Emmy-nominated screenwriter to discuss long-term environmental and cultural effects of 2010 BP oil drilling disaster

Leigh Fondakowski to present at U of M Dec. 1

Emmy-nominated screenwriter, playwright and Tectonic Theater Project member Leigh Fondakowski will speak at 4 PM Thursday, Dec. 1 at about her upcoming work based on s with the people of coastal Louisiana following the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling explosion. The event will be held in the U of M’s Nolte Center for Continuing Education at 315 Pillsbury Drive Southeast, Minneapolis.

Sponsored by the U’s Institute for Advanced Study, Fondakowski’s presentation will highlight her production’s exploration of the environmental and human cost of the pursuit of oil. The presentation will also include a visual installation of life-sized portraits of the ees.

Fondakowski has ed scientists, environmentalists, oil workers, families who lost members on the Deepwater Horizon, business owners, government officials, community leaders, fishing families and ordinary citizens whose lives and livelihood depend on the delicate estuary systems along the Gulf Coast.

Fondakowski was the head writer of “The Laramie Project” and has been a member of Tectonic Theater Project since 1995. She is an Emmy-nominated co-screenwriter for the adaptation of “The Laramie Project” for HBO. Her work, “The People’s Temple,” has been performed at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Perseverance Theater and The Guthrie Theater, and received the Glickman Award for best new play in 2005. Another original play, “I Think I Like Girls”, premiered at Encore Theater in San Francisco under her direction and was voted one of the top 10 plays of 2002 by “The Advocate.” Fondakowski’s most recent work, “Casa Cushman,” explores the life of 19th century actress Charlotte Cushman. One of the most important actresses of her time, Cushman was famous for her interpretation of the leading roles in Shakespeare