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An interview with Carol Rocamora, who founded the Philadelphia Festival Theatre for New Plays in 1981, and Philadelphia are playwright Michael Hollinger.
An interview with writer, director, translator and theater critic Carol Rocamora, who founded the Philadelphia Festival Theatre for New Plays in 1981, and was its Artistic Director to 1994.
Philadelphia-area playwright Michael Hollinger was Rocamora's literary manager in the early 1990s, and credits his time working with Carol at PFT for helping to shape his future career.
A blog post on our website, with additional information and images, is here: https://www.aithpodcast.com/blog/philadelphia-festival-theatre-blog-post/
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© Podcast text copyright, Peter Schmitz. All rights reserved.
℗ All original voice recordings copyright Peter Schmitz.
℗ All original music copyright Christopher Mark Colucci. Used by permission.
© Podcast text copyright Peter Schmitz. All rights reserved.
Carol Rocamora
Carol Rocamora founded the Philadelphia Festival Theater for New Plays in 1981 - the city’s first independent non-profit devoted solely to developing the work of contemporary American playwrights. Carol continued to lead the organization as its Artistic Director through 1994. And during this period, she produced, directed and fostered over 100 new plays by everyone from Willy Reale to Romulus Linney, Lanford Wilson, and Lee Blessing . . . and also Philly writers like Albert Innaurato and Bruce Graham. After leaving PFT, Carol was a faculty member at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the Julliard School.
She is the author of two theatre biographies: “Anton Chekhov: A Life in Four Acts,” and “Acts of Courage: Vaclav Havel’s Life in the Theatre.” “Rubles”, her new two-volume collection of twenty new stage adaptations of Chekhov’s short stories, was published in 2020. “I Take Your Hand in Mine,” based on the love letters of Chekhov and Olga Knipper, has been translated and performed around the world.
Carol has for many years done theater criticism for such publications as The Nation, The New York Times, American Theatre magazine and The London Guardian. She currently divides her time between New York and Philadelphia, and is a voting member of the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards.
Michael Hollinger
Michael Hollinger is a professor of Theater at Villanova University, where he teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses. His published plays have been produced widely throughout the United States and abroad, and his works include "Opus," "Red Herring," "Incorruptible," and "An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf." His work as a lyricist and book writer on musicals include "TouchTones," "A Wonderful Noise," and "Moon Over the Brewery." His most recent play, "The Holy Grail of Memphis," was produced at Philadelphia's Arden Theatre in 2024.
Michael is married to the actor/teacher/director Megan Bellwoar; together they have two children, Benjamin and Willa.
