Pittsburgh Playworks Exposes the Creative Process
PITTSBURGH - 4th River presents Pittsburgh Playworks' Play Development Lab series, featuring readings from plays in development by award-winning local playwrights William Cameron, Jeanne Drennan and Jozef Spychala. From June 16-21, three new plays will be read by professional actors, exposing the playwright's craft and creative process for theatre professionals and audience members alike. All readings will take place at the Three Rivers Arts Festival Gallery at 937 Liberty Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh.
"Pittsburgh Playworks builds on the processes of the theatre labs from the sixties and eighties in New York City," said Spychala. "These groups were committed to bringing forth diverse artistic voices and positioning the collaboration of playwrights, directors and actors as vital to the development of top-quality theatre experiences."
Violet Sharp by William Cameron is set against the backdrop of one of America's most notorious crimes: the 1932 Lindbergh kidnapping case. Violet Sharp, a 27-year-old domestic servant, is suspected of kidnapping the Lindbergh's infant son. As the police relentlessly pursue her confession, Sharp tries to clear her name while facing her personal demons. Based on extensive research, Violet Sharp mixes fact and speculation to credibly dramatize actual events. Cameron's play is scheduled for two upcoming productions, one at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in October 2008, and a second at Theatre 40, a professional theatre company in Los Angeles, in February 2009. Readings will occur at 7 pm, Tuesday, June 17 and Friday, June 20, 2008.
Jeanne Drennans' 12 Dogs was a 2006 finalist for the National New Play Network's Smith Prize and a 2007 finalist for both the Reva Shriner Prize of Bloomington Playwrights Project and the Lark Play Development Center's Playwrights Week. At a tiny outpost in a post-apocalyptic work some hundred years in the future, a young teacher is trying to nurture and protect a brilliant 17-year-old student. Her efforts to win opportunities for him endanger their home and everyone in it, but in a world where poetry, comic books and particle physics have a power to transport and elevate characters with few choices and grim futures, nothing is impossible. 12 DOGS will be read at 7 pm on Monday, June 16, and Thursday, June 19.
The third play in the series, Jozef Spychala's Bread of Angels, concerns the "clean sweep" of a homeless camp along the banks of the Monongahela River in western Pennsylvania. As city officials strive for "Unity in the CommUNITY," the homeless - many of whom are mentally ill - discover ways to survive that soar beyond self-imposed and socially-subjected limitations. Bread of Angels was workshopped at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and received readings at two off-Broadway stages in New York. Pittsburgh readings take place at 7 pm, Wednesday, June 18, and at 1 pm, Saturday, June 21.
Tickets for Play Development Lab readings are $5. To purchase tickets, go online to www.artsfestival.net, visit the Cultural District Box Office at Theatre Square, or call 412.456.6666.
Playwrights biographies are available upon request.
Calendar Listings
4th River Presents Pittsburgh Playworks Play Development Lab: A Public Reading of Violet Sharp by William Cameron. 7 pm, Tuesday and Friday, June 17 and 20, 2008. Three Rivers Arts Festival Gallery, 937 Liberty Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh. $5. For tickets, visit www.artsfestival.net or call 412.456.6666.
4th River Presents Pittsburgh Playworks Play Development Lab: A Public Reading of 12 DOGS by Jeanne Drennan. 7 pm, Monday and Thursday, June 16 and 19, 2008. Three Rivers Arts Festival Gallery, 937 Liberty Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh. $5. For tickets, visit www.artsfestival.net or call 412.456.6666.
4th River Presents Pittsburgh Playworks Play Development Lab: A Public Reading of Bread of Angels by Jozef Spychala. 7 pm, Wednesday, June 18, and 1 pm, Saturday, June 21, 2008. Three Rivers Arts Festival Gallery, 937 Liberty Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh. $5. For tickets, visit www.artsfestival.net or call 412.456.6666.
About the Three Rivers Arts Festival
4th River is a program of the Three Rivers Arts Festival. The mission of the Three Rivers Arts Festival is to connect the community to the arts. The 49th annual Three Rivers Arts Festival runs from June 6-22, 2008. For more information, call the Festival at 412.281.8723 or visit our website www.artsfestival.net.
Download this press release
"Pittsburgh Playworks builds on the processes of the theatre labs from the sixties and eighties in New York City," said Spychala. "These groups were committed to bringing forth diverse artistic voices and positioning the collaboration of playwrights, directors and actors as vital to the development of top-quality theatre experiences."
Violet Sharp by William Cameron is set against the backdrop of one of America's most notorious crimes: the 1932 Lindbergh kidnapping case. Violet Sharp, a 27-year-old domestic servant, is suspected of kidnapping the Lindbergh's infant son. As the police relentlessly pursue her confession, Sharp tries to clear her name while facing her personal demons. Based on extensive research, Violet Sharp mixes fact and speculation to credibly dramatize actual events. Cameron's play is scheduled for two upcoming productions, one at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in October 2008, and a second at Theatre 40, a professional theatre company in Los Angeles, in February 2009. Readings will occur at 7 pm, Tuesday, June 17 and Friday, June 20, 2008.
Jeanne Drennans' 12 Dogs was a 2006 finalist for the National New Play Network's Smith Prize and a 2007 finalist for both the Reva Shriner Prize of Bloomington Playwrights Project and the Lark Play Development Center's Playwrights Week. At a tiny outpost in a post-apocalyptic work some hundred years in the future, a young teacher is trying to nurture and protect a brilliant 17-year-old student. Her efforts to win opportunities for him endanger their home and everyone in it, but in a world where poetry, comic books and particle physics have a power to transport and elevate characters with few choices and grim futures, nothing is impossible. 12 DOGS will be read at 7 pm on Monday, June 16, and Thursday, June 19.
The third play in the series, Jozef Spychala's Bread of Angels, concerns the "clean sweep" of a homeless camp along the banks of the Monongahela River in western Pennsylvania. As city officials strive for "Unity in the CommUNITY," the homeless - many of whom are mentally ill - discover ways to survive that soar beyond self-imposed and socially-subjected limitations. Bread of Angels was workshopped at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and received readings at two off-Broadway stages in New York. Pittsburgh readings take place at 7 pm, Wednesday, June 18, and at 1 pm, Saturday, June 21.
Tickets for Play Development Lab readings are $5. To purchase tickets, go online to www.artsfestival.net, visit the Cultural District Box Office at Theatre Square, or call 412.456.6666.
Playwrights biographies are available upon request.
Calendar Listings
4th River Presents Pittsburgh Playworks Play Development Lab: A Public Reading of Violet Sharp by William Cameron. 7 pm, Tuesday and Friday, June 17 and 20, 2008. Three Rivers Arts Festival Gallery, 937 Liberty Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh. $5. For tickets, visit www.artsfestival.net or call 412.456.6666.
4th River Presents Pittsburgh Playworks Play Development Lab: A Public Reading of 12 DOGS by Jeanne Drennan. 7 pm, Monday and Thursday, June 16 and 19, 2008. Three Rivers Arts Festival Gallery, 937 Liberty Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh. $5. For tickets, visit www.artsfestival.net or call 412.456.6666.
4th River Presents Pittsburgh Playworks Play Development Lab: A Public Reading of Bread of Angels by Jozef Spychala. 7 pm, Wednesday, June 18, and 1 pm, Saturday, June 21, 2008. Three Rivers Arts Festival Gallery, 937 Liberty Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh. $5. For tickets, visit www.artsfestival.net or call 412.456.6666.
About the Three Rivers Arts Festival
4th River is a program of the Three Rivers Arts Festival. The mission of the Three Rivers Arts Festival is to connect the community to the arts. The 49th annual Three Rivers Arts Festival runs from June 6-22, 2008. For more information, call the Festival at 412.281.8723 or visit our website www.artsfestival.net.
Download this press release
