@dramatistsguild @suzemallen

I recently had the good fortune of speaking with Amy Mueller, Artistic Director of Playwrights Foundation in San Francisco. This July they are producing the 38th annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF) at Tides Theatre and were awarded a $35,000 NEA grant to produce it! The festival features seven new plays, one up from last year and Amy is gushing.

“It’s an exciting year, and though I am inclined to say that every year, I really mean it. This group of plays is eclectic, really varied in style, tone, genre, topic and perspective. The seven plays, written by three young emerging playwrights and four seasoned veterans, represent the wide world in which we live and are absolutely inspiring and exciting.”

The Playwrights Foundation markets the Bay Area Theatre Festival as a “New Play Lovers’ weekend in the heart of San Francisco”. Their website entices audience members with this description: “Innovation and transformation drives this year’s festival, featuring SEVEN local and national playwrights presenting their ambitious, groundbreaking new works this summer. Take part in shaping today’s cultural landscape: see the development of tomorrow’s great American plays firsthand and meet the brilliant artists who build them.”

The selection process for the festival is quite rigorous and each full-length play has to be vetted by two or three readers. All plays must be at least 60 pages, unproduced and have a “singular voice” or unique perspective. While the call for submissions is national, Playwrights Foundation aspires to include at least two or three local writers or playwrights who have strong roots in the Bay Area. There is also criterion to have at least one emerging playwright who is in graduate school or just graduating. This year’s playwrights are Tearrance Chishlom, Kara Lee Corthron, Christine Evans, Lauren Gunderson, Sam Lahne, Brendan Pelsue, and Geetha Reddy.

Ms. Gunderson and Ms. Reddy are both Bay Area playwrights and Christine Evans has made San Francisco her artistic home away from home.

Of course the festival is not the only highlight of Playwrights Foundation whose tag line is “Theater in the Making”. The company launched the Resident Playwright Initiative in 2008 and boasts ten resident playwrights who have a four-year commitment to PF and in return get an artistic home plus development support and collaboration opportunities. The current residents are Jon Bernson, Gamal Abdel Chasten, Dipika Guha, Lauren Gunderson, Chinaka Hodge, Geetha Reddy, Kate E. Ryan, Andrew P. Saito, Jonathan Spector and E. Hunter Spreen.

At the end of this year, four writers are graduating. To fill those slots, Amy and her readers invite playwrights who have a vision for their work, write strong plays and have submitted their work to The Bay Area Theatre Festival. Open submissions start July 17^th and run until October 2015. There is a $20 fee for submissions. (Students or playwrights who have financial hardships can contact the Literary Manager to request a fee waiver.) Submissions are also considered for PF’s other programing: the Rough Readings Series, INKubator Workshops, and Producing Partnerships. This year Playwrights Foundation has play producing partnerships with Central Works for the Lauren Gunderson play, Aida and the Money Machine and with Crowded Fire for Geetha Reddy’s On a Wonderverse, which is part of the festival this summer.

Amy and Artistic Associate and Literary Manager, Karen Piemme, are also hard at work with their staff raising funds to hire a Managing Director so they aren’t spread so thin. Amy has been Artistic/Executive Director for 15 years and it is clear that she is passionate about playwrights.

“We love and support playwrights at Playwrights Foundation because we believe that they have the capacity and special skills needed to really capture our time, not only in theatre but across new media. Our mission is to help them pursue viable careers. It’s important. Hiring a Managing Director will free me up to also work with playwrights who have submitted but did not get selected. I could talk with them about their work and their vision and see what else we can offer them.”

And Amy wants you to know that “the door is always open here at PF” and she encourages playwrights to submit their plays. And you’re in luck. Tis the submission season - July 17 through mid October. Get those plays to the Playwrights Foundation!

You can find out more about Playwrights Foundation at www.playwrightsfoundation.org.

sallen@dramatistsguild.com

Bay Area Theatre Festival rehearsal