The Playwrights Foundation Announces 36th Annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival

The Playwrights Foundation has announced the winners of the 36th Annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF) that will take place July 19-28, 2012 at the Thick House Theater in San Francisco. Of the six selected plays, three are by Bay Area playwrights Joan Holden, Prince Gomolvilas and Erin Bregman; and three are by New York emerging artists Jiehae Park, Laura Schellhardt and Kimber Lee. Running the gamut from a fever dream in the North/South Korean DMZ to a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Free Speech Movement - each of these plays use bold, beautifully poetic and dramatic language and vivid characters to tear into the very fabric of contemporary political and social upheaval - globally and locally.

Laura Schellhardt -The Comparables; high drama, high stakes, high comdedy - women battle it out at the top of the glass ceiling;

Prince Gomolvilas - The Brothers Paranormal; A Sci-Fi Drama - Thai style. With ghosts, real and imagined.

Jiehae Park- Hannah and the Dread Gazebo; North and South Korea can't stop the wild beasts of the DMZ or a grieving family from venturing into the thicket.

Erin Bregman - Before & After; The After Life. After It All. And Before. Tres metaphysical.

Kimber Lee - brownsville song (b-side for tray); Intensely tragic - the human cost of inner city violence is unfathomable. Laced with gorgeous poetic imagery and dream-like sequences.

Joan Holden - FSM; a musical celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Free Speech Movement, 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. Tickets go on sale on June 1. For more information, visit www.playwrightsfoundation.org.

San Francisco / Bay Area Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. URINETOWN (Ghostlight Theatre Ensemble)

16.7% of votes

2. THE DAY THE SKY TURNED ORANGE (San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company / Z Space)

8.6% of votes

3. SWEENEY TODD (Cabrillo Stage)

8.4% of votes

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