DG National Report: Gulf Coast by Rob Florence
@dramatistsguild @robflorence_rob
Established in 1986 by playwright Rosary O’Neill, Southern Rep Theatre became a bastion of new work by local writers and established the Southern New Plays Festival, Under the leadership of Ryan Rilette, the company deepened its commitment to new plays by joining the National New Play Network, and commissioning plays such as Rising Water by New Orleans playwright John Biguenet, and The Breach by Catherine Filloux, Tarell McRaney, and Joe Sutton.
In 2008, Aimée Hayes became Southern Rep’s Producing Artistic Director and has made tremendous strides for New Orleans original play development. Since taking the helm, Aimée has facilitated twenty-seven original productions on Southern Rep stages and has implemented several programs which foster the birth of new plays. These include Play Lab, which paired playwrights with some of the city’s best actors for staged readings of their works-in-progress to a live audience; Debauchery by Pat Bourgeois, now in its sixth season, a hilariously-histrionic ongoing soap opera which plays monthly to dedicated audiences of repeat viewers; and the prolific 6x6 Play Slam which just concluded in June 2016 after presenting more than 300 ten-minute plays since 2010.
Other new play development opportunities include the Ruby Prize, a $10,000 award to a female playwright of color named in honor of New Orleans Civil Rights icon Ruby Bridges, and The New Play Bacchanal which offers creative opportunities for both local and national playwrights. The company is now in process of launching an intensive development program partnering directors, dramaturgs, and playwrights to be helmed by new Arts Education Director and Dramaturg Helen Jaksch.
Southern Rep has been very active in the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere program under Aimée’s leadership. This program has enabled Aimée to fulfill one of her main objectives of teaming national theatre artists with the Gulf Coast region’s premiere talents. Perspectives on Southern Rep’s NNPN collaborations were conveyed by Dramatists Guild member Steve Yockey:
“Aimée really understands how to help you realize the story you’re trying to tell. Here’s one example: After a particularly difficult workshop experience of my play Afterlife at another theater, I was ready to write it off. I just couldn’t see it anymore, but Aimée still believed in it. Through a workshop in Southern Rep’s New Play Bacchanal she helped me regain focus and very thoughtfully breathe new life into the play.”
D.G. member Peter Sinn Nachtrieb commented on his experience with The Totalitarians:
“Southern Rep approached the development and premiere of my play with pleasure and zeal. It was fun. It was rigorous. I ate too much King Cake. I felt trusted and supported long before we got into the rehearsal room (the development process, in collaboration with New Dramatists and NNPN, was about two years!). I was given permission and room to explore and play. I loved my collaborators and I was really thrilled with what we made in the end.”
Regarding his 2016 production of Colossal, Andrew Hinderaker remarked:
“Aimée graciously brought me to New Orleans for a handful of rehearsals. What was remarkable was the AMOUNT of work we accomplished in that brief time together. I was still able to significantly revise three different scenes in just two and a half days. And that ‘efficiency’ (for lack of a better word - it’s more like collaboration in hyper-drive) was only possible because Aimée is one of the most generous collaborators I’ve ever met.”
For information Southern Rep, visit: www.southernrep.com
Afterlife by Steve Yockey Photo by John B. Barrois actors: John Neisler and Michael Santos
Colossal by Andrew Hinderaker Photo by John B. Barrois actors: DC Paul and Tobias Forrest
Colossal by Andrew Hinderaker Photo by John B. Barrois actors: L-R Tobias Forrest, DC Paul, Ross Britz
Totalitarians by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb Photo by John B. Barrois actors: Leon Contavesprie, Judith Hawkins, and Jessica Podewell
