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South Coast Repertory (Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Director Paula Tomei) announces the lineup for the 25th Pacific Playwrights Festival. The highly anticipated showcase of new works, part of the theatre’s play development arm—The Lab@SCR—runs May 5-7. Single-tickets and discounted ticket packages for the 25th PPF are available at scr.org.
Anchoring the Festival are the world-premiere productions of avaaz by Michael Shayan and Coleman ’72 by Charlie Oh. The Silver Anniversary festival includes five staged readings of works by Anika and Britta Johnson and Nick Green (Dr. Silver), Clarence Coo (Chapters of a Floating Life), Bleu Beckford-Burrell (Crasiss), Eleanor Burgess (Galilee, 34) and Noa Gardner (A Small Man).
“The plays in the Pacific Playwrights Festival all have an incredible sense of vision to them this year; it’s a real testament to the playwrights’ singular voices,” PPF Co-Director and Director of The Lab@SCR Andy Knight said. “Each writer has an acute ability to create vivid and dynamic worlds as playgrounds for stories, and those stories—which range from contemporary dramas to reimagined histories—promise to challenge, delight, and transport audiences. The mission behind PPF is (and has always been) to showcase the playwright’s imagination, and I think this year’s festival really does that. It’s a perfect way to celebrate our 25th PPF.”
Three works in the 2023 festival are moving to the next steps of their development. A reading of avaaz was featured in the 2022 Pacific Playwrights Festival. Coleman ’72 was featured as a reading in the 2021 streaming PPF. And an excerpt of Dr. Silver was featured as a Samples from The Lab offering at the 2022 PPF, giving audiences an exclusive sneak peek at the musical in development.
“We are thrilled to be celebrating the 25th anniversary of PPF,” Ivers said. “It’s always an exciting time of year at SCR—prioritizing new plays, new playwrights and gathering with dearest colleagues to share in the process of building a bright and diverse collection of world premiere experiences.”
Prior to the May 6 evening performance of Coleman ‘72, the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) will present the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award. One of the most prestigious honors a new play can receive, the Steinberg Award recognizes the best scripts premiering professionally outside of New York City. Recent award winners include Cambodian Rock Band, I & You and Vietgone—plays largely developed, in part, at South Coast Repertory. Both Cambodian Rock Band and Vietgone became SCR productions.
The weekend also includes a free panel discussion with this year’s festival playwrights on Sunday, May 7, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.
“These stories have a wide reach across place and time, speaking to ideas on love and grief, family and belonging, faith and power,” PPF Co-Director and SCR Associate Artistic Director Kim Martin-Cotten said. “This is a season of beautiful and surprising plays from diverse perspectives. It is a slice of stories that will offer our audience a weekend of expansive and nuanced explorations of what it is to wrestle with the conditions of our world.”
The Pacific Playwrights Festival is made possible with support from The Shubert Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Elizabeth George Foundation and the Pacific Playwright Festival Honorary Producers: Laurie and Steve Duncan, Kristen and Adrian Griggs, Peter and Joy Sloan, Jean and Tim Weiss and Julia Voce.
ABOUT TICKETS AND LOCATION
The 2023 Pacific Playwrights Festival offers several ticketing options:
- Tickets for individual readings are $20 each
- Subscriber packages to see all five readings cost $85; $75 for SCR Super-Subscribers
- Tickets for the productions of avaaz and Coleman ’72 range from $27-$98 each
- The Sunday, May 7 playwrights panel discussion is free and open to the public
Tickets and ticket packages for the general public and theatre industry professionals may be purchased online at www.scr.org.
Location: South Coast Repertory is located at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, at the Bristol Street/Avenue of the Arts exit off the San Diego (405) Freeway in the David Emmes/Martin Benson Theatre Center, part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Parking is available on Park Center Drive, off Anton Boulevard.
Complete information is available at www.scr.org.
