M.F.A. Alumna is a Finalist for National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center Alumni Profile

What attracted you to Point Park’s low-residency M.F.A. in writing for the screen and stage program?

I was looking for an M.F.A. program that was intellectually rigorous, creatively stimulating and manageable for a full-time working professional. Point Park's program, with its combination of online courses and in-person residencies, was perfect for my needs.

How did the coursework and faculty enhance your student experience?

The faculty in Point Park's M.F.A. program are accomplished, award-winning playwrights and screenwriters. They know what is required to be successful in these industries, and they have created courses that combine theory with practical application. They are also wonderfully generous in sharing their own stories and real-world experiences, which is truly invaluable. As a result, you complete the program knowing how to write better scripts and why certain choices or techniques make sense in particular circumstances. You graduate feeling prepared to take the next steps forward with your work.

You are a finalist for the prestigious National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. What does this honor mean to you as a playwright?

Being recognized as an O'Neill finalist was an incredibly gratifying moment of external validation. Like a signpost telling me, "Yep. You're going in the right direction." It's also been unbelievably motivating for me in terms of continuing to put in the work on current projects I have in process.

For the People, my O'Neill play, actually started out as an assignment in Molly Rice's class and became my graduate thesis project. It's been rewritten several times since I completed the M.F.A. program, but that first draft with Molly and the first rewrite I did with Matt Pelfrey helped me to create the 'strong bones' for the script that I was then able to build on.

Play summary

Thirty-one-year-old Pittsburgh City Councilor Meg Cabot is the first openly lesbian elected official in the state of Pennsylvania. She’s less than a month into her first term when a vicious hate crime targeting the city’s Lesbian and Gay Community Center puts Meg in the middle of a media maelstrom. But this tragedy leads to possibility when Meg’s new national visibility catches the attention of Democratic Party leaders, who see in Meg a rising star.

With her hard-driving chief of staff steering her toward a once-in-a-lifetime professional opportunity, Meg decides how far she’ll go to advance her career and whether it’s possible to be both a successful politician and a good person.

New Play Exchange

Learn more about Carol's work on the New Play Exchange website. 

What advice do you have for prospective M.F.A. students?

If you're looking for a program that prepares you to do your best writing, challenges you to work hard and continue to get better, offers you the opportunity to explore writing for a wide variety of formats, and enables you to learn from and be guided by experienced industry professionals, Point Park's M.F.A. in writing for the screen and stage is the right creative home for you.

Final thoughts?

I loved my time as an M.F.A. student in the MWSS program. It was energizing and inspiring and really invaluable to my development as a playwright. Definitely one of the best investments I've ever made.

Connect with Carol Mullen '18

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