Pioneer Theatre Company Announces Titles for 2017-18 'Play-by-Play' Series

Pioneer Theatre Company announces the titles for the fifth season of its Play-by-Play new play reading series. Play-by-Play provides developmental rehearsal periods for three new plays each season. The playwright works alongside a professional director and cast for a week-long residency, culminating in three public readings of each play available to theatergoers at a very modest cost.

On October 6 and 7, Wendy Weiner's Perpetual Girl will launch the season, with Friday andSaturday evening and Saturday matinee performances. Originally written as part of the L.A. Playwrights Union annual playwrights challenge and read at their 2016 First Peek reading festival,Perpetual Girl is a charming and thought-provoking play, a modern fairy tale about the most taboo thing a woman can do in Hollywood: age. Julie Kramer, who directed the first reading ofPerpetual Girl, returns to PTC as director of this reading. Her previous PTC directing credits include Outside Mullingar on the main stage and the new play reading of Slow Food.

"As an actress and a television writer, I've seen the troubles faced by women in Hollywood first-hand," says the playwright. "Though some of the things I've seen in L.A. are pretty outrageous, they're just a magnified version of the sexism and ageism all women in this country face. I wanted to explore that - but in a fun, funny way. So, this play combines the classic elements of a fairy tale with the realities of today's women - and also has Hollywood glamour and romance thrown in. PTC's Play-by-Play series provides such an exciting opportunity for playwrights to refine their work and see it realized on-stage. I'm thrilled that I - and Perpetual Girl - can be a part of that."

Play-by-Play was launched by Artistic Director Karen Azenberg in 2014. This year, PTC will produce the world premiere of "i" by Jeff Talbott, one of last season's Play-by-Play titles.

"Play-by-Play has always had two goals," commented Azenberg, "to help new plays on their way to full productions and an ongoing life in the American theatre, and to develop a taste in our audience for the excitement of seeing new work in an intimate, low-risk and very affordable environment."

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The 2017-2018 season includes:

Perpetual Girl by Wendy Weiner (October 6 and 7, 2017) A modern fairy tale about the most taboo thing a woman can do in Hollywood: age.

The Envelope by Alex Lewin (February 2 and 3, 2018) In this fast-paced political thriller, a young blogger - the prodigal son of a powerful D.C. family - receives a trove of classified documents from an anonymous source. But his quest to authenticate the documents will force him to investigate the dark history of his own family.

ASS by Ellen Simon (April 20 and 21, 2018) Is genius a good enough excuse for bad behavior? When a brilliant sculptor in failing health is forced to deal with his son and his ninth wife, he confronts his own mortality and the claims of family versus art in this witty and engaging look at a family behaving badly.

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Current PTC season ticket holders may purchase tickets to the readings for $5.00 per ticket. Non-season ticket holders may purchase tickets to individual readings for $10.00 or may purchase a pass for all three readings in advance at the same time for $25.00. All tickets are general admission.

Individual tickets may be purchased through the PTC Box Office by calling 801-581-6961 or online at tickets.pioneertheatre.org.

WENDY WEINER (Playwright, Perpetual Girl) is a playwright and TV writer. Her play about Hillary Clinton, Hillary: A Modern Greek Tragedy with a (Somewhat) Happy Ending received its premiere in New York from New Georges theater company. Her four solo shows, all directed by and developed with Julie Kramer, have been presented at venues in New York and San Francisco. Wendy's writing for TV includes her original TV pilot "The Joys of Sex," which is currently optioned by AwesomenessTV. She has also sold a TV pilot, "AKA," to ABC Family and written TV movies for ABC Family and Disney. She has been an artist-in-residence at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She received her MFA in dramatic writing from NYU.

ALEX LEWIN's (Playwright, The Envelope) plays have been produced and developed at theatres all over the country, including the La Jolla Playhouse, the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, New York Theatre Workshop, the ALLIANCE THEATRE, the New Harmony Project, the Playwrights Realm, Center Theatre Group and the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, where he was a Jerome Fellow in 2012-2013. Lewin holds an MFA in playwriting from the University of California at San Diego. He lives in Los Angeles.

ELLEN SIMON (Playwright, ASS) wrote the screenplays for "One Fine Day," "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days" and "Moonlight and Valentino." Her stage plays have been performed at the Duke Broadway Preview Series, Stages Repertory in Houston and the Pasadena Playhouse. She also wrote for the television series, "thirtysomething," and made a sitcom pilot for NBC back in the day. Simon has two adult children and a grandson, and lives in Santa Barbara with a bunch of little rescue poodles.

Pioneer Theatre Company operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and Actors' Equity Association, the Union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. Pioneer Theatre Company, Utah's only fully professional theatre, performs at Roy W. and Elizabeth E. Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, located on the University of Utah campus at 300 South and 1400 East in Salt Lake City, easily accessible by TRAX light rail. Free parking is also available and the theatre is equipped with an elevator, handicap parking, hearing assistance devices and other easy-access features.

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