The Play Lab: The public is invited to readings of new works with panelists interacting with playwrights and readers. Panelists include:
Robert Caisley, Kia Corthron, Danielle Dresden, Erma Duricko, David Edgecombe, Peter Ellenstein, Kim Estes, Michael Hood, Arlene Hutton, Dawson Moore, John Pielmeier, Gregory Pulver, Guillermo Reyes, Judith Stevens-Ly, Aoise Stratford, Elizabeth Ware, Jayne Wenger, Bryan Willis, and Y York.

Friday, June 13
10:00 a.m.
Registration begins and continues daily in the foyer of the Civic Center.
8:00 p.m.
Alaska Overnighters topic announcement.

Saturday, June 14
10:00 – 10:55 a.m.
Theatre Conference Orientation Panel with Danielle Dresden, Erma Duricko, Dawson Moore, Gregory Pulver, and Aoise Stratford.
11:00 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.
The Collaboration Process: Anton's Women, Valdez to Auckland with Judith Stevens-Ly with Donna Banicevich Gera. A practical look at the how playwrights, directors and theatre artists work in co-operation with each other at the production level: from choosing the play to opening night.
12:30 - 1:10 p.m.
Lunch Served.
1:15 – 2:25 p.m.
How to Direct a Reading of Your Own Play with Erma Duricko. A practical step by step approach to using your limited rehearsal time, the special unknown qualities of your actors to ensure you get your story told. The workshop is geared specifically for The Last Frontier Conference - make it your own and use it when you need it.
1:15 – 2:25 p.m.
SAG Made Simple: a question and answer session about the Screen Actors Guild with Dena Beatty.
2:30 – 3:55 p.m.
Working with Directors and Dramaturgs: In and Out of Rehearsal with Jayne Wenger. A playwrights guide to how to get the most out of these relationships, working and reworking your play, avoiding conflict and getting to the best production of your play.
2:30 – 3:55 p.m.
Acting in the Play Lab: An Orientation Workshop with Danielle Dresden, Erma Duricko, and Dawson Moore. Covers acting techniques useful in any form of play reading, in addition to serving as a primer in how to work in the Play Lab.
4:00 – 5:25 p.m.
Seventeen Ways to Get Started Writing Your New Play with Bryan Willis.
Part One: Explore new strategies for getting started.
5:30 -7:25 p.m.
Welcome Reception & Fish Fry on the Civic Center lawn for Conference participants.
7:30 p.m.
Alaska Overnighters, presented by Three Wise Moose, followed by a reception in the Civic Center Foyer.
9:30 p.m.
Fringe Festival Kick-Off performance on the Civic Center stage.

Sunday, June 15
8:00 – 8:55 a.m.
Morning Warm-Up Yoga with Meg McKinney.
9:00 – 10:40 a.m.
Seventeen Ways to Get Started Writing Your New Play with Bryan Willis. Part Two: Workshop New Scenes.
10:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Starting a Playwrights’ Group: How to Get the Most from your Group While Avoiding the Pitfalls; a panel discussion with Dawson Moore, George Sapio, and Aoise Stratford.
12:00 – 12:45 p.m.
Lunch served.
12:45 – 2:10 p.m.
Anchors to Apples and Angels: Making the Transition (or not): A panel discussion on making the transition to the big city, with Bostin Christopher, Frank Collison, Kim Estes, Laura Gardner, and Darcy Halsey.
12:45 – 2:10 p.m.
Dialogue: It isn’t Conversation, it isn’t Narrative, it isn’t Exposition, so What Is It? Demystifying Dialogue with Y York.
2:15 – 3:40 p.m.
Writing The One-Person Play, a seminar with John Pielmeier and Irene O'Garden
Whether it's historical (John), autobiographical or fictional (Irene), the subject of your one-person play has a voice that needs to be heard! These two authors of successful one-actor shows will talk about finding the right person to write about, channeling the voice, and - if you've already tackled these first two hurdles - dealing with the challenges of creation. They'll perform brief selections from their own shows, as well as discuss your work, your thoughts, and - if time permits - read aloud selections from your work. Come prepared with finished plays, plays-in-progress, or just thoughts about whom you might want to build an evening around!
2:15 – 3:40 p.m.
Monologue workshop for actors with Laura Gardner and Frank Collison. Bring prepared audition pieces.
3:45 – 5:00 p.m.
Comedy can be pretty: A Felicitious attack on all our senses and how to make it work for your writing with Guillermo Reyes.
3:45 – 5:00 p.m.
How to Write Your Own Compelling Monologues with Laura Gardner, Part One. A workshop for actors.
5:00 – 7:25 p.m.
Dinner Break.
7:30 p.m.
A screening of the film Otis, featuring opening remarks by one of the film’s stars, Alaskan Bostin Christopher, followed by a reception in the Civic Center Foyer.
10:00 p.m.
Fringe Festival.

Monday, June 16
8:00 – 8:55 a.m.
Morning Warm-Up Yoga with Meg McKinney
9:00 – 10:25 a.m. Play Lab
Panel A: John Kaiser’s Hyperion
Panel B: Elizabeth Ann Earle’s Cat, Mouse, Bird and Boy
Panel C: Susan S. Nims' Crackt Bonds
10:30 a.m. – 12:25 p.m. Play Lab
Panel A: Atar Hadari’s The Marriage of Morecambe and Wise
Panel B: Lee Kiszonas’ An Affair of Honor
Panel C: Lance Petersen’s Raven’s Place
12:30 -1:10 p.m.
Lunch Served.
1:15 -2:40 p.m.
First Aid for Playwrights with Robert Caisley: A Diagnostic Approach to Assessing Symptoms of an Ailing Play. This workshop focuses on some of the most common symptoms and warning signs affecting your play, how to diagnose the root cause, and offers some good old-fashioned natural playwriting remedies that work. The workshop assumes that participants have finished a draft of your play, and are now looking for ways to effectively revise.
1:15 – 2:40 p.m.
Directing AND Designing – be your own scenographer! A workshop for directors and producers with Gregory Pulver.
2:45 – 5:00 p.m. Play Lab
Panel A: Rand Higbee’s Fork & Spoon
Panel B: Taylor Doherty’s The Machine Stops
Panel C: Daniel Damiano’s Day of the Dog
5:00 – 7:25 p.m.
Dinner Break.
7:30 p.m.
Arlitia Jones’ Sway Me Moon, presented by Three Wise Moose Theatre Company, followed by a reception in the Civic Center Foyer.
10:00 p.m.
Fringe Festival.

Tuesday, June 17
8:00 – 8:55 a.m.
Morning Warm-Up Yoga with Meg McKinney.
9:00 – 9:55 a.m. Play Lab
Panel A: Mary Langham’s Facing the Elements
Panel B: Cinda Lawrence’s Don’t Get Me Wrong
Panel C: Jaclyn Villano’s No Worse for the Wear
10:00 a.m. – 12:25 p.m. Play Lab
Panel A: William Bivins’ The Afterlife of the Mind
Panel B: Merideth M. Taylor’s The Cocoonery
Panel C: Damon Chua’s Aziza
12:30 – 1:10 p.m.
Lunch Served.
1:15 – 2:40 p.m.
Time, the Playwright’s Compass, with Danielle Dresden. A workshop on how theater and all performing arts are shaped by time in everything from structure to scene length to character growth.
1:15 – 2:40 p.m.
Finding Your Place on Stage: A Workshop in Stage Movement for Actors and Directors with Michael Hood.
2:45 -3:55 p.m. Play Lab
Panel A: Christine Emmert’s Changelings
Panel B: Adam Klasfeld’s The Report of My Death
Panel C: Laura Neubauer’s Brick
4:00 – 5:00 p.m. Play Lab
Panel A: Barry Levine’s Used Cars and Bicycles
Panel B: Laura Pfizenmayer’s Livin’ and Comin’ Back
Panel C: Ruth Kirschner’s Nightlight
5:00 – 7:25 p.m.
Dinner Break.
7:30 p.m.
Ira Gamerman’s Split, presented by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Student Drama Association, followed by a reception in the Civic Center Foyer.
10:00 p.m.
Fringe Festival.

Wednesday, June 18
9:00 – 12:15 a.m.
Registration Desk open. No scheduled Conference activities.
12:15 – 12:55 p.m.
Panel A: Mark Muro’s Pickle Days (Revisited)
Panel B: Ryan Buen’s Hey, Judae
Panel C: Kate Rich’s Returning Max
1:00 – 1:40 p.m. Play Lab
Panel A: P. Shane Mitchell’s The Heart of Children
Panel B: Andy Day’s Early Bird
Panel C: James Royce McGuire’s A Texas Funeral
1:45 – 2:25 p.m. Play Lab
Panel A: Rita Miraglia’s Johnny-Boy
Panel B: Jessica Chisum’s Phoebe Phoenix Saves the World
Panel C: Mark Stoneburner’s Bear Variations: 11 short plays about a bear
2:30 – 5:00 p.m. Play Lab
Panel A: Sandra Hosking’s Detours
Panel B: Jule Selbo’s Lake Girls
Panel C: Arlitia Jones’ The New Encyclopedia Apocalypta
5:00 – 7:25 p.m.
Dinner Break.
7:30 p.m.
20th Century Man with Brian Hutton and Allison Warden in Ode to the Polar Bear, in two solo performance pieces from Out North’s Under 30, followed by a reception at the Valdez Museum.
10:00 p.m.
Fringe Festival.

Thursday, June 19
8:00 – 8:55 a.m.
Morning Warm-Up Yoga with Meg McKinney.
9:00 -10:25 a.m. Play Lab
Panel A: George Sapio’s Oatmeal and a Cigarette
Panel B: Lia Romeo’s Green Whales
Panel C: Joe Barnes’ Acts of Faith
10:30 a.m. – 12:25 p.m. Play Lab
Panel A: Jacqueline Goldfinger’s The Oath
Panel B: Samuel Brett Williams’ The Revival
Panel C: Cynthia Glucksman’s An Incurable Hole in the Wall
12:30 – 1:10 p.m.
Lunch Served.
1:15 – 2:40 p.m.
Connections with Arlene Hutton. Whether you are a writer starting a project or an actor wanting to explore playwriting, you already possess, deep inside you, everything you need to jumpstart your art and bring forth your unique voice. Through a series of exercises, this workshop is a roadmap to the wonder of the unconscious mind and the thrill of creation.
1:15 – 2:40 p.m.
Finding and Using Concept: A Director's Process. Mark Lutwak discusses how he conceptualizes a production to integrate script with collaborating artists, production practicalities, and the context in which he is working, using his recent production of Cyrano to illustrate how a strong, organic process must be flexible to provide a map through the realities of design, rehearsal, and production.
2:45 -3:55 p.m. Play Lab
Panel A: Bryan Davidson’s Yellow Wallpaper
Panel B: Casey Prout’s The Holy Techies
Panel C: Jean Paal’s Ever After
4:00 – 5:00 p.m. Play Lab
Panel A: Zanne Hall’s Ethereal Killer
Panel B: Mollie Ramos’ To Thine Own Self Be True
Panel C: Alex Pollock’s Machine Gun-Death Rattle
5:00 – 7:25 p.m.
Dinner Break.
7:30 p.m.
THE END: A One-Act Showcase of Earth, Heaven and Hell, featuring Linda Billington’s Hot Spot, P. Shane Mitchell’s Omega, and Dawson Moore’s Bile in the Afterlife, presented by TBA Theatre, followed by a reception at the Maxine & Jesse Whitney Museum.
10:00 p.m.
Fringe Festival.

Friday, June 20
8:00 – 8:55 a.m.
Morning Warm-Up Yoga with Meg McKinney.
9:00 – 10:25 a.m. Play Lab
Panel A: Francine Dick’s As Large As Alone
Panel B: Anna Moench’s The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
Panel C: Nick Stokes’ The Sound We Make
10:30 a.m. – 12:25 p.m. Play Lab
Panel A: David Holstein’s The B-Team
Panel B: Donna Banicevich Gera’s Burn
10:30 a.m. – 11:25 p.m. Play Lab
Panel C: Linda Ayres-Frederick’s Dinner with the Undertaker’s Son
11:30 a.m. – 12:25 p.m. Play Lab
Panel C: Bo Anderson’s Puppet Play
12:30 – 1:10 p.m.
Lunch Served
1:15 -2:40 p.m.
Writing Out of Your Rut with Kia Corthron. This workshop is geared to challenge students by getting them off treadmill routines they may have developed. The exercises, applicable to creating new pieces or to enlivening a second draft, will surprise the playwright into safely letting go of formulaic habits that may have flattened her/his work, and to opening her/himself up to new insights.
1:15 – 2:40 p.m.
How to Write Your Own Compelling Monologues with Laura Gardner, Part Two. Presentation of Material Created through the Class.
2:45 – 3:55 p.m. Play Lab
Panel A: Jaime Cruz’ Shooting Stars & Threesomes
Panel B: Ralda Lee’s Wait ‘till I Tell You
Panel C: Kluonie Frey’s The Lighthouse
4:00 – 5:00 p.m. Play Lab
Panel A: Tom Moran’s Doug is a Battlefield
Panel B: Linda Billington’s Cold Reading
Panel C: Lesley Anne Asistio’s Regrets
5:00 – 7:25 p.m.
Dinner Break.
7:30 p.m.
Cyrano, presented by Cyrano’s Theatre Company, followed by a two-hour cruise on Stan Stephens Cruises to Shoup Glacier.

Saturday, June 21
10:00 a.m. – 12:10 p.m.
Ten-Minute Play Slam.
12:15 – 12:55 p.m.
Lunch Served.
1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
An Afternoon with Patricia Neal: Her Life.
1:00 – 4:55 p.m.
Auditions for Out North, Perseverance Theatre, and Cyrano’s Theatre Company.
5:00 p.m.
Champagne Reception on the Civic Center lawn. Class and Cast Photos.
6:30 p.m.
Gala. Musical presentation. The Jerry Harper Service Award presented to Jim Cucurull.

Sunday, June 22
10:00 a.m. to Noon
Wrap up discussion and brunch at the airport. Open to all participants.