Australian Theatre Company Hosts 6-Day Workshop with John Patrick Shanley

L.A.'s Australian Theatre Company is excited to host a six-day workshop with Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award and Academy Award-winning playwright John Patrick Shanleyat the Skylight Theatre beginning March 12.

According to ATC co-artistic directors Jackie Diamond, Nick Hardcastle, Nate Jones and Joshua Thorburn, "This is a rare and special opportunity to meet, work with, and gain insight into the creative process of this legendary writer. This is not just an acting workshop. It's a theater experience."

The workshop will cover many aspects of theater, including script analysis and the rehearsal process. Over the course of six days, participants will have the chance to be directed by Shanley and to be given a voice in the development of a number of his new works.

The workshop, Shanley's first-ever in Los Angeles, is presented in association with Australia's 16th Street Actors Studio.

John Patrick Shanley's theatrical work is performed extensively around the world. His plays includeProdigal Son, Outside Mullingar (Tony nomination), Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Savage in Limbo, Four Dogs and a Bone, Dirty Story and Beggars in the House of Plenty. For his play Doubt, he received both the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In the arena of screenwriting he has nine films to his credit, most recently Doubt with Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis. Doubt,directed by Shanley, was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Adapted Screenplay. Other films include Five Corners (Special Jury Prize, Barcelona), Alive, Joe Versus the Volcano (which he also directed) and Live From Baghdad for HBO (Emmy nomination). For his script of Moonstruck he received both the Writers Guild of America Award and an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. In 2009, The Writers Guild of America awarded Shanley the Lifetime Achievement in Writing.

Dedicated to telling great Australian stories and sharing the best of Australian culture with American audiences, the Australian Theatre Company burst onto the scene in 2014 with its wildly successful Los Angeles premiere of the Australian love story, Holding the Man ("Dazzling virtuosity... a stunningly sensitive, athletic production" - Arts In LA). Adapted by Tommy Murphy from the best-selling memoir by Australian writer, actor and activist Timothy Conigrave, Holding the Man enjoyed an eight week run at the Matrix Theatre, where it became the most successful guest production at that theater in 45 years. Other critically acclaimed ATC productions have included Speaking in Tongues by Andrew Bovell, the U.S. premiere of Ruben Guthrie by Brendan Cowell, and last season's world premiere of Dan Lee's Grey Nomad, winner of the recent Broadway World Award for Best Play-Local Production.

The John Patrick Shanley Workshop takes place March 12 - March 19. The Skylight Theatre is located at 1816 1/2 N Vermont Ave. in Los Angeles.

For more information, go to www.AustralianTheatreCompany.org/education.

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