←Playwrights Foundation

The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced HERE COMES THE NIGHT as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. We were engaged by the precarious situation and the tensions that arose in this relevant play firmly rooted in LA culture and a strong theatrical portrait of place. We appreciated the central question of when female friends diverge in their life paths, can they be there for each other when it counts? We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated collaborators in this play’s journey towards production. #BAPF46

The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced THE RETURN OF THE SHOGUN as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. We were engaged as Saleem grieves his step-dad who encouraged him in martial arts and the complications of reconnecting with his bio dad. We were drawn in by this magical realism story of family repairing relationships and their mental health, as Saleem's parents learn to embrace who he is. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated collaborators in this play’s journey towards production. #BAPF46

The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced AMERICAN GIRL as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. We were deeply moved in this story of cyclical trauma and betrayal by the way characters were handled, especially Nikki's vibrant energy, her dreams, her deep desire to take care of her family even though they ultimately let her down. We were compelled by the realistic depiction of addiction, and the handling of nuanced portrayal of sex work. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated collaborators for further productions. #BAPF46

The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced THE CHILDREN'S FARM as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. We highly enjoyed this childhood and adolescent memory play as Sam takes refuge in colorful puppets, as it thematic addresses the struggles of coming out and reconciling different versions of yourself. We were highly engaged by the play's joy, humor, creativity, and buoyant rhythms, as well as brutal honesty as Sam's cousins play detective. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated collaborators in this play’s journey towards production. #BAPF46

The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced PEOPLE SHOULD TALK ABOUT WHAT'S REAL as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. We were compelled by the play's questions. Amidst isolation beyond one's control, how do women handle the ethics, complications, and personal toll of infertility? We were engaged by the ways comedy was used to navigate discussions of fertility and bodily autonomy, which set up the final emotionally charged waiting room moment. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated collaborators in this play’s journey towards production. #BAPF46

The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced MATRIARCH as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. We highly enjoyed the stakes the writer employed, the circumstances of the generations of women in this family, and the themes of vengeance and grief. We were engaged by how family trauma can be hidden or glossed over and the forms in which the writer was using to tackle the content. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated collaborators in this play’s journey towards production. #BAPF46

Playwrights Foundation congratulates CERCLE HERMAPHRODITOS as an Honorable Mention for the 45th Bay Area Playwrights Festival in 2022. This play has the potential to use a bygone era as a launching point for discussing trans identity in a meaningful and nuanced way. Our Literary Council advocated strongly because we were moved by this joyful, hysterical, deeply touching, and starkly real theatrical narrative, as it lovingly renders a community of characters. This play asks, "What did trans happiness and community look like in the late 19th century?" We encourage producers to consider this work for further collaboration and production. #BAPF45

The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced PIGGYBACK as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. We highly enjoyed the approachable and relatable comedy of the rituals of a writers' group offering feedback. We found the turn in the second half of the play compelling and extremely effective theatrically and for the argument about storytelling that is on everyone's mind right now. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated collaborators in this play’s journey towards production. #BAPF46

The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced TRANSCENDING THE BELLY OF THE BEAST as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. Readers leaned into the representation of Oakland during Japanese Incarceration/WWII, especially how changes in the neighborhood impacted each character and the community's legacy of resistance. We appreciated the play's promise dramatizing friendships between communities with an approaching war and open racist violence, and how characters made high stakes, life-altering decisions. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated collaborators in this play’s journey towards production. #BAPF46

The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced AIRSPACE as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. We were compelled by the play's exploration of existential abstraction and absurdity that occurs while traveling through homogenized, globalized spaces, and the play captures that disorientation. We highly enjoyed the stylization building the world of the play and the lines that get blurred in this exploration of loss of identity, culture, and poor work/life balance. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated collaborators in this play’s journey towards production. #BAPF46