Studio X-hibition

2018/2019

BABEL
by Jacqueline Goldfinger

Monday, March 11, 2019
7PM
Theatre Exile, 1340 S. 13th Street

Jacqueline Goldfinger (she/her/hers) is a playwright, dramaturg, and co-Founder of The Foundry @ PlayPenn. She grew up in the rural South and prefers all things fried. Primarily known for her work in the Southern Gothic genre, she has also written Drama and Sci-Fi plays as well as adapted classic literature for the stage. She is an Affiliated Artist at New Georges and The Lark Playwright’s Center. She is a member of the writers’ labs at Azuka Theatre and The Barrow Group. She won the Yale Drama Prize, Smith Prize, Brown Martin Award, Barrymore Award, and Philadelphia Critics Award. She’s been nominated for the Weissberger Award, Blackburn Prize, and Foote Prize, and was a Finalist at the 2018 International Book Awards. Her plays have been developed by theaters including: New Georges, The National Theatre/London, Wilma Theatre, The Kennedy Center, La MaMa, Disquiet/Lisbon, Florida Studio Theatre, Westport Playhouse, Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, and Kansas City Rep. Her plays have been produced by theaters including: Perseverance Theatre, Capital Stage Company, Azuka Theatre, The Seattle Public, Manhattan Theatre Works, North Coast Repertory Theatre, Acadia Repertory Theatre, Simpatico Theatre, Know Theatre, Thrown Stone Theatre, and the NYC International Fringe Festival. Her plays are published by Yale Press, Samuel French, Playscripts, Smith & Krause, and Blackbird Literary Journal. You can also read her work on the New Play Exchange. Her work has been supported by Yaddo, NEA, Audrey Residency, The Drama League, Emerson Stage, PlayPenn New Work Conference, Sewanee Writers Conference, and The Mitten Lab, among others. As a dramaturg, she has worked with companies including PlayPenn, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Native Voices, and La Jolla Playhouse (assistant dramaturg). She teaches writing at University of Pennsylvania and also teaches a playwriting workshop for MFA Playwrights at Temple University. She sits on the Boards of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas and The Directors Gathering. She is a member of The Dramatists Guild. For more information: www.jacquelinegoldfinger.com

TANK STRANGER SEES THE FACE OF THE DIVINE IN THE CONDENSATION OF A WATER GLASS…LOOKING ALL NATCH
by James Ijames

Monday, March 18, 2019
7PM
Theatre Exile, 1340 S. 13th Street

James Ijames is a Philadelphia based performer and playwright. He has appeared regionally in productions at The Arden Theatre Company, The Philadelphia Theatre Company, InterAct Theatre Company, The Wilma Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Mauckingbird Theatre Company, and People’s Light and Theatre. James is the 2011 F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Artist recipient, a 2011 Independence Foundation Fellow, a 2015 Pew Fellow for Playwriting, the 2015 winner of the Terrance McNally New Play Award for WHITE and a 2017 recipient of the Whiting Award.  James is a founding member of Orbiter 3, Philadelphia’s first playwright producing collective. James is Assistant Professor of Theatre at Villanova University and resides in South Philadelphia. For more information: http://www.jamesijames.com

GOOD AMERICANS
by Bruce Graham

Monday, March 25, 2019
7PM
Theatre Exile, 1340 S. 13th Street

BRUCE GRAHAM (AUTHOR) – PLAYS: Burkie, Early One Evening at the Rainbow Bar & Grille, Moon Over the Brewery, Minor Demons, Belmont Avenue Social Club, According to Goldmman, Desperate Affection, Stella and Lou, Coyote on a Fence, The Champagne Charlie Stakes, Funnyman, The Craftsman, North of the Boulevard, Rizzo, The Philly Fan, Sanctions. Graham has won consecutive Barrymore Awards for Best New Play (Something Intangible, Any Given Monday) the Joseph Jefferson Award (The Outgoing Tide) and a Jeff nomination for White Guy on the Bus. White Guy on the Bus is currently nominated for the “Offie” – London’s version of the Obie Award. His new play, Gary, opens next fall at the Eagle Theater. Graham recently returned to acting appearing as Ben Hecht in Moonlight and Magnolias, Ernie in Rumors, Eddie in Lost in Yonkers, Richard in Time Stands Still, Milt in Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Artie in Hurlyburly and Arthur in Pterodactyls. MOVIES: Dunston Checks In, Anastasia, Hunt for the Unicorn Killer. TELEVISION: Roseanne, Leg Work, Cedar Cove, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Trading Christmas, The Good Witch. Along with Michele Volansky he is the author of The Collaborative Playwright. Graham is a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and teaches playwriting and film courses at Drexel University. He divides his time between Elkton, Maryland and South Philly with Stephanie.

2017/2018

CLICK
by Jacqueline Goldfinger

October 23, 2017
The Latvian Society, 531 N. 7th Street
7PM

What will we do when our physical and online identities meet? Set in the underground world of virtual graffiti, Click is a techno-epic that follows college students involved in a frat rape that goes viral; exploring how the event changes their lives from 2016-2031 as new technologies allow them to create identities that walk through the computer screen and into reality.

Jacqueline Goldfinger is a Philadelphia-based playwright, dramaturg and teaching artist. She teaches playwriting at University of Pennsylvania and is the Director of Education at PlayPenn. She’s a co-Founder of The Foundry at PlayPenn and is a traveling mentor for the Kennedy Center’s ACTF. Her plays include Babel (Smith Prize for Political Theater, current NNPN Commission), Bottle Fly (Yale-Horn Drama Prize for Emerging Playwright, The National Theatre New Work Studio (London), Yale Press, PlayPenn New Play Conference), The Arsonists (Kennedy Center Page-to-Stage, La MaMa, NNPN Showcase, Sewanee Writers Conference, Disquiet (Lisbon), Kenyon Playwrights Conference, Perseverance Theatre, Azuka Theatre, Capital Stage, Know Theatre, Benchmark Theatre, Leah Ryan Prize Runner-up, Blackburn Prize nomination), Click (current Weissberger Award nominee, Emerson Stage Residency, Drama League Residency, McNally Award Commendation), Skin & Bone (Azuka Theatre, Bloomsberg Theatre Ensemble, Orlando Shakespeare PlayFest, Arden Theatre Writer’s Room, Philadelphia Critics Award Best New Play), Slip/Shot(Seattle Public, Flashpoint Theatre, Temple University, Montgomery College, PlayPenn New Play Conference, The Lark’s Playwrights Week Barrymore Award Outstanding New Play, Brown Martin Award, Weissberger Nomination), The Oath (Manhattan Theatre Works, Acadiana Rep, Last Frontier Writers Conference), and The Terrible Girls (Azuka Theatre, Spotlight Theatre, NYC International Fringe Festival, San Diego Playwrights Collective). She has worked on public art projects with FringeArts/Reading Terminal Market, Missing Bolts/After Orlando, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. For more information: www.jacquelinegoldfinger.com

Boycott
Esther by Emily Acker

April 30th, 2018
The Latvian Society, 531 N. 7th Street
7PM

Emily Acker’s Boycott Esther tells the story of a young woman working for a Hollywood mogul enmeshed in a workplace sexual misconduct scandal. Based on true events, this play chronicles the aftermath of such a harrowing and world-altering discovery.

Whisper’s Gone
by MJ Kaufman

May 5th, 2018
The Latvian Society, 531 N. 7th Street
2PM

Nine-year-old Bailey is having a really fun summer until her older sibling Whisper disappears. Camp counselors and parents are thrown into confusion but Bailey knows where Whisper went. It all has to do with a top-secret time travel mission. Does she know enough about time-travel to find them?

The funny and heartwarming story of Whisper’s Gone touches on family dynamics, divorce, growing up transgender, sibling loyalty, and, of course, time-travel.

Family-friendly! Recommended for 7 and up! Kids 12 and under are free! Just call the Box Office at 215-218-4022 to reserve these tickets.

MJ Kaufman is a playwright and devised theater artist working in New York and Philadelphia. Their work has been seen at the Huntington Theatre, New York Theater Workshop, the New Museum, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, Page73, Colt Coeur, Yale School of Drama, Lark Play Development Center, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Aurora Theater, Crowded Fire, Fresh Ink Theatre, New Harmony Project and performed in Russian in Moscow. MJ received the 2013 ASCAP Cole Porter Prize in Playwriting, the 2013 Global Age Project Prize, and the 2010 Jane Chambers Prize in Feminist Theatre. MJ is currently a member of the Public Theater’s Emerging Writers’ Group, a member of the WP Theater Lab, and a resident playwright at New Dramatists. Originally from Portland, Oregon, MJ attended Wesleyan University and received an MFA in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama. MJ has co-curated the 2016 and 2017 Trans Theater Festivals at The Brick.

Developing and creating new fierce, gritty theater.
For our future. And Yours.

In 1996, Theatre Exile began with a production of a locally written world premiere on a small second floor theater on South Street. That commitment to new work has continued and Exile has produced 16 world premieres including the Philly Originals New Work Festival. In 2011 Theatre Exile created a new play development program, the Studio X-hibition Series, which is dedicated to cultivating the future of theater.

Studio X-hibition is focused on exporting the newest ideas from Philadelphia to the larger national theatrical community and importing work that can impact the artists living and working in Philadelphia. The program has grown to include staged readings, workshop development programs, and writers’ workshops; cultivating new, edgy, and non-conformist theater. The series brings Philadelphia’s own local writers, playwrights who are part of the national dialog, and non-traditional theater makers together into one series that seeks to push the boundaries of theater, both in form and in content.