16th Street Theater and B Street Theatre Become NNPN Core Members

National New Play Network (NNPN), the country's alliance of non-profit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, has added two new Core Members: B Street Theatre (Sacramento, CA) and 16th Street Theater (Berwyn, IL). As of the date of this article, NNPN has 108 Members, comprised of 30 Cores and 78 Associates.

Says Jack Reuler, Chair of NNPN's Membership Committee, "The strategic growth of Core Members - in size, aesthetic, geographic range, and cultural specificity - is a prioritized aim of NNPN in its Long Range Plan and day-to-day operations. The addition of the $2.5 million B Street Theatre and $250,000 16th Street Theater, from California and Illinois, with their vastly different taste and business models, embodies this alliance's ambitions."

ABOUT B STREET THEATRE
B Street Theatre is a non-profit, professional theatre company producing primarily new work for adults, families and children. The two-theatre playhouse on B Street in Midtown Sacramento is home to the Mainstage Series, B3 Series and Family Series, each created to feature intimate, quality theatre for audiences year-round. Recognized as one of the nation's top professional theatres, B Street Theatre has produced more than 160 world premieres written by B Street playwrights and numerous productions which were world, national, West Coast or regional premieres.

B Street Theatre was originally founded in 1986 with the purpose of bringing the excitement of live performance to children through the B Street Theatre School Tour. This educational outreach program still serves over 200,000 students in Northern California annually.

B Street Theatre programs include the Mainstage Series, B Street Theatre Family Series and Family Series Student Matinees, the B3 Series, B Street School Tours, Sketch Comedy, B Street Acting Conservatory and Studio for Young People, and the B Street Theatre Internship program for pre-professional/post-college training.

In 2014, B Street brought its most popular play ever, Around the World in 80 Days, to India. The original cast performed in three Indian cities, furthering the organization's mission by bringing high quality theatre to an international audience, while also raising money for Indian educational enrichment and schools and partnering with an overseas performing arts center with the hope of future international collaboration.

B Street Theatre has produced over 250 professional productions since 1986.

From Buck Busfield, Producing Artistic Director at B Street: "B Street Theatre is thrilled to receive Core Membership within the National New Play Network. We feel that the network is not only an outstanding resource for new plays, grant opportunities and artistic residencies but also will enable us to develop collaborative relationships with like-minded theatres across the country. We recently broke ground on our new facility which will involve a great deal of expansion for the company over the coming months. Being a Core Member of NNPN will provide us with a creative support system of theatre artists and leaders as we enter this new phase in B Street's development."

ABOUT 16TH STREET THEATER
16th Street Theater located in Berwyn, Illinois is a playwrights' theater dedicated to telling the diverse stories of ALL in our community for all in our community. Founded in 2007 by Artistic Director Ann Filmer, 16th Street was created to be a theater for those not going to theater in Chicagoland's working class, west side city of Berwyn.

Since then 16th Street has produced 47 plays: 30 by women, 18 by writers of color, 18 world premieres, 1 RWP, 12 second productions, 4 Chicago premieres, and supported 10 playwrights-in-residence. Named "Best Emerging Theater" by Chicago Magazine in 2013, 16th Street was awarded one of ten National Theatre Grants by American Theatre Wing that same year. 2017 will be its 10th Anniversary Season.

16th Street is proud to be an Equity theater with a top ticket price of just $20, as well as a program of the North Berwyn Park District residing in the 49-seat Berwyn Cultural Center, ensuring excellent, diverse and affordable theater for all.

"16th Street is honored to become a Core member of NNPN, and to bring its excellent reputation for working with playwrights and successfully bringing new plays to life to the already robust and respected Network," says Ann Filmer, Artistic Director.

NNPN CORE MEMBER THEATERS
16th Street Theater (Berwyn, IL), Actor's Express (Atlanta, GA), Actor's Theatre of Charlotte (Charlotte, NC), B Street Theatre (Sacramento, CA), Borderlands Theater (Tucson, AZ), Cleveland Public Theatre (Cleveland, OH), Contemporary American Theater Festival (Shepherdstown, WV), Curious Theatre Company (Denver, CO), Florida Studio Theatre (Sarasota, FL), Fountain Theatre (Los Angeles, CA), Horizon Theatre Company (Atlanta, GA), InterAct Theatre Company (Philadelphia, PA), Kitchen Dog Theater (Dallas, TX), Magic Theatre (San Francisco, CA), Marin Theatre Company (Mill Valley, CA), Milagro (Portland, OR), Mixed Blood Theatre (Minneapolis, MN), New Jersey Repertory Company (Long Branch, NJ), New Repertory Theatre (Watertown, MA), Orlando Shakespeare Theater (Orlando, FL), Perseverance Theatre (Anchorage/Juneau, AK), Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis, IN), Prop Thtr (Chicago, IL), Salt Lake Acting Company (Salt Lake City, UT), San Diego REPertory Company (San Diego, CA), Southern Rep Theatre (New Orleans, LA), Unicorn Theatre (Kansas City, MO), Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Washington, DC), Writers Theatre of New Jersey (Madison, NJ)

National New Play Network (NNPN) is the country's alliance of non-profit professional theaters dedicated to the development, production, and continued life of new plays. Since its founding in 1998, NNPN has supported more than 200 productions nationwide through its innovative National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere program, which provides playwright and production support for new works at its Member theaters. Additional programs - its annual National Conference, National Showcase of New Plays, and MFA Playwrights Workshop; the NNPN Annual and Smith Prize commissions; its residencies for playwrights, producers and directors; and the organization's member accessed Collaboration, Festival, and Travel banks and online information sessions - have helped cement the Network's position as a vital force in the new play landscape. NNPN also strives to pioneer, implement, and disseminate ideas and programs that revolutionize the way theaters collaborate to support new plays and playwrights. Its most recent project, the New Play Exchange is changing the way playwrights share their work and others discover it. NNPN's 30 Core and more than 75 Associate Members - along with the more than 250 affiliated artists who are its alumni, the thousands of artists and artisans employed annually by its member theaters, and the hundreds of thousands of Audience members who see its supported works each year - are creating the new American theater.

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