Thursday, January 30, 2014

Welcome Aboard

As a part of our 10 Year Celebration, we will be bringing in some new collaborators. To kick off the new year, we are excited to be joined by some truly fantastic people.

Please join us in welcoming them...



ZACK CALHOON (Update Contributor) graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in acting. He has worked as an actor with companies all over New York City. Playwriting credits: Friday at Jimmy’s (Rising Phoenix Rep commission), Blanquita (2014 Semi-Finalist for the O’Neill Playwrights Conference), The Weird Sisters (East 3rd Productions, Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s PlayFest), Breaking Ranks (New Mummer Group), Marlowe, P.I. (Dreamscape), Violence in the Air (Stageworks/Hudson), Mamet Yoga (Atlantic Alumni Workshop), RINO (Resonance Ensemble Play commission, produced in 2012 Brick Theatre Democracy Festival), and Paint (2012 Semi-Finalist for the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, Winner of the 2010 Georgia Theatre Conference New Play Award) . His plays have been performed and developed by the Naked Angels, Rising Phoenix Rep, Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Boomerang Theatre Co., East 3rd Productions, Living Image Arts, Flux Theatre Ensemble, Oberon Theatre Ensemble, New Mummer Group, On the Square Productions, and Dreamscape Theatre. He wrote two episodes for the second season of the award-winning web series, Then We Got HELP! (www.thenwegothelp.com) and is the editor of the theatre blog Visible Soul. He is an Eagle Scout and a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Writers Guild of America East.

SARAH LAHUE (Judge Wrangler) moved to NYC from upstate New York in the summer of 2013 and was lucky enough to start working in the Off-Off-Broadway community shortly thereafter. She's stage managed shows for Boomerang Theatre Company, Retro Productions, and The Secret Theater, as well as regionally for Albany Civic Theater in her hometown Albany, NY. She holds an MA in Literature from The College of Saint Rose and a BA in English from Hofstra University, both of which she looks forward to not using as she pursues a full time career in theater.

BILL McMAHON (Update Contributor)
Bill's Cover is currently in development for an Off-Broadway production.  Random was named a finalist for the 2008 Mildred and Albert Panowski Playwriting Award. Missing the 4:55 was named a winner in the 2005 Slippery Rock University One-Act Play Contest. (Parantheticals), a collection of his one-acts that includes Missing the 4:55, received an Honorable Mention for the 2003 Eric Bentley New Play Competition. Bill was also the winner of the Paul Green Playwrights Prize for his full-length play A Winter Beauty, produced by Emerging Artists Theatre Blind Corner, a finalist for the Julie Harris Playwriting Award, was also a semi-finalist for the O'Neill Conference 2002, as well as a semi-finalist for the Dramarama Competition. Bill’s current projects include his three-act epic play World Of Tomorrow, based on the life and work of Robert Moses and his battles with Jane Jacobs, as well as a screenplay adaptation for Hudson Film Group. 

HELENE MONTAGNA (Update Contributor) is a playwright living in New York City.  She has studied playwriting at ESPA (formerly Primary Stages) and at Labyrinth Theater (as a member of their Master Class) and with playwright and poet Dan O'Brien. Her work has been produced at the Kraine Theater, Manhattan Rep and at Roy Arias studios (with John Chatterton).  Helene's work is also produced regionally in Staten Island, her most recent effort being Don't Hang Up, for which she was the recipient of the Staten Island Arts Premier Grant in 2013. She has also been around backstage in theatre for as long as she can remember.  Helene has served in just about every technical aspect of theatre there is... from stage crew to stage managing to sound design.

BETTINA KATIE WARSHAW (Blog Curator) is a writer, performer, manager and collaborator. She has been involved with the Off-Off-Broadway community since 2011, working with the IT Awards, New York Neo-Futurists and FringeNYC. She believes a day without a dance party is a day wasted.


Thursday, January 16, 2014

Celebrating 10 Years of Celebrating OOB







We can hardly believe it, but the Innovative Theatre Foundation is turning 10 years old this year. The organization launched on Summer Solstice (May 21st) 2004. It has been an incredible decade. We have had the opportunity to meet some of the pioneers of Indie Theatre, some of the most influential artists of their time, who ignited in us a desire to become artists ourselves. We are humbled to be a part of one of the most active and inspirational arts communities in the world, filled with the some of most fascinating and talented artists working today. We are lucky to work along side some of the most dedicated and brilliant people that we know. We are blessed to witness the work of the brave innovators and unparallelled theatre creators who are defining new American theatre every day. And we are honored to be able to celebrate this incredible and awesome community.