La Jolla Playhouse Kicks Off Projects for Inaugural WITHOUT WALLS Festival Today

La Jolla Playhouse has announced the major projects and partners for its inaugural Without Walls (WoW) Festival of site-based work, running today, October 3 - 6, 2013. This one-of-a-kind Festival will showcase events occurring simultaneously in and around The Playhouse Theatre District, presented by The Playhouse as well Festival partner institutions: Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) and UC San Diego.

Featuring 12 to 15 site-based works by local, national and International Artists, the WoW Festival will serve as a cultural and artistic hub, including a vibrant central Festival Village, where patrons can gather to eat, drink and share their experiences. Like the spontaneous nature of WoW productions, the Festival Village will be a casual space with communal dining tables, a stage for live music and break-out areas featuring small performances and artist salons. Local San Diego breweries will be on hand to pour the best in craft brews in a beer garden atmosphere, and The Playhouse will continue its successful Foodie Friday series with a selection of food trucks available throughout the day. The Festival Village will be the first place to open and last place to close every day. It will be the space where artists and patrons mingle, where people from different parts of the city meet and exchange ideas, the place to break bread and toast to new friends.

"Our previous WoW offerings have each been singularly remarkable experiences - all extended by popular demand, demonstrating that San Diego audiences have a voracious appetite for unique theatrical events. The WoW Festival gives us the opportunity to create a spectacular community-wide event that will continue to transform our customary idea of theatre," said Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley.

Funded by a generous grant from The James Irvine Foundation, WoW is a La Jolla Playhouse program designed to break the barriers of traditional theatre. Since 2010, The Playhouse has been commissioning and presenting a series of site-specific productions at locations throughout the San Diego community. Underscoring the theatre's mission of providing "unfettered creative opportunities for the leading artists of today and tomorrow," coupled with the idea that The Playhouse is defined by the work it creates - not the space in which it is performed - WoW is designed to offer theatrical experiences that venture beyond the physical confines of The Playhouse's facilities.

Admission to the Festival Village, including Village-based performances, is free, with tickets for select shows priced at $25 or less. Tickets to the Festival productions will go on sale in the spring. Artist information and photos will be available at www.LaJollaPlayhouse.org.