Pittsburgh New Works Festival 2016 Program A

Deck Chairs
by Bill Arnold
Windsor, CT
Produced by Cup-A-Jo Productions

On the main deck of the Titanic while it is sinking.

Bill Arnold is a composer and professional musician with the band, The Rude Mechanicals. He has written numerous musicals and straight plays and is published by Heuer for musicals, and JAC Publishing for straight plays.

All Good Things
by Michael Lill
Murwillumbah, N.S.W., Australia
Produced by CCAC South

A middle aged couple, Claire and Tom Nesbitt have invited a group of people to their home. Each guest, directly or indirectly, has had some kind of positive impact on the couple. During the course of the evening, Claire and Tom recount a series of personal stories culminating in a major announcement.

Michael Lill is an award-winning playwright and short story writer. He was shortlisted in 2014 for the Sydney Theatre Company Patrick White Playwrights Award for his play, In This Waking Hour. His play, Terra Nullius was shortlisted for the VARNA International Playwriting Contest and he received a Commendation Award for his play, The Water’s Edge from the Fellowship of Australian Writers. In 2015 he won the Literary Prize for his short play, The Big One at the biannual Drill Hall Theatre Company’s ‘Hot Shorts’ Competition. Michael won both the Literary and Audience-voted prizes in the 2013 ‘Hot Shorts’ competition. He has been shortlisted over ten times for various Short+Sweet Festivals. His short play, Out Of Oblivion was a co-winner of the ‘Writers At Work’ Playwriting Competition run by the Blue Elephant Theatre Company in Camberwell, London. Seven of Michael’s plays may be found on the australianplays.org website.

More Than Meets the Eye
by F.J. Hartland
Johnstown, PA
Produced by The South Hills Players

What the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over.

F. J. Hartland is an playwright, actor, and director. Seven times his plays have been nominated for “Outstanding Contribution by a Playwright” in the Pittsburgh New Works Festival–winning four times. In 2014, he won rave reviews for his performance as “Charlie” in “The Whale” at Off The Wall. Currently, he is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre at Saint Francis University (Loretto PA).