The Mile Square Theater will be presenting for the 10th Year the production “Seventh Inning Stretch” June 15 -17 at the Monroe Arts Center in Hoboken.
The 10th Annual 7th Inning Stretch
Seven 10-minute plays about baseball
Featuring new work by:
- Peter Ackerman
- Deborah Zoe Laufer
- Josh Levine
- Tommy Nohilly
- John Ford Noonan
- Jeffrey Sweet
- Ken Weitzman
Shows:
- Friday, June 15 @ 8pm
- Saturday, June 16 @ 7pm Triple Play Party (gala and show)
- Sunday, June 17 @ 3pm
Tickets:
- Adults $25
- Students/Seniors $18
- 6/16 Triple Play Party: $50
Call 201-683-7014 for reservations
Monroe Theatrespace
Hoboken, 720 Monroe Street, 2nd Floor
Below is the detailed press release
Baseball Play Festival Reaches a 10-Year Milestone
Baseball is steeped in tradition, and Mile Square Theatre—Hoboken’s professional theatre—celebrates 10 years of its annual tradition, 7th Inning Stretch: 7 10-minute plays about baseball on June 15, 16, and 17. This decade-long streak has generated over 60 new works contributed by some of America’s best playwrights—Tony winners, Emmy winners, Pulitzer nominees. And this year’s Stretch contains a lineup of writers who are heavy hitters. Presented at our home, The Monroe Theatrespace, 7th Inning Stretch puts 7 short plays onstage in an 80-minute program that celebrates America’s pastime. Each play is like a short story, presenting its own unique point of view, performed by some of the area’s best professional actors. Tickets are available online (www.milesquaretheatre.org) or reservations can be made at 201.683.7014. Tickets are $25. Students and seniors, $18.
On Saturday, June 16 @ 7pm, MST offers the TriplePlay Gala for $50. The gala offers a reception with food and beverages provided by Hoboken’s favorite restaurants, plus a silent auction. Come to the Triple Play Gala and mingle with the writers and actors!
Chris O’Connor, artistic director of Mile Square Theatre, says of the Stretch, “This event is something our audience looks forward to every year. It’s such a unique and rich evening of theatre. Audiences always leave the show with huge grins on their faces. It’s like a 7-course meal and it never disappoints.“
The 2012 roster of baseball playwrights is led off by Peter Ackerman, who re-tooled Broadway’s recent revival of The Pajama Game and co-wrote the Ice Age movies. Emmy-winning writer John Ford Noonan (St. Elsewhere, Flirting with Disaster) pinchhits with a play, as does Jefferson Award-winner Jeffrey Sweet. Tommy Nohilly—whose play Blood from a Stone was at the New Group, starring Ethan Hawke—gets on base, followed by multi-award winning playwright Ken Weitzman, and Helen Merrill Playwriting award winner Deborah Zoe Laufer is batting cleanup. Our ‘rookie of the year’ is MFA Student Playwright Josh Levine, who was a 2011 Heideman Award finalist.
About Mile Square Theatre
Mile Square Theatre (MST) is the leading professional Equity theatre in Hudson County. Since 2003, MST has presented full-scale productions for adults and children, in addition to providing theatre education programs. Under the artistic direction of Chris O’Connor, MST receives support from The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Hudson County Division of Cultural Affairs. For company information, please visit www.milesquaretheatre.org.
Note: Photos above are by Joe Epstein
Bios
Peter Ackerman co-wrote the movies Ice Age and Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. He wrote the play Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight and the adaptation for The Pajama Game, which won the TONY Award for Best Musical Revival on Broadway. His radio play I’d Rather Eat Pants was commissioned by NPR and broadcast serially on Morning Edition. His picture book, The Lonely Phone Booth, was selected for the 2010 Notable Books for Children and just produced as a musical at the Manhattan Children’s Theater.
Jeffrey Sweet’s plays have been produced in New York, Chicago and in lots of places he’s never visited. They include Flyovers (Jeff Award), The Action Against Sol Schumann (ATCA prize), American Enterprise (ATCA prize and “Best Plays” designation), and Bluff, Porch, and the much-produced Value of Names (which played the George Street with Jack Klugman). Court-Martial at Fort Devens was produced in NY thisseason by the New Federal Theatre. And he can be coaxed with a piece of chocolate to perform his solo show You Only Shoot the Ones You Love (a hit of the NY Fringe). He is on the Council of the Dramatists Guild, is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, and is an alum of New Dramatists. Friend him on Facebook, he likes it.
Ken Weitzman’s plays include The Catch (The Denver Center Theatre Company), Fire in the Garden (Indiana Repertory Theatre), The As If Body Loop (Humana Festival), Arrangements(Atlantic Theatre Company), Spin Moves (The Summer Play Festival), Stadium 360 (Out of Hand Theater), Memorabilia (Alliance Theatre), Hominid (Out of Hand Theatre/Theatre Emory/Oerol Festival Netherlands.) Awards include The L. Arnold Weissberger Award for Arrangements, Henry Award (best new play in Denver) and an Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award for The Catch, the Fratti/Newman Political Play Contest Award for Fire in the Garden. Commissions include Arena Stage, the Alliance Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Theatre Emory, and South Coast Repertory (the Elizabeth George Commission for an Outstanding Emerging Playwright.) Ken received his MFA from UCSD and BA from the University of Michigan. Currently, he runs the playwriting program at Indiana University. Prior to playwriting, Ken wrote and produced sports documentaries and narratives for television and new media for the National Basketball Association Entertainment, Emerald City, and CybrCard.
2012 MFA Student Playwrights
Josh Levine’s work has been produced by Chicago Dramatists (Chicago), Blank Theater (Los Angeles), Bailiwick Repertory (Chicago), Orlando International Fringe Festival (FL), Raw Impressions (NY), Red Stage Theatre(VT), From The Ground Up Theatre (LA), Bakerloo Theatre Project (NY), and Mad Cow Theater (FL). Josh’s play HOMEMADE is a 2012 Semi-Finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference, and his play PERFECT was a 2011 Heideman Award Finalist and will be published by Smith & Krause in December 2012. He has worked at Victory Gardens Theater, Goodman Theatre, About Face Theatre, Primary Stages, and as Director of Membership at The Dramatists Guild of America. Josh also participated as a visiting artist at the Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive during the summer of 2006 & 2007 and at the Sewanee Writers Conference during the summer of 2009. Josh received his BFA in Playwriting from The Theatre School, DePaul University in Chicago and will receive his MFA in Playwriting in 2012 from Rutgers University where he is studying with Jim Ryan, Richard Dresser, and Lee Blessing. www.joshlevineonline.com.
Tommy Nohilly, a former marine, made his debut as a writer in Jan, 2011 with his play Blood From A Stone at the New Group Theater in New York, directed by Scott Elliott, starring Gordon Clapp, Ann Dowd, Thomas Giury, Ethan Hawke, Natasha Lyonne and Daphne Rubin-Vega. The play received a nomination for Best New Play from the Outer Critics Circle. He is also an actor who has appeared on TV’s Law & Order and Third Watch. He’s appeared in films such as Reign Over Me and the Sundance winner The Believer. He’s also appeared as Carlson in Of Mice and Men at Westport Country Playhouse (directed by Mark Lamos). He attended both New York University and Columbia. He’s worked many odd jobs along the way and is happy to have his work published in the Southern Review. He currently lives in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC.
John Ford Noonan was nominated for a Pulitzer in 1969 for his first play The Year Boston Won The Pennant. He’s written over fifty plays including A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking starring Susan Sarandon, Listen To The Lions, All She Cares About Is TheYankees and Music From Down The Hill. He won an Emmy award for writing an episode of Saint Elsewhere called The Women. He’s also a major actor having appeared in such hits as Adventures In Babysitting and Flirting With Disaster. John is known for his heavy drinking, fast talking and love of rock n roll.
Deborah Zoe Laufer has received the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award and the Lilly Award. Her play End Days was produced in Germany and Russia and has received over 30 productions nationwide. It was awarded The ATCA Steinberg citation, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant and is listed in The Burns Mantle Yearbook as one of the best plays of 2008. Leveling Up premieres in February at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Sirens premiered at The Humana Festival in February 2010. Out of Sterno premiered at Portland Stage in 2009 with a grant from The Edgerton Foundation and the NEA. The Last Schwartz enjoyed a six-month run at the Zephyr Theatre in LA. End Days, The Last Schwartz, Out of Sterno and Sirens are published by Samuel French. Deborah is a graduate of Juilliard, a member of The Dramatists Guild and in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop as a lyricist.
Chris O’Connor (Artistic Director) Chris founded Mile Square Theatre in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 2002. He conceived and produces the annual 10-minute play festival 7th Inning Stretch. His MST directing credits include St. Columba and the River, The Souls of Black Folk, John Redding Goes to the Sea, Charlie Peter’s Striking Out the Babe for the 2003 7th Inning Stretch, Warren Leight’s The Love of the Game for the 2004 Stretch, Jenny Levison’s Homefield Advantage for the 2006 Stretch, the inaugural MST Mainstage production, Cyrano, he co-directed (with Jeff Steitzer) the 2006 production of The Scams of Scapin, for which he played the title role, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, The Garden of Rikki Tikki Tavi, God of Carnage, and The Pavilion. As an actor, Chris has been associated with 12 Miles West, A Contemporary Theatre, The Culture Project, Soho Rep, the 78th Street Theatre Lab, Target Margin, Gloucester Stage, Book-It Repertory, City Theatre in Pittsburgh, Provisional Theatre of Los Angeles, The Bathhouse, Seattle Children’s Theatre, among others. He is a theatre educator, and his plays for young people have been produced at The Seattle Children’s Theatre and in schools in the Puget Sound area. His play The Mascots is published in Smith & Kraus’s 2011 Best 10-Minute Plays. He has taught theatre at Colgate University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, SUNY Purchase, and the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. This fall, he joins the faculty of the University of Miami. Chris holds a BFA inacting from Carnegie-Mellon University and an MFA in Directing from RutgersUniversity.
Matthew Lawler (Associate Artistic Director) has acted (The Pavilion, God of Carnage, Rounding Third), directed (My Italy Story), written (In the Box, 2011 7th Inning Stretch), and produced (lots of stuff) in his two plus years with Mile Square Theatre. Across the Hudson, he has acted onBroadway and Off-Broadway several times. His most recent gig was as a temporary replacement in One Arm, the Tennessee Williams short story adapted for the stage and directed by Moises Kaufman. His regional work includes ART by Yasmina Reza at the Millbrooke Playhouse for which he received Best Performance distinction. Matt is also a founder and current artistic director for the award-winning rUDE mECHANICALS theater company of NYC. TV and Film include: The Sopranos, Law & Order SVU, several episodes of Law & Order and One Life to Live, Knight and Day,Anything But Love, The Jimmy Show, and the upcoming Coward co-starring Chris O`Connor. On the web, Matt co-stars on the series Standrea with Andrea Rosen. Resident of Hoboken, proud father of Lily and Matilda, and lucky husband toMara, Matt thanks you for coming to the show.
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