Setting the Stage for the Playwrights Festival

We are two weeks away and counting down to the arrival of our playwrights. They are preparing for 3 weeks of work with the 36^thAnnual Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and things are cooking in the offices as we get ready for them.

Most people will never know about all the hard and yet joyous work that goes into setting the scene for the festival, but let's take a look behind the veil here. Right now, we’re…

• Signing the leases on the playwrights’ gorgeous Victorian flat in the sunny Mission district of beautiful San Francisco...

• Finalizing details for their retreat at the Black Mountain Retreat Center in relaxing Cazadero, CA...

• Setting rehearsal schedules for all the plays at Thick House Theater and other local spaces...
  
  
  
  
  
•  Gathering nationally known artists, including:
  
  Richard Montoya (of Culture Clash) and Founding Artistic Director of Sojourn Theatre in Portland, Michael Rohd to fill our panels and lead other special events...

Richard Montoya

Michael Rohd

•  And FINALLY, mailing postcards and otherwise getting out the word as we prepare for ticket sales beginning . Go here to purchase!

Next week we reveal the faces of the office, and get an insider look into the lives and ambitions of Playwrights Foundations powerhouses, so keep checking back! 

Welcome to Bay Area Playwrights Festival 2013!

We’re at it again - It’s Bay Area Playwrights Festival season!  While our playwrights are finalizing rehearsal drafts, we’re madly gathering their artistic teams – over 75 creative theater peops—who will descend upon Playwrights Foundation in July to delve into six extraordinary theatrical journeys – fine tune, upend and excavate in a process that is deep, collaborative and rich. And we invite you to experience it all at The Thick House.

The Annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival always features plays by astoundingly talented emerging voices alongside treasured veteran virtuosos. This (our 36^th) year, the writing ranges from the grittily real to the matter-of-factly surreal, from lyric tragedy to ballsy satire. Playwrights are Laura Schellhardt, Prince Gomolvilas, Jiehae Park, Erin Bregman, Kimber Lee, and Joan Holden.

All six of their stories investigate, in some way or other, the meaning of Community, Family and Memory, where echoes from the past drive, inhibit and otherwise indelibly mark the present. These exquisitely wrought, highly theatrical pieces feature ghosts, both literal and figurative; protests that change lives and protests that take lives; note cards full of memories, and one “100% genuine, bona-fide heart’s desire-level wish.” Oh, and there’s plenty of humor. It is our hope that each writer gets to learn more about their plays in a process that pushes each artist from great to exceptional. Hearing the work can be an imaginative and magical experience for the audience.

Each year we gather our artists and create community, family and memories for ourselves over three short weeks, and we fill in our spare days and hours with all manner of special events catering to all kinds, from the brainiac to the food-lover, so you can immerse yourself in theater, ideas and networking for 10 days straight. So don’t stop at the plays—come to everything and become part of the Playwrights Foundation family, creating significant memories alongside us!

SAVE THE DATE: Tickets go on sale July 1^st (and as usual we have lots of great packages and deals of offer). Stay tuned, and check out the festival lineup here.

FESTIVAL BLOG: We will be updating the blog every week, so come back and meet everyone!