Cygnet Theatre Presents Second Annual New Play Festival, Now thru 11/3

Cygnet Theatre, in collaboration with Playwrights Project, is proud to present the second annual Playwrights in Process: New Play Festival. Cygnet Theatre has long been committed to celebrating human stories through the medium of Live Theatre. Playwrights in Process will present four readings of new plays by Rachael VanWormer, Ross Tedford Kendall, Robert John Ford and Todd Goodlett, each of whom is a Southern California playwright or a writer with strong regional connections. The four winners were selected from 54 submissions from across the country.

This festival will introduce San Diego playgoers to new works and will also offer a series of workshops designed to introduce curious audiences to the art of new play development. An exciting feature of the three-day festival at the Old Town Theatre is facilitated talk-backs with each playwright following the readings.The festival is sponsored by Bill & Judy Garrett.

"Cygnet Theatre is firmly dedicated to the fostering of new plays and emerging playwrights," said Artistic Director Sean Murray. "We hope to continue to grow the festival and we're extremely pleased with the level of talent we saw in this year's submissions and selections."

Playwrights in Process 2013: Playwrights and Synopsis

Death of a Late Summer Songbird, by Rachael VanWormer. Inspired by situations depicted in Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the play explores relationships in the rural south in an effort to answer why a young girl would send an innocent man to his death.

VanWormer, a local actor, playwright, and teaching artist, has literally grown up on San Diego stages. She has appeared in numerous productions for both theaters, including Cygnet Theatre's Arcadia, The Matchmaker, The Little Foxes, Curse of the Starving Class and the Playwrights Project's American Idyll, The Best Mistake, and Lifted. She was also a winner of the Playwrights Project's 2001 California Young Playwrights Contestand a 2011 Participant in its Play by Play program.

Pleasure and Pain, by Ross Tedford Kendall. While his wife is away on a trip, a meek hotel manager enlists the services of a young dominatrix to deliver the sexual satisfaction he's missing; when his wife unexpectedly returns early, a firestorm of expectations, beliefs, and desire erupts.

Kendall graduated from USC's Master of Professional Writing program and received a multidisciplinary M.F.A. writing degree in 2005. He is a regular attendant at Lee Wochner's Words That Speak playwriting workshop, 2005-present. He is a member of Moving Arts Theatre Company in Los Angeles.

Sleeping Dogs, by Robert John Ford. Two mothers work to uncover the facts surrounding a car accident that has left one woman's son dead and the other woman's son comatose. Their investigation, which reveals disturbing circumstances surrounding the accident, ultimately forces the mothers to re-examine both their own identities and those of the sons they thought they knew so well.

Ford, who worked at the Old Globe Theatre for 15 years, is currently participating as a lyricist/librettist in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop in NYC, a two-year program focused on the development of new musicals. Prior to this, he had no formal playwriting or theatre education.

Off the Map, by Todd Goodlett. Frightened by disasters and tragedies headlining the news, heavily-armed senior citizens, Eunice and Arlen, retreat to the desert with a stockpile of water, ammunition, and SPAM to prepare for the end of the world.

Goodlett is an actor and a playwright. His plays have been developed and produced at the Moving Arts Theater in Los Angeles (2008), Scripteasers in San Diego (2008), and The Complex in Hollywood (2006). His play, The Zapruder Film, was presented at the 2010 New American Playwrights Project at the Tony Award-winning Utah Shakespeare Festival. He holds a BA in Performing Arts from Texas Tech University. He is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

CALENDAR of EVENTS
TONIGHT, Friday, November 1, 2013
7:00 pm: Kickoff Reception, Cygnet Theatre's Elaine Lipinsky Patio
8:00pm: Reading of Sleeping Dogs

Saturday, November 2, 2013
6:30 pm: Workshop TBD
8:00pm: Reading of Pleasure and Pain

Sunday, November 3, 2013
2:00 pm: Reading of Off the Map
4:15 pm: Workshop TBD
6:00 pm: Workshop TBD
7:30 pm: Reading of Death of a Late Summer Songbird

TICKET INFORMATION / PRICES
Festival Pass: $30
Includes access to:
- All 4 Play Readings
- All of the Workshops
- Kickoff Reception on the Elaine Lipinsky Patio on Friday night

Ticket to One Reading: $10
Includes access to:
- 1 Play Reading
- All Workshops