The Collaborative Playwright: Practical Advice for Getting Your Play Written

Michele Volansky is Assistant Professor of Drama at Washington College and the dramaturg for the PlayPenn New Play Development Conference. She has worked on more than 150 plays, including the Broadway productions of Buried Child and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. She has worked with numerous theatrical groups, including Actors Theatre of Louisville, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and the Philadelphia Theatre Company. In 1999 she won the inaugural Elliot Hayes Award for Dramaturgy and is also past President of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas. She is also a doctoral candidate at the University of Hull (England), writing about the critics Kenneth Tynan and Frank Rich.

Bruce Graham is the author of the following plays: Burkie, Early One Evening at the Rainbow Bar & Grille, Minor Demons, Moon Over the Brewery, The Champagne Charlie Stakes, Belmont Avenue Social Club, Desperate Affection, Coyote on a Fence, and According to Goldman. Coyote on a Fence was the winner of the Rosenthal Prize and recently opened in London’s West End starring Ben Cross. His one-man show, The Philly Fan, was recently revived for a third run. Two new plays, Dex and Julie Sittin’ in a Tree (Arden Theatre) and Full Figured, Loves to Dance (Theatre Exile), opened this year. His feature film credits include Dunston Checks In, Anastasia, Steal This Movie, and his TV movie, Ring of Endless Light, won the Humanitas Award for Best Children’s Teleplay. Graham has received grants from the Pew Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and he was a recipient of the Princess Grace Foundation Statuette Award. He currently teaches playwriting and film courses at the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University. Graham lives in Media, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Stephanie, and their daughter, Kendall.