Playwrights Readings

The Playwrights’ Center presents the plays and playwrights to be featured in its 2012 PlayLabs Festival and 2012-13 Ruth Easton New Play Series.

The Playwrights’ Center’s public season elevates the staged reading to an intimate art form all its own, featuring top local and national actors, incorporating design elements, and giving adventurous theatergoers the chance to interact with the playwright who created the new work — for free. Last year’s season saw standing-room-only audiences eager to take part in the new play experience.

PlayLabs and the Ruth Easton New Play Series represent the Center’s most intensive play development opportunities for playwrights. Both programs allow writers to test and improve their scripts with help from teams of professional theater artists and, ultimately, a live audience.

“Twin Cities theatergoers have come to expect bold, risk-taking new work at the Center, and this season is no exception,” said Producing Artistic Director Jeremy B. Cohen. “These events exist, in part, so that the playwright can experiment with an audience, a crucial dynamic in revealing the truest nature of a new play. There are few places where playwrights and theatergoers can walk away having shared theater experiences like these.”

The Playwrights’ Center’s 29th Annual PlayLabs Festival, running October 15-21, will offer two readings each of three new plays. Participating playwrights receive a 30-hour workshop in the Playwrights’ Center’s Lab that includes writing time in between readings for the playwright to incorporate new insights into the play. The Festival will also include a panel discussion with leading voices in the national theater field, a showcase of the Center’s playwriting fellows, and a big celebration for the artists involved and the theater community. All events are free and open to the public.

The 2012 PlayLabs Festival will feature THREE VOYAGES OF THE LOBOTOMOBILE by Core Writer George Brant; NOBODY, NO TIME by Core Writer Carlyle Brown; and CAN’T COMPLAIN by Core Writer Christine Evans.

The Ruth Easton New Play Series offers one-night-only readings on the first Monday of each month between December and April. Participating playwrights receive 20-hour workshops in the Lab and engage in a curated discussion with the audience following each reading.

The 2012-13 Ruth Easton New Play Series will feature WAR IS F**KING AWESOME by Core Writer Qui Nguyen; THE WAY WEST by Core Writer Mona Mansour; THE KARPOVSKY VARIATIONS by Core Writer Adam Kraar; PROFILES by Jerome Fellow Joe Waechter; and THE DOWAGER by Core Writer Andy Bragen.

“It’s telling that every play in the 2012-13 Ruth Easton New Play Series has previously received a smaller workshop in our Lab,” said Cohen. “To see this model of sustained support change the life of a play, both through workshops and through a raw connection with the audience, is immensely gratifying to us.” www.pwcenter.org