RLTP Announces Emanuel Fried New Play Workshop Selections

Road Less Traveled Productions (RLTP) today announced the list of playwrights participating in the 2012 Emanuel Fried New Play Workshop (NPW). The 2012 NPW roster includes Katherine Boswell , Susan Fenster , Donna Hoke , Anne Moot , Thomas Scrivani , Adam Seidel , Darryl Schneider , and Michael Votta. 

RLTP is dedicated to the development and production of original works by WNY writers. Since 2008, the workshop has been named in honor of legendary WNY playwright Emanuel “Manny” Fried, who passed away in February of 2011. During his 50-year career in Buffalo theatre, Fried was instrumental in assisting in the development of innumerable new plays and young playwrights. All from Western New York (WNY), the list of playwrights selected to participate in the 2012 NPW include veteran and first-time playwrights alike. 

Donna Hoke and Darryl Schneider are both members of the RLTP Ensemble. Hoke is a three-time NPW alumni; she developed the Artie Award-nominated comedy The Couple Next Door in the NPW as well as the drama Seeds , which will premiere at the Road Less Traveled Theater (RLTT) in early 2013. Schneider also is a three-time NPW alumni; he crafted the Artie Award-winning play War Roomin the NPW as well as his most recent play, Clean Break, which recently opened at the RLTT to both critical and popular response. 

“The other playwrights on the 2012 roster arrive to the process from a variety of backgrounds,” said RLTP Literary Director Jon Elston, who moderates the NPW. He mentioned Katherine Boswell, one of this year’s winners of RLTP’s Buffalo Young Writers Contest, in which local students compete to write the best ten-minute play; Michael Votta, a local actor attempting to hone his skill as a writer; and Susan Fenster, a playwright active in WNY’s theatre community in the early 80s who is returning to writing after a long sabbatical. 

Elston added, “Some of the participants are writing their very first play.” Elston dizzied in response to the myriad subject matter of the latest NPW participant play selections: “Prison dramas, religious comedies, desert-island adventures, celebrity fantasies, and collegiate sex romps – this year’s workshop has it all!”

Under the supervision of Elston and NPW Director Kyle LoConti, playwrights provide peer support to one another during the composition and revision of their original plays over a nine-month period. RLTP then presents readings of these new plays to the public, directed by and featuring some of WNY’s finest theatrical talent. Audience members who attend these readings are invited to enjoy a glimpse of tomorrow’s world premiere productions and to offer their constructive feedback – an integral component of each playwright’s process. 

Free public readings of the plays developed in the 2012 NPW will begin in August of 2012. Please visit www.roadlesstraveledproductions.org for more details and for a schedule.

Applications for the 2013 NPW will be accepted beginning December 1 ^st , 2012. Only electronic submissions (via e-mail) will be accepted. For more information, please visit www.roadlesstraveledproductions.org, or contact Jon Elston at newplayworkshop@roadlesstraveledproductions.org.

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