StAGED READINGS
UNDISCOVERED/ UNDEVELOPED LINEUP
2 local playwrights share semi-rehearsed readings of promising new experimental works, just itching for full production.
SHORT CUTS DATES
Thursday, February 8 at 7pm
Friday, February 9 at 8pm
Saturday, February 10 at 8pm
Sunday, February 11 at 2pm
THE BUGS by Sloka Krishnan & directed by AeJay Mitchell
Genevieve Ingleside, disgraced future Baroness of Savannah, has escaped her family’s stifling country estate and found a life for herself in the city, navigating newfound intimacies in a time of plague and surveillance. Her grandmother, meanwhile, remains at home. When both find themselves in the crossfire of a public health and/or -relations crisis, they are forced to reconsider the strength of their family ties ... and of their facility with a pair of gardening shears.
Sloka Krishnan - Playwright
Sloka Krishnan (he/him) is a playwright-lyricist interested in magic, extravagance, ritual, camp, and the disavowal of moral purity and coherent identity. His writing has been described as subversive, multilayered, and eviscerating (by a boy he once slept with) and as darkly surreal comedy (by a legitimate online publication). Now based in San Francisco, he was previously a 2020 recipient of an Artist Project Grant from the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, a 2017-2018 Horizon Theatre Playwright Apprentice (Atlanta, GA), and a 2017 Lambda Literary Fellow in Playwriting. His work has been developed and performed in Atlanta through Out Front Theatre Company's Spectrum Spotlight Series, Working Title Playwrights' Ethel Woolson Lab and Table Series, and Horizon Theatre Company's apprentice showcases, and in the DC area by the Rainbow Theatre Project and Forum Theatre (Re)Acts.
AeJay Mitchell - Director
AeJay Marquis Mitchell (They/Them) is a multi-hyphenate performance artist, scholar, educator, and activist whose work centers the decolonization of the theatrical canon, the black avant-garde, and queer political performance practice. They were recently witnessed in the critically acclaimed The Ni¿¿er Lovers at The Magic Theatre and served as the co-director, choreographer, and vocal arranger for the world premiere of Ryan M. Luevano’s Dance Plague. Some of their favorite creative projects include Antigonick and Marisol with The Black Box @ SPA, The Legend of Pink, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Sister Act with Theatre Rhinoceros, as well as Robert O’Hara’s Booty Candy and American Ma(ul) at the Brava Theatre with BACCE. They serve as an Artistic Producer at Playwright’s Foundation, and they are a member of the Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience collective, Omega Delta Kappa Honor Society, Literary Manager and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and Actor’s Equity.
Leticia Duarte - Actor
Raya Light - Actor
PIECES by Nic Sommerfeld & directed by Tessa Corrie
A play that exists within a human body. Systems of the body are personified by the actors. They interact, disagree, move, and collaborate as the parts of the body should, whether or not they are able. It is at times sweet, hard, funny, and frustrating; much like having a body. “Pieces” was commissioned by fellow playwright Lauren Gunderson during lockdown in 2020
Nic Sommerfeld - Playwright
Nic Sommerfeld (they/them) is a trans non-binary writer based in San Francisco. They have written for, and been produced by SF Sketchfest, The San Francisco Olympians Festival ( ‘17 and ‘18), ShotzSF, Utopia Theatre Project, USF, and Monday Night Playground. They have also had their work featured as part of The Best of Playground Festival ( ‘18, ‘19, and ‘20). They have written sketch comedy shows and a web series (Gothic Poetry Corner) for Killing My Lobster. Nic has also had their plays in two Zoom theater festivals; Third Citizen’s Digital Dionysia Festival, and the Trans TheatreFest, hosted by the University of Wisconsin - Madison/InterMission Theatre.
Tessa Corrie - Director
Tessa Corrie (she/her) is a Queer and Latinx neurodivergent Theater Director based in the Bay Area. Her work is grounded in mainstreaming underrepresented narratives and communities. She is currently a Casting Associate at PlayGround SF and freelance direct through the East and South Bay. Credits include work at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Palo Alto Players, The Pear Theatre, The Playwrights' Center of San Francisco, More Más Marami Arts, and Poltergeist Theatre Project.