State of Play

City Theatre is pleased to present the final event of the New American Trio. Audience members and theatre artists alike, if you're interested in new plays, work on new plays, or want to work on new plays – whether as a playwright, actor, director, designer, or new play producer – join us to hear how a range of theatres find, develop, and produce new work, including their unique new play initiatives; what guest panelists recommend to emerging artists and producers; and how they think audiences respond to new work. Please come and participate in a discussion that will hopefully stimulate creativity and spark ideas in us all for new ways of working.

STATE OF PLAY

Sunday April 29 at 3:30 pm, City Theatre Company (13th and Bingham, South Side)

Free and Open to the Public

To survey the scene of new plays and their development and production, we've invited a distinguished panel of guests to discuss how plays are uniquely created and developed at their theatres, and to engage in a free-ranging discussion of new plays and new play production in America, including:

~ How theatres and our audiences should measure success for a new play production
~ Whether actors, directors, and designers and even arts management staff are being trained to serve new work
~ The importance of producing new works
~ The impact of the shift in new play production from New York to the regional theatres
~ Trends in current playwriting
~ Stemming the flow of skilled playwrights to TV
~ Ideas on making play development more constructive or innovative
~ Whether audiences seek out new work or simply good work, new or not
~ Whether funding requirements on playwrights help or hinder the creation of new work

And much more! Questions and comments will be welcomed from the audience.

City Theatre's Artistic Director Tracy Brigden and Literary Manager and
Dramaturg Carlyn Aquiline will be joined by panelists:

Howard Shalwitz, Artistic Director, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Washington, DC)
~ Woolly Mammoth has gained a reputation as a national leader in the development of new plays by holding fast to its unique mission: To ignite an explosive engagement between theatre artists and the community by developing, producing and promoting new plays that explore the edges of theatrical style and human experience, and by implementing new ways to use the artistry of theatre to serve the people of Greater Washington, DC. World premieres make up more than a half of the plays Woolly produces. One in five of these premieres is the result of a commission.

Diane Rodriguez, Associate Producer/Director of New Play Production, Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum (Los Angeles, CA)
~ Center Theatre Group's New Play Production program is specifically designed to foster not only development, but production of new work from artists within the diverse communities of Los Angeles, as well as from across the nation and abroad. It is CTG's intention that this initiative will provide professional and career growth for artists, a broadening of horizons for theatregoers, enrichment of the field of theatre through support of new and rarely heard voices, and a wealth of diverse work into theatres in Los Angeles and around the nation.

Freddie Ashley, Literary Manager, Alliance Theatre (Atlanta, GA)
~ The Alliance Theatre is known for its national role in cultivating new voices, creating significant new theatrical works, and launching productions to Broadway. Over the years, the Alliance has produced more than 45 world premieres including an adaptation of Carson McCullers' The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Ken Lin's Said, Pearl

Cleage's Blues for an Alabama Sky, Alfred Uhry's The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida, and Tony Award-winning The Color Purple (launching the latter two to Broadway). The Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition is a one-of-a-kind national competition that gives the winning graduate student a professional production of his/her work at the Alliance Theatre after a workshop at the O'Neill Playwrights Conference.

Seth Gordon, Associate Artistic Director, Cleveland Play House (Cleveland, OH)
~ Through its New Play Development Program, the Cleveland Play House is committed to commissioning, workshopping, and producing new plays. A major and unique component of the Program is The Playwrights' Unit, which offers member playwrights a supportive environment in which to develop work through its bi-monthly feedback meetings, and provides Unit members with a "home office," donating administrative resources such as photocopying and mailing services as well as staff support. The work of the Playwrights' Unit has been produced at The Cleveland Play House and around the United States.