Playwright: Josh Tobiessen

the Play: Red State Blue Grass

Things go comically awry when five idealists try to start a commune in the mountains of Kentucky.

Answering the call of a young idealist’s webpage, five disenchanted Americans decide to start their own country in the mountains of Kentucky.  At first their newfound freedom sparkles with exciting possibilities, but what begins as a peaceful commune soon devolves into hilarious mayhem as each of its members connive to create their own personal utopia.

Biography

Josh Tobiessen (MFA, ’07) Originally from Schenectady, New York, Josh received a philosophy degree from Grinnell College in Iowa before moving to Chicago to find fame and fortune as an actor.  It wasn’t there, but he was able to pass the time working with a few of the small theatres in Chicago as well as taking classes at the Improv Olympic with Del Close and Charna Halpern. 

In 2000 Josh moved to Galway, Ireland, originally to complete a master’s degree in theatre and drama.  Upon completion of this degree, he started a Galway-based theatre company named Catastrophe with two other graduates.  Over the next few years, eight of his plays were produced by Catastrophe including Bag of Piranhas (Dublin Fringe Festival ‘02), Up the Yard (Waterford Spraoi Festival ‘04) and Parallel Parking (Galway Arts Festival ’04) for which he received a commissioning grant from the Arts Council of Ireland.  He also taught playwriting classes at the National University of Ireland, Galway and improvisational acting classes at Galway Youth Theatre. 

Josh is currently a third-year MFA student in playwriting at UCSD Department of Theatre and Dance, where his plays Burnt Out and Election Day have been performed at the Baldwin New Play Festival (’05 and ’06).  Election Day was a finalist in the Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta Georgia and will receive its professional premiere this July at Second Stage Theatre in New York.