Bay Area Playwrights Festival Set for Now thru 7/28 at Thick House Theater

The Playwrights Foundation's 36th Annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF) will take place today, July 19-28, 2013 at the Thick House Theater in San Francisco. BAPF 2013 is a diverse and eclectic cycle of work that builds on the past three plus decades of new plays at BAPF, highlighting a range of voices that span cultures and generations, from emerging playwrights to honored veterans. The six selected plays are by playwrights Laura Schellhardt, Prince Gomolvilas, Jiehae Park, Erin Bregman, Kimber Lee, and Joan Holden. The plays range from the mysterious to the metaphysical; from wittily deconstructing the current political crisis on the Korean Peninsula to a play celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Free Speech Movement.

"The creative capacity and artistic range of this group of writers is extraordinary. And, they are asking very important questions about our world - abandoning conventions of time and space, utilizing language, rhythm and theatrical device in excitingly innovative ways." remarks Amy Mueller, Playwrights Foundation's Artistic Director. "These writers span decades - from exceptional young voices, just breaking into the field, to proven veterans exploring new territory - this year is a choose-your-own-experience kind of festival."

BAPF 2013's six full-length works, chosen from over 500 submissions explore the American experience both historically and today. Laura Schellhardt's The Comparables is a ballsy satire between three women at the top of their game; The Brothers Paranormal by Prince Gomolvilas real and imagined Ghosts, in a Thai style sci-fi mystery; Hannah and the Dread Gazebo by emerging playwright Jiehae Park - North vs South Korea can't stop the wild beasts of the DMZ; Erin Bregman's play Before & After grapples with memory, afterlife, a metaphysical journey; brownsville song (b-side for tray) by recent PONY Award winner Kimber Lee- Poetic, dreamlike, tragic - the cost of inner city violence;FSM by legendary, Bay Area playwright Joan Holden, is a musical about the Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley. A producing partnership with Oakland's Stagebridge Theatre.

All 2013 Bay Area Playwrights Festival performances take place at the Thick House Theater,1695 18th Street. In addition to readings BAPF includes the New Play Institute playwriting classes, interactive dialogue with playwrights and directors, a Playwrights Panel, and the annual Symposium. For tickets and more information, visit www.playwrightsfoundation.org.