Berkeley Rep Hosts Public Discussion About Sports Head Injuries Today

To kick off the development of one its newly commissioned plays, The Ground Floor-Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Center for the Creation and Development of New Work---invites the public to a round-table discussion on the subject of sports head injuries. The American Football Project by playwright KJ Sanchez, based on interviews with players, coaches, medical staff, trainers, parents of young athletes, and other stakeholders, will explore how issues surrounding head injuries are affecting current and former players, what impact this information is having on standard practices, and how this might change the game. Berkeley Rep, in collaboration with Baltimore's Center Stage, has commissioned The American Football Project from American Records, a theatre company devoted to making plays that chronicle our time and serve as a bridge between people.

The talk will be "The Theater of American Football: Head Injury and a Changing Game", a round-table discussion on the subject of head injuries with noted coaches, players, medical staff, and informed parents, with special collaboration from the Sports Legacy Institute and the California Concussion Coalition.

In attendance will be KJ Sanchez, playwright and founder/CEO of American Records Theater; Dr. Cindy Chang, co-founder of the California Concussion Coalition, chief medical officer for the 2012 US Olympic Team, and former Head Team Physician for UC Berkeley; Ben Lynch, former San Francisco 49er; and J. Douglas Hollie, former Seattle Seahawk and Chapter Vice President, National Association of Retired NFL Players, Northern California.

It will be held in Berkeley Rep's Rehearsal Hall: 999 Harrison St. Berkeley, Calif., on Monday, August 5, 2013 6pm. Free! Seating is limited; RSVP to Julie McCormick at jmccormick@berkeleyrep.org. Visit berkeleyrep.org for more information.

As a playwright, KJ Sanchez's work has been produced at Asolo Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Two River Theater Company, Baltimore's Center Stage, Round House Theatre, Cornerstone Theater Company, and off-broadway at Urban Stages.

Her credits include The Diary of Anne Frank at Milwaukee Rep, 26 Miles at Round House and Two River Theater, The Giver at Asolo Rep, 9 Parts of Desireand The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity at Actors Theatre of Louisville, as well as Private Lives and Mere Mortals at Two River Theater.

Sanchez is a Fox Fellow, Douglass Wallop Fellow, Albert Award Nominee, a National Endowment for the Arts Cultural Date Project recipient and a Theatre Communications Group Doris Duke/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation New Generations Future Leaders recipient. She is also the voice of many characters on the Nickelodeon cartoons Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go.

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