ARTISTIC DIRECTOR'S NOTES
It is with deep gratitude that I welcome you to the Sixth Annual Veterans’ 10-Minute Play Festival. My commitment to facilitating the telling of veteran/military stories began twelve years ago when I began teaching in the Veterans’ Learning Community at SSU. I have learned from these students, shared tears with them, and felt deeply proud of them as I watched them acclimate to civilian life. My paternal grandfather was a decorated combat war veteran who served in WWII from 1941-1945 and my maternal grandfather served 1945 through the 50s in varying capacities. While their experiences were vastly different, what was remarkably similar was the lack of any conversation about those experiences once they returned home. This certainly was their choice, and they had every right to that choice, but too often this silence is due to lack of societal support. They are not easy stories to share.
Each year this festival simultaneously impacts three communities. It allows playwrights to share stories of the veteran and military experience, allows actors an intense character and scene study opportunity to improve their craft, and provides the community a place to gather and discuss the themes of the plays and the ways in which live theatre uniquely opens doors for transformative understanding of and empathy of the human condition.
In the spring 2024, I spent the semester on sabbatical as a Fulbright Scholar, teaching and directing in Sofia, Bulgaria, at New Bulgarian University (NBU). One of the projects I brought to Bulgaria was a “Mini Vets Fest” based on the success of this annual festival. Three playwrights from past festivals agreed to participate, and I directed the plays. The NBU performance students cast had the opportunity to learn about US Military culture and experiences in the US as they prepared their roles. The public performance brought together a varied audience, one US playwright via Zoom and one playwright who came live to the theatre to participate. Among the topics discussed during the conversation were how playwriting can benefit those who have served in the military, specifically referencing the current war in Ukraine. There are many Ukrainian refugees living in Bulgaria. It was a very successful event that proved there is a place for such a festival in any community, and this reinvigorated me on the path to expand access to these plays and their use to create conversations in various communities.
For us all to listen, learn, and process, we need an opening for these stories to be told, heard, and discussed. This is one of those openings. Five courageous playwrights wrote these pieces that two directors and twentyone actors are bringing to life. It is our hope that with an open heart and mind you will immerse yourself in these worlds and stay after to complete the evening by sharing your thoughts on how these themes and experiences relate to your lives.
Thank you.
Julie Kiernan Artistic Director
PROGRAM
BroCode by Darren Thompson
Directed by Sara Conlon
Sam Cole Hastings
Jay
Logan Broadway
Stage Directions/Swing
Jack Newton
Anatomy of Shame by MaryLou DiPietro
Directed by Esme Allen
INS Officer
Wes Crowley
Guissepe
Dylon Medeiros
Stage Directions / Swing
Kasi Powers
What’s Past Is Prologue by Allie Costa
Directed by Esme Allen
Mathilde
Lillie-Marie LeClair
Benna
Gia Meola
Stage Directions/Swing
Kasi Powers
Our Bones, Their Bones by Lauren Fogle Boyd and Benji Boyd
Directed by Sara Conlon
Camera Operator
Marv Worrick
Interviewer
Brianna Gambill
Kovalenko
Gordon Gumuchian
Old Woman
Emmalyn Woods
Stage Directions/Swing
Ethan Dwyer
Little Girl
Emily Hayes
Soldier 1
Ricky Dunn
Soldier 2
Chris Raney
Soldier 3
Ren Greeley
Knishes and Other Edible Items by Stephanie Kline
Directed by Sara Conlon
Agnes
Christa Washburn
Jason
Dylan Fort
Stage Directions/Swing
Christina Izaguirre
This performance is being recorded for archival purposes. No other recording of this performance (audio or video) is allowed.
Tonight’s performance will be followed by a talk-back with cast, directors and playwrights (as available).
Intended for a mature audience.
SPECIAL THANKS
Thank you to Brad Goren-Wilson, Professor Julie Kiernan, Professor Kimberly Poitevin for serving as judges for the 2024 National 10-Minute Veterans’ Playwriting Contest that led to this staged reading festival. Thank you to Karen Gahagan and CCPA for their continued support of this contest and festival.
FESTIVAL PLAYWRIGHTS
Benji Boyd is a senior at Marblehead High School and is the playwright of the MHS Drama Club's entry for the 2025 Massachusetts High School Drama Festival. Benji is the arts and culture intern at the Marblehead Current and the editor-in-chief of the MHS Headlight newspaper.
Lauren Fogle Boyd is a professor of medieval history at UMass Lowell and the author of three books. She lives in Marblehead.
Allie Costa is an actor, writer, director, and singer working in film, TV, theatre, and voiceover. Her credits include Spring Awakening, 90210, Alien vs. Musical, Future Shock, Slayers: A Buffyverse Story, and You, Me & Her. She's also appeared in commercials and podcasts, narrated audio books and documentaries, and lent her voice to video games and animated projects. Her work has been produced internationally, including the critically acclaimed Two Girls, Don't Shoot the Messenger Pigeon, Music of the Mind, Boxes Are Magic, and Can You Keep a Secret? Occasionally, she sleeps.
Marylou DiPietro’s plays have been developed in NYC, LA, San Francisco, London, and Boston. Her play Bone on Bone opened the NJ Repertory Company’s 2020 season to excellent reviews. DiPietro performed her one-woman show, In Love with Cancer, in the 2019 United Solo Festival in NYC. An excerpt from the play was performed in the 2021 Women’s Writes Festival in London. A monologue from the play was published in The Best Women’s Stage Monologues 2021. She is currently working on a film adaptation of her play Black Butterflies, which is based on the life of Rose Williams, sister, and muse to Tennessee Williams. Her poems, fiction and nonfiction have been published in magazines and anthologies. DiPietro received a master’s in Theater Education from Emerson College and a bachelor’s in creative writing from Syracuse University. She is a member of the Dramatist Guild and the New Play Exchange.
Stephanie Kline is an award-winning Virginia-based playwright, stand-up comedian, arts instructor, and Marine Corps veteran. Her works have been staged and produced in theaters off-Broadway, in Chicago, Washington DC, as part of the Fulbright Scholarship program in Bulgaria, and Salem, MA. Her short play, Potshots, was a 2023 Salem State Veterans’ Playwriting Festival selection, the 2024 Veterans Repertory Theater first place tenminute play grant winner and published in the Winter 2024 New Plains Review literary journal. She is a 2024 NYC New Perspectives Theatre Company fellow, and her one-act play, They Only Love You When You’re Dying, was produced for the Women’s Work Short Play Lab Festival. Stephanie is a Dramatist Guild member and studied at the Kennedy Center, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and with the Chicago Dramatists.
Clyde Darren Thompson is a Navy Veteran, playwright, community organizer, and comedian from Washington, DC. He currently serves as the Washington, DC Platoon Leader for The Mission Continues, Improv Comedy instructor for the Armed Services Arts Partnership, Board Member for the Washington Improv Theater, and Executive Director of the East River Dog Park Group. He is an alumnus of the University of Maryland – College Park, Loyola University of New Orleans – College of Law, and The George Washington University School of Business and has performed comedy at the Kennedy Center, the DC Improv, and various clubs around the country. In his spare time, he enjoys community service, golfing, fishing, tennis, running, and being lazy with his dog, Barrow.
CREATIVE TEAM
Esme Allen (Director) is a Boston-based actor, educator, and designer. Boston-area acting credits include Hurricane Diane (Huntington Theatre). GLORIA, Gloucester Blue, North Shore Fish (Gloucester Stage Company); Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, The Cherry Orchard, Middletown and The Merry Wives of Windsor (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); Muckrakers, Elephant Man and Amadeus (New Repertory Theatre), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Greater Boston Stage Co.); Dog Paddle (Bridge Repertory Theater) and Coriolanus (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company). Television credits include The Good Wife (CBS). She earned her MFA in Acting from The California Institute of the Arts. She is a Resident Acting Company Member with the Actors' Shakespeare Project and teaches at Salem State University and Northshore Community College.
Sarah Conlon (Director) is a Northshore based actor, director, and theater educator. She earned her MFA in Acting from Pennsylvania State University and BA in Theatre from University of New Hampshire. Sara currently teaches in the Theatre and Speech Department at Salem State University and Northern Essex Community College. She is a Company Artist at The New Hampshire Theatre Project. NHTP credits include Elephant in the Room Series ®, Mr. Bennet/Charlotte Lucas (Kate Hamill's Pride and Prejudice). Other acting credits include Izzy in Rabbit Hole (Seacoast Rep), Almost, Maine (Salem State Summer Theatre) Reaping (The Actor's Studio In Newburyport) Olivia in Twelfth Night (Penn State Pavilion Stage) Directing Credits include: Roe Salem State University) The Visit (Salem State University) The Veterans’ Play Festival (Salem State University) O, Beautiful ( Salem State University) and The Burn (Salem State University). Sara would like to thank her husband and two beautiful children for all the love and support they provide.
Julie Kiernan (Artistic Director) is an associate professor of theatre and speech communication at Salem State University. Kiernan received a Fulbright Scholar Award and traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria, in the spring of 2024 to teach theatre at New Bulgarian University. In 2016, she received Salem State University’s Distinguished Teaching Award. She is a founding Veteran Scholars Learning Community faculty member and is the artistic director of SSU’s annual National 10-minute Veterans’ Playwriting Contest and Festival (6th annual 2024). She directs regularly for the department and recently directed Antigone (2023), First Year Lab (2022), Orlando (2021), and Top Girls (2019). She will direct Collective Rage in spring 2025. She teaches performance and oral communication courses.
She served as SSU Faculty Fellow for Global Engagement (2018-2022 and 2024-2026) and Faculty COIL Coordinator (2020-23). In this capacity, she trained 30 faculty in COIL (collaborative online international learning) pedagogy.
Before joining Salem State, she received her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from the University of California, Irvine, and was a professional actress in Los Angeles. She has traveled internationally as an actress, a faculty leading student, a presenter, and a consultant. Kiernan’s TED Talk, “Setting the Stage for Human Connection,” focuses on her theatre education research. Her other research interests include feminist theatre, contemplative pedagogy, value-creation education, and building intercultural competence.
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Karen Gahagan, Director
Bridget Caya, Creative Arts Student Assistant
Theatre Production Coordinator
Ashely O’Toole
Theatre House Manager
Adelaide Majeski
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November 16
MA High School Dance Festival
O’Keefe Complex
Registration required
November 18 – December 20
Lucien Mahoney /Honors in Art (Printmaking)
Winfisky Gallery
Ellison Campus Center
November 21
University Orchestra Concert
7:30 pm I Recital Hall
November 22 – 24
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Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches
Sophia Gordon Center
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