SAN FRANCISCO ONE-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL Set for 12/15 & 16

Playwrights Foundation and the New York based company, The One-Minute Play Festival (OMPF) today announce their joint presentation of the Third Annual San Francisco One-Minute Play Festival, to be performed on December 15 and 16, 2012.

Following sold- out performances in the past two seasons, this year’s festival will be the largest, most inclusive, and most ambitious collaboration between PF and OMPF to date. The Festival will feature 70 brand new One Minute Plays by 40 playwrights of the Bay Area’s growing pool of exceptional contemporary writers, among them are some of the most important artistic voices in the nation. Artists will be working on this emerging short form to explore the relationship of the individual voice to the zeitgeist of a specific region. The writers have several weeks to complete scripts, with the only stipulation being that they can be performed in one minute.

“When I started the OMPF almost seven years ago in New York, we did so out of a need to create a space fof dialogue and artistic challenge. I had no idea our work would spread like a wild fire to communities across the country,” reflects Dominic D’Andrea, OMPF’s Founder and Artistic Director. “Working with Playwrights Foundation to bring our One Minute Play Festival to San Francisco for the third time feels like a home coming for us, and I’m thrilled to continue this thriving partnership with the artistic community.”

The 3rd Annual San Francisco One-Minute Play Festival will take place Saturday, December 15th at 8PM and Sunday, October 16th at 3PM and 8:00 p.m. at The Thick House, 1695 – 18th Street, on Potrero Hill in San Francisco. Space is extremely limited. Tickets are $18 and will be available through Playwrights Foundation at www.playwrightsfoundation.org, starting November 15, 2012, or $25 at the door.

Playwrights are selected by invitation and asked to engage in OMPF’s playmaking approach, with Mr. D’Andrea providing dramaturgy to sharpen the dramatic story telling. Playwrights are encouraged to write about anything they are passionate about, and, as emerging themes or ideas become apparent, the plays are grouped into “clumps” to reflect those elements. Teams of directors and actors work to stage each clump of plays. And the result: 70 fully mounted plays, all staged with 4 chairs.

“A night of 70 one-minute plays by phenomenally talented writers is an incredible journey, a veritable thrill- ride for audiences”, according to PF’s Artistic Director, Amy Mueller who has been working with D’Andrea on the SF OMPF for three years. “If you like a fast-paced, fun evening, where your mind and heart get twisted and turned for 70 minutes of non-stop theater, you’ll enjoy the SF OMPF.”

The 2012 Festival will feature specially commissioned works by Trevor Allen, Tim Bauer, William Bivins, Erin M. Bregman, Eugenie Chan, Chris Chen, Victoria Chong Der, Anthony Clarvoe, Megan Cohen, Bennett Fisher, Elizabeth Gjelten, Garret Jon Groenveld, Lauren Gunderson, Daniel Heath, Chinaka Hodge, Joan Holden, Robert Henry Johnson, Lynne Kaufman, J.C. Lee, Jeffrey Lo, Aaron Loeb, Jonathan Luskin, Katie May, Patricia Milton, Marisela Treviño Orta, David Perez, Evelyn Jean Pine, Kenn Rabin, Geetha Reddy, Kate E. Ryan, Steven M. Salzman, Marissa Skudlarek, Jonathan Spector, Aimee Suzara, Brian Thorstenson, Arisa White, Kim Yaged, & Ignacio Zulueta.

Directors include: Jill MacLean, Ben Randle, Paul Cello, Desdemona Chiang, Amy Clare Tasker, Dawn Monique Williams, and Susannah Martin.

“I’m honored to announce that almost every writer is repeating their participation”, says D’Andrea, “and that we’ve been able to extend the opportunity for some new artists to join this year as well. OMPF is alive and growing in SF!”

The One--Minute Play Festival (OMPF) is an NYC-based theatre company, founded by producing artistic director Dominic D’Andrea. OMPF works in partnership with theatres and organizations in cities across the country who share missions devoted to new plays and/or a community-specific focus. In each city, OMPF creates a locally sourced playwright-focused community event, with the goal of promoting the spirit of radical inclusion by representing local playwrights of different age, gender, race, cultures, and points of career. The work attempts to reflect the theatrical landscape of local artistic communities by creating a dialogue between the collective consciousness and the individual voice; and by giving a voice, through theater, to the current collective conscious found in a specific region.

OMPF works with partnering organizations to identify programs or initiatives in each community to support with the proceeds from the work. The goal is to find ways give directly back to the artists in each community. Supported programs have ranged from educational programming, youth poetry projects, teaching artists working in prisons, playwright residencies and memberships, and community arts workshops.

OMPF has partnered with theaters in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New Brunswick, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Boston, Miami, Minneapolis, and New York. Current and past partnerships include: Primary Stages, Victory Gardens Theatre, Cornerstone Theatre Company, INTAR Theatre, Boston Playwrights Theatre, Actor’s Express, InterAct Theatre, Mixed Blood, Passage Theatre, and others.

Some notable contributors to OMPF have included: David Henry Hwang, Neil LaBute, Tina Howe, Donald Margulies, Nilaja Sun, Lydia Diamond, Phillip Kan Gotanda, Michael John Garces, Kristoffer Diaz, Rajiv Joseph, Sam Hunter, Jose Rivera, Lisa Loomer, Craig Lucas, Greg Kotis, Michael John Garces, along with over 500 famous and emerging writers.

For more information visit: www.oneminuteplayfestival.com