Taking fun way too seriously Taking fun way too seriously
 
J. M. Barrie PETER PAN James Matthew Barrie was born in Scotland, in 1860. After attending Dumfries Academy and Edinburgh University, he joined the Nottingham Journal as lead writer in 1883. Two years later, James moved to London to follow a literary career. Drawing upon his mother’s memories of her childhood years, he achieved early success with stories about his home town. The first such collection, Auld Licht Idylls, was published in 1888. His novel The Little Minister (1891) achieved great popularity, but from the 1890’s onwards he turned most of his attention to the theatre. A succession of long-running plays, including Quality Street and The Admirable Crichton (1902), brought Barrie wealth and critical acclaim. His most famous creation, Peter Pan, first appeared in the novel The Little White Bird (1902), and the play Peter Pan was first staged in 1904. In 1911 James Barrie turned his play into the novel, Peter and Wendy, making it one of the most thrilling and magical adventures ever written for children. Barrie continued to enjoy great public recognition and success but his private life was clouded by divorce and a series of bereavements, and he wrote less in his later years. His last play, The Boy David, was first performed in 1936, a few months before his death in 1937. -- From Peter Pan and Other Plays Peter Hollindale, editor WRITERS
HARSHMAN GREVELIS contributor - intellectual property Originally from Parma, Ohio, Harshman holds a BA in Theatre Studies from Wright State University.  He has been bouncing around the Chicago area since 1997.  Harshman is the proud husband of Jessica and father of two amazing daughters.  He writes in his spare time and is amused that Playlab NYC has taken an interest in his little closet dramas. Visit his blog Adaptive Theatricality. http://adaptivetheatricality.blogspot.com/shapeimage_7_link_0
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE The Tempest Playlab NYC debut. Will has seemingly been writing for the Off-Off Broadway theater scene since the beginning of the movement in the late nineteen-fifties. Originally from Snitterfield, England, Will has written or collaborated on over thirty-five plays. Most recently his work has been presented by such notable companies as American Globe Theatre, Aquila Theatre Company, The Drilling Company, Gorilla Rep, Judith Shakespeare Company, Red Bull Theater, and Tiny Ninja Theater. Visit him at www.willshakespeare.comhttp://www.willshakespeare.comshapeimage_8_link_0
Charles and mary lamb The paper doll Tempest Charles Lamb was an English essayist, born in 1775. In 1796 his sister Mary Ann Lamb in a fit of temporary insanity attacked and wounded their father and stabbed and killed their mother. Lamb had himself declared her guardian to save her from permanent commitment to an asylum, and after 1799 they lived together. Mary was an intelligent and affectionate companion, but the shadow of her madness continued to plague their lives. They collaborated on several books for children, publishing in 1807 their famous Tales from Shakespeare. Interweaving the words of Shakespeare with their own they adapted twenty of Shakespeare’s best plays for young readers.
Michael burgan contributor - intellectual property Currently living in Chicago, freelance writer Michael Burgan has written more than 200 books for kids, both fiction and non-fiction. His articles and essays have appeared in various publications, including the New York Times and Sports Illustrated for Kids. He studied playwriting for one year in the MFA program at Emerson College and has won several playwriting contests. His works have been produced or read in New York, Boston, Chicago, California, and Florida, among others. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Inc. You can read his blog Crisis? What Crisis? at mburgan.wordpress.com. http://mburgan.wordpress.com/shapeimage_10_link_0
DAN FIORELLA contributor - intellectual property Dan Fiorella is a native of Staten Island, NY, home of the world famous ferry, the lengthy Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and a really large landfill. He's been a contributing writer to Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion" radio show, Mad, Cracked magazine, and the Weekly World News (a humor publication that not everyone realized was a humor publication). He’s been a writer-member of several NYC-based comedy troupes; 1st Amendment, Style Without Substance and Generation Sketch, and has dabbled in the heady world of stand-up comedy. Other credits include the animation series, "The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers" (now on DVD!), "Where's the Party?" for ABC and "The Start of Something Big" with Steve Allen (not on DVD) and radio’s American Comedy Network and All-Star Radio along with jokes for the gang over at Newsbusters.org. His short story, “The Adventure of the Angry Author” was published in France for the anthology, “Sherlock Holmes Dans Tous ses États.” And while in a Sherlockian mood, he has just completed “The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes 2,” a video game for Legacy Interactive, due out December 2009. He has a lovely wife and three wonderful daughters who read these things. He's presently serving 9-5 at a brokerage house in Lower Manhattan and enjoys writing about himself in the third person. ALEXIS KOZAK contributor - intellectual property Alexis Kozak holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts and in English from Rutgers University.  He is currently finishing an M.F.A. in Playwriting at Boston University.  His plays A Graveyard Where Dead American Playwrights Go, Julia Walks on Stilts, and Shakespeare Gets an M.F.A. have been performed in New York, New Jersey, and California and are available from Heuer Publishing.  WILLIAM PONDER contributor - intellectual property Coming Soon. PROFESSOR RALPH LOSS OF BREATH American Puppeteer Professor Ralph was born May 9, 1859 in Boston, the last of the three children of Winfield Phillips, a minor city official, and his wife, Elizabeth Hopkins. The Professor was educated at the University of Virginia, where he became fluent in Italian, Spanish, and English. After graduating, Ralph, pretending to work in New York as an assistant to a lawyer, spent much of his time entertaining audiences all over the great city. When his father found him out, he again sent Ralph to study law, this time in Rhode Island. Nevertheless, he continued to write and produce elaborate puppet spectacles that were not always noted for their originality. He was best known in puppetry circles for his marionette adaptation of The Lady Who Loved Lightning, which he toured throughout Europe. It has been said that it was while touring Europe that Professor Ralph discovered the original German text of Loss of Breath (based on the short story by Poe). In recent years, some scholars have begun to doubt the authenticity of the script since he had in fact never learned German. Years of absinthe and puppets eventually took their toll, and he returned to the United States in 1909. Professor Ralph founded the puppetry department at Eldritch College in Vermont just before his death on Halloween 1911. --Excerpted from The History of “Punch” (Third Edition) M.L. Splelmann NICK ROBIDEAU contributor - intellectual property Recent New York readings or productions include Last Dance (HB Studio), Breaking In (or, Puppies) (Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater) and Backstage Pass (Thespian Productions).  He is also the author of a solo show, The Rainbow Letter, which appeared at the Montreal Fringe Festival.  Nick holds a BFA in Drama from Syracuse University.  He is a member of the HB Studio Playwrighting Workshop, where he is currently developing a full-length play, tentatively titled The Rules of the Game. SCOTT TOBIN contributor - intellectual property Scott Tobin was born in Brooklyn, NY and currently lives in Columbus OH with his wife, playwright Sarah Zettler.  Current productions of his plays include Fools In The West, Black Doll and Cotton Girls, which is published by Baker's Plays and has won several awards.  Scott's current play Aftershock! An Event! (In Senzurround) is being performed with a miraculous multi sub-woofer technique that is shaking up audiences.  Scott has also had two plays at Specific Gravity's Elevator Plays series, in which the plays are performed in an actual elevator.  Scott was recently awarded a Fellowship at VCCA and will be attending this fall.  He is also the recipient of a GCAC Fellowship. JORDAN R. YOUNG contributor - intellectual property Jordan R. Young is a California-based playwright, journalist, photographer and show business historian. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and many other publications.  His plays have been read or produced by the California Artists Radio Theatre in Hollywood, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Bloomington Playwrights Project, Firecracker Productions in Manhattan, Laguna Beach New Works Festival, Fresh! New Works on Stage in San Francisco, and South Coast Repertory Theatre, and broadcast on public radio. His books include Spike Jones Off the Record, Acting Solo, The Beckett Actor, and The Laugh Crafters: Comedy Writing in Radio and TV's Golden Age. TED WENSKUS contributor - intellectual property Ted Wenskus is a freelance writer and lives in Rochester, NY. He studied at the Rochester Institute of Technology and the State University of New York School at Brockport, earning his M.A. in English literature in 1994. In 2003, he co-wrote SHE WROTE, HE WROTE which won the Bronze Remi for Short Comedy Film at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. His first short play, SALT OF THE EARTH, debuted at Buffalo Quickies (Alleyway Theatre, Buffalo, NY) in 2006. He is currently working on numerous projects for the stage as well as his first novel.
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Taking fun way too seriously JON STEINHAGEN PERFECTLY NATURAL, THE VELVET GENTLEMAN JON STEINHAGEN is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists. In 2009, he was awarded First Prize in the Julie Harris Playwriting competition for his comedy The Analytical Engine. He wrote the book, music, and lyrics of the musical The Teapot Scandals, which received its world premiere at Porchlight Music Theatre in Chicago and went on to receive a Jeff Award nomination for Best New Work. His plays include The Applewood Pistols (an “original Chekhov comedy” based on Chekhov’s notebooks), The Velvet Gentleman, Something More Comfortable, Second Mouse, Dating Walter Dante, Aces, and Ponzi on Sunday. He wrote the music and lyrics for the musicals The Arresting Dilemma of Mr. K (based on Kafka’s The Trial), The Circus of Dr. Lao, Emma & Company (based on the Emma McChesney stories by Edna Ferber), and the Jeff and After Dark Award-winning Inferno Beach and People Like Us. Current projects include the book, music, and lyrics of Valentino In Between and the plays Gepetto’s Doing and One Tiny Dragon. He is also an award-winning musical director, arranger, and actor, as well as an associate member of The Dramatist’s Guild.