Leading Actors/Directors Will Headline 2022 Bay Area Playwrights Festival This Month

Playwrights Foundation has announced the artistic teams for this summer's 45th Annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF) which will be presented as a hybrid (in-person and streamed) festival July 29 - August 7, 2022.

Actors scheduled to perform these exciting readings of new plays include local theatre veterans Nancy Carlin, Anne Darraugh, Catherine Castellano, Jeunée Simon, Jeremy Kahn, Cathleen Riddley, Sharon Omi, and Sam Jackson, as well as many other talents. Among the directors helming these productions are Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Associate Artistic Director Evren Odcikin, Aurora Theatre's Associate Artistic Director Dawn Monique Williams, acclaimed local directors Tracy Ward (NCTC, Playground and others) and Susannah Martin (Golden Thread, Shotgun Players, TheatreFirst) and Karina Gutiérrez, Assistant Professor of History, Historiography, and Performance Studies at Santa Clara University.

Spotlighting the power of human connection, the 2022 BAPF features ten readings of five new works, including HBO and Shondaland screenwriter/playwright Inda Craig-Galván's A Jumping-Off Point, a taut, biting comedy about a Black female screenwriter facing plagiarism claims from a White male author; award-winning novelist Elana Dykewomon's first play How to Let Your Lover Die, a poetic and silence-shattering exploration of love, caregiving, and illness in a community of lesbian elders; acclaimed Bay Area performer and playwright Denmo Ibrahim's An Arab Spring, an intimate drama of luminous personal revolution between siblings; multitalented writer/director/actor Iraisa Ann Reilly's Saturday Mourning Cartoons, a boldly theatrical bilingual family drama about a millennial healthcare worker and three generations of unbreakable bonds; and award-winning director/playwright Sharifa Yasmin's Close to Home, a witty deep dive into resilience, belonging, and the yearning for second chances among a trio of strangers from different cultures set in the American South.

Tickets are now on sale to attend BAPF for virtual and in-person reading presentations. Building on the success of the previous two online festivals, Playwrights Foundation will launch an innovative hybrid structure for this year's festival. BAPF will welcome in-person audiences over two weekends at Potrero Stage in San Francisco, CA and to live stream readings online during its second weekend only, allowing audiences around the globe to experience exhilarating new work by emerging theater artists. Of the five festival scripts, A Jumping-Off Point, Saturday Mourning Cartoons, and An Arab Spring are scheduled to be read live onstage by actors. Close to Home and How to Let Your Lover Die will be offered as digital workshops presented to Potrero Stage audiences on screen via live in-theatre watch parties. All plays will invite in-person audiences to gather at Potrero Stage for both festival weekends and all plays will also live stream online to viewers at home the second weekend (August 5-7). For tickets ($5-45), festival passes ($35-200) or more information the public may visit playwrightsfoundation.org or call 415-626-2176. Special events for the 2022 BAPF will be announced at a later date.

All patrons attending BAPF in-person at Potrero Stage are required to bring proof of vaccination or proof of a negative test result. Audience members will not be granted admittance without one of these. For more details on safety protocols the public may visit https://playwrightsfoundation.org/audience-covid-19-safety/

Playwrights Foundation also invites professionals in the theatre industry to engage with the works in this year's BAPF by offering online and hybrid industry passes. Theatre professionals will also be invited to attend special events, which will be announced at a later date. To apply for the pass, theatre makers are invited to apply no later than July 21 at https://bit.ly/BAPF2022IndustryPass.

Bay Area Playwrights Festival is one of the oldest and most successful new play festivals for new works in their early stages. Established in 1976 by acclaimed director Robert Woodruff and now led by Executive Artistic Director Jessica Bird Beza, the festival has built a stellar reputation for uplifting original and distinctive new voices in the theater, investing in the development of their work, and launching storied careers. Among the first writers developed at the inaugural BAPF was the young Sam Shepard. Since then, more than 500 prize-winning, nationally significant playwrights have received their first professional experience at the BAPF. Among the American theater's brightest voices who are alumni of the festival are Pulitzer Prize winners Sam Shepard, Nilo Cruz, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Paula Vogel, and Annie Baker; MacArthur Award winner Anna Deavere Smith; Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang; and acclaimed playwrights Lauren Gunderson, Rajiv Joseph, Katori Hall, Christopher Chen, Lauren Yee, and Marcus Gardley. BAPF's ongoing success in supporting and amplifying exceptional, newly emerging writers and launching their ground-breaking new work is its enduring legacy.

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