Crowded Fire Theater's 2023 Matchbox Play Reading Series Comes To The Potrero Stage This Month

Crowded Fire Theater (CFT) announces the return of its Matchbox Reading Series, featuring new plays by lily gonzales, Humaira Ghilzai & Bridgette Dutta Portman, Eugenie Chan, and CFT's 2021-23 Resilience & Development (R&D) Lab playwrights Star Finch, A-lan Holt, Maria Jenson, and Lisa Marie Rollins. This year's Matchbox is presented in partnership with Golden Thread Productions, Shotgun Players, and Playwrights Foundation, with support from the Gerbode Foundation.

CFT actively supports the creation of high quality contemporary theater through commissions, staged readings, and in-house workshops - and the Matchbox Reading Series puts this new work development front and center. Our legendary reading series returns for the first time in three years this spring with a twist: MORE PLAYS. Our artists have been creating new work with us these past couple years, and there's just so much we can't wait to hear out loud. Over three weekends, we'll be workshopping and presenting Pilgrimage by Humaira Ghilzai & Bridgette Dutta Portman, directed by Peter J. Kuo; Kara by Lisa Marie Rollins, directed by Elizabeth Carter; Skyrise by A-lan Holt, directed by Amissa Miller; (trans)formada by lily gonzales, directed by linda maria girón; ...and cotton by Maria Jenson, directed by Jeunée Simon; Return to Sender by Star Finch, directed by Leigh Rondon-Davis; and In Memoriam by Eugenie Chan.

From CFT Director of Artistic Producing Caro Asercion, "Matchbox is one of Crowded Fire's cornerstones of new work, inviting artists to explore these new plays with curiosity, depth, and playfulness - and inviting our audiences to join the fun as well! We can't wait to introduce these seven exciting new works to the Bay Area, spanning the full range from comedy to drama and everything in between."

MATCHBOX READING SERIES 2023 SCHEDULE

KARA by Lisa Marie Rollins

Directed by Elizabeth Carter, Dramaturgy by Kim Euell

Public reading Saturday, April 22, 7pm

What happens when touch is struck from the fabric of our lives? In a world where physical contact is strictly prohibited, Kara's brown skin begins to mutate. Her desires for connection begin to clash with the law of the land, even as her judgment tells her to follow the rules. She tries to focus on taking care of her sister, her childhood friend turned love, and her faceless corporate job. But the shimmering hologram appearing in her dreams seems to have a code for her to crack, a code that requires the biggest risk of all.

The commissioning and development of this piece is made possible by the Gerbode Special Award in the Arts program.

Pilgrimage

by Humaira Ghilzai & Bridgette Dutta Portman

Directed by Peter J. Kuo

Public reading Sunday, April 23, 2pm

Five Muslim American women embark on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Noor is an Afghan American immigrant with a secret. Her tech CEO daughter Maryam is struggling with legal woes, while Noor's nieces, the estranged sisters Sosan and Nadia, work to mend their fractured relationship. Meanwhile, Fatima, a Black Muslim convert, hopes to find her biological mother. Will the journey bring them together, or will secrets, rivalries, and old wounds tear them apart?

Presented by Crowded Fire Theater in partnership with Golden Thread Productions.

Skyrise

by A-lan Holt

Directed & Dramaturgy by Amissa Miller

Public reading Saturday, April 29, 7pm

In a not-too-distant future wracked by climate change, Jordan seeks to evacuate her family and neighbors from a rapidly crumbling New York City. They head north to seek shelter in her old family home, now owned by her estranged brother. Together, this makeshift commune has the chance to craft a new life - but to do so, they must confront old feuds, past failures, and the ever-precarious weather. Skyrise asks us what happens when a community is given space to flourish, and what happens when it bumps up against itself.

(trans)formada

by lily Gonzales

Directed by linda maria girón, Dramaturgy by Kieran Beccia

Public reading Sunday, April 30, 2pm

Sam is queer, a little trans, and a child of Mexican immigrants living in the Texas Hill Country. They're trying to figure out how to express their gender - to themselves and to the world. Just as Sam is building the courage to present their gender to their mother, they go to a high school party. Everyone is way too into each other and drinking way too much. Amidst the debauchery, a brave and strange set of rituals ensues. (trans)formada is a practice in healing. It is about redefining and coming back to family.

Presented by Crowded Fire Theater in partnership with Shotgun Players.

...and cotton

by Maria Jenson
Directed by Jeunée Simon, Dramaturgy by Julie McCormick
Public reading Saturday, May 6, 7pm
SpaceHorizonZ wants you to colonize Mars, terraform the planet, and establish an extra-terrestrial plantation. Come along with Commander Jet Jope and Pilot Zhinga Ndongo as they take the roof off the mothership, funk up another world and piss off The Universe. An interplanetary farce, ...and cotton promises Reparations Now!

In Memoriam

by Eugenie Chan
Public Reading Sunday, May 7, 7pm

In Memoriam: an elegy for the Asian American dead. Chinese American elders Ambrose and Evelyn try to make their way as spirits negotiating the afterlife in Cypress Grove Memorial Park when a surprise visitor who's good with a mic upends their lives - or deaths, so to speak. About what it possibly means to be dead, buried and still unseen with passion and dreams still raging in your soul. Is there ever justice in the world?

Presented by Playwrights Foundation in partnership with Crowded Fire Theater.

Return to Sender

by Star Finch
Direction and Dramaturgy by Leigh Rondon-Davis
Invited Reading

As America is swept by flooding, religious fervor, and an ongoing pandemic, a collective of West African nations has launched the Great Migration Project: a philanthropic lottery initiative that offers return trips to Africa for members of the diaspora. Those who have witnessed a powerful vision known as The Dream are moved to the front of the line for automatic transfer. In a world that keeps ending, Zadie believes The Dream is her only hope to keep her already splintering family together.

Lisa Marie Rollins (she/her) is a freelance director, writer and new play developer. She has been a writing fellow with Hedgebrook, Djerassi, SF Writers Grotto, CALLALOO London, VONA, Just Theater Play Lab and Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency. She is currently continuing work on her new play LOVE IS ANOTHER COUNTRY. Her chapbook of poems, Other Words for Grief (2018, winner, Mary Tanenbaum Literary Award) is available from Finishing Line Press. She is a Sundance Institute Theatre Lab Fellow (Directing) and an Associate member of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SDC). Regional directing and dramaturg work include Hedgebrook Women's Play Festival, Crowded Fire Theater, American Conservatory Theatre MFA program (ACT), Playwright Foundation, TheatreFirst, Berkeley Repertory Theater (Ground Floor), Shotgun Players, Custom Made Theatre, Magic Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, new plays by Star Finch, Lauren Gunderson, Geetha Reddy, Idris Goodwin, Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm (and many more), and creative collaborations with comedic artists W. Kamau Bell and Zahra Noorbakash. She was honored with a "Bay Brilliant" artist award from San Francisco's KQED (2018) and recently received a Gerbode Special Award in the Arts in which she will be working with Crowded Fire Theater to write and develop a new play to premiere in Fall 2023. She holds graduate degrees from Claremont Graduate University and University of California, Berkeley. She was Literary Manager for Intiman Theater in Seattle, WA in 2020, and is currently a Community Arts Panelist for Zellerbach Family Foundation and Resident Artist with Crowded Fire Theater in San Francisco.

Humaira Ghilzai (she/her) is a writer, dramaturg, cultural producer and advisor. She has been working with notable theatres and artists for the past fourteen years, utilizing her extensive knowledge of Afghan people, culture, religion, and history. Humaira made her Broadway debut in 2022 with the production of the Kite Runner. CREDITS: The world premieres, US and UK tours of the adaptations of New York Times best-selling author Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns; J.T. Roger's Blood and Gifts (La Jolla Playhouse); Gabriel Jason Dean's Heartland-Off Broadway (59E59); Sylvia Khoury's Selling Kabul (Seattle Rep and Signature Theatre); Kevin Artigue's The Most Dangerous Highway in the World (Golden Thread Productions); The Prepared Table, A Feast of Foods and Stories From Iraq, Afghanistan and the F.O.B. (Alice Arts); Slow Falling Birds (University of San Francisco); and Zealot (South Coast Repertory). FILM CREDITS: Merry Friggin Christmas, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and short film, Away and Together. TELEVISION CREDITS: Apple TV's Little America. PILGRIMAGE was part of Golden Thread Productions' New Threads Series in the fall of 2022.

Bridgette Dutta Portman (she/her) is a playwright, teacher, and novelist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. More than two dozen of her plays have been produced locally, nationally, and internationally. She is president of the Pear Theatre board of directors and a member of the Pear Playwrights' Guild, the 2022-23 PlayGround writers pool, and the Dramatists' Guild. She has been a finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights' Festival, the Theatre Bay Area TITAN award, the PlayPenn Conference, the Kentucky Women's Theatre Conference Prize for Women Writers, the New Dramatists playwrights' residency, and more. She holds a PhD in political science (UC Irvine, 2011) and an MFA in creative writing (Spalding University, 2018). She has taught playwriting and creative writing to a variety of age groups, and recently joined the faculty at UC Berkeley's College Writing Programs.

A-lan Holt (she/they) A-lan's work imagines new worlds for intimate audiences across theater, poetry, experience and film-with an explicit eye toward racial justice and community transformation. She is director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University, where she supports and develops curriculum and programs exploring art practice, spiritual practice and social justice. A-lan's creative work has been supported by Crowded Fire Theater Company, SFFILM, The Sundance Institute, BlackStar Film Festival, The Public Theater, The Rainin Foundation and so, so many friends in community. I am so thrilled to be joining the R&D Lab for another cycle.

lily gonzales (they/them) is a writer from Texas, based in NYC. Their work has been supported by The John F. Kennedy Center, Colt Coeur, Echo Theater Company (LA), Latinx Playwrights Circle, San Diego REP, Stages, Repertorio Español, and Teatro Vivo. Currently, they are a resident with AlterTheater Ensemble in San Rafael, California. B.A UT Austin, Theater & Dance / English

Star Finch (she/her) is a native San Franciscan trying her best to hold ground amidst the erasure of gentrification. She's a member of Campo Santo Theater Company and a resident playwright at Playwrights Foundation. Her plays include H.O.M.E. [Hookers on Mars Eventually] and BONDAGE (Princess Grace Award semifinalist, Relentless Award honorable mention). She was also the lead writer on the collaborative performance piece Babylon is Burning, a loose adaptation of Jeff Chang's Can't Stop Won't Stop; and on Death Become Life: Banish Darkness, a collaboration with AXIS Dance, Ensemble Mik Nawooj, and Crowded Fire Theater. Finch has also contributed to various collaborative projects including TheaterFirst's PARTICIPANTS and Campo Santo's ETHOS DE MASQUERADE. She's held residencies in Crowded Fire's R&D LAB and AlterTheater's Alter Lab, and is a recipient of the San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist Commission in Theater. She is currently the Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at Campo Santo and Crowded Fire, the first collaborative shared staff in the history of the award.

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