UW Drama Launches New Play Workshop Series

As part of its 75th Anniversary Season, the University of Washington School of Drama is hosting a New Play Workshop Series with the goals of championing new and diverse voices in both the regional and national theatre community.

Each play in the series will be workshopped for 7-9 days with UW Drama students and guest artists. At the end of the process, each play will be presented in the form of a public reading. The series includes plays by Clarence Coo, Oni Faida Lampley, Karen Hartman, Philip Kan Gotanda, and Yussef El Guindi. Directors include Valerie Curtis-Newton, Chay Yew, Kurt Beattie, and Desdemona Chiang.

SCHOOL OF DRAMA NEW PLAY WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

The Tale of the Heike

In partnership w/ ACT Theatre

Written by Philip Kan Gotanda & Yussef El Guindi; Directed by Kurt Beattie

Venue: Penthouse Theatre

Public Readings: January 22, 23, 24 (Friday - Saturday at 7:30pm; Sunday at 2pm)

The Tale of the Heike is one of the most influential works in Japanese literature and culture, remaining even today a crucial source for fiction, drama, and popular media. Originally written in the mid-thirteenth century, it features a cast of vivid characters and chronicles the epic Genpei war, a civil conflict that marked the end of the power of the Heike and changed the course of Japanese history.

Sons

In partnership w/ The Hansberry Project

Written by Oni Faida Lampley; Directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton

Venue: Jones Playhouse

Public Readings: March 4, 5, 6 (Friday - Saturday at 7:30pm; Sunday at 2pm)

Sons is a slice-of-life story revolving around an African American family living in Brooklyn. The play centers on 17 year old Artest as he struggles to find his place in a world that offers limited choices for young black men.

People Sitting in Darkness

In partnership w/ Azeotrope

Written by Clarence Coo; Directed by Desdemona Chiang

Venue: Penthouse Theatre

Public Readings: April 1, 2, 3 (Friday - Saturday at 7:30pm; Sunday at 2pm)

In this comic adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream set in the early 20th-century Philippines, a small town prepares to stage a performance for their American occupiers. Their play, based on an American novel about a young boy and an escaped slave rafting down the Mississippi, will either earn the townspeople their freedom --or more trouble from the US military.

Goliath

Written by Karen Hartman; Directed by Chay Yew

Venue: Penthouse Theatre

Public Reading: April 24 at 2pm

Told in two parts, Goliath illuminates the personal and political impact of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The play begins in Gaza on a single tense day during the 2005 Israeli pullout, as an American settler, her teenage zealot son, their Palestinian employee, an Israeli Army commander, and a young Ethiopian soldier face off over ideals, economics, and home. The play then shifts to a present day American college campus as students and faculty clash over University policy around Israel.

All readings are open to the public. Tickets range from $8-10 and are available online or over the phone through the ArtsUW Ticket Office, 206-543-4880 / drama.uw.edu/performances. The ArtsUW Ticket Office is located at 1313 NE 41st Street, open Monday-Friday, 11 am-6 pm.

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