Playwrights From Around the Globe Have Strong Bay Area Ties
The 34th annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF) is just a month away! As always, we have put together a roster of the most exciting up-and-coming playwrights from around the country (and Australia!) to provide a theatrical experience unlike any other. Between them, the seven playwrights have had work produced at such esteemed venues as the Kennedy Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Soho Rep; they have received extensive accolades including the Sloan Script award, a MacDowell Colony fellowship, and Australia’s Monash national playwriting award. We are particularly excited, though, by the fact that, even with their rising national and international presences, this exceptional group of playwrights is proud to maintain strong connections to the Bay Area.
Chinaka Hodge, who contributes a new one-act play to the Bay Area SHorts (BASH!), is a native of Oakland who is proud to have worked with Intersection For the Arts and 826 Valencia, and performed at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Black Box Theatre in Oakland, and La Pena Cultural Center in Berkeley. Ms. Hodge continues to turn to her Oakland roots for inspiration with her BASH contribution, 700th & Int’l (the title refers to the longest and roughest street of East Oakland extended into the geography of the afterlife, as the actual Boulevard extends only through the 100s). The fantasy explores the powerful bond of friendship between two talented and determined “‘hood chicks” as they train and compete for track titles, navigating life and death on Int’l Boulevard.
The Festival also features new work by two relative newcomers to the Bay Area theater scene, playwrights who have quickly adopted this community as their own. Lauren Gunderson, who brings ROCK CREEK: SOUTHERN GOTHIC to the Festival, has been a San Francisco resident for the past two years. In that short time, she has developed close working relationships with many cutting-edge area theaters, including Marin Theatre Company, SF Playhouse, and Aurora Theater. The rolling world premiere of her revenge comedy Exit, Pursued by a Bear (which was developed with the support of PF’s Rough Reading series) opens this summer at Crowded Fire Theater. Similarly, Kate E. Ryan, the writer of SCIENCE IS CLOSE, has recently relocated to San Francisco, excited by the artistic opportunities offered here. Ms. Ryan is one of the 13 playwrights who comprise 13P in New York whose members include such luminaries as Sarah Ruhl, Sheila Callaghan, and Young Jean Lee.
Even those playwrights that are not local feel a strong connection to the arts scene here: Dan Dietz (Home Below Zero) has been working closely with TheatreWorks in Palo Alto in preparation for the world premiere of Clementine in the Lower Nine this October. Jackie Sibblies Drury has worked previously with San Francisco’s Magic Theatre on her Festival play, WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT A PRESENTATION…, making the Bay Area a powerful pipeline for the future of these two new works. Rounding out the festival, these five playwrights are joined by newly emerging playwrights Clarence Coo, a recent graduate of Columbia University, and Amelia Roper, a Master’s student at Yale from Melbourne, Australia. Both playwrights explore formal theatrical genres in work that crosses the boundaries of nation, identity, and time.
PF Alumni on Broadway and Beyond
This is such an exciting time for Playwrights Foundation! PF alumni are breaking into the mainstream in record numbers. Rajiv Joseph’s BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO received its very first reading at PF in 2006 and is now finishing up a Tony-nominated run on Broadway starring Robin Williams. THE MOUNTAINTOP, by Katori Hall, was first developed in 2008 through our Rough Reading Series and the Festival, and it is now preparing for its Broadway debut with Samuel L. Jackson in the role of Martin Luther King, Jr., co-starring Angela Bassett. Marcus Gardley’s EVERY TONGUE CONFESS, which was supported by PF early in its development in 2008, recently inaugurated Arena Stage’s brand new Mead Center for American Theatre in a production starring Phylicia Rashad and directed by Kenny Leon. These are just a few examples of the quality of writers that audiences can learn about and experience firsthand at the annual BAPF, and we look forward to finding out what successes our latest batch of Festival plays will find in the world!
Tickets on Sale Now!
Tickets are on sale NOW for the 34th annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival!
BEST DEAL! Check out these inclusive Festival Pass options. Early Bird Discounts through July 10.
A FLEX PASS allows you to attend any 4 readings of your choosing. Save $20 off the price of a single ticket if you purchase a FLEX PASS by July 10. (Please note that Flex Passes are non-transferable.)
A VIP PASS is all inclusive and will guarantees you a reserved seat to all events with no waiting in line at the Box Office. It will also gain you admission to Festival parties, and a beverage or snack of your choice at every reading you attend. Hurry — the VIP Pass price will go up to $85 on July 10, but right now it is only $75! (Please note that VIP Passes are non-transferable.)
Single tickets can also be purchased for each reading at $15 apiece — add $5 and you have any item of your choice from the Playwrights Foundation concession stand.
For more information go to http://www.playwrightsfoundation.org/index.php?p=183
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