Playwrights Writing for TV Set for REAL TALK / KIP TALK at Atwater Village Theater

Barker Room Rep announced today that REAL TALK / KIP TALK, a series of live talk shows about the state of contemporary performance, will be presented at the Atwater Village Theater, November 10 & 11.

The late night panels are part of a trio of performances produced by Barker Room Rep, Los Angeles-based experimental theater company, which also includes the West Coast premiere of Erin Courtney's A Map of Virtue, November 2-18 and Sam's Tea Shack by Sam Soghor and Ben Gassman, November 16-18.

REAL TALK / KIP TALK, executive produced by Eliza Bent and directed by Sarah Hughes, is a series of live talk shows about the state of contemporary performance, hosted by Kippy Winston. Formatted like a talk show but with room for debate. The series blurs the lines between art and life and challenges participants of all stripes and creeds to engage in real talk about our starry performance landscape.

On Friday, November 10 at 10 p.m., the panel discussion will focus on the state of local theatre. Some questions audiences can expect to be explored: What does local theatre mean in the context of LA? Is there such a thing as a national American theatre when American means so many different things? Since so many playwrights write for television, is TV the new local theatre? Participants include special guest Michael John Garcés, Artistic Director, Cornerstone Theater Company and panelists Sylvan Oswald, playwright and writer LaShea Delaney, and playwright Ken Greller.

On Saturday, November 11 at 10 p.m., discussions will be centered on the experiences of panelists as playwrights writing for TV. Guests will include playwright and screenwriters Jeff Augustin (TNT's Claws, Little Children Dream of God), Christopher Peña (HBO's Insecure and The CW's Jane the Virgin), and Daria Polatin (Amazon's Jack Ryan, Palmyra) and an interview with Bruce A. Lemon Jr., Artistic Director of Watts Village Theater Company.

The REAL TALK / KIP TALK creative team includes:

Kippy Winston (Creator) Kippy's musings on art, life, and culture have taken on unique forms over the years and have included a weblog, or flog (faux blog), a late gossip column "Just Ask Kippy," and of course the seminal-and semi-autumnal-publication The Radish (Prelude '13 and '14). Most recently, Winston has steered a robust press agency repping all manner of artists. Kippy transcends genre, gender, form, and content. Journalism meets hedonism in Winston's wordplay.

Eliza Bent (Executive Producer) is a playwright and performer based in Brooklyn, NY. A former senior editor at American Theatre magazine, a performer with the Obie-award winning company Half Straddle, and an adjunct lecturer at Brooklyn College where she received an MFA in playwriting. New York: Real Talk / Kip Talk (Abrons), On a Clear Day I Can See to Elba (reading at the Atlantic, workshop at the New Ohio), Toilet Fire (JACK, Abrons, the Brick), Blue Wizard / Black Wizard (Incubator #RIP), The Hotel Colors (Bushwick Starr). Awards: Payne Award for Outstanding Theatrical Event (The Beyonce), MacDowell Fellow, Casa Zia Lina Fellow, Artist-in-Residence at Abingdon Theatre, LMCC Process Space grant, U.S. Embassy of Iceland grant. Alum: New Georges Audrey Residency, The Working farm at SPACE on Ryder Farm, Target Margin Institute Fellow.

Sarah Hughes (Director) is a director and producer of theater and new media. Sarah worked with Elevator Repair Service from 2007-14, assistant directing Gatz, The Select, Arguendo, Shuffle, and Fondly, Collette Richland off-Broadway and/or on tour. She has developed new plays, performance art pieces, devised works, and multiple immersive installations. She has created several Virtual Reality companion pieces for New York Theatre Workshop, The New York Times, and Penguin Random House. Sarah's work has been seen at Abrons Arts Center, The Brick, The Bushwick Starr, The Segal Center, PEN World Voices, Columbia University, Signature Theater, BAM Next Wave, The Flea, Prelude, and CATCH, among others. She is Co-Artistic Producer of Target Margin Theater and co-teaches a class on Contemporary Theater at Dartmouth College.

Real Talk / Kip Talk shows will take place Friday, November 10 and Saturday, November 11, both at 10 p.m. Tickets range from $15-$20. Atwater Village Theater is located at 3269 Casitas Avenue, Los Angeles, 90039. For theater information and to purchase tickets, visit www.barkerroomrep.org.

Barker Room Rep is a new experimental theatre company based in Los Angeles, established in 2016 with the production of two one acts; Playing Uno with Gil by Jacob Burstein-Stern and Paki-Man by Mark Sitko. Named for the room on the Brooklyn College campus where MFA playwriting students gather to workshop their plays with Mac Wellman, Barker Room Rep aims to showcase the work of the most creatively ambitious playwrights writing today; providing a space for inclusive, diverse, and controversial stories, and fostering artists and art that reflect these values. With a simple philosophy, Barker Room Rep aims to produce plays that are pieces of art. Plays that speak to the modern mind. Plays that challenge the [ ]. Fill in the blank.

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