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10.23.08

Four Theaters and Emory Creative Writing Present Theresa Rebeck, Nov. 9-11, 2008

Emory, Georgia Shakespeare, The Alliance Theater and Actor’s Express welcome to Atlanta acclaimed screenwriter, playwright, essayist and novelist Theresa Rebeck, with credits ranging from work on “L.A. Law,” “NYPD Blue” and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” to co-writing “Omnium Gatherum,” a play featured in the Humanna Festival. Joining forces with the theater companies is the Playwriting Center of Theater Emory, which will present a free, public reading of Rebeck's play, “The Butterfly Collection,” Sun., Nov. 9, 2008 at 5 p.m. in the Theater Lab of Emory University’s Schwartz Center. This collaboration highlights the metro-area theater community's support for new plays and the desire for America's most talented and influential writers to think of Atlanta as a home for their work. 

Rebeck will also participate in Emory’s Creative Writing Program Reading Series with an additional reading on Mon., Nov. 10, in the Jones Room, 311 Woodruff Library at 6:30 p.m. The reading is preceded by a free reception at 6 p.m. and is followed by a book signing. On Tues., Nov. 11 from 2:30–3:30 p.m. in Emory’s Callaway Center N301, Rebeck will participate in a Creative Writing Colloquium (dialog with questions and answers). Both events are free and open to the public. For information about the Creative Writing Program Reading Series visit http://www.creativewriting.emory.edu/series/index.html. For further information about events at Emory visit www.arts.emory.edu or call 404-727-5050.

Actor's Express will produce Rebeck’s “Mauritius” in Jan. 2009. “Mauritius” was originally produced at Boston’s Huntington Theatre, where it received the 2007 IRNE Award for Best New Play as well as the Eliot Norton Award. Freddie Ashley, Artistic Director of the Actor's Express Theater says, "Theresa Rebeck is wonderful storyteller, really consistently excellent.  She is a remarkable structuralist, her plays are models of clean dramatic construction, and she uses language both beautifully and economically.  And then she has a very special spark--that unexplainable yet palpable 'oomph' that separates great writers from merely good ones."

Rebeck is a widely produced playwright throughout the United States and abroad. Past New York productions of her work include “Mauritius” at the Biltmore Theatre in a Manhattan Theater Club Production; “The Scene,” “The Water’s Edge,” “Loose Knit,” “The Family of Mann” and “Spike Heels” at Second Stage; “Bad Dates” and “The Butterfly Collection” at Playwrights Horizons; and “View of the Dome” at New York Theatre Workshop. “Omnium Gatherum” (co-written, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003) was featured at the Humana Festival, and had a commercial run at the Variety Arts Theatre. Her newest work, “The Understudy,” premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Summer 2008.

All of Rebeck’s past produced plays are published by Smith and Kraus as “Theresa Rebeck: Complete Plays, Volumes I, II and III” and in acting editions available from Samuel French. Rebeck’s other publications are “Free Fire Zone,” a book of comedic essays about writing and show business. She has written for American Theatre Magazine and has had excerpts of her plays published in the Harvard Review. Rebeck’s first novel, “Three Girls and Their Brother,” was recently published by Random House/Shaye Areheart Books.

In television, Rebeck has written for “Dream On,” “Brooklyn Bridge,” “L.A. Law,” “American Dreamer,” “Maximum Bob,” “First Wave,” and “Third Watch.” She has been a writer/producer for “Canterbury’s Law,” “Smith,” “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” and “NYPD Blue.” Her produced feature films include “Harriet the Spy,” “Gossip,” and the independent feature “Sunday on the Rocks.” Awards include the Mystery Writer’s of America’s Edgar Award, the Writer’s Guild of America award for Episodic Drama, the Hispanic Images Imagen Award, and the Peabody, all for her work on “NYPD Blue.” She has won the National Theatre Conference Award (for “The Family of Mann”), and was awarded the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award in 2003 for “The Bells.”

Brooklyn-based Rebeck is originally from Cincinnati and holds an MFA in Playwrighting and a PhD in Victorian Melodrama, both from Brandeis University. She is a proud board member of the Dramatists Guild and has taught at Brandeis University and Columbia University.

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NOTE: Digital photos are available upon request

CREATIVITY AND ARTS AT EMORY MISSION
Emory University provides a dynamic, multi-disciplinary environment for the study, creation and presentation of the arts.

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