8e74 Michele Volansky | Washington College
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Drama

Michele Volansky

Chair and Associate Professor
Education
  • B.A., Washington College, 1990
  • M.A., Villanova University, 1992
  • PhD, University of Hull, 2011

Teaching Areas

  • Dramaturgy
  • Dramatic Theory
  • The Modern Age (1850-1950)
  • Contemporary playwrights (1950-present)
  • Stage Management

Book

The Collaborative Playwright: A Practical Guide to Writing Your Play by Michele Volansky and Bruce Graham (Heinemann 2007)

Recent Publications

Invited Contributor, “The Clean House,” Best Plays 2004-2005 (published by Best Plays Theatre Yearbook 2005)

Invited Contributor, “Imagining LMDA: Past, Present and Future,” Theatre Topics, vol. 13, number 1 (March 2003)

Invited Contributor, “Dreams of a Dramaturg” in The Student’s Guide to Playwriting Opportunities - 3rd Edition, Edited by Michael Wright and Christi Pyland (published by The Theatre Directories, a program of American Theatre Works, Inc. 2002)

Recent Productions As Dramaturg

2012

HOPE STREET AND OTHER LONELY PLACES by Genne Murphy, directed by Kevin Glaccum, Azuka Theatre

2010

ANY GIVEN MONDAY (production) by Bruce Graham, directed by Harriet Power, Act 2 Theater/Theatre Exile

2009

SOMETHING INTANGIBLE (production) by Bruce Graham, directed by Terence J. Nolen, Arden Theatre Company
*Production earned 2009 Barrymore Awards for Best Play, Best Overall Production, Best Direction, Best Leading Actor, Best Set Design, Best Lighting Design, Best Costume Design

MY NAME IS ASHER LEV (production) adapted and directed by Aaron Posner from Chaim Potok, Arden Theatre Company

2008

A HUMAN EQUATION (workshop) by Peter Bonilla, directed by Casey Stengl, PlayPenn

HOUSE OF GOLD (workshop) by Gregory Moss, directed by Holly Derr, PlayPenn

THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD (reading) by Lucy Thurber, New Dramatists

2007

THERE OR HERE (workshop) by Jennifer Maisel, directed by Amy Feinberg, PlayPenn

DEX AND JULIE SITTIN’ IN A TREE by Bruce Graham, directed by James J. Christy, Arden Theatre Company

2006

SCARCITY (workshop) by Lucy Thurber, directed by Brian Mertes, PlayPenn

BAD FOR THE JEWS (workshop) by Peter Morris, directed by Danny Stein, PlayPenn

DAUGHTERS OF GENIUS (production) by Evan Smith, directed by Jennifer Childs, 1812 Productions

2005

ACT A LADY (workshop) by Jordan Harrison, directed by Annie Kaufman, PlayPenn

THE OVERWHELMING (workshop) by JT Rogers, directed by Lucie Tiberghien, PlayPenn

DAUGHTERS OF GENIUS (workshop) by Evan Smith, directed by Jennifer Childs, 1812 Productions

Bio

Michele Volansky is Chair and Associate Professor of Drama at Washington College (MD), from which she earned a B.A. in English. She has worked on over one-hundred and fifty new and established plays in her professional career, developing new works by such writers as Sam Shepard, Daniel Stern, Warren Leight, Jeffrey Hatcher, Bruce Graham, Tina Landau, Charles L. Mee and Bruce Norris, along with many others. Her work on Shepard’s rewrite of Buried Child (directed by Gary Sinise) and Dale Wasserman’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (directed by Terry Kinney and starring Gary Sinise) earned her two Broadway credits and participation in the Tony Award for Best Revival of Cuckoo’s Nest. She has guest dramaturged at the Arden Theater Company, South Coast Rep, the Atlantic Theatre Company, Victory Gardens and Next Theatre, in addition to her staff time at Actors Theatre of Louisville (1992-95), Steppenwolf Theatre Company (1995-2000) and Philadelphia Theatre Company (2000-2004). Her own play Whispering City was produced as part of the Steppenwolf Arts Exchange Program in the Fall of 1999. Since its inception, Ms. Volansky has served as Conference Dramaturg and Associate Artist for the Philadelphia-based new play development conference PlayPenn. She has served as an artistic consultant for the TCG playwright residency program, a reader for the Eugene O’Neill Center’s National Playwrights Conference and the New York Shakespeare Festival/The Joseph Papp Public Theatre’s Emerging Voices Program, as well as a grants review panelist for Philadelphia-area arts organizations. She is the 1999 inaugural co-recipient of the Elliot Hayes Award for Dramaturgy and was the President of LMDA, the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (2002-2004). Ms. Volansky is an artistic advisor for both the Chicago-based Serendipity Theatre Company and Chicago Dramatists. Volansky’s book on playwriting and collaboration with Bruce Graham entitled The Collaborative Playwright was published in March, 2007 by Heinemann Press. She holds an M.A. from Villanova University and a PhD from the University of Hull (England); her dissertation explores the politics and advocacy of the critics Kenneth Tynan and Frank Rich.


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