CATHERINE WEINGARTEN is a Brooklyn based playwright and comedian. She has received commissions from Piper Theater Productions and Bloomsburg University, and has developed plays with Wide Eyed Productions and PlayGround Experiment. Her summer camp play Are You Ready to Get PAMPERED!? was part of Dixon Place’s Bingo Lounge and had a reading at 59E59 with Less Than Rent. Her play A Roller Rink Temptation appeared at the NOLA Fringe and received a production in May 2018 with The Dare Tactic, and Karate Hottie was a semi-finalist for ATHE Excellence in Playwriting Award. Her short plays have been developed with Ugly Rhino, Fresh Fruit Festival and the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, where she was named a National Semi-Finalist for “Pineapple Upside Down Cake.” She has been involved with Abingdon Playwrights Group as well as New Perspective’s Women’s Work Short Play Lab. She is the recipient of the Scott McPherson Award. BA: Bennington College MFA: Ohio University About Her Work My plays use comedy to comment upon the societal pressures young women face to be impossibly good-looking as well as ridiculously humble, kind as can be, but also sexy ;) In my work I aim to create a feminine world where young women are at the forefront, and heartbreak and feminine expectations are fully explored. I am pretty inspired by the trashiest (in a fun way!) things you can think of: fruit loops, bikinis, angst, obscure diets and topics such as that. I love taking joyous, loud subject material and making plays that are a bit too fun to be seen in the theater. But with my work, there’s something freakier, deeper or more challenging at the center of the play like questioning whether we can ever communicate with one another or if it’s possible to escape our diet culture. I love taking two disparate things, putting them next to each other and seeing what happens, like doing science while drunk! Visit her site! |
BEN STOCKMAN is a half-Syrian half-Jewish fully-organic NYC-based director and recent graduate of Ohio University's MFA Directing program. He comes from southern Vermont, and began his directing career at the ever-so-tender age of 14 at the New England Youth Theatre in Brattleboro. In NYC he has helped developed new plays with the Dirty Blondes, West of 10th theater and Sitting Shotgun. He has also done acting, writing, puppetry, podcasting, nude modeling, stage management, dramaturgy, scantily-clad modeling, music production, lighting design, and clothed modeling. He is a two-time recipient of New England Youth Theatre's May Award. About His Work As a director I gravitate towards surreal and irreverent comedy. I'm especially passionate about developing comedic new work with playwright friends. But I'm always looking for obscure, under-the-radar, dark horse comedies from the past few centuries as well! Visit his site! |