PF Welcomes Playwrights For IN THE ROUGH READING SERIES 2009

Playwrights Foundation (PF) welcomes an unprecedented group of national and regional playwrights and directors for the development of new works as part of the In The Rough Reading Series 2009, or ROUGH. This year's selections include: Meat by Samuel D. Hunter, directed by Mark Rucker; Language Rooms by Yussef El Guindi, directed by Mark Routhier; Job by Thomas Bradshaw, directed by Jonathan Spector; Defiant by George Brant, directed by Marissa Wolf; This Is Not a Torture or an Engine by Erin Bregman, directed by Molly Aaronson-Gelb; Assisted Living by Deirdre O'Connor, directed by Jon Tracy; Natasha and the Coat by Deborah Stein, directed by Sean Daniels; and The Verizon Play by Lisa Kron, directed by Amy Mueller. Readings will take place from Mar. 30 -- May 19, every Monday and Tuesday. A unique aspect of the ROUGH Reading Series is the partnership with local venues. Local theaters are hosting each reading, so the benefits of this partnership are two-fold: helping to foster relationships between producers and writers, and enabling Playwrights Foundation to continue the series during a difficult economic climate. Theater partners include Shotgun Players, SF Playhouse, Aurora Theatre, Magic Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Cutting Ball Theater @ Exit on Taylor, and one still TBA. Each play will also be presented at Stanford University.

"We are thrilled to welcome such an exceptional group of rising playwrights to work with us on plays that are still in the earliest stages of development. There are very few opportunities for writers to hear a work as it is being created," says PF Artistic Director Amy Mueller, "writers, more often than not, need to present completely finished scripts to producers in order to gain access to artistic resources. The ROUGH series invites playwrights to bring unfinished works into the studio, matches them with exceptional directors who are deeply sensitive to the playwrights' specific needs, and brings that work to a theater that has the potential to form a relationship with the writer."

Started in 2004, Playwrights Foundation's ROUGH series has launched many plays from their very first readings to world premiere productions. In fact, the series has had unprecedented success as a launch pad for the newest work by rising playwrights. Most recently ROUGH alumni Shelia Callaghan and Tracy Scott Wilson were featured in the March 1st Sunday edition of the New York Times for their respective world premieres of plays first completed and showcased on the ROUGH series. Callaghan's That Pretty Pretty, Or The Rape Play premiered at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre in New York last week, and Wilson's The Good Negro will premiere at the Public Theatre next week. ROUGH alumnus Rajiv Joseph's Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo recently won the NEA Outstanding New American Play award, and will premiere at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in May. "We're very gratified to see ROUGH accomplish what it was designed to do: launch exceptional playwrights from promising first drafts to premiere productions," says Mueller. A few others that have gone on to world premiere productions include '84 by Michael Gene Sullivan, which was directed by Tim Robbins at Actors' Gang in LA, and will soon be made into a motion picture; ...and Jesus moonwalks the Mississippi by Marcus Gardley, which will have a world premiere at Cutting Ball Theatre in March 2010; and Waxing West by Saviana Stanescu, which premiered in New York at La Mama & Co.

The 2009 ROUGH Reading Series presents script-in-hand readings of the newest plays by rising national playwrights, and offers an opportunity for audiences and new play producers to hear work in early development. Audiences witness theater in the making by vanguard American playwrights and have the opportunity to interact and respond with theater makers after each reading. ROUGH Reading Series is a partnership with the National Center for New Plays at Stanford University and The Lark Play Development Center in New York. Nationally acclaimed directors Mark Rucker and Sean Daniels will head a team of top-notch local directors Marissa Wolf, Molly Aaronson-Gelb, Mark Routhier, Jon Tracy, Jonathan Spector and Amy Mueller.

ABOUT THIS YEAR'S PLAYS AND PLAYWRIGHTS:

Meat by Samuel D. Hunter
Directed by Mark Rucker (A.C.T.'s The Rainmaker; Cal Shakes' 12th Night)
Monday, Mar. 30 at 7 p.m. at Cutting Ball Theater at EXIT on Taylor (Admission: free; donation suggested)
Tuesday, Mar. 31 at 7:30 p.m. at Stanford (Admission: $20)
A violent image of his brother's beheading on the Internet sends Bib to the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, Missouri for answers.

Language Rooms by Yussef El Guindi
Directed by Mark Routhier (Jihad Jones at Golden Thread Productions; Climate Theater's Skin)
Monday, Apr. 6 at 7:30 p.m. at Stanford (Admission: $20)
Tuesday, April 7 at 7 p.m. at SF Playhouse (Admission: free; donation suggested)
In this dark comedy, two Arab-American investigators find their loyalty called into question at a CIA "black site."

Job by Thomas Bradshaw
Directed by PF Associate Artistic Director Jonathan Spector (also Artistic Director of Just Theatre, Anne Washburn's I Have Loved Strangers, an East Bay Express Top Ten Show of 2007)
Monday, Apr. 13 at 7:30 p.m. at Stanford (Admission: $20)
Tuesday, April 14 at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Rep (Admission: free; donation suggested)
An adaptation of the book of Job featuring God, Satan, Jesus, and Dionysus

Defiant by George Brant
Directed by Marissa Wolf (Artistic Director, Crowded Fire Theater Company; Gone by Chuck Mee)
Monday, Apr. 20, 7:30 p.m. at Stanford (Admission: $20)
Tuesday, Apr. 21, 7 p.m. at Aurora Theatre (Admission free; donation suggested)
A woman incurs the wrath of a grieving country when she refuses to allow her husband's name to be honored following a national tragedy.

This Is Not a Torture or an Engine by Erin Bregman Directed by Molly Aaronson-Gelb (Co-Artistic Director, Just Theater)
Monday, Apr. 27 at 7:30 p.m. at Stanford (Admission: $20)
Tuesday, Apr. 28 at 7 p.m. at Ashby Stage (Admission: free; donation suggested)
In a rhythmic redux of intersecting Greek myths about Pandora and Prometheus, mortals and immortals alike are given the proverbial bureaucratic run around in a nightmare about fire.

Assisted Living by Deirdre O'Connor
Directed by Jon Tracy (First Person Shooter by Aaron Loeb; Marin Theatre Company's Blood/Money)
Monday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Stanford (Admission: $20)
Tuesday, May 5 at 7 p.m. at Magic Theatre (Admission: free; donation suggested)
When a family crisis brings home old anxieties and new surprises, Jane begins to see the upside of not always being the grown up.

Natasha and the Coat by Deborah Stein
Directed by Sean Daniels (Associate Artistic Director, Actor's Theater of Louisville, formerly Associate Artistic Director of Cal Shakes)
Monday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m. at Stanford (Admission: $20)

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