Boston Playwrights' Theatre Continues Season with EVERY PIECE OF ME

Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) brings its 2016-17 season to a close with Every Piece of Me by Mary Conroy. Running from April 20-30, this new family drama is directed by Zohar Fuller and co-produced with Boston University College of Fine Arts.

In Every Piece of Me, Aine returns home to Ireland to introduce her American fiancé to her family, finding her younger sister pregnant, her mother still over-controlling, and her father suffering from a bad heart.

As a young adult, playwright Conroy spent a year in Ireland and says that while the play isn't based on her own life, "it is based on my experience of leaving my family behind and immersing myself in a new culture. And then, with time, returning home and seeing my perception of where I came from change."

Conroy-who returned from that year abroad with an Irish boyfriend (today her husband)-describes the play as a story of growth and change. The initial inspiration for the play came during a trip to visit family.

"A few summers ago my husband and I were going to visit his brother's family in Rosmuc, County Galway," Conroy says. "You can't visit someone's house without bringing some biscuits or tea or something sweet. We stopped at a shop on the way. It was small and quiet. I remember looking around thinking, 'This place hasn't changed in thirty years.' I told my husband so and he said very matter-of-factly, 'It didn't need to change. Its main purpose was to sell biscuits and bread and milk.' As I stood at the counter and waited to pay for my package of McVities biscuits, the shop keeper appeared in the doorway of the pub and with his ruddy cheeks and warm smile he asked, 'What can I do for ye?' That's when I saw a character. I didn't know where he would show up until I started writing Every Piece of Meand realized that shop was the perfect setting and that character came to life."

The production features Maureen Adduci, Stephen Cooper, Sarah Hirsch, Maggie Markham and Charlie Tisch.

A post-show conversation with Every Piece of Me's playwright, director, and cast members will follow the April 22 performance.

Conroy is a member of the Boston University M.F.A. Playwriting Program class of 2017. Her pilot Proud Mary placed second at the CineStory Television Retreat last year. She serves as the Dramatists Guild Representative for Massachusetts. Director Fuller is a Boston-based director, performer and educator currently pursuing an M.F.A. in Directing at Boston University. She has worked with several area theatres including Lyric Stage Company of Boston, Nora Theatre and The Theater Offensive.

Five of this season's plays were written by the Boston University M.F.A. Playwriting Program class of 2017. Four, including Every Piece of Me, were co-produced with the Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre-part of its New Play Initiative-fostering collaborations between graduate-level playwrights and directors.

ABOUT BOSTON PLAYWRIGHTS' THEATRE

Founded in 1981 at Boston University by Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott, Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) is an award-winning professional theatre dedicated to new works. At the heart of BPT's mission is the production of new plays by alumni of its M.F.A. Playwriting Program, the latter in collaboration with Boston University's renowned School of Theatre. The program's award-winning alumni have been produced in regional and New York houses, as well as in London's West End. BPT's productions have been honored with numerous regional and Boston awards, including 12 IRNE Awards for Best New Script and six Boston Critics' Association Elliot Norton Awards.

ABOUT THE BOSTON UNIVERSITY NEW PLAY INITIATIVE

The BU New Play Initiative (NPI) expresses the Boston University College of Fine Arts' commitment to the School of Theatre's participation in the development of new work. This special initiative provides playwrights, directors, designers, and actors with a variety of developmental options to support the collaborative creation of new work for the theatre. Students, faculty, alumni, and guest artists are given the opportunity to utilize the creativity of the rehearsal room to develop their plays, which are then presented through workshop productions. The life of these new plays doesn't end on the BU stages. Many New Play Initiative productions are often later fully produced by member companies of our Professional Theatre Initiative, including the School of Theatre's professional extension-Boston Center for American Performance. www.bu.edu/cfa/npi

INSTITUTIONAL BIOGRAPHY

Founded in 1839, Boston University is an internationally recognized private research university with more than 30,000 students participating in undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. BU consists of 17 colleges and schools along with a number of multi-disciplinary centers and institutes which are central to the school's research and teaching mission. Established in 1954, Boston University College of Fine Arts is a top-tier fine arts institution. Comprised of the School of Music, School of Theatre, and School of Visual Arts, CFA offers professional training in the arts in conservatory-style environments for undergraduate and graduate students, complemented by a liberal arts curriculum for undergraduate students.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

MARY CONROY teaches Screenwriting at Boston College. She has been awarded a graduate fellowship and is a full-time M.F.A. in Playwriting student at Boston University. She serves as the Dramatists Guild Representative for Massachusetts. In 2016, Mary placed second with her pilot, Proud Mary, in the CineStory Television Retreat. In 2014, Mary was an invited artist at the Nantucket Film Festival with her television pilot, Good Morning Detroit, and she attended the BANFF World Media Festival in Canada. Previously, she has been an invited participant at the Kennedy Center's Playwriting Intensive. She has had numerous productions of her short plays in the New England area as well as New York and California. Mary Reads and judges for a variety of festivals and screenwriting competitions. She continues to write in all three genres of visual storytelling: film, television, and theatre. She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

ZOHAR FULLER is a Boston-based director, performer and educator. She is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in Directing at Boston University where she has directed God's Ear, Uncommon Women and Others, The Shape of Things and Blue/Orange. This past summer, Zohar worked on Company One Theatre's The T Party. Previously Zohar was the Program Director for The Theater Offensive's Creative Action Crew and worked with TTO's youth programming, True Colors, for four years. In the past she has worked on productions at the Berkshire Theatre Group, Lyric Stage, Nora Theatre, Liars and Believers, and Double Edge Theatre. Zohar holds a B.A. in Theatre for Social Change from Brandeis University.

AT A GLANCE:

Every Piece of Me by Mary Conroy

Directed by Zohar Fuller

April 20-30, 2017

Thurs. 7:30 p.m., Fri. and Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m.

When Aine returns home to Ireland to introduce her American fiancé to her family, she finds her younger sister pregnant, her mother still over-controlling, and her father suffering from a bad heart. Her departure might have been the cause, but some wounds never heal. A play about guilt, mercy, and the power of love.

A BU New Play Initiative production, produced by Boston Playwrights' Theatre and Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre.

Boston Playwrights' Theatre
949 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215

Adults ($30); BU Faculty/Staff ($25); Seniors-62+ ($25); Students with valid ID ($10)

Call 866.811.4111 or visit www.bostonplaywrights.org