The Playwrights' Center to Present Reading of Winter Miller's New Play SEED, 4/7

The Playwrights' Center presents a reading of Core Writer Winter Miller's new play SEED, directed by M. Graham Smith, on Monday, April 7, at 7 p.m., as the last event in the Center's 2013-14 Ruth Easton New Play Series. The reading is free and open to the public. The Playwrights' Center is located at 2301 E. Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis.

SEED takes place in a surreal, post-apocalyptic world in which our worst fears about big agriculture have come to pass. But people survive, bargaining for food, falling in love, making homes in the most unlikely of places-and building toward a revolution. In this bleak but romantic oddball comedy set 50 miles north of old Lake SamWalton, Annie and Claret defend their territory, Mic sells seeds on the black market and Mrs. B romances a giant, handsome spider. Meanwhile in Monsanto's labs, scientists engineer a detoxifying salmon and vegetables that bounce.

"With this play, I'm thinking about the inequities of how rich our rich are today and how that's not sustainable," says playwright Winter Miller. "I don't know what's going to happen, but I know that's a recipe for environmental disaster. You can't just keep stepping on people; eventually they revolt." She continues, "I am perpetually curious (often enraged, occasionally overjoyed) about much of what I observe out in the world. Through plays I'm questioning my own values and choices and wanting to provoke an audience to be self-reflective."

Playwrights' Center Producing Artistic Director Jeremy B. Cohen says, "With SEED, Winter demonstrates an urgency about the inequalities of our food system, but it's handled in a way that really engages the audience. It's a play in which the delicious and unexpected hide around every corner - it hits your head and heart simultaneously. Expect to walk out of the theater a little riled up."

Winter Miller is an award-winning playwright, a founding member of the Obie-recognized collective 13 Playwrights (13P) and a Core Writer with the Playwrights' Center. She is best known for her drama IN DARFUR which premiered at the Public Theater, followed by a standing room only performance at their 1800-seat Delacorte Theater in Central Park, a first for a play by a woman. Miller's other plays include THE PENETRATION PLAY, PATERNITY, the musical AMANDINE and THE ARRIVAL. She is a playwriting instructor and mentor, and as a journalist she wrote for The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Boston Globe and Variety. Her full bio is available at wintermiller.com.

The Ruth Easton New Play Series provides Playwrights' Center Core Writers with 20 hours of workshop time to develop a new play in collaboration with top-notch actors and other theater artists. The workshops culminate in a public reading, giving audience members a uniquely intimate and accessible way to experience the thrill of raw new work and be part of the creative process.

Seats for the reading of Seed are free and going fast-reservations are recommended. Reserve your seats by visiting www.pwcenter.org, emailing info@pwcenter.org or calling (612) 332-7481 x110.