Hate Mail
by Bill Corbett and Kira Obolensky
The Studio@620 presents Hate Mail by Bill Corbett and Kira Obolensky, February 10th, 11th, and 13th and February 18th-20th at 8:00 PM.
A loose parody of A.R. Gurney's Love Letters, Hate Mail is a hilarious comedy that tells the story of Preston, a spoiled rich kid who meets his match in Dahlia, an angst-filled artist. Their worlds collide when Preston sends a complaint letter that gets Dahlia fired from her job, and follows them through their increasingly crazed correspondence as they move from hate to love, and then right back again.
Directed by T. Scott Wooten
Starring Gavin Hawk and Meg Heimstead
About The Cast and Crew
T. Scott Wooten (Director) T. Scott is originally from the great state of Arkansas & has been living in St. Pete & working with American Stage Theatre Company for over 6 years. He is proud to be among the legion of fine Tampa Bay Area stage artists & is an Actor, Director, Writer, Sound Designer, & the Artistic Director of Economic Stimulus Productions (live theatre fully-funded by the U.S. Government). If you most recently saw “Fully Committed”, “The New Century”, or “Tuesdays With Morrie” at American Stage, or “Mr. Wooten’s Big Nite!” (the first play produced here at Studio 620!) back in 2005, then you’ve been witness to T. Scott’s work.
Gavin Hawk (Preston) Gavin is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Eckerd College, where he teaches acting and directing. He was last seen at The Studio@620 in the one man show Circumference of a Squirrel, which was chosen by Creative Loafing as one of the top ten plays of 2008, and was given a subsequent run at American Stage. In addition to Hate Mail, Gavin can also currently be seen in the long-form improvisation piece titled The Dumb Show every first Sunday of the month at American Stage. He has acted in many other productions around the country, including Gross Indecency at the Huntington Theater in Boston, Over The Tavern II: King o' the Moon at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, and The Cider House Rules at the California Repertory Theater. Gavin holds a Diploma in Acting from The Juilliard School and holds an M.F.A. in Acting/Directing from California State University, Long Beach.
Meg Heimstead (Dahlia) Meg has been a professional actress and teacher for 13 years. Most recently she was seen as Barbara in the Gorilla Theatre's production of Christmas Trio and as Becca in Jobsite's production of Rabbit Hole. Meg has worked with the California Shakespeare Festival in Berkley, CA, Summer Repertory Theatre in Santa Rosa, CA, American Stage in St. Petersburg, PlayMakers Repertory Theatre in Chapel Hill, NC, freeFall Theater and Jobsite Theater in Tampa, and The Backlot Theater in Sarasota. Favorite roles include Darlene in Hurlyburly, Alex in On The Verge, Gwen in Embedded, Barbara in Acts of Faith, and Modron in Sleeping Beauty. She also directed and performed in The Vagina Monologues for American Stage. Meg holds a B.F.A. in Theatre Performance from the University of Evansville in Evansville, IN. She also attended the Professional Actor Training Program at University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. By day, Meg is the Director of Education for American Stage Theatre Company.
Bill Corbett (Writer) Bill Corbett's play The Stuff of Dreams recently toured the country, produced by the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. His play The Big Slam has been produced at numerous theaters across the U.S., including Woolly Mammoth in Washington, D.C.; ACT in Seattle; and actor Jeff Daniels' Purple Rose Theater in Chelsea, Michigan. For four years Mr. Corbett was a writer for Mystery Science Theater 3000 on the Sci-Fi Channel, and previously on Comedy Central. He was nominated for a Cable Ace Award in 1997 for Best Comedy Writing. He was also an actor on the show, providing the voice of the robot "Crow" and performing various other characters. His other plays include Heckler; Ridiculous Dreaming (an adaptation of Heinrich Boll's The Clown, commissioned and produced by the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis); Hate Mail(co-written with Kira Obolensky), produced by Primary Stages in New York and numerous other theaters; Down the Pike, winner of the Actors Theater of Louisville National One-Act Contest; short plays Manifesto and Hunters, produced by the HBO Writers Project in Los Angeles; Cash Karma, first produced by the Organic Theater in Chicago; and Motorcade, produced at theaters in the U.S., Canada, and Japan. Mr. Corbett has been a contributing writer to National Public Radio's Prairie Home Companion and All Things Considered, and was co-creator of the animated web series Poker Night on Icebox.com. He has also been a member of the acting companies at the Guthrie Theater and the Berkshire Theater Festival, and has taught playwriting at Kenyon College in Ohio, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, and numerous other universities and schools. He is a Core Member of The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, where he earned an MFA in playwriting and screenwriting. Before that, he received a BA from Yale College. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Mr. Corbett currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Kira Obolensky (Writer) Kira Obolensky's plays include Hate Mail,written with Bill Corbett; Lobster Alice (Jungle Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Stages Theater); and The Adventures of Herculina (Next Theater, Frank Theater). She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as the Kesselring Prize (for Lobster Alice). New work in progress includes Quicksilver (produced in 2003) and A Modern Home. A graduate of Williams College, Ms. Obolensky also attended Juilliard's Playwriting Program.