PlayGround, San Francisco's premier theatre development lab, is hosting the nation's largest fully digital new play festival PlayGround Zoom Fest presented May 11 through June 14, 2020.
San Francisco Playhouse announced their new Empathy Gym Fireside Chat series which will be streamed live for free on YouTube. Each week, Artistic Director Bill English invites playwrights to join him for a one-hour conversation about playwriting, business, and the future of theatre. Audience members can participate in the conversation by leaving a comment on YouTube.
The Playwrights Foundation's Executive Artistic Director Jessica Bird Beza announces the 2020 dates for the 43rd annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival July 17 - 26, 2020. a?oePlaywrights Foundation is committed to developing five playwrights' new, unproduced work at the Bay Area Playwrights Festival 2020 in July...a?? remarks Jessica Bird Beza a?oeWhile there is hope that it will be possible to do so in person, we are actively developing plans to create a virtual aspect to the Festival, if necessary, due to COVID-19, to protect the health and safety of the artists, staff and audiences.a?oe
The Central Works Celebratory 30th Season continues with Queen Mair by Matthew Wells, a new play inspired by King Lear running May 9a?"Jun 7 at the historic Berkeley City Club. In Matthew Wells' new play Queen Mair it's ninety minutes before the start of the tale that is known as King Lear. The old king's wife, Queen Mair, has asked her three daughters and their nurse to join her in her private bedchamber, to say farewell to the youngest, gentle Cordelia, whose hand is about to be given in marriage. But there are other farewells to be taken, and painful secrets that must be revealed, before young Cordelia will be on her way.
The first play in Central Works 30th Season, a new play about art and scandal The Human Ounce by Nicole Parizeau has been extended thru March 22 (originally scheduled to run Feb 15a?"Mar 15). The Human Ounce by Nicole Parizeau was described at its opening as a?oeposing provocative questionsa??a?? in a a?oefiery debate.a??
Playwrights Foundation's March Rough Reading is The Pitch by Aaron Loeb, who is a Playwrights Foundation Alum, with these readings presented in partnership with San Francisco Playhouse. The Pitch by Aaron Loeb readings are on March 2, at 7:30 PM, Roble Hall, Stanford University, March 3 at 7:30PM, Theatre of Yugen (SF).
Playwrights Foundation's first Rough Reading of the year is Emmylu by Boni B. Alvarez, directed by M. Graham Smith. Using the tragic 2017 Las Vegas shooting as a point of departure, Emmylu explores how Trumpism appeals to many people of color. Readings of Emmylu by Boni B. Alvarez are on on January 13, 7:30pm, Roble Hall, Stanford University and January 14, 7:30pm, Theatre of Yugen, San Francisco.
Central Works 2020 Celebratory 30th Season begins February 15 and runs through November 15, 2020 featuring 4 new world premieres plays. The Central Works 30th Anniversary Season launches with world premiere #66, from the Central Works Writers Workshop. A new play about art and scandal, The Human Ounce by Nicole Parizeau running Feb 15a?"Mar 15 (Previews Feb. 13 &14).
San Francisco Playhouse presents the Bay Area premiere of Tiny Beautiful Things by Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated writer and actress Nia Vardalos, based on the book by best-selling author Cheryl Strayed (Wild). Bill English will direct the Playhouse production.
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the company for A Thousand Splendid Suns, adapted for the stage by Ursula Rani Sarma and based on the 2007 New York Times bestselling novel by Khaled Hosseini (Kite Runner). Set in 1992 in war-torn Afghanistan, this gripping story centers around a friendship that develops between two Afghan women following a tragedy. While facing insurmountable odds of a brutal and oppressive way of life, the two form an unlikely bond in a heart-rending fight for survival. Directed by Carey Perloff, A Thousand Splendid Suns runs January 17 - March 1, 2020 in the Kreeger Theater.
Namaste. LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE presents the second show of its 99th season, the critically acclaimed San Francisco Playhouse production of YOGA PLAY, written by Dipika Guha and directed by Bill English.
Aurora Theatre Company opens its dynamic 28th season with the Bay Area Premiere of Ike Holter's EXIT STRATEGY. Aurora's new Artistic Director Josh Costello will direct this powerful examination of the Chicago public school system.
San Francisco Playhouse is thrilled to announce that their production of Dipika Guha's Yoga Play will move to Laguna Playhouse this fall. San Francisco Playhouse Artistic Director Bill English will direct, with most of the original Playhouse cast reprising their roles in the Southern California production.
Aaron Loeb brings a dark comic edge to this psychological suspense thriller, in which a group of corporate consultants work together on a mysterious and ethically ambiguous project. As the lines between right and wrong are blurred, these characters must navigate the cognitive dissonances and moral dilemmas to decide for themselves if everything is, as it really seems.
The Mendocino Theatre Company is excited to present the third offering of its 2019 season, Aaron Loeb's comic thriller Ideation, winner of the prestigious 2014 Will Glickman Award for excellence in playwriting. The production is directed by Bob Cohen.
The Playwrights Foundation hosts Cocktails with a Playwright, a June 8 benefit from 5 - 7PM a an intimate and interactive event featuring award winning playwrights at the San Francisco Center for the Book. Celebrating new plays and engaging celebrated playwrights, the event will honor alumni playwrights Marcus Gardley, 2019 Obie Award Winner, Kristiana Rae Colon, Lauren Yee, and the inspirational leadership of outgoing Artistic Director Amy Mueller, who will be passing the torch at the end of the season after nineteen transformational years that have placed Playwrights Foundation and its playwrights squarely on the national scene.
Wasatch Theatre Company (WTC) continues 21st season with a shocking Utah premiere, IDEATION by Aaron Loab. Performances run from May 17-June 1, Friday -Sunday, at The Gateway in the WTC Black Box. Tickets are $20 and on sale now at wasatchtheatre.org.
Playwrights Foundation announces that Artistic Director Amy Mueller has decided to step down, after nearly two decades of leadership, following the annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival, July 19-28, 2019. A national search for her successor will begin in May.
Directors and Casting is set for the two PlayGround Festival premieres, A HISTORY OF FREAKS by Katie May, May 13-June 15 (Press /Opening: May 15 at 8pm), helmed by circus arts performer and director Doyle Ott and ANNA CONSIDERS MARS by Ruben Grijalva, May 20-June 16 (Press /Opening: May 22 at 8pm), helmed by San Francisco Playhouse Producing Director Susi Damilano. The productions will run in rotating repertory as part of the 25th Season PlayGround Festival of New Works, May 13-June 16, 2019. Tickets for the entire PlayGround Festival are now on sale. For more information, visit http://playground-sf.org/festival.
PlayGround has announced the lineup for its twenty-third annual ten-minute play showcase, BEST OF PLAYGROUND 23. The fully-produced evening-length program of short plays by Linda Amayo-Hassan, Tom Bruett, Lauren Gorski, Sam Hurwitt, Molly Olis Krost, Alanna McFall, and Nic A. Sommerfeld were drawn from more than 170 submissions and 36 ten-minute plays developed at this season's Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series at Berkeley Rep and will kick off the 25th Season's PlayGround Festival of New Works, May 9-26, 2019, at Potrero Stage. For more information and tickets, visit http://playground-sf.org/bestof.
Videos
