Dramaturg, theatre historian, and scholar of modern drama, Eszter Szalczer and others read from her play.

NYS Writers Institute, April 8, 2014
7:00 p.m. Dramatic Reading | Science Library Room 340, Uptown Campus
[Note early start time]

PROFILE
Whose story is the true story? How can one grasp control of the narratives of one’s own life? Working on her new book, writer Karin Smirnoff (1880-1973) struggles to come to terms with her past in an attempt to challenge the notorious stories of her overbearing father, the world-renowned author and dramatist August Strindberg.

Eszter Szalczer is a dramaturg, theatre historian, and scholar of modern drama. Her recent book August Strindberg (Routledge Modern and Contemporary Dramatists, 2010) focuses on the Swedish playwright as one of the most radical innovators of the modern stage. It was when working on her previous book, Writing Daughters: August Strindberg’s Other Voices (Norvik Press 2008) that Eszter became interested in exploring the creative processes of writing, the role of memory, the fine line between fiction and non-fiction, and how the same story could be told differently from several different perspectives.

Szalczer teaches theatre history and dramatic literature and serves as Director of History, Literature and Criticism at the Theatre Department of the University at Albany. Her writings have been published internationally in journals including Theatre Journal, Scandinavian Studies, Strindbergiana, Modernism/Modernity, Slavic and East European Performance, Western European Stages, and in scholarly anthologies including The Cambridge Companion to August Strindberg (2009) and The International Strindberg (2012) among others. Recently she served as co-editor of the centennial special Strindberg issue of Scandinavian Studies (Fall 2012): August Strindberg: A Hundred-Year Legacy.

She worked as dramaturg in stage productions in the U.S., Sweden and St. Petersburg, Russia. Between 1999-2001 she served as co-producer, organizer, and dramaturg for the “August in January” festivals (starting with the 150th anniversary of Strindberg’s birth in 1999), which presented full productions of a series of Strindberg plays and related scholarly symposia in NYC. In 2012 she was a co-founder of the August Strindberg Repertory Theatre, which is currently resident company at the Gene Frankel Theatre in New York. Eszter holds a Doctorate in Comparative Literature from the Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary and a Ph.D. in Theatre History from the City University of New York.

Director:
Langdon Brown is a Fellow of the Writers Institute, UAlbany English professor and director of Authors Theatre. He has worked as a producer, arts administrator, director and dramaturge in the London Fringe, Off-Broadway, regional theatre, and on a variety of university campuses.

Cast:
Janet Hurley Kimlicko. A member of Actor’s Equity, she has performed in Chicago, Dallas, Austin, Houston, and New York City. She was last seen in How Water Behaves (CapRep), The Little Foxes, Arms and the Man and Ah! Wilderness with Theater Voices, and Right You Are (Theater East).

Steve Madore received his MA in Theatre History and Dramatic Criticism from the State University of New York at Albany and has completed several years of coursework as a doctoral student in the Department of Theatre and Drama at Indiana University, Bloomington.

Gary Maggio, semi-retired, works part-time as a standardized patient at Albany Medical College. Recently he's acted in productions of Harvey, The Boys Next Door, and Our Son's Wedding (Curtain Call Theatre) Proof and Faith Healer (Albany Civic Theater), and The Vanek Plays (Theater Voices).

Patrick McKenna has performed on Capital Region stages for the past 30 years. Favorite roles include Tom in The Glass Menagerie; Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses; Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest; the Narrator in Dylan Thomas' Under Milkwood and Dylan Thomas in A Child's Christmas in Wales.

Barbara Richards is a graduate of the University at Albany's Theatre Department. She has had a career in theatre and arts administration in New York and Albany, and has worked extensively as an actress with Curtain Call Theatre in Latham for the past 15 years

Eileen Schuyler is delighted to return to UAlbany, where she taught acting for nine years. She has performed at Soho Rep, Studio Arena Theater, Fulton Opera House, Capital Rep, Stageworks/Hudson, Proctors Theater, HRS Showcase Theatre, Queens Theater in the Park, NYSTI, Hubbard Hall and the Kennedy Center. 

For additional information, contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at https://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.