IN BRAUNAU to Receive World Premiere This July

San Francisco Playhouse (Artistic Director Bill English; Producing Director Susi Damilano) announced casting for the second show of its 2017-18 Sandbox Series-the world premiere of In Braunau, written by Dipika Guha. Susannah Martin will direct.

Sarah and Justin are idealistic progressives, determined to make the world a better place after being stunned by the last American election. They decide to take their indignation to Braunau, Austria-the birthplace of Adolf Hitler-where they embark on a plan to lease the notorious dictator's childhood home and convert it into a bed-and-dinner. In Braunau is a nuanced, dark comedy about good intentions and the roads they pave.

The cast of In Braunau will feature Sam Jackson, Timothy Roy Redmond*, Josh Schell*, Mohammad Shehata*, Elissa Beth Stebbins and Sango Tajima.

San Francisco Playhouse's production of In Braunau is made possible by Sandbox Series Producer Rowland Weinstein; Producers Carol & Howard Wayne; and Associate Producers Tom & Mary Foote, John & Kathy Kalin, and William J. Gregory.

Dipika Guha (Playwright) was born in Calcutta and raised in India, Russia and the United Kingdom. She is a Hodder Fellow at the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University for the year 2017-2018 and was the inaugural recipient of the Shakespeare's Sister Playwriting Award with the Lark Play Development Center, A Room of Her Own and Hedgebrook. Her plays include Yoga Play (South Coast Repertory Theatre, KILROYS LIST), The Rules (San Francisco Playhouse), The Art of Gaman (Berkeley Rep Ground Floor, KILROYS LIST, Relentless Award Semi-Finalist), I Enter the Valley (Theatreworks New Play Festival, Southern Rep New Play Festival), Mechanics of Love (Crowded Fire Theatre, Two by For, NYC) and Blown Youth (published by Playscripts). Most recently her work has been developed at Playwrights Horizons, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, Roundabout Underground, McCarter Theatre's Sallie B. Goodman Residency, New Georges, Shotgun Players, the Sam French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, Southern Rep, 24 Hour Plays on Broadway and the Magic Theatre amongst others. Dipika has been the recipient of several residencies and fellowships including the Djerassi Residency Program, the Hermitage Retreat, Ucross, SPACE at Ryder Farm and a Dramatists Guild Fellowship. She is an alumnus of Ars Nova Playgroup, the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, the Women's Project Lab and the Ma-Yi Writers Lab. She was recently a visiting artist at the Schell Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School, is a resident playwright at the Playwrights Foundation, San Francisco and a Core Writer at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis. MFA: Yale School of Drama under Paula Vogel. Current Commissions: Manhattan Theatre Club/Sloan, South Coast Rep, Theatre First Berkeley, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, ACT and Z Space, Barrington Stage Company, Oregon Symphony, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Playwrights Horizons Theatre School and McCarter Theatre's Princeton and Slavery Project. She is also developing a piece about Francesca Woodman with Rachel Dickstein and Ripetime. Dipika wrote for American Gods on Starz, for Paradise Lost on AMC. She is currently writing for Sneaky Pete on Amazon.

Susannah Martin (Director) is an award-winning director, theatre educator, and theatre maker, Susannah is extremely proud to direct this world-premiere production by the incredible Ms. Guha. Previous projects with San Francisco Playhouse's Sandbox Series include the world premiere of George Brant's Grounded. She has directed for Shotgun Players (company member), Mugwumpin (company member), 2by4, A.C.T., Aurora Theatre Company, Boxcar Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Playwright's Foundation, Porchlight Theatre Company, the San Francisco International Arts Festival, Sonoma County Rep, TheatreFIRST, TheatreWorks, Town Hall Theatre Company, and Z Space, among others. Susannah received her BFA in Theatre from NYU, and her MFA in Directing from UC Davis. To keep up with Susannah's work go to: www.susannahmartin.net

The Sandbox Series is San Francisco Playhouse's new works program. The Playhouse's commitment to new works in the Sandbox Series has been honored by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Theatre Wing. Designed to bridge the gap between staged readings and Mainstage productions, the program combines top-notch directors and actors with limited design elements, allowing new voices in American theater to be heard while reducing the theatre's financial risk for full production at this stage of a play's development. The series has achieved significant critical and commercial milestones: Sandbox plays have won two Will Glickman Awards in the past three years; the Sandbox smash hit Ideation recently completed a successful Off-Broadway engagement in New York City; and George Brant's Grounded went on to international acclaim after its Sandbox premiere.
*Actors appear courtesy of Actors' Equity Association

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