Savory Thymes Hosts Benefit for MTC New Play Program Today

Savory Thymes hosts a benefit for Marin Theatre Company's New Play Program today, October 6, 2013, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. at Hillside Gardens in Mill Valley. All proceeds benefit the 47-year-old nonprofit theater's New Play Program, which develops new work for the American theater, supports playwrights in their creative process and engages audiences with the best contemporary new plays. The benefit will feature hors d'oeuvres and fine wines, a conversation between MTC's artistic director Jasson Minadakis and playwrights Bill Cain and Lauren Gunderson and an exclusive first reading of excerpts from Cain's new play-in-development 33.

Tickets are $75 per person. Guests RSVP with MTC through development manager Susan Gordon, susang@marintheatre.org, (415) 388-5200, ext. 3317.

Attendees will have the opportunity to meet and mingle with Lauren Gunderson, playwright of the upcoming MTC world premiere I and You that opens on October 10, and Bill Cain, the only playwright to win the Steinberg/American Theatre Critics New Play Award (the top regional theater playwriting prize) two years in a row for Equivocation and 9 Circles, both of which were produced at MTC in 2010. Cain and Gunderson will engage in a lively panel discussion with artistic director Jasson Minadakis, who has directed numerous world premieres at MTC, about how new plays are born. The afternoon will include an exclusive first look at Cain's new play-in-development 33.

All proceeds benefit Marin Theatre Company's New Play Program. MTC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

Savory Thymes benefit in support of Marin Theatre Company's New Play Program is set for Sunday, October 6, 2013, 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. at the Hillside Gardens, Mill Valley*. Parking: Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley - There will be shuttle service from MTC to Hillside Gardens (5 minute ride) *Parking is prohibited at Hillside Gardens. Hillside Gardens is not wheelchair accessible.

Special guests:
Bill Cain, playwright
Lauren Gunderson, playwright
Jasson Minadakis, MTC artistic director

TICKETS: $75 per person. RSVPs must be received by October 4. CONTACT marintheatre.org, 415.388.5200 x3317 or development@marintheatre.org.

ABOUT THE SPECIAL GUESTS:

Bill Cain is the author of Equivocation and 9 Circles, both of which won the Steinberg/ American Theatre Critics New Play Award and had their early lives at Marin Theatre Company before being produced around the country. 9 Circles won MTC's 2011 Sky Cooper New American Play Price and received its World Premiere at MTC. Equivocation was produced at MTC during the 2009-10 season. Cain's other plays include How to Write a New Book for the Bible, which debuted at Berkeley Rep, and Stand-Up Tragedy, which began at the Mark Taper Forum before moving to Broadway.

An award-winning playwright living in San Francisco, Lauren Gunderson wrote MTC's upcoming world premiere I and You (October 10-November 3, 2013). Her work has been produced and developed at companies across the US, including Berkeley Rep, Crowded Fire Theater, Impact Theatre, Magic Theatre, SF Playhouse, Shotgun Players, TheatreWorks, the Kennedy Center, South Coast Rep, the O'Neill, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Actors Express Theatre in Atlanta, and Second Stage Theatre and Lark Play Development Center in New York City. She is a Playwright in Residence at The Playwrights Foundation.

Jasson Minadakis is in his eighth season as artistic director of MTC, where he has directed The Whipping Man, Waiting for Godot, Othello, the Moor of Venice, The Glass Menagerie, Edward Albee's Tiny Alice, the world premiere of Seagull, Happy Now?, Equivocation (San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle Award for best director), the world premiere of Sunlight, Lydia, The Seafarer, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, A Streetcar Named Desire, said Saïd,Love Song and The Subject Tonight is Love. As artistic director of Actor's Express Theatre Company, he directed The Pillowman, Bug, The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Echoes of Another Man, Killer Joe, Burn This, The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?, Blue/Orange and Bel Canto. As producing artistic director of Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival, he directed Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, Chagrin Falls (2002 Cincinnati Entertainment Award for Best Production) and numerous others, including 19 productions of Shakespeare. Regional credits include The Whipping Man at Virginia Stage Company, Cat on a Hot Tin Roofand Hamlet at Georgia Shakespeare, Copenhagen at Playhouse on the Square (2003 Ostrander Theatre Award for Best Dramatic Production) and Bedroom Farce at Wayside Theatre. In 2004, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Creative Loafing and Southern Voice named him best director of the year.

ABOUT MTC'S NEW PLAY PROGRAM:

MTC is committed to exploring and developing new work for the American theater, supporting playwrights with their creative process from conception to production and engaging audiences with the best contemporary new plays. Through multiple programs, MTC seeks out writers and champions projects for continued life on the MTC stage and beyond. With our commissioning program, new play prizes, new play staged readings series, playwright residencies and a commitment to world premiere productions, MTC promotes the future of the American theater.

ABOUT SAVORY THYMES:

The mission of Savory Thymes is to convene artists, grassroots organizations and activists in order to cross pollinate ideas, build relationships and alliances, and provide a space to galvanize support for a wide variety of social and environmental initiatives. Established in 2005 by Ali Ghiorse, Savory Thymes supports and educates the public about local and sustainable systems within the context of grassroots movements and the arts, through events that celebrate the beauty, the tastes, and the textures of the Earth.

ABOUT MTC:

Founded in 1966, Marin Theatre Company is the Bay Area's premier mid-sized theater and the leading professional theater in the North Bay. We produce a six-show season of provocative plays by passionate playwrights from the 20th century and today in our 231-seat main stage theater, as well as a five-show Theater Series for Young Audiences in partnership with the Bay Area Children's Theatre in our 99-seat studio theater. We are committed to the development and production of new plays by American Playwrights, with a comprehensive New Play Program that includes productions of world premieres, two nationally recognized annual playwriting awards, readings and workshops by the nation's best emerging playwrights and membership in the National New Play Network. Our numerous education programs serve more than 6,000 students from over 40 Bay Area schools each year. MTC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.