A.C.T.'s The Strand Hosts PianoFight's ShortLived VIII Finals

For the first time in its 12-year history, the San Francisco-based PianoFight will present The Finals of the nation's largest, audience-judged theater competition, ShortLived VIII, at American Conservatory Theater's Strand Theater. The Finals' performances at The Strand will wrap up a nine week competition, featuring over 200 Bay Area artists creating 48 world premiere plays, staged for over 2,000 audience members who score each production. The group that scores the highest at the end of The Finals will be crowned the ShortLived VIII champion and awarded a $5,000 cash prize.

ShortLived VIII runs Fridays at 8pm, and Saturdays at 5pm and 8pm, from June 14 through August 10 at PianoFight, 144 Taylor Street. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at www.PianoFight.com. The ShortLived VIII Finals will run at ACT's The Strand Theater, 1127 Market Street, September 6th and 7th at 8pm. Tickets for the finals will go on sale after the close of Round 8 of the Regular Season of ShortLived VIII.

"Obviously we're excited," says PianoFight Artistic Director Rob Ready. "A.C.T. is the biggest, most prestigious theater company in the Bay Area, so to have them sign on to host the ShortLived VIII Finals at The Strand is an endorsement that the indy artists who've created work for this competition for years belong on one of the marquee stages of the region." Adds A.C.T. Associate Artistic Director Andy Chan Donald, "We're thrilled that PianoFight is hosting its incredible ShortLived VIII Finals at The Strand. The competition has a history of presenting exceptional emerging artists, from recent A.C.T. mainstage playwright Lauren Yee (The Great Leap) to A.C.T. ArtShare alums like Bennett Fisher (Candlestick) and Faultline Theater (Where the Boys Are). It's always exciting to watch talented young artists at the beginning of their careers, and we can't wait for this year's ShortLived VIII Finals to showcase the very best of them on our stage."

Each of the first eight weeks of competition are Regular Season Rounds, held at PianoFight, featuring six short plays per week, that range from dramatic plays, comedic sketches, devised work, musicals, movement-based pieces to solo acts. The audience scores each piece on a scale of 1-10. The piece that scores highest in each round clinches a spot in The Finals (September 6-7) at The Strand. The group that wins The Finals is crowned the ShortLived VIII Champion and awarded $5,000.

Of the 48 writers selected for this year's competition, they range from individuals to writing teams, sketch groups to theater companies and include former ShortLived finalist Christian Simonsen (part of Killing My Lobster writers pool); Rose Oser, Weston Scott and Christian B. Schmidt (the team behind Tinderella: The Musical); Imran G and Stephen Ku (stand up comedians); Bingewatch (improv group); and Emma Mercier (AEA actor turned playwright) to name a few. The full list of ShortLived VIII playwrights can be found at www.PianoFight.com/ShortLived-VIII

Thousands of audience members scoring over 200 artists in 48 plays over 9 weeks to crown one champion - PianoFight's ShortLived VIII is the largest audience-judged theater competition in the country, and only you can decide the winner.

Round 1: June 14-15

Hot Pockets- Richard Ciccarone
Vampire Blood- Matt Ginsburg
Cat Poop Makes you do Weird Shit- Lauren Gorski
The Goatherder's Dilemma- Maria Diploudis
Lady Madonna- Colette Gunn-Graffy
The Beautiful Laundromat- Rex Bressler

Round 2: June 21-22

The Official Unicorn Hunters' Guide- Madison Wetzell
The Upgrade- Stacey Winn
Guardian: A Betrayal- Mads Leigh-Faire
21st-Century Mauve- Veronica Dolginko
The Hot Seat- Alan Kaatz
My Life as a Modern Homosexual- Christian Heppinstall

Round 3: July 5-6

The Performance- Genie Carter
Saving Mr. Bezos- Jordan Thewlis
Learning How to Die- Akaina Gosh
Cactus- Ryan Cicak
The River Sticks- Marcia Aguilar & Marie Broadway
Dust Thou Arf- Liana Emley

Round 4: July 12-13

Uber- Christian Simonsen
I'm Gone. I'm So Gone. I Swear I'm Leaving Right Now.- Emma Mercier
Holiday Bonus- Dan Linley
Embrace the Fire Within- Amanda Lee
B-13- Kurt Weitzman
If Boys Will Be Boys- Annette Roman

Round 5: July 19-20

Ghost Problems- Imran G & Stephen Ku
The Ten Thousandth Hour- Rebecca Kurland
As You Like It - Joanne Goldberg
Even a Buddhist Has a Breaking Point- Matthew Weinberg
Everything We Do is Hard- Rebecca Capper
The Sims' Sims Jr.- Pero Theater Company

Round 6: July 26-27

Hamilton Too- Calvin Albright & Tyler Smith
Hiiiii - Alanna McFall
The Origin of the Tooth Fairy- Kayla Mahoney
Rare Book Collectors- Shaun Plander
It's In the Cards- David Cole
The Church of Bruce- Liz Baker, Kiernan Mooney, Rob Thomas,

Round 7: August 2-3

Wheel of Fortuna- Bridgette Dutta Portman
Judgemental- Loîc Pichot
Hannu Come On- Rose Oser, Weston Scott, and Christian B. Schmidt
Billy Bob's All-Ages Gender-Fluid Body-Positive Burlesque-O-Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong Extravaganza- Binge Watch Sketch Group
White Lace Curtains- Sean Owens
Super-Plus Fixer Squad- Album Comedy

Round 8: August 9-10

You May Not Fire When Ready- Andrew Sarran
Falling- Sunil Patel
Messages from Down There- Ai Ebashi
Mom's House- Tom Bruett
The Test- Victoria Evans Erville
Dr. Do Less- Vincent Brusser