PlayGround-LA Feb 10 Topic... Take it to Heart!

PlayGround-LA continues its second season and celebrated monthly staged reading series, Monday Night PlayGround, on February 10 at the Zephyr Theatre with six original short plays inspired by this month’s topic… IDIOMS OF THE HEART (e.g., change of heart, heart-to-heart, heart of gold, etc.; see http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/heart). Los Angeles-based playwrights have until 2pm on Tuesday to write and submit scripts inspired by the topic. Playwrights are encouraged to be creative and use the topic as a jumping-off point with all forms of theatrical expression encouraged. For submission guidelines, visit http://playground-la.org/submit. The six finalists will be presented as script-in-hand staged readings at 8pm on February 10. For tickets, low-cost subscriptions or for more information, the public can call (323) 992-6766 or go online at http://PlayGround-LA.org.

Ten days before the designated Monday, a topic is announced and emerging playwrights in the Greater Los Angeles Area have until 2pm the following Tuesday to submit a short script. A panel of judges selects six winners, whose entries are cast over the weekend and then rehearsed with the area’s best professional actors and directors in a whirlwind ninety minutes each before being performed as script-in-hand staged readings. Previous topics include “Origin Story”, “Sea-Change”, “Holiday Spirit”, “I Have A Dream...”, and last month’s “California Dreamin”.

The mission of PlayGround-LA is to support the development of significant new local voices for the theatre. PlayGround-LA has developed a unique model for identifying and nurturing the best new writers, helping them to build a significant body of original work, and strongly weaving these artists into the family of local theatre professionals. PlayGround pairs early development playwrights with established, professional actors and directors and fosters the artistic relationships that develop.

PlayGround-LA is the first regional expansion of the celebrated Bay Area playwright incubator and theatre community hub, PlayGround(SF). PlayGround was launched in San Francisco in 1994 by co-founders Jim Kleinmann, Brighde Mullins and Denise Shama. In 1996, Kleinmann became PlayGround’s first Artistic Director. Since its founding, PlayGround has developed and staged more than 650 original ten-minute plays by 185 Bay Area early-career writers and has commissioned 51 full-length plays by distinguished PlayGround alumni. In the process of staging those works, PlayGround has helped to identify some of the leading emerging writers and, at the same time, has engendered the creation of a true community of theatre artists, bringing together hundreds of local actors, directors and playwrights. For most if not all of the participating writers, PlayGround is the first professional staging their work has received and serves as their introduction into the professional theatre community.

PlayGround’s alumni have gone on to win local, national and international honors for their short and full-length work, including recognition at the Humana Festival, Sundance Festival, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, New York International Fringe Festival, Aurora Theatre Company’s Global Age Project, and Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival, among others. Directors and actors participating in PlayGround are among some of the most distinguished theatre professionals, regularly working on leading local stages.

For more information, visit http://PlayGround-LA.org or follow PlayGround on Facebook (http://facebook.com/PlayGround.LosAngeles) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/PlayGround_LA).

PlayGround-LA’s Monday Night PlayGround is

WHAT:

Six original short plays by L.A.’s best new dramatists, inspired by the topic “Idioms of the Heart”

WHEN:

February 10, 2014

Monday @ 8pm

WHERE:

Zephyr Theatre

7456 Melrose Ave.

Los Angeles, California 90046

HOW:

(323) 992-6766  or

http://PlayGround-LA.org

TICKETS: $20, priority seating; $15, general admission; $10, student admission with ID.

6-admission flex subscriptions (includes priority seating) start at just $75.