{"id":42,"date":"2016-04-05T17:07:35","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T17:07:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/10\/?p=42"},"modified":"2023-03-01T16:59:05","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T16:59:05","slug":"new-media-an-energetic-virtual-conference-%e2%94%81-interview-with-ellen-margolis-playwright-director-chair-of-theatre-pacific-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/10\/new-media-an-energetic-virtual-conference-%e2%94%81-interview-with-ellen-margolis-playwright-director-chair-of-theatre-pacific-university\/","title":{"rendered":"New Media: An Energetic Virtual Conference? \u2501 Interview with Ellen Margolis, playwright, director; Chair of Theatre, Pacific University"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Lissa Tyler Renaud<\/strong>[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Margolis-Headshot-6-13-8x6\"<\/p>\n

Looking at Ellen Margolis\u2019s professional life, it would be easy to think that the playwriting profession is not a difficult one in America. In fact, it is a credit to her enormous gifts and discipline that Margolis is thriving in her work in such a challenging field.<\/p>\n

Already in 2004, Margolis won the New York Fringe Festival Award for Excellence in Playwriting, and in 2012 she was winner of Oregon\u2019s Portland Civic Theatre Guild Award (Drammy) for outstanding achievement in playwriting. For the nearly ten years in between, Margolis has also been a finalist repeatedly in prestigious competitions, both in her current home state of Oregon and nationally. She has had her plays workshopped, produced at theatres and festivals, commissioned, awarded grants and published, all with unusual consistency. As a point of fact, she is currently working on not only one but two commissions, including a full-length play for Southwest Stageworks. She has also taken on leadership positions in the field, including serving as Literary Director for the International Centre for Women Playwrights from 2002 to 2004; she is a founding member of Playwrights West, Portland\u2019s new-works theatre.<\/p>\n

Margolis brings to her playwriting a profound and longtime engagement in the theatre. She earned an MFA in acting from the University of California at Davis; she went on to be awarded for her acting, as well as to work professionally as a dialect coach and voiceover artist. Margolis earned a PhD in Theatre History from the University of California at Santa Barbara, publishing and speaking in the field and, as a professional director, has gone<\/a> on to be awarded for her directing. She is Chair of Theatre & Dance and Director of Theatre at Pacific University in Oregon. She is also, she says, mother of \u201ctwo very noisy boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was delightful to have the following exchanges with Ellen. She is articulate, thoughtful, unpretentious and funny. You can see her for yourself, and see photos from some of her plays, here:<\/p>\n