A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival 2019
Click Here for More information about our upcoming 2020 line up.
Washington University presents 3 world premieres with 2019 Guest Dramaturg, Jenni Werner of Geva Theatre Center, New York.
Click these links to learn more about our 2019 line up.
StudentLife
A.E. Hotchner Festival parallels PAD’s all female playwright season
Isabella Neubauer | Senior Cadenza Editor September 26, 2019
theSOURCE - Washington University in St. Louis
Inside the Hotchner Festival: Sophie Tegenu
Aspiring playwrights debut new work Sept. 27 and 28
By Liam Otten September 25, 2019
ALL PERFORMANCES ARE FREE!
A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre
2019 Guest Dramaturg: Jenni Werner
2019 Festival Assistant: Leah Witheiler
You Don't Live Here Anymore
Written by Elizabeth Brown
Directed by William Whitaker
Friday, September 27, 2019
7:00 p.m.
Emma returns to her working class home only to find her family has moved well beyond its normal regressive mayhem. As she tries to navigate a short-fused sister, a hermit-gamer brother, her obsessed mother's new beau, and a father who is dying of cancer but is still duteously impregnating his drug addled teenage girlfriend - the hilarity is only exceeded by the heartbreak of not being considered one of them.
This House
Written by Kelly Minster
Directed by Henry I. Schvey
Saturday, September 28, 2019
2:00 p.m.
A stubborn mother and daughter make war as they seek peace in this funny and touching exploration of family politics. Above the cacophony of their chaotic lives, each proclaims the painful truth, in a pleading battle cry: "I do love you, its the like thing I'm still working on!"
Mrs. Kelley's Igloo
Written by Sophie Tegenu
Directed by Paige McGinley
Saturday, September 28, 2019
7:00 p.m.
Eleven year olds know a whole lot about love. First generation immigrants know too much about discomfort. Husbands know very little about wives. Singers know everything about timing. But ultimately, all people know nothing-nada-zero-zilch about how hard it is to walk down an aisle and say, "I do."
2019 Guest Dramaturg
Jenni Werner
Jenni Werner is in her eighth season as Literary Director and Resident Dramaturg at Geva Theatre Center. In that role, she has served as dramaturg on 27 productions at Geva, including classics and world premieres by Wendy MacLeod, Deborah Zoe Laufer, Cass Morgan, Nora Cole, Jamie Pachino, Mat Smart, Gabriel Jason Dean, Keith Glover, Lila Rose Kaplan and Brent Askari. In 2015, Jenni co-produced Geva’s blues festival celebrating the life and legacy of musician Son House, Journey to the Son. Jenni also produces all of Geva’s new play programming, and has led the development of over 45 new plays during her tenure at Geva. Additionally, she directs Geva’s commissioning of new plays through the Rochester Stories program. Previously, Jenni served as the Director of Programming at Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the non-profit theatre field. From 2005-2011, she produced TCG’s annual National Conference, curating the content and organizing the logistics for the largest national gathering of professionals in the non-profit theatre field. For six years, she was an adjunct instructor at New York University, and is now an adjunct instructor at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Jenni has an M.F.A. in dramaturgy from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a B.A. in theatre and history from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. She also serves on the board of Image Out, Rochester’s LGBT film festival and as the Associate Member Theatre Representative on the NNPN Board of Directors.
Endowed by alumnus, novelist, poet and playwright A.E. Hotchner, this annual playwriting competition is open to all undergraduate and graduate students at Washington University. Many past "Hotch" plays have gone on to full production in the PAD season and around the country. Two of our playwrights have won Kevin Kline Awards, and most recently Marisa Wegrzyn, a three-time Hotch participant, was awarded the prestigious national Wendy Wasserstein Award 2009 for her play Hickorydickory -- which had its world premiere in our studio theater in 2005.
This event is sponsored by the Newman’s Own Foundation.