LA JOLLA—La Jolla Playhouse will bring back its acclaimed new play development initiative, the DNA New Work Series, a two-week run of workshops and readings of new works, taking place February 17 to March 2.
The DNA New Work Series offers playwrights and directors the opportunity to develop a script by providing rehearsal time, space and resources, culminating in a workshop presentation or public reading. This process simultaneously gives audiences a closer look at the play development process, while allowing the Playhouse to foster relationships with established and up-and-coming playwrights.
“It’s such an extraordinary experience to be in a rehearsal room when the play meets an audience for the first time,” said Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley. “Now in its second year, the DNA New Work Series continues to give patrons the rare opportunity to see a work in progress, while supporting artists in the earliest stages of a new work.”
Several projects and artists from last year’s DNA Series have made the leap to productions at the Playhouse. The Who & The What, by Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar will get its world premiere to close out the Playhouse’s 2013/14 season, while Chasing the Song, by Memphis creators Joe DiPietro and David Bryan, kicks off the 2014/15 season. Additionally, Finegan Kruckemeyer, the author of The Boy at the Edge of Everything, has been commissioned to write a new piece for the Playhouse’s 2014 POP Tour, which tours schools throughout San Diego.
This year’s DNA New Work Series features a workshop production of Blueprints to Freedom: An Ode to Bayard Rustin, by Michael Benjamin Washington (seen on stage in the Playhouse’s productions of Memphis and The Wiz), directed by Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show). The piece was given its first public reading at the Playhouse on August 28, 2013 – the date of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington – and this workshop represents the next stage in the play’s development. Performances run February 21 to February 23 and February 28 to March 2 in the Rao and Padma Makineni Play Development Center.
Performance times are at 7:30 p.m. (Fri/Sat) at and 3:00 p.m. (Sun).
In the sweltering political and racial heat of 1963, Bayard Rustin – the brilliant proponent of non-violent civil disobedience – is assigned to orchestrate an unprecedented march for jobs and freedom. Exiled from the Civil Rights movement by both internal and external forces, Rustin grapples with his last chance for professional restoration and spiritual redemption as he masterminds “a tribute to the ancestors” exactly one century after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
The DNA New Work Series will also feature six 1-day readings, including: The Brothers Paranormal, by Prince Gomolvilas, directed by Jeff Liu (presented in partnership with East West Players); The Smartest Girl in the World, a new play for young audiences by Miriam Gonzales, directed by José Cruz González; The Envelope, by Alex Lewin (The Car Plays), directed by Tom Dugdale (WoW Festival production of Our Town); Higher, by A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff, directed by Christopher Ashley; Tranquil, by Andrew Rosendorf, directed by Lucie Tiberghien (Blood and Gifts); and Let Me Count the Ways, by Martín Zimmerman, directed by Christopher Ashley. Blueprints to Freedom will be performed in the Rao and Padma Makineni Play Development Center, while the six readings will take place in the Seuss 1 rehearsal room.
All projects in the DNA New Work Series take place with little or no scenic, costume or staging elements, and actors may have scripts in hand. The various creative teams will be available for interviews for feature coverage; however, in order to preserve the developmental nature of the program, DNA Series productions are not open to review.
The DNA New Work Series is part of a long list of play development initiatives at the Playhouse, such as its ongoing commissioning program and the Page To Stage Play Development Program. Since 1982, the Playhouse has commissioned 40 new plays, musicals, adaptations and POP Tours from a broad range of playwrights, including Lee Blessing, Tony Kushner, José Rivera and Diana Son, as well as the 2012 musical Hands on a Hardbody, book by Doug Wright, lyrics by Amanda Green and music by Trey Anastasio and Green. Other artists currently under commission include Mark Bennett, Keith Bunin, Kirsten Greenidge, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Naomi Iizuka, Aditi Brennan Kapil, Jon Kern, Finegan Kruckemeyer, Erin McKeown, Gregory S. Moss, Alfred Uhry and Charlayne Woodard.
Tickets for the DNA New Work Series go on sale January 15. Tickets for the Blueprints to Freedom workshop are $15 and free for the readings (reservations required); all seats are general admission.
For more information, call the Patron Services Department at (858) 550-1010, or visit www.LaJollaPlayhouse.org.
