5 Questions with Miranda Hoyt-Disick

Today we conclude our 5 Questions with a Playwright series for the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival with a New Jersey resident who attends school in the Bronx!...

Miranda Hoyt-Disick
11th grade, Riverdale Country School

1. What inspired you to write Enter Banquo's Ghost?

On the night of the Tonys sophomore year, I was faced with a challenge. I had to write an updated version of the banquet scene from Macbeth that happened to be due the next day. Coincidentally, I had recently started watching the HBO series Girls, and I thought it might be fun to inject Shakespeare with some good old Hannah Horvath neuroses. I decided that the protagonist, "Beth", would be haunted by the ghost of her old boyfriend, "Robert Banquo". The whole thing was just supposed to be one scene, but I started playing around with the characters and decided upgrade Beth's nervous behavior to a mental break-down, complete with banter and the destruction of a perfectly good chicken.

2. You directed your play for a theatre festival at your school last year. Please tell us more about that experience.

I loved directing my play at school. My producer and assistant director, Madeline Meyer, was amazing about scheduling everything and helping me with the blocking and with giving notes to my actors. We rehearsed during lunch in the drama and film rooms. It was my first experience directing, and I found everyone eager to cooperate and make the play as good as it could be. During the performance, I was pretty much frozen in a state of joint joy/terror, a condition that will probably rear its head again at the next production.

3. In your bio you mention that you play both the guitar and ukulele. When did you begin to play these instruments? What is the biggest difference between playing the guitar and the ukulele?

I began playing guitar in 5th grade and ukulele around this time last year. They're both great instruments, but the ukulele is portable and easier to play in the hallways to the annoyance of everyone, so naturally I prefer it.

4. What has been your most memorable theatre experience to date?

At the beginning of the year, I got to see The Glass Menagerie with Zach Quinto and was crying by the end of the first act. It was a beautiful production that did nothing but enhance my undying love for Tennessee Williams and pretty blatant desire to resurrect him.

5. If you were going on an adventure, who would you take as your travel partner and why?

I didn't even have to think about this one. Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 100%.  If you've seen the show, you understand. If not, first of all, why haven't you seen it, go now, watch all 7 seasons they're on Netflix. Done? Welcome back. Spike is resourceful, good in a fight, and has an amazing habit of commenting on the story going on around him. We only have one of these qualities in common, but still. Definitely Spike. He's a little undead, but it's totally fine. I'd just have to remember a blanket to shield him from the sun (he burns up pretty quickly). 

See Miranda's play Enter Banquo's Ghost at the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival on Tuesday, June 3 beginning at 7:00 p.m. Performances will be held in the University Center Little Theatre on the campus of Kean University. Please reserve your space by contacting us at njypf@ptnj.org. See you there!

5 Questions with Talia Green

Continuing our 5 Questions with a Playwright series for the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival with...

Talia Green
11th grade, Bergen County Academies

1. What inspired you to write Ink Never Dulls?

I've always been particularly sensitive towards the subject of domestic abuse, as such violence in one's childhood has the ability to affect his/her perspective of the world for the rest of their lives. I also read often about stories that romanticize abusive relationships, such as Captive in the Dark by CJ Roberts, or Stolen by Lucy Christopher. Though thrilling, stories like these manifest a pretensive light on abuse, as though reshaping it to make it more entertaining. For that reason, I decided to write a play that portrays abuse as all that it is: highly disturbing, and difficult to watch. I am hoping that my play can help absolve the misconceptions that the media helps produce regarding abuse, and can also help teach what to do if placed in a similar situation.  

2. You have won awards for your poetry and social activism. Please tell us more about those experiences.

Writing has been a significant part of my life since before I can remember. I cannot recall a period in my childhood during which I did not carry around my journal to jot down whatever surfaced in my thoughts; I have always been more articulate in my writing than I've been in speech, and this realization led me to writing poetry more seriously and frequently. Only recently, however, have I been able to fulfill what I've yearned to through my poetry and music: write messages that mean more than just my experiences. I have such strong opinions of, and hopes for, us as a progressive society, and I have finally written work that can express those concepts. I believe that if an idea is planted in your head - through a poem, song, or any other medium - it has the incentive to grow into a thought that you construct yourself. Through that, you can reevaluate the way you see things, and allow that idea to widen your field of perception. This is what I hope to accomplish through my writing, and am honored to have been awarded for some of my works that succeed in such a task.

3. In addition to your writing, you are a vocalist. What kinds of music do you typically perform?

Though I tend to perform a wide range of genres, I mostly perform soul/blues. I also write indie ballads. (I may have just invented a genre of music.)

4. What has been your most memorable theatre experience to date?

This past winter, I performed as Reverend Hightower in the Bergen County Academies' production of Bat Boy. It was the most rewarding theatrical experience I could ask for. I was able to develop a character so unlike the serious characters I tend to write; the Reverend was silly, exciting, and extremely individual. I was also able to intertwine my love for soul music to this crazy character.

5. If you had the opportunity to sit down and have dinner with anyone (living or dead), who would it be and what would be your most burning question?

I would love to sit down with Mathew Arnold, and ask him what inspired him to write the poem "The Voice". That is the first poem I've ever really connected to, and up to now, It's still my favorite poem. My second burning question would be to see the original copy of "The Voice", including all of his pen blotches and scratched lines and illegible handwriting. You can tell so much about a poem and it's writer by the way it's written.


See Talia's play Ink Never Dulls at the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival on Tuesday, June 3 beginning at 7:00 p.m. Performances will be held in the University Center Little Theatre on the campus of Kean University. Please reserve your space by contacting us at njypf@ptnj.org. See you there!

Casting annoucement: actors from Premiere Stages & Kean University

You're getting a sense of the plays that will premiere at the NJ Young Playwrights Festival next week, but who will you see perform? We bring together actors from a variety of locations, but try to hire as many New Jersey-based artists as we can. Some of what helps in this goal is our production partnership with Premiere Stages @ Kean University. Premiere not only helps provide the location for the Festival, but also connections to the talent pool within the Kean University Department of Theatre. We've been fortunate to cultivate relationships with a number of great actors from the university and continue to do so with recent graduates.

Timothy Regan (Class of 2008) has the longest tenure of our current group of Kean actors having performed with us in a number of young playwrights festivals and in-school assemblies of student written work. Tim has traveled extensively with ArtsPower National Touring Theatre and was most recently seen in Our Town at George Street Playhouse. This week makes his fourth appearance in the NJ Young Playwrights Festival!


Cara Ganski (Class of 2014) first performed in the NJ Young Playwrights Festival in 2012 making her three year tenure with the program the second longest on record. Cara has performed in the Premiere Stages productions of Farragut North and A Beautiful Dark in addition to a variety of roles in Kean University productions. Additionally, Cara is a teaching artist, Disney princess impersonator, and has evaluated script submissions for the NJYPF contest. See what else she is up to on her website at www.caraganski.com.

Kelley McAndrews (Class of 2014) appeared on the Kean stage in roles from Penny Pingleton in Hairspray to Lady Macbeth! (You can see video of these performances and more on her website at http://kelleymcandrews31.wix.com/kelleymcandrews). Kelley first performed with Playwrights Theatre in our local program the Madison Young Playwrights Festival and we're thrilled to have her back again for NJYPF!

Daniel Pellicano (Class of 2013) is no stranger to Playwrights Theatre having performed in a reading of Another Spring by Yasmine Beverly Rana this past April. He received great mentions (NY Times and Talkin' Broadway) for his performance in Premiere Stage's 2013 production of A Beautiful Dark in which he performed with Dana Benningfield (who will also join the Festival cast this year); Daniel also performed as Macbeth opposite Kelley McAndrew during his senior year at Kean.

You can see all four actors in readings of plays by Junior HS and Elementary students at the Festival on Monday, June 2 and in the staged reading of High School plays on Tuesday, June 3. We look forward to seeing you there!

5 Questions with Emily Donegan

Continuing our 5 Questions with a Playwright series for the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival with...

Emily Donegan
11th grade, Bergen County Academies

1. What inspired you to write Mechanical Advancement?

I was inspired to write Mechanical Advancement by listening to Weird Al's song 'Virus Alert' about a wacky computer virus that has inconvenient yet hilarious effects on the victim in real life. It got me thinking about the human-technology relationship.

2. In your bio you mention that “the backstage realm is particularly dear” to you. What do you like about working backstage?

I love everything about working backstage. I love that there is a whole other side to a show that the audience doesn't see, a secret hectic flurry of costumes and lights and having to think fast on your feet.

3. You also mention that you enjoy cooking. What is your favorite thing to make?

My favorite thing to cook is jell-o.

4. What has been your most memorable theatre experience to date?

My most memorable theatre experience was when I accidentally broke a plate on stage, then sliced my hand open as I tried to pick up the pieces. There was blood and glass everywhere, and we all just had to work around it. It was great.

5.  If you could have three wishes granted, what would they be?

The problem with wishes granted is that they almost always have some kind of ironic twist. I'd keep it simple (so nothing could go wrong) and wish for a steak, a Dr. Pepper, and world peace.

See Emily's play Mechanical Advancement at the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival on Tuesday, June 3 beginning at 7:00 p.m. Performances will be held in the University Center Little Theatre on the campus of Kean University. Please reserve your space by contacting us at njypf@ptnj.org. See you there!

5 Questions with Alexa Derman

With the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival just a few days away, it is time for our annual 5 Questions with a Playwright series: NJYPF edition! We go alphabetically by last name and present a playwright from the High School Division each day. So, today we begin with...

Alexa Derman
12th grade, Westfield High School

 1.      What inspired you to write Hurricane Season?

Hurricane Season was initially part of a series of short plays by a number of playwrights called SOS: Stories of Sandy performed by Contagious Drama Workshop. When I was offered the chance to write for the production, I knew immediately I was going to write something about mortality. Sandy was a crazy experience for me because of the same reason as Kim, in the play -- it burst the illusion of invincibility provide by growing up in the suburbs. I was actually assigned my actors in advance, before I wrote it, and when I met with the pair, a (relatively shy) boy and a (relatively outgoing) girl, they both said they wanted to play roles that challenged them. Thus, for the boy I created the boisterous Joey and for the girl, the more reserved Kim.

2.      You have won multiple awards for your writing in a variety of genres. How does your writing process differ between forms?

I think my writing process doesn't differ so much between forms as between types. What I mean is, I have stories that are very dialogue-based the way Hurricane Season is, and the process for those works are similar: usually some argument just explodes out of me around 2 am and then I refine it. But I also have plays and prose pieces that are more "involved," more focused around a single character, and more collage-based -- right now I'm writing a play that collapses into a Shakespeare one at its climax. For those pieces, I usually end up doing a lot of research and planning. 

3.      You have also won awards for your work as a hair and make-up artist. Please tell us more about that work!

I'm the hair and makeup artist in my school theatre department, and it was definitely a happy accident -- my director asked me out of the blue to take over my sophomore year, and I jumped in despite having zero experience. Many hours of YouTube videos and practice later, it's become something I really love to do. We did Bat Boy last year, in 2013, and creating a half-bat half-boy mutant was one of my favorite projects. Every day it took about an hour to get him ready, but it was worth it!

4.      What has been your most memorable theatre experience to date?

It's a tie. This past fall, my high school did a production of Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses, based on the Ovid of the same name. It's a beautiful show about myth and transformation -- and it also took place in a massive pool we built in our pit! The cast and crew was very small, and the show was gorgeous and emotional. It was a great final fall play. (And then we were lucky enough to win Outstanding Overall Production at the MSU Theatre Night Awards!) On the flip side, four or five years ago I was Dorothy an all-girls cast of The Wiz at my hippie drama sleepaway camp, and even though it wasn't of the highest "quality" I had such a fun time jammin' to "Ease on Down" and bopping with the eight-year-old munchkins. Just a really, really fun time. 

5.      If you could have any super-human power, what would it be and why?

Definitely super-human memory. Not only would it save me time on Calculus homework, but also because it would be really cool to just be able to launch into page-long speeches and poems whenever they feel relevant.

See Alexa's play Hurricane Season at the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival on Tuesday, June 3 beginning at 7:00 p.m. Performances will be held in the University Center Little Theatre on the campus of Kean University. Please reserve your space by contacting us at njypf@ptnj.org. See you there!