rhythm of writing, we would discuss the choices we made, why we made them, and how we can make them much more specific which in turn would result in a more interesting moment or scene to an audience. We would talk about how to make a scene build, how to make it arc, how to keep it moving forward. These are things one might hear in an acting class, from a director or an instructor, but approaching the material from the playwright's perspective definitely helped to crystalize it. This type of critical analysis and thought is something that has helped immensely in approaching new scenes and even audition sides. It's helped me to break down ambiguous material much more effectively and make choices that are clear and interesting."
So, if that isn't a good reason to teach, I don't know what is.

My Student

My former student, Angelo Berkowitz, has just had his screenplay "Walt Whitman Never Paid for It" shot. He wrote the play for my playwriting class last year, and adapted it for the screen. He also plays the lead.
Go to YouTube, and search WALT WHITMAN NEVER PAID FOR IT.

Playwriting Class Update

For the past month, I have been busy getting ready for my Fall class at Chelsea Repertory Lab, which begins Sunday, September 11th. I have finished my lesson plans and figured out which one-acts we'll be reading (Cheryl L. Davis, Alexander Pushkin and John Millington Synge, among other writers). We've already enrolled some new students, and I'm interviewing another on Thursday afternoon. There's a description of the class on this blog, and in the ad section on Playbill.com. If you are interested in learning more or signing up, email chelseareplab-at-yahoo.com.
The students from the Spring's Advanced class are showing their work this week in our Emerging Artists One-Act Play Festival at Shetler Studios, which runs Wednesday through Sunday. There are two bills of short plays being produced, and two bills of longer plays being read. Contact chelseareplab-at-yahoo.com for reservations.

New Class

I am teaching a new Beginning Playwriting class at Chelsea Rep Lab (Shelter Studios), beginning Sept. 11th. Here is the info:

The class runs for ten weeks, taught by award-winning playwright Anne Phelan, at Shetler Studios. Each class is on Sunday, 1-4 PM, beginning Sept. 11th (no class Sept. 25th, Oct. 9th, or Nov. 27th) until Dec. 4th. It will consist of in-class writing exercises, reading and discussing each others’ work, script analysis, learning Samuel French style (the professional standard), and reading and discussing a one-act play each week. Students are expected to work on plays they begin in class outside of class (plan on 5 hours per week of writing time). By the last class, you will have started at least nine one-act plays, and have completed a minimum of two.

The class will conclude with public readings of the students’ work by student actors from The Acting Studio, including the opportunity to go through the rehearsal process with a professional director.

The purpose of this class is to get you into the habit of writing, and to help you find your voice as a writer. Even playwrights who are not beginners can get a lot out of it. It will also give you playwriting tools (working from visual art, music, news articles, etc.; the ability to think critically as a playwright about your and others’ work) that you can use in the future.
Tuition is $250, payable in full in cash at the first class on Sept. 11th.
For more information, contact anne@annephelan.com.

Playwriting Class

I am happily teaching an advanced playwriting class starting April 3rd. Here are the details:
Chelsea Rep Lab is pleased to offer an Advanced Playwriting Class. Classes will meet Sunday afternoons, 1-4, April 3 through June 19, 2011 (no class Easter Sunday and Memorial Day weekend) at Shetler Studios, 244 West 54th Street, 12th floor (near the corner of Broadway & 54th Street). In the course of the class, each student will complete the first act of a full-length play, or a long one-act play. The plays will be considered for a public reading by Chelsea Rep at the end of the course.
The class will be taught by award-winning playwright Anne Phelan. Tuition is $150-$200, depending upon enrollment, payable in full at the first class. The class will be limited to 12 students. To schedule an interview, contact Chelsea Rep Director John Grabowski at jwgrabow at gmail.com.
Why is tuition so cheap, you ask? To make the class accessible to more people, regardless of their income. So you can have that first act finished by summer.
Link above is to Chelsea Rep's website.

Learn to Write Plays With Me

I'm teaching a playwriting class this fall as part of the Chelsea Rep Lab at The Acting Studio (link to their website above). Our first class was yesterday, and it is undersubscribed. We could easily take four more students. The class meets for ten weeks (not this coming weekend, Thanksgiving weekend, a chunk of December and the weekend of New Year's) on Sundays, 1-4. For various reasons, it is really cheap. The remaining classes would cost you $180. It is held at Shetler Studios, near 54th and Broadway in Manhattan. Though you don't have to be an actor to take it, it is geared toward teaching actors to write.
The Acting Studio Director is James Price, whom I've known for decades, and the Associate Director is John Grabowski, who directed my first reading in New York, at Chelsea Rep when I was playwright-in-residence there. This is the second class I've taught for James and John. It's a treat to work with them, and with such engaged students. Actors you know of like Julianne Margulies and Lauren Velez (we watch "Dexter" devotedly) have studied there.
If you're interested in the class, please email me at anne at annephelan dot com, or leave a comment here.
Photo is from Chelsea Rep's production of "The Plough and the Stars."