Playwrights' Center Sets 2015-16 Season of New Play Readings

The Playwrights' Center has announced the plays and Core Writer playwrights to be featured in its 2015-16 season of free public readings, comprising the 2015 PlayLabs new play festival and the 2015-16 Ruth Easton New Play Series. The plays and playwrights:

PLAYLABS:

· "Small Town Values" by Kathryn Walat

· "Halftime with Don" by Ken Weitzman

· "The Hidden People" by Joe Waechter

RUTH EASTON NEW PLAY SERIES:

· "Scientific Method" by Jenny Connell Davis

· "ENCYCLOPEDIA" by Rachel Jendrzejewski

· "Seek" by Susan Soon He Stanton

· "California Love" by Alice Tuan

· "A Guide for the Homesick" by Ken Urban

These events are the public components of the play development work at the 44-year-old Playwrights' Center, where 60+ plays in total are workshopped each year. PlayLabs and the Ruth Easton New Play Series represent the Center's most intensive play development opportunities for playwrights, allowing Core Writers time to hone their scripts with collaborators and see their new work on its feet in front of two different audiences. The readings feature top local and national actors and incorporate design elements, elevating the staged reading to an intimate art form all its own.

"These are brave plays by truly original writers," says Playwrights' Center Producing Artistic Director Jeremy B. Cohen. "There's a real diversity of form and genre this year, from more lyrical and experimental pieces, to comic adventures, to family dramas and beyond. But each play carries at its heart moments of intimacy and great revelation. I'm so excited to share these stories with Twin Cities new play fans and visiting artists from around the country."

PLAYLABS, October 12-18

For more than 30 years, the PlayLabs festival has been one of the nation's most in-depth play development programs, providing Playwrights' Center Core Writers 30 hours of workshop time and two readings. For audiences, it's an exciting opportunity to experience the future of American theater, as over 75% of the plays featured in PlayLabs over the past decade have gone on to production. Two plays from last year's festival already have world premieres slated this theater season: Philip Dawkins' "Le Switch" at About Face Theatre and Sarah Gubbins' "Cocked" at Victory Gardens Theater.

PlayLabs 2015 runs October 12-18 at the Playwrights' Center. In addition to the three featured plays, audiences are invited to a showcase of work by the Center's playwriting fellows, a panel discussion, and a Saturday night party. All events are free and open to the public.

The 2015 PlayLabs festival will feature "Small Town Values" by Kathryn Walat on October 12 and 16 at 7 p.m.; "Halftime with Don" by Ken Weitzman on October 13 at 7 p.m. and October 17 at 1 p.m.; and "The Hidden People" by Joe Waechter on October 14 and 17 at 7 p.m. The Playwriting Fellows Showcase is October 18 at noon, and the panel discussion October 18 at 2:30 p.m.

Details and reservations at pwcenter.org/playlabs.

RUTH EASTON NEW PLAY SERIES, December-April

Now in its 11th year, the Ruth Easton New Play Series gives selected Core Writers 20 hours in workshop and two public readings.

Plays recently seen in the Ruth Easton New Play Series that have productions upcoming this theater season include Gabriel Jason Dean's "Terminus" (The Vortex), Mona Mansour's "The Way West" (Labyrinth Theater Company), Samuel D. Hunter's "The Few" (CoHo Productions, Steep Theatre), and Idris Goodwin's "The REALNESS: A Break Beat Play" (Merrimack Repertory Theatre).

The 2015-16 Ruth Easton New Play Series will feature "Scientific Method" by Jenny Connell Davis, "ENCYCLOPEDIA" by Rachel Jendrzejewski, "Seek" by Susan Soon He Stanton, "California Love" by Alice Tuan, and "A Guide for the Homesick" by Ken Urban.

Details at pwcenter.org/ruth-easton-series.

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