San Francisco Playhouse Production Of YOGA PLAY Moves To Laguna Playhouse

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.

"Yoga Play resonated with Bay Area audiences who not only responded to its humor and passion but most especially understood the mirror it held up to contemporary society," said Bill English, Artistic Director of San Francisco Playhouse. "We were honored that Laguna Playhouse wanted to share our production with Southern California audiences, who we expect will have a similar response. We couldn't be more excited to bring this hysterically funny and spiritually deep work to Orange County."

At the top of their game, yoga apparel giant Jojomon is hit with a terrible scandal that sends them into freefall. Desperate to recover their earnings and reputation, newly hired CEO Joan stakes everything on an unlikely plan. Yoga Play is a comedic journey towards enlightenment in a world determined to sell it.

Members of the original cast that will move to the Laguna Playhouse include Bobak Cyrus Bakhtiari*, Susi Damilano*, Ayelet Firstenberg*, and Ryan Morales. Joe Estlack* will join the Laguna Playhouse production.

San Francisco Playhouse's production of Yoga Play was made possible by season producer Andrew S. Teufel; executive producers Betty Hoener and Gary & Dana Shapiro; producers David & Colleen Leof and Peggy Skornia; and associate producers Bruce Colman, Tom & Mary Foote, Nancy Thompson & Andy Kerr, and Eddie Schaefer & Betsy Gilbert.

Dipika Guha (Playwright) was born in Calcutta & raised in South India, Russia and the United Kingdom. Her plays include Yoga Play (South Coast Rep, Moxie Theatre & SF Playhouse), The Art of Gaman (Theatre 503 London, Relentless Award semifinalist) and Unreliable (Upcoming: Kansas City Rep). Recent works includes Azaan, a play for Oregon Symphony Orchestra, In Braunau for Playwrights Horizons Theatre School (also presented as a world premiere as part of the San Francisco Playhouse 2017-2018 "Sandbox Series"), contributions to You Across From Me (Humana, Actors Theatre of Louisville) and Elizabeth for the McCarter Theatre's Princeton and Slavery Project. Dipika's current commissions include South Coast Rep, Manhattan Theatre Club/Sloan, Barrington Stage and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She was a Hodder Fellow at the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University, the inaugural Shakespeare's Sister Playwriting Fellow with the Lark Play Development Center, A Room of Her Own and Hedgebrook and is a current Venturous Fellow for her play Passing. Dipika earned her undergraduate degree at University College London, a Frank Knox Fellowship from Harvard University and an M.F.A from the Yale School of Drama under Paula Vogel. For television she's written for American Gods, Paradise Lost, Sneaky Pete and is currently writing for Rainy Day People at AMC.

Bill English (Director) is a co-founder and Artistic Director of San Francisco Playhouse, and in sixteen years with Susi Damilano, has guided its growth from a bare-bones storefront to the second-largest theatre in San Francisco. He designed the first theatre space at 536 Sutter Street and personally reconfigured a barn-like 700-seat hall to the currently gracious and intimate 199-seat venue. Along the way he has served as director, actor, set and sound designer, winning San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle nominations or awards in all those categories. Bill is also an accomplished musician and builder. Milestone accomplishments include bringing Pulitzer Prize-winner Stephen Adly Guirgis to the Bay Area by directing three of his plays, commissioning twelve playwrights including Theresa Rebeck, Aaron Loeb, Lauren Gunderson, Lauren Yee, and Christopher Chen, and developing world premieres from workshops to "Sandbox Series" to the Playhouse main stage to Off-Broadway (including the New York productions of Ideation and Bauer), and presenting the very first production of Grounded by George Brant which later played at The Public Theatre. He coined the phrase "the empathy gym" and it drives everything at the Playhouse.

San Francisco Playhouse: Founded in 2003 and boasting 2800 subscribers, San Francisco Playhouse is the only mid-sized professional venue in downtown San Francisco-an intimate alternative to the larger more traditional Union Square Theater fare. Presenting a diverse range of plays and musicals, San Francisco Playhouse produces new works as well as re-imagined classics, "making the edgy accessible and the traditional edgy." And with its bold "Sandbox Series," dedicated to nurturing world premieres, the Playhouse has become a significant player in developing new works as well. San Francisco Playhouse is committed to providing a creative home and inspiring environment where actors, directors, writers, designers, and theater lovers converge to create and experience dramatic works that celebrate the human spirit.

Laguna Playhouse is an historic Equity theatre located in the charming arts colony of Laguna Beach, California. Steps away from the Pacific Ocean, Laguna Playhouse is known for its year-round season of captivating comedies, dramas, musicals, stand-up comedy and family fare. Named "Best in OC" in Live Theatre in 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 by the OC Register, Laguna Playhouse was founded as a community theatre in 1920, Laguna Playhouse is one of the oldest continuously operating, not-for-profit theatres on the West Coast. A member of the League of Resident Theatres, Laguna Playhouse often features stage and screen stars who come to Laguna Beach for its upscale lifestyle, pristine beaches, fine dining, and numerous artistic offerings, all within minutes of the theatre. In addition to its theatrical offerings, Laguna Playhouse hosts a wide variety of performing artists on its Moulton Stage throughout the year. Laguna Playhouse invites children as well as adults to attend special productions designed for young audiences. Actors of all ages share their talents through Laguna Playhouse Youth Theatre. Laguna Playhouse actors also visit local schools with educational productions, which have been honored by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, Arts Orange County and the Orange County Department of Education.

*Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers. Copyright © 2019 San Francisco Playhouse, All rights reserved.
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