The One Act Play Festival: The Road Trip and Princess

April 4 + 5, 2014

The Road Trip

By Emily Sheera Cutler

Directed by Samantha Bellomo

Winner of the 2013 Judy Lee Award for Dramatic Writing at Penn's Creative Writing Program.

Unsatisfied with their lives, friends Kim and Julie drive away from their high school in search of adventure. On the road the two girls discover themselves and each other as road games turn into an unexpected insight into their lives. Jump in the back seat and follow these two girls as they put their friendship on drive.

Bios:

Emily Sheera Cutler (playwright) is a sophomore in the College majoring in Communication with a minor in Creative Writing. This year, The Road Trip won the Young Playwrights Inc. National Playwriting Competition and was read off-Broadway. Her plays have also been recognized by Samuel French, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and the Alabama Writers Forum. Emily has been involved with the Theatre Arts department since freshman year, when she stage managed Iphigenia and Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief.

Samantha Bellomo (director) is the Resident Director at People’s Light & Theatre Company where she has worked on over 30 productions as Director, Choreographer, or Fight Director. Most recent directing credits include Pride & Prejudice, People's Light and Two Gentlemen of Verona, Delaware Shakespeare Festival. Choreography credits include Arden Theatre, Passage Theatre, McCarter Theatre, 1812 Productions, Lantern Theatre, Delaware Theatre Company, Act II Playhouse, and Mauckingbird Theatre Company. Sam teaches at Drexel University and is a five time Barrymore Nominee for Outstanding Choreography Movement.

Princess

By Kate Herzlin

Directed by Suzana Berger

Princess, a 28-year-old who acts much younger, is matched by her parents to the man of her dreams. When things suddenly escalate and she realizes her happily ever after is entirely out of her hands, just as it was for her sister, she rebels to take back control.

Bios:

Kate Herzlin (playwright) is a senior English major. She is the Chair of the English UAB, on Penn Players and Penn Singers Boards, and is the Outreach Coordinator at Kelly Writers House. She is also a literary intern at The Wilma Theater.  Kate hopes to be a playwright when she grows up.

Suzana Berger (C ’02)  (director) is a theatre artist and educator focused on vivid physical performance, building community partnerships, and creating new work that explores social issues imaginatively. Directing credits include Suzan-Lori Parks’ The America Play (Plays & Players); Spring Awakening (Penn Players); Jester’s Dead (The Outfit at Philly Fringe); Shakespeare Remix Macbeth and Leila Buck’s One (Epic Theatre Ensemble, NYC); If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (Synchronicity Performance Group, Atlanta); Naomi Wallace’s A State of Innocence (Culture Project, NYC); and Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. She is Artistic Director of Dragon’s Eye Theatre, where she has developed and directed A Mystery? and Seek & Hide, interactive theatrical adventures for the young in age and the young at heart. Suzana is a member of Lincoln Center Theater Director’s Lab. She holds an MFA in Theatre from Sarah Lawrence College and a BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches the August Wilson & Beyond course and Teaching Performing Arts for Cross-Cultural Education.