Our Playwrights in Residence

 

 

At the Railroad Playhouse our core artistic mission is to foster new voices in the theatre. Our Playwrights in Residence program plays host to three very talented emerging writers. The residency includes RRP producing the world premiere of a play they've already written, as well as writing a brand new piece while based here in Newburgh, which we will also produce the world premiere of. This means that the artist gets to showcase their work in a new space, but also that the Hudson Valley Community can experience cutting edge theatre from major new talent, before anywhere else in the world.

 

Alex Goldberg: 

 Alex Goldberg’s latest play America’s Brightest Star will premiere at Railroad Playhouse in October 2012 (dir. Seth Soloway).  Recently, his play It is Done received critical praise for two productions, in New York in November 2011 (dir. Tom Wojtunik) and in Hollywood in May 2012 (dir. Michael Michetti).  It is Done will be adapted into a film by Ambush Entertainment in 2013.  Other produced plays include I’m In Love With Your Wife (Winner - Outstanding Playwriting for a New Script, Midtown International Theatre Festival, dir. Tom Wojtunik), Stock Home (New York International Fringe Festival, dir. Seth Soloway), The Final Jew (staged reading, APAC; O’Neill semifinalist), and the book/co-lyrics to the musical Election Day (ASCAPlus songwriting award, American Theater of Actors, O’Neill semifinalist, dir. Laurie Sales).  His one-act plays have been produced in New York at The Flea, Planet Connection Festivity, Instant Theatre Festival, and also at Railroad Playhouse, Pittsburgh New Works Festival, Raconteur Theater (Columbus, Ohio), Little Fish Theatre (San Pedro, California), and in Taiwan (in Mandarin).  Publication: Turn the Page: Two One-Act Plays about Closure (Original Works Publishing).  He co-wrote the feature film Fade to White, currently in post production, and the TV pilot The Adventures of Rick Brickman, finalist - FOX TV Comedy Script Contest.    He directed the feature film Today Will Be Yesterday Tomorrow, featuring Billy Dee Williams.  He studied and performed sketch and improv comedy at The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater and The People’s Improv Theatre in New York.  He is a graduate of Skidmore College and a member of ASCAP and The Dramatists Guild, Inc.  He lives in New York and Los Angeles with his wife, actress Catia Ojeda. www.alexgoldberg.net.

 

Ashlin Halfnight: 

Ashlin Halfnight’ s plays include Balaton (Nominated for Best Play of 2009, NYITA), GoodPictures (Outstanding New Play – 2008 Talkin’ Broadway), God’ s Waiting Room (Best Play, 2005 NYFringe), Diving Normal (Plays and Playwrights 2007), and Artifacts of Consequence. He is a Fulbright Award winner, and is the recipient of a TCG Grant, a Ludwig Volgelstein Artist Grant, and the Howard Stein Playwriting Fellowship. He was an artist in residence at the National Theater of Hungary in 2005/2006, was member of The Royal Court’ s New York Residency, is a member of    MCC’ s Playwrights’ Coalition, and is Resident Playwright at the Railroad Playhouse. Ashlin received a BA from Harvard and an MFA in playwriting from Columbia. His plays have been performed in Canada, The US, and Europe, and his film Northbound, starring Gordon Pinsent, will shoot in May 2011. Ashlin is currently the Artistic Director of the award-winning New York theater company, Electric Pear Productions.

“A playwright who bears watching.”
Andy Propst, Village Voice

Louise Schwarz: 

Louise has had her plays produced and workshopped at venues all over the country, including The Fair Hope Memorial (Mark Taper Forum, Stage Left Theatre, Pandora’s Box PlayRites of Spring Festival, Horizon Theatre’s New South for the New Century Festival, Trilogy Theatre), August November (Pulse Ensemble Theatre), After Wednesday (New York International Fringe Festival at Theatre for the New City, Neo Pack Productions at Trilogy Theatre), Floor Show In The Sweet Life(recipient of the 2000 John Golden Award, Oscar Hammerstein Center, Cherry Lane Alternative, New Perspectives Theatre), Veronica’s Legacy (Women’s Project and Productions Directors’ Lab, Virginia Commonwealth University), among many others. Fellowships and residencies include Blue Mountain Center, Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Hambidge Center, and the Edward Albee Foundation.  She has taught playwriting and theatre appreciation at Oklahoma State University and at Hofstra University, and headed the Theatre Department at Appel Farm Arts and Music Center, where she taught, wrote, and directed for ten summers. She was recently an administrator and instructor with the Playwrights Project at Northern Stage in White River Junction, Vermont, which brings playwriting classes into underserved rural schools and produces an entire festival of student-written plays with professional actors, directors, and designers. Ms. Schwarz is a member of the Dramatists’ Guild. Education: M.F.A. Playwriting, Columbia University.  B.A. Directing, University of Georgia.  Additionally, playwriting courses at Primary Stages School of Theatre.