UCSB Department of Theater/Dance Presents 2025 LAUNCH PAD Amplify Reading Series Festival
Over 70 artists and staff come together for a dynamic week of rehearsals, design brainstorming, and artist roundtables culminating in two days of public readings.
By: A.A. Cristi Apr. 15, 2025
Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, LAUNCH PAD to present readings of dynamic new plays by professional playwrights Leo Cabranes-Grant, Matthew Paul Olmos, A. Rey Pamatmat and Megan Tabaque during the upcoming LAUNCH PAD Amplify Reading Series Festival.
Over 70 artists and staff come together for a dynamic week of rehearsals, design brainstorming, and artist roundtables culminating in two days of public readings on Friday, April 25 and Saturday, April 26, 2025.
“This is our 4th Amplify Festival since 2020, and we cannot wait for these superb writers to collaborate with our students at UCSB. There is a special alchemy that occurs when veterans and emerging artists work together,” shares LAUNCH PAD Artistic Director, Risa Brainin. “We are so looking forward to bringing their wonderful stories to life.”
Adds Festival co-director Annie Torsiglieri, “The week provides a unique opportunity for our students to engage with working playwrights, directors, and dramaturgs. It's a thrill to be in these rooms with playwrights making revisions and actors absorbing new material every day.”
Torsiglieri is also the faculty mentor for the Festival's producing partner, UCSB's Amplify, a student-led initiative focused on elevating underrepresented voices via theater. Says Torsiglieri, “Audience members and artists alike deeply experience the lives of those whose stories are being told. In this way, theater can change the world, opening minds and hearts and creating opportunities for greater empathy and understanding. ”
LAUNCH PAD Amplify Reading Series Festival
Presenting four new plays in UCSB's Studio Theater:
that drive thru monterey
Directed by Rose Portillo
APRIL 25 | 4:00PM*A Mexican-American woman in 1971 Los Angeles falls in love amidst mysterious premonitions about what lies ahead for her.
The Crossing Party
by Leo Cabranes-Grant
Directed by Sara Rademacher
APRIL 25 | 8:00PM*
Two American families --one anglo, one mexican-- intersect their histories in Los Angeles through the friendship of their children amidst an unwelcoming political environment.
Masters of Fine Arts
by A. Rey Pamatmat
Directed by Katherine Chou
APRIL 26 | 1:00PM
Hidden within a play with no story is the story of five MFA candidates arguing about whether or not plays always have stories... by telling each other stories.
The Rink at the End of the World
by Megan Tabaque
Directed by Risa Brainin
APRIL 26 | 5:00PM*· A motley crew of figure skaters train, complain, destroy, and rebuild each other on a quest to achieve the impossible.
Livestream available at launchpad.theaterdance.ucsb.edu/reading-series/amplify/festival-2025.
Santa Barbara Awards - Live Stats
Best Musical - Top 3
1.
SHREK (Central Coast Theatre Company)
22.4% of votes
2.
LEGALLY BLONDE (Central Coast Theatre Company)
17.5% of votes
3.
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (Theatre Group at SBCC)
15% of votes
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