Meet the Newbies: PF Intern Spotlight

It’s been almost a year since the 35^th Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and the new play mavericks at the Playwrights Foundation are hard at work making sure this year’s is just as good. The plays have been picked, creative teams assigned, actors are being cast, and the playwrights are anticipating some fun and focused times in the SF Bay Area to dig into their fab new scripts – some will hear drafts for the very first time, others are prepping plays for upcoming productions, and still others are upending their plays to see what will happen. With the influx of 80 plus artists to PF this summer, the staff needs just a little help in order to get such a big deal festival off the ground. And that’s where the indefatigable, uber smart interns come in – and this year there are seven! Let’s give them some time in the spotlight, shall we?

Sowmya Ashokkumar: Sowmya has kindly taken some time off from earning a degree in English at UC Berkeley in order to come help us make this year’s BAPF happen. She is a lover of the theater, and an aspiring writer herself. She’s gotten her hands dirty in UCB’s Model United Nations, so she’s proven she can think quickly and get a job done under pressure. With her assistance, BAPF will be a piece of cake.

Hillary Bray: Hillary is interested in starting her own non-profit theater company, so she’s come to the Playwright’s Foundation in search of guidance. She’s also been performing since she was five years old, so she’ll surely be providing some guidance of her own. She’s a senior at San Francisco State University, and she’s dividing her time between studies and volunteer work, so  we’re really lucky that she has time to help us with BAPF 2013.

Michaela Byrne: Michaela has given

herself, mind and body, to the theater. 

She’s been directing, acting, and working backstage for years, on everything from Shakespeare to brand new, never-before-seen plays, so she fits right in at PF. Besides all this, she’s working toward a BFA in Theater Directing at the University of Michigan. The Playwright’s Foundation is lucky to have her.

Caitlin Cox: Caitlin comes to us having just graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a BFA in Dramaturgy. For the layperson, that means that she’s really good at figuring out all the deep, dark, hidden parts of a play, as well as its historical and social context, and presenting it all clearly for an audience. She’s gotten her foot in the door working as dramaturg on musicals HAIR and Spring Awakening, and we are grateful that she’s chosen to spend her first summer out of college helping us!

Shenel Ekici: Shenel has, in her own words, grown up in the theater. She loves musicals and has indulged this love with roles in no fewer than eleven plays. She also hopes to bring her interest in literature to bear with her love for theater and drama. Shenel’s vast knowledge of the workings of theater and communication will be hugely beneficial to the team, and certainly to the plays themselves.

David Oehler: David joins the PF team during his last summer before earning an English degree at Lewis & Clark College. He’s always enjoyed story-telling, and discovered a deep love for theater in college. David has acted in and directed a few small productions at school, and he brings a strong background in writing and communication to the team. We’re grateful he can take some time off from goofing around to help out.

Nicho Yeung: Nicho has made quite the sacrifice in order to come lend her assistance to BAPF. She’s left her native Hong Kong and come to the strange and wonderful world of San Francisco for the summer, just for us. In addition to working with a variety of organizations in the past, and even serving as captain of a basketball team, Nicho is studying film at Hong Kong Baptist University. We’re really excited to see how her distinct skill and knowledge set will benefit the festival!


And there you have it. The PF 2013 Summer interns.
Thanks for reading, and keep checking back! We've got plenty of interesting stuff to read in the works and headed to this very page.

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