Bay Area Playwrights Festival 2020
Playwrights Foundation, July 2020








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Bay Area Playwrights Festival 2020
Five new plays, over twenty actors from Hong Kong to New York City, all going from the first read to the first performance in less than fifteen hours. All at the same time.
The 2020 Bay Area Playwrights Festival goes online as we innovate and find creative solutions to fulfill our mission to support and champion diverse contemporary playwrights. This year, we welcome a new cohort of five female playwrights who are telling stories of strength, love, family, self-discovery, and the fight for freedom. Be a Part of the Story at this year’s historical festival as we develop a community between you, the artists, and have a further reach than ever before.
Playwrights Foundation supports and empowers playwrights’ artistic growth and careers while championing their voices on a national level. They imagine a future where playwrights are radically centered as visionary leaders who transform the world through storytelling. www.playwrightsfoundation.org.
Playwrights Foundation’s Values
- Playwright Centered: We center our decisions around the specific needs of the playwrights we serve and empower them to have artistic agency.
- Community: We strive to create a meaningful community amongst playwrights and cultivate a constellation of creative relationships between playwrights and artists, organizations, advocates, and audiences.
- Equity: We seek to build flexible and adaptable systems in order to create equitable opportunities for people across differences to participate, contribute and succeed.
- Inclusion: We create a culture of access, well-being, and a sense of belonging across a diversity of intersectional identities and voices.
- Innovation: We value artistic experimentation, risk-taking, and innovative systems that support playwrights through a mindset of creativity and abundance.
- Transparency: We strive to practice clear, open, and honest communication at every level both internally and externally.
- Local Commitment: We invest in relationships with Bay Area playwrights, artists, organizations, and communities.
BAPF 2020 featured performers include:
Emma Van Lare, Adrian Roberts, Sarita Ocón, Rosie Hallett, Eddie Ewell, Christopher Salazar, Sarah Nina Hayon, Alejandra Escalante, Rodney Gardiner, Francisco Arcilla, Regina Morones, Max Forman-Mullin, Afua Busia, Sarah Traisman, Summer Brown, Sarah Lo, Will Dao, Ya Han Chang, Terrence, Monica, Victor Talmadge, and Dean Koya.
BAPF 2020 Creative Team:
Michelle Bank – Public Engagement Manager
Kieran Beccia – Associate Literary Manager
Jessica Bird Beza – Executive Artistic Director
Andrew Custer – Design Consultant
Lauren English – Casting Director
Nailah Harper-Malveaux – Community Relationships Manager
Heather Helinsky – Literary Manager
Tessa Saito King – Operations Manager
Den Legaspi – Graphic Designer
Mingus
Tyler English-Beckwith – Playwright
Margo Hall – Director
Lindsay A Jenkins – Dramaturg
Tammy Hall – Content Expert
To Saints and Stars
Jordan Ramirez Puckett – Playwright
Jessica Bird Beza – Director
Divinia Shorter – Dramaturg
Kathy Roberts – Producer
Derecho
Noelle Viñas – Playwright
Nicholas C. Avila – Director
Laura Brueckner – Dramaturg
Elizabeth Guzmán – Content Expert
Babes In Ho-Lland
Deneen Reynolds-Knott – Playwright
Dawn Monique Williams – Director
Leigh Rondon-Davis – Dramaturg
Sherrice Mojgani – Content Expert
Nikki Chery – Content Expert
Final Boarding Call
Stefani Kuo – Playwright
Desdemona Chiang – Director
Heather Heinksy – Dramaturg
Crystal Lee – Language Consultant