Santa Barbara Public Library and PlayFest Santa Barbara Announce 2022 Reading and Workshop

PlayFest Santa Barbara, under the Artistic Direction of R. Michael Gros, in partnership with the Santa Barbara Public Library presents the (covid-delayed) Ninth Annual Festival of New Plays. The staged reading of Jerry Slaff's Honoree Play, LIES, will take place at the Santa Barbara Central Library on Saturday, APRIL 30th, at 6 p.m. LIES was selected as the 2021 Honoree play following an international competition. The featured Readers for this event are seasoned local actors Leesa Beck, Brian Harwell, and E. Bonnie Lewis.

This is the third year that PlayFest has partnered with the Santa Barbara Public Library, which offers free, all-ages programming to the Santa Barbara community. "Partnering with the Santa Barbara Public Library, and hosting the event at the Central Library, enables PlayFest to reach the greater Santa Barbara community and offers participants a unique opportunity to learn about the playwriting process," stated Artistic Director, Michael Gros.

LIES takes place in1950 as an inexperienced public defender tries to win the parole of a notorious German World War II radio propagandist who has a hard time telling the truth. Or does she? Are her truths all lies? Or are her lies really the truth? And what happens when you can no longer tell the two apart? Though set in 1950, LIES is as timely as today's Washington tweets and television and radio talk shows. LIES is an allegory about lying in government, and a meditation on what is actually the truth.

A post reading talkback between the audience and the playwright will immediately follow the reading. The reading is free and open to the public, and will be held in the Fireplace Room at the Santa Barbara Central Library, located at 40 East Anapamu Street.

The 2022 Festival also incorporates a free playwriting workshop on Saturday, April 30th. The workshop will be taught by the Honoree playwright, Jerry Slaff, and is open to the general public and writers of all ages. With the lively guidance of Jerry Slaff, the workshop participants, through a series of individual and group writing experiments, will explore and deepen their playwriting skills and begin to create a short written theatrical work. No experience is necessary, however, an interest in playwriting is a plus. The workshop will also take place at the Santa Barbara Central Library in the Technology Lab from 10:30 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.

The workshop is free, however, reservations are required as capacity in the workshop is limited in order to assure more individualized coaching. Follow the links to reserve a workshop slot.

Workshop registration: https://santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=36024

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