Julia Cho, Min Kahng and Peter Sinn Nachtrieb are among a growing list of playwrights who are contributing to Play at Home, a new project that commissions playwrights to write a short play that becomes available to the public via a free download.
As many theatres around the country have been canceling performances, and entire seasons, a group including Baltimore Center Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, The Public Theater, Repertory Theater of St Louis, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company began a project to help keep people connected through live theatre. Since starting, more theatres around the country have joined in. Through these micro-commissions, the group aims to support freelance artists, to get people offline and immersed in live theatre, and to inspire joy, imagination and connection.
Today, Berkeley Repertory Theatre announced that three Bay Area writers have joined Play at Home and will each be writing a 10-minute play that can be performed by people in their own homes. Each play, written over the course of 3-5 days, is intended to be imaginative, playful and joyful.
Johanna Pfaelzer, the artistic director of Berkeley Rep, looks forward to the collaboration, stating, “We are thrilled to participate in Play at Home and to be able to include three Bay Area writers who have each previously participated in Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor Summer Residency Lab. In a moment in which we are all longing for connection, this initiative allows us to connect artists we believe in with audiences who we know will welcome the gift of these writers’ imaginations. I hope people will create something from the artists’ work that will amuse and delight them, and that they will then share that work with us via their own social media platforms.”
In addition to Julia Cho (Aubergine), Min Kahng (Where the Mountain Meets the Moon) and Peter Sinn Nachtrieb (Fall Springs), participating playwrights include Lauren Yee, Michael R. Jackson, Aleshea Harris, Anna Ziegler, and Heather Raffo, among others.
With the list of theatres and playwrights involved growing, Play at Home offers a fantastic library of short plays for anyone and everyone to enjoy. They can be read and acted alone or with friends and family (virtually or in-person). So get up off the couch for 10 minutes and be a part of live theatre from your home. And don’t forget to share and connect via social media by tagging #PlayAtHome.
View the collection of plays and playwrights here.