Lojo Simon

info

Info

Lojo Simon is a playwright, dramaturg, journalist and MFA candidate in dramatic writing at University of Idaho. Her play, Adoration of Dora, which was part of Moxie Theatre's Fighting Words Festival in San Diego in 2010, premiered at University of Idaho (UI) in September 2011, and is a national finalist for the David Mark Cohen Award given by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Other recent performances of her work include Moscow, a finalist for the 2011 Heideman Award, regional winner in the 2011 American College Theatre Festival, and part of the Temple Players' (Stratford, CT) Tribal Humor Festival in June 2011; and Beyond Tucumcari, part of UI's One-Act Play Festival in May 2011. Mi Corazon, a play for young audiences, was read at Missoula Colony in 2010, and an excerpt will appear in the forthcoming anthology, Scenes from a Diverse World, published by the International Centre for Women Playwrights. Other awards include: semifinalist in the 2011 Estrogenius New Play Festival at Manhattan Theatre Source for Ginger America; regional finalist in the 2010 American College Theatre Festival for The Care and Feeding of Wild Birds; and winner of the 2008 Dayton Playhouse FutureFest and semi-finalist for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference in 2009 for Heartland. Her writing also has been published in numerous magazines, journals, newspapers and books.

plays

Adoration of Dora

Finalist, KCACTF David Mark Cohen Award, 2012; Semi-finalist, Alive Theatre's Cherry Poppin' Play Festival, 2008; Produced on the main stage at University of Idaho, Fall 2011, directed by Robert Caisley; Reading as part of Moxie Theatre's Fighting Words Festival, San Diego, March 2010, directed by Jeffrey Weinckowsi.Adoration of Dora explores the nature of art and creativity through the story of surrealist photographer and one of Picasso’s many lovers, Dora Maar. Already an accomplished photographer when she and Picasso met in 1936, Maar is perhaps best known for being Picasso’s Weeping Woman, the subject of numerous portraits painted during and after the Spanish Civil War. Maar also photographed Picasso’s progress as he painted his anti-war masterpiece, Guernica. Adoration of Dora explores the conflict that Maar felt as both artist and muse to one of the most revered creative geniuses of the 20th century. Six females.

One Foot

A man wakes up one morning to discover that his foot is missing. A minimalist love story in one act. Premieres at University of Idaho, Spring 2012.One male, one female.

Heartland

Heartland Written with Anita Simons

Second place, David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award (Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival), 2009; Winner, Dayton Playhouse FutureFest, 2008; Winner, Long Beach Playhouse New Works Festival, 2008; Second place, University of Akron Playwriting Contest, 2008; Alternate, American Theatre in Higher Education Playworks 2008; Semi-Finalist, Reverie Productions (Off-Off-Broadway) Next Generation Playwrights Contest, 2007; Second prize, 2007 Oxford International Institute for Documentary and Drama in Conflict Transformation, Semi-Finalist, Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center 2009 National Playwrights Conference; Produced on the main stage, MiraCosta Community College, Oceanside, Calfornia, Feb. 2009, directed by Eric BishopOn a small, family-run dairy farm in Wisconsin in March 1945, a German-born widow and her children are struggling to make ends meet after the family patriarch has died. When they receive notice from the War Manpower Commission offering two Prisoners of War to work their farm, they eagerly accept the offer. But the German-American family and the German POWs bond too well for the townspeople to accept, and the widow is arrested, interned and eventually suffers a breakdown which tears her family apart. Based on true stories of many such arrests of German-American families during World War II, Heartland tells the story of what can happen when fear and prejudice pit neighbor against neighbor in times of war. Four females, six males.

The Case of Dr. A Stairs

The Case of Dr A A Modern Tragedy

The Case of Dr. A: A Modern Tragedy reveals the heights that hubris can take us and the depths to which we can fall when the gods bring us down. In this parody of a Greek tragedy, the hero, Dr. A, performs abortions in Middle America, much to the dismay of his pro-life wife, Andrea, and the fetal chorus that protests abortion outside Dr. A’s clinic. When Dr. and Mrs. A’s babysitter, Julia, wants to terminate her unplanned pregnancy, the gods decide it is time to punish the great doctor for mucking around in life-and-death issues. The result is both horrifying and hysterical. Three females, one male and a chorus.

Short plays

Beyond TucumcariProduced at University of Idaho, Spring 2011, directed by Lanny Langston. Beez and Bets are in the middle of nowhere, where all they have to talk about is sex and how to get cross-country, in this short comedy that explores navigating relationships without a roadmap. One male and one female.Ginger AmericaFinalist, Estrogenius Festival, Manhattan Theatre Source, 2011A young girl and her coach prepare for the Miss California pageant. One male, one female.MoscowFinalist, American College Theatre Festival Region VII Ten-Minute Play Competition, 2011; Produced as part of the Tribal Humor Festival by the Temple Players, Stratford, Connecticut, June 2011.Jen invites her mother to Moscow (Idaho, not Russia) for a very special ritual in this brief comedy about mothers, daughters and community. Two females. The Care and Feeding of Wild BirdsFinalist, American College Theatre Festival Region VII Ten-Minute Play Competition, 2010; Produced as part of the North Park Vaudeville 10-Minute Play Festival, San Diego, 2009The Care and Feeding of Wild Birds is the tender story of an elderly grandmother and her adult grandson who, through an experience with the natural world, learn a heart-warming lesson about love, death and aging. One male, one female. Mi Corazon (TYA)Produced as a reading at University of Idaho, March 2010; Read at Missoula Writers Colony, Summer 2010; Excerpt to be published in Scenes from a Diverse World published by the International Center for Women PlaywrightsTeenager Gabriella is dying of a congenital heart defect and is on the waiting list for a transplant when her best friend, Skye, has a premonition that she will die so that Gabriella can have her heart. A play for young audiences in middle and high school, Mi Corazon explores how it feels to lose the people we love and the things we do to try to save them. Written to tour, with minimal set. Four females, one male. Melampous and the Snake (TYA)Melampous and the Snake is a touring show for elementary school audiences that is loosely based on the Greek myth of Melampous and teaches children about the perils of excess consumerism and its impact on the environment. Large cast, but can be performed with two males and two females. Girlfriends2nd prize, San Diego Actors' Alliance One-Page Play Festival, 2006Girlfriends tells the story of two friends in a retirement home who reminisce about love and romance for women in their 80s. Perfect for senior theatres and audiences with a short attention span. Two females. Machine in the GardenA new mother fights with the gardener over his use of a leaf blower. One male, one female.

Adoration of Dora
One Foot
Heartland
The Case of Dr. A
Short plays

productions

Adoration of Dora - Guernica
Adoration of Dora - Dora and Maar

Video Clips

Adoration of Dora - Guernica
Adoration of Dora - Dora and Maar

PressDouble-click to download PDF.

Review Care and Feeding.pdf

NIC Dora Review.pdf

Inlander.pdf

Dayton Futurefest.pdf

etc.

Other theatre experience

DramaturgyUnginpamsuuka by Susie Silook, Native Voices at the Autry 13th Festival of New Plays, San Diego, June 2011Paradise Hotel by Georges Feydeau, directed by Peter Larlham. San Diego State University Theater, November 2010Publications and Papers“Churchill, Wertenbaker and Carr Explore the Relationship Between Silence and Violence in Female Characters,” Northwest Theatre Review, 2012“Theatre of War,” (poem), Northwest Theatre Review, 2012Northwest Drama Conference Graduate Scholarly Paper Winner, “Insanity as Social Commentary in the Plays of Tennessee Williams,” 2010South Coast Rep's Next Stage: A Discussion with New Artistic Director Marc Masterson, Newport Beach Magazine, Sep. 2011Into the Future: Segerstrom Center for the Arts Celebrates 25 Years, Newport Beach Magazine, June 2011From the Ground Up: Profile of Henry Segerstrom, Newport Beach Magazine, June 2011How the Show Goes On, Laguna Beach Magazine, June 2011Laguna Beach On Pointe, Laguna Beach Magazine, March 2011Maestro of Orange County: Profile of Pacific Symphony Artistic Director Carl St. Clair, Laguna Beach Magazine, Dec. 2010Workshops and TeachingInvited Playwright, Missoula Colony 15, Missoula, Montana, 2010Teaching Assistant, Beginning Playwriting, Univ. of Idaho, Spring 2012Research Assistant to theatre professor Dani Bedau, San Diego State Univ., 2011Faculty, Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region VII Workshop “How to Write a Play Based on a Historical Event,” 2010

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