Friday, July 6, 2012

JAW 2012: A Playwright's Festival


I am delighted and excited for the upcoming JAW Festival at Portland Center Stage.

JAW focuses on the playwright and on new work and last year was my first time experiencing the festival.  It was fantastic. And the admission is free.  So it's a theater-lovers dream!

And this year...well, my friends, this year, I am privileged to be a part of the festival.

To kick off the festivities, there will be the Made in Oregon Festival where 8 Oregon playwrights (including myself) were commissioned to write a short play based on the theme Just Add Water (JAW). That event takes place at 8pm on Thursday, July 26th.  If you're in town, come on down to the Gerding Theatre.  It's going to be a real treat to see what these 8 playwrights have concocted!

And then, for the remainder of the weekend, from Friday, July 27th through Sunday, July 29th, there will be readings of  six brand new full-length plays by some amazing playwrights.  Click here for the full schedule of readings.  

There will also be plays written by the Promising Playwrights.  These are high school students who participated in the Visions and Voices program through PCS (which was taught by the fantastic Matt Zrebski and myself).  These short plays written by these extraordinary young writers will be featured prior to some of the full-length readings.

Be sure to check out this terrific festival if you're in Portland July 26th through July 29th.  I'll be there.  Come say hello!