The Reading was an annual program at Ballroom Marfa between 2011 and 2013 which offered a staged reading of a winning script from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ annual Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. The program aimed to bring the screenwriter together with an actual audience at an early point in the creative process and included performances at Marfa’s Crowley Theater, panel discussions with the screenwriter and others involved with the project. Presented as part of Ballroom Marfa’s year-round Film Program, the screenwriter of the winning script was selected from among five Nicholl Fellows by a committee of filmmakers.

Ballroom Marfa’s distinguished Filmmakers’ Selection Committee of Academy Award winning screenwriter Diana Ossana, executive producer and screenwriter Andrew Marlowe, and pioneering agent, entertainment executive and Producer Robert Shapiro selected The Jumper of Maine from the group of 2010 Nicholl Fellowship winners. It is the story of a paramedic with Tourette’s Syndrome forced to come to terms with his life and condition when he falls in love.

The Reading was directed by Dallas-based veteran director/actor John S. Davies and produced by Carolyn Pfeiffer and Nancy Sanders. A cast from Dallas and Marfa included Drew Wall, playing the lead role of “Oliver.” Wall received the Outstanding Performance as an Actor Award by the DFW Critics Forum (2009), was named Best Young Actor by the Dallas Observer (2009), and won the Best Male Supporting Performance from D Magazine/Best in Theater (2010).

The role of Meredith was played by Dallas veteran actress, Angie Bolling. With a resume including roles in Friday Night Lights, Swingtown, Prison Break, Walker Texas Ranger, RoboCop 3, Dallas, and A Woman of Independent Means, Bolling is a seasoned professional in both the film and theatre worlds.

The considerable talents of local Marfa actors were also on display. Harry Hudson, Susannah Lipsey, Camille Willaford, Felix Benton, Cory Van Dyke, Jennie Lyn Hamilton, Steve Holzer, Sam Schonzeit, and James Rodewald will perform significant roles in this Ballroom presentation.

Ballroom Marfa presented two performances of the screenplay at the Crowley Theater (at 3:00 P.M. and 8:00 P.M), each followed by a panel discussion with the screenwriter Lanham and director Davies and, moderated by the former head of Warner Studios, Robert Shapiro.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting is considered by many as the world’s most esteemed screenwriting competition. Each year up to five $35,000 fellowships are awarded to writers who have previously earned less than $25,000 writing for film or television. The competition received a record 7,197 entries in 2012. Established with the intent of helping struggling screenwriters focus on improving their craft, the Fellowships are awarded with the understanding that the recipients will each complete a feature-length screenplay during their fellowship year. Previous winners have included Susannah Grant, who went on to earn an Academy Award nomination for her original screenplay Erin Brockovich; Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jeffrey Eugenides; and Ehren Kruger, writer of Paramount Picture’s box office hit Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

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