Methods and Models of New Play Development

A brief interlude from our Member Appreciation Month (writers: I'm looking forward to getting and posting your pieces!)

Especially for Playwrights:  Methods and Models of New Play Development

Following the Saturday, January 16th, 2 p.m. performance of Patrick Gabridge's new play, Constant State of Panic, Patrick will be joined on stage with artistic directors and literary managers from six DC-area theatres--artistic director Kathleen Akerley (Longacre Lea), artistic director Paul- Douglas Michnewicz (Theater Alliance), artistic director Christopher Snipe (Madcap Players), executive director JoAnn M. Williams (African Continuum Theatre Company), artistic director Richard Henrich (Spooky Action Theater), and artistic director Patrick Torres (Young Playwrights Theater).  They'll discuss Constant State of Panic and the processes they each use in developing new plays. 

This is an opportunity for writers to get the inside scoop on how these local directors go about choosing new scripts and bring them to life on stage.  "Though it'll be tempting to tell horror stories of what can go wrong when trying to get a new play up, the focus will really be on what works.  We'll look at who uses readings and workshops and how they structure the process.  Everyone approaches it differently, and as a playwright, its valuable to understand the different points of view, and also figure out who might be the best match for the way you like to work,"  Gabridge says.  Patrick is co-founder of the Rhombus playwrights group in Boston and has been involved in helping writers create and market new plays for more than 20 years.  In 1993, he started the publication, Market InSight for Playwrights, which offers monthly submission information to playwrights, and in 2002 he started the online Playwright Submission Binge, an online group that now has more than 500 members from around the world.

Constant State of Panic is a darkly comic love story about a man afraid of everything and a woman afraid of nothing other than losing her husband.  This highly theatrical show takes a twisted look at a couple struggling to survive in a culture that thrives on fear.  Lines between reality and fantasy blur the characters tumble through the looking glass of this paranoid Bush-era Wonderland.  The play was developed in an ongoing in-house reading series with Rhombus in Boston, and then with another workshop with Madcap in Washington, before it headed into rehearsal.

LOCATION:  H Street Playhouse, 1365 H Street NE, Washington, DC

TICKETS (for the play, there's no extra charge for the panel):  $20; $15 for groups of 10 or more.  PWYC tickets are $5 or $10 online and are available at the H Street Playhouse, one hour before curtain.

Call 800.494.TIXS (800.494.8497) or visit BoxOfficeTickets.com to reserve tickets.