convergence-continuum presents three new plays by local graduate-student playwrights at the 2015 NEOMFA Playwrights Festival. The Festival features three world-premiere plays: one full-length (two-act) play by final-year MFA candidate Monica Morgan, and two one-act plays by second-year grad students Lisa Langford and Cutler Smith. These plays are part of a three-year intensive program of study under playwright and Cleveland State University professor Mike Geither, and are co-produced by convergence-continuum and the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts (NEOMFA) in Creative Writing consortium. This will be the fourth year convergence-continuum has mounted the Festival at its performance space, the Liminis, 2438 Scranton Rd., Cleveland 44113 in the historic Tremont neighborhood.
Feb 12, 13, 14: A double bill of one-acts plays: Outside In: the Fattening Room by Lisa Langford, and The Walling Up of Wildflowers by Cutler Smith.
Thu-Sat at 8 pm
Feb 19, 20, 21: The full-length play The Lies We Hold by Monica Morgan.
Thu-Sat at 8 pm.
Outside In: The Fattening Room by Lisa Langford, directed by Michael Oatman is a love story set in Africa in a country not unlike Nigeria where a modern young couple comes up against traditional notions of what it means to be a “good wife.” Featuring actors Jameka Dent, Anthony Lanier and Nikki Lewis.
The Walling Up of Wildflowers by Cutler Smith is the odd tale of a peculiar family and their unexpected and decidedly puzzling visitor. Directed by con-con’s Geoffrey Hoffman, featuring convergence actors Amy Bistok Bunce, Marcia Mandell, Jack Matuszewski, Eric Sever and Bobby Williams.
The Lies We Hold by Monica Morgan is a comedy/drama featuring two young couples. The gals are best friends. The guys are best friends. But none are fully on board about whom their best friends are dating, and frictions grow to epic proportions. Directed by convergence’s Tom Kondilas, featuring con-con actors Kat Bi, Clint Elston, Stuart Hoffman and Lauren B. Smith.
The 2014 NEOMFA Playwrights Festival opens Thursday, Feb. 6 and runs at 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through Feb. 15 at the Liminis, 2438 Scranton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113. Tickets are $10 general and $5 for students. For reservations and information visit www.convergence-continuum.org or call 216-687-0074.
###
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: NEOMFA
The Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (NEOMFA) is a consortium of Cleveland State University, Kent State University, The University of Akron and Youngstown State University that allows students to take classes on four different campuses and earn a degree from a single unified writing program. Emerging writers may study in four genres – creative non-fiction, fiction, playwriting, and poetry – and take advantage of the resources offered on all four campuses. Since its inception in 2005, the NEOMFA has offered small-group workshops, open readings, summer travel fellowships, and high-profile visiting writers, in addition to career-preparing internships, competitive graduate funding, and a diverse Midwestern landscape that tempts the creative eye. The playwriting program is centered at Cleveland State University and includes providing MFA playwrights the opportunity to work with, and to have their works given full productions by, a professional theatre company during the NEOMFA Playwrights Festival.
