CTG and Humanitas Seek Submissions for PLAY LA Workshop

Center Theatre Group and HUMANITAS will be accepting submissions from Los Angeles-based playwrights from January 15 to February 29, 2016, for the second edition of its PLAY LA Workshop. Writers will receive a $1,500 stipend as well as input from theatre, film and television professionals throughout the year. At the end of the process, one play will be featured as a workshop at the Kirk Douglas Theatre as part of PLAY LA's weekend celebration of new plays in the winter of 2017.

Award-winning playwright and screenwriter Shem Bitterman will oversee the PLAY LA Workshop. "The focus of the PLAY LA Workshop will be to develop new plays from the ground up," Bitterman says. "On given nights guests ranging from show runners to literary managers to studio execs will be invited to discuss the plays in progress or aspects of craft. Also, we will draw on the greater theatre community, collaborating with companies like The Road Theatre and The Skylight Theatre to host readings-in-progress of the plays being developed. My intention is to give PLAY LA Workshop members all the tools they need to create plays as they see fit. The hallmark will be openness and mutual respect. The main thing is to offer writers a place to create freely and to realize their visions."

In the inaugural year, guests have included Pier Carlo Talenti, CTG's Director of New Play Development; Mike Binder, (writer, director "The Upside of Anger," "Black or White"); Craig Wright, (playwright, TV creator, "Dirty Sexy Money," "Greenleaf"); and Christopher Mack, VP of Warner Brother's Television Workshop.

The workshop will meet once every three to four weeks for twelve three-hour working sessions, from April through December 2016. Attendance is mandatory. Writers interested in participating should submit two 10-page samples from two different plays along with a resume by no later than February 29 to: playlaworkshop@humanitasprize.org. Applicants will be notified of the decision in late March 2016.

Shem Bitterman has written over 30 produced plays and screenplays. Awards include PEN USA Award ("Harm's Way"), CBS/FDG New Play Program ("Iowa Boys"), Kennedy Center Fund For New American Plays ("Beijing Legends"), SCR California Playwrights Competition ("The Ramp"), LA Drama Critic Circle's Ted Schmitt Award ("The Job"). His teleplay "Betty & Coretta" was nominated for a HUMANITAS, and his most recent teleplay, "Whitney," directed by Angela Bassett, secured him a 2016 Image Award nomination. In 2011, Shem initiated the PlayLab at LA's Skylight Theatre which has been responsible for mentoring more than 25 original plays from the idea stage to completion.

Center Theatre Group is Los Angeles' leading non-profit theatre company, programming seasons at the Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center, and the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to providing theatre of the highest caliber to the vibrant, diverse communities of Southern California, CTG supports a significant number of arts education, community partnership and play development initiatives.

Since its inception in 1974, The HUMANITAS Prize honors film and television writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced, meaningful way. A signature HUMANITAS story challenges us to use our freedom to grow and develop, confronts us with our individual responsibility and examines the consequences of our choices, while also entertaining us with fully realized characters and elegantly crafted stories. The overarching goal of HUMANITAS is to promote peace and love in the human family - one story at a time.

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