Spotlight on Lauren Gunderson
Spotlight on Lauren Gunderson
In this episode, we’ll celebrate International Women’s Day as local director Kate Meyers interviews playwright, screenwriter, and short story author Lauren Gunderson. The Catastrophist, Lauren Gunderson’s new play is available to stream on demand through July 25, 2021 at Round House Theatre.
Celebrating Women’s History Month with gunderson’s “Jeanette”
March is Women’s history month and the theme this year is “Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to Be Silenced.” Lauren Gunderson is writing a musical about Jeanette Rankin, the first female member of Congress:
Jeannette: A New Musical is a new Broadway-bound pop musical about Jeannette Rankin, the first female Member of Congress, who served as a representative of Montana beginning even before women had won the right to vote nationwide. In this video which debuted on CBS “Sunday Morning,” the cast of Jeannette performs the debut song from the show, “Heart and Soul.” - Music and Lyrics by Ari Afsar | Book by Lauren M. Gunderson | Air Date: Aug 16, 2020 | Learn more on the “Jeanette” YouTube channel.
LAUREN GUNDERSON
Lauren has been one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015 topping the list twice including 2019/20. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting, and a recipient of the Mellon Foundation’s Residency with Marin Theatre Company. She studied Southern Literature and Drama at Emory University, and Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. She co-authored the Miss Bennet plays with Margot Melcon, and her play The Half-Life of Marie Curie is available on Audible.com. Her work is published at Playscripts (I and You; Exit Pursued By A Bear; The Taming and Toil And Trouble), Dramatists Play Service (The Revolutionists; The Book of Will; Silent Sky; Bauer, Natural Shocks, The Wickhams and Miss Bennet) and Samuel French (Emilie). Her picture book Dr Wonderful: Blast Off to the Moon is available from Two Lions/Amazon. She is currently developing musicals with Ari Afsar, Dave Stewart and Joss Stone. LaurenGunderson.com
KATE MEYERS
Kate received her B.A. in Theatre from Washington State University and first set foot on BPA’s stage almost 35 years ago. Kate cherishes the many roles she has played at BPA since then, from backstage crew to actor, member of the board (co-chairing the initial Capital Campaign to build BPA’s playhouse), and Director.
Onstage, Kate has played roles in Grease, Marvin’s Room, Blithe Spirit, The Butler Did It, and You Can’t Take it With You.
Her directing credits at BPA have ranged from the classical (Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing) to comedic (Art; Picasso at the Lapin Agile), dramatic (The Kentucky Cycle, Snow Falling on Cedars, The Grapes of Wrath, Amadeus, Arcadia), and – more recently – to contemporary “dramedies” (The Revolutionists, August: Osage County). Kate’s plays often take deep dives into the human condition, examining history, culture and the importance of family. Several have contemplated art and the nature of artistic genius, as well as quantum physics, and even time travel.
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Episode Premieres
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