In PlayPenn, audiences get to listen to — and comment on — readings of new plays

Back in Samuel D Hunter was a young New York playwright fresh out of Moscow Idaho when Philadelphia gave him a life-changing opportunity Professional actors sitting on folding chairs using scripts propped on music stands read his fledgling play start-to-stop to a Philly audience which let him know as Philly audiences would the good the bad and the ugly The play workshopped at PlayPenn s New Play Growth Conference swam upstream to become The Whale in a prize-winning movie that grossed million at the box office Could it happen again Maybe That s the thrill of PlayPenn s New Play Growth Conference Audiences love process commented Che Rae Adams PlayPenn s artistic director From July to July audiences can attend free readings of seven plays in rise and be involved with something at the ground level that may turn into a Pulitzer or a Tony Award winner Here s what s on tap A play about motherhood and Miami a World War II propaganda tale involving Black POWs captured by the Japanese a story of three aging aerialists and another about an author confronting the woman who inspired her hit debut novel A pet iguana figures in a political farce about an anti-empathy factory and another play is set in a dystopian food desert Also on the schedule is Field of Flowers about painters Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh written by Bee Kanofsky a latest high school graduate entering the conference as part of a partnership with Philadelphia Young Playwrights Her plays have already been performed in theaters Che Rae Adams PlayPenn s artistic director listens to a reading Photo credit James Kern The audience will see actors sitting in front of music stands reading words that may never have been spoken out loud before Adams reported There ll be little in the way of lighting or other theatrical props because our focus is on the words For the playwright who often writes in seclusion it s a rare opportunity to hear the script s words spoken by professional actors with professional directors and also to watch the audience and learn from its reactions and feedback It s a very intense process for a playwright Adams revealed I find that our audience is extremely intelligent she announced We ask them specific questions that will benefit the playwright They ll give feedback that is very thought-provoking and intelligent and super helpful For shy people they can write down ideas and put them in a slot if they are uncomfortable raising their hand and voicing their feedback They can also email PlayPenn Mostly the readings take place in Center City at InterAct Theatre Company s stages converted from a former ballroom in the Drake apartment building This year as PlayPenn celebrates its th anniversary selected of the readings will occur in neighborhoods at an event space in the Esperanza Vitality Center in North Philadelphia and at the Painted Bride Art Center s new location in West Philadelphia We are focusing on expanding audiences and outreach to the communities Adams declared We have to start sharing audiences because the arts are not doing well not just because of the Trump administration and its cuts but also because people can just sit home and watch Netflix Trying to get people out can be complex Actors present three of the seven plays twice once at the beginning of the conference and the second toward the end In between the playwrights frantically work to polish and rewrite taking into consideration the feedback they ve heard One compelling way to experience the conference is to see the same play at both presentations and notice the changes These three plays are culled from more than submitted each read four times before selection The Foundry Reading Group provides the talent that provides the reading performances at the PlayPenn conference Photo credit James Kern PlayPenn recruits the screening readers from everywhere but particularly from its partner theater groups including the Wilma Theater Theatre in the X and Power Street Theatre Other partners include the Philadelphia Theatre Company InterAct and Philadelphia Young Playwrights To avoid implicit bias Adams stated the first two sets of screening readers are matched demographically with the playwright although readers don t know the playwright s name gender or ethnic group Through scoring those readers eliminate half of the submissions Theater professionals directors actors tech people winnow it further to about a dozen From there the PlayPenn staff and experts on new play evolution choose the three they feel are majority of likely destined for future production in theaters Presented in partnership with Power Street Theatre is a play that weaves together the rhythms of Cuban society Miami and Santer a with themes of motherhood and fertility Ama Egg Oy by Lori Felipe-Barkin will be read at the Esperanza Medical Center on July and again at the InterAct s Drake on July L M Feldman s play about three aging aerialists hand foot hand will be read first at the Wilma Theater on July and at InterAct s Drake on July Theatre in the X is co-producing Andrew Saito s play about a Japanese World War II propaganda effort that used captured Black POW soldiers to record radio plays aimed at contrasting Japan s racial situation with racism in America Harlem Canary Tokyo Crow will be read at the Painted Bride Art Center on July and at the Drake July Three more of the seven plays are basically the graduate works of The Foundry a three-year effort to nurture Philadelphia playwrights developed as a partnership between PlayPenn and the Philadelphia Theatre Company We want to be a real home for Philadelphia writers stated Tyler Dobrowsky Philadelphia Theatre Company s co-artistic director The Foundry plays are I ll Eat You Whole by Chaz T Martin about the sparks that fly between an author and her inspiration Talking to Og a political farce by Zahra Patterson involving the anti-empathy factory and The Company Lex Thammavong s take on public activism and puppetry What PlayPenn hopes is that one of the plays will replicate Hunter s success with The Whale Although Fat Ham Philadelphia playwright James Ijames Pulitzer Prize-winning play was never workshopped at PlayPenn three other plays of his were One of them The The greater part Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington will be staged next season at the Wilma where he served as co-artistic director It has already been produced on stages around the country Both Ijames and Hunter serve on PlayPenn s advisory board and will hold workshops for theater professionals during the conference Here s the schedule of plays and other events including area workshops InterAct Theatre Company at the Drake S Hicks St Phila Esperanza Fitness Center N th St Phila Painted Bride Art Center Industry St Phila Wilma Theater S Broad St Phila The post In PlayPenn audiences get to listen to and comment on readings of new plays appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY