A New Platform for New Work: The PlayGround Re-Play Festival!

PlayGround is pleased to announce a significant new opportunity for Bay Area producers of new plays! The PlayGround Re-Play Festival is a four-week new works festival (February 13-March 12, 2023) at Potrero Stage and simulcast, providing a platform for the San Francisco premiere of new plays that were originally produced elsewhere in the Bay Area. Four companies will each be awarded one week at Potrero Stage to remount a recently premiered new work. This program aims to: increase visibility and attendance for significant new plays and playwrights; uplift small to mid-size theatre companies from outside San Francisco; increase equity in the theatre industry through the sharing of resources; and build community across the Bay.

“As a leading developer of new playwrights, we know how difficult it is for writers to achieve a first production of a new work, and how incredibly rare it is to ever receive a second or third production of the same play. Yet, these opportunities are critical to the development of these plays and playwrights. We hope that the Re-Play Festival will help break the barriers to the remounting of important new plays developed in the Bay Area and introduce these writers and their producers to new audiences, in San Francisco and — through our online simulcast — across the globe,” shared PlayGround Artistic Director Jim Kleinmann.

Applications for the inaugural Re-Play Festival are due via Google form by 11:59pm PT, October 31. Selections will be announced on or before November 7. This program is made possible in part through a distribution from PlayGround’s 25th Anniversary Campaign.

Eligibility

  • Producing organizations must be based in the Greater SF Bay Area (9 Counties plus Sacramento & Santa Cruz);
  • Projects must have premiered (in-person and/or online) during the 2020-21 or 2021-22 season and cannot have had more than two previous productions;
  • If the premiere was in-person, the venue must be located in the Greater SF Bay Area (excluding San Francisco).

Guidelines

  • Selected teams/projects will be awarded one week at Potrero Stage to present their projects within the construct of the larger festival;
  • Selections will be curated by the PlayGround Artistic Staff, with a priority of centering historically underrepresented or excluded voices;
  • Producing organization is responsible for providing a fully-rehearsed and designed off-book presentation;
  • Producing organization is responsible for setting and fulfilling terms of compensation for all artists and crew, except as otherwise provided by PlayGround; producing organization may work under PlayGround’s SAG-AFTRA New Media Agreement (deferred) if the cast contains one or more union performers, though this does not change producing organization’s responsibility for artist compensation;
  • Projects must participate in PlayGround’s radical accessibility program, including free admission (with donation option) and online simulcast;
  • PlayGround will provide the following: fully-equipped Potrero Stage, Technical Director (for load-in/load-out), Box Office/House Manager, Light/Sound Board Operator (up to 20 hrs), Streaming Broadcaster, as well as co-marketing, production management consultation (1 hr), and box office services.

Terms & Conditions

  • Producing organizations will be responsible for remitting to PlayGround a $500 fee (due upon selection) toward PlayGround-covered personnel and facilities expenses;
  • PlayGround will retain 50% of all ticket donations collected for performances by producing organization; the balance of such revenues will be distributed to the producing organization within ten (10) days of the final performance;
  • Each re-play production must offer three (3) public performances: Fri & Sat at 7pm, Sun at 2pm;
  • Additional performances may be scheduled subject to demand and mutual agreement between producing organization and PlayGround with no less than one week’s notice.

Other Specifications

  • Load-in can take place on Monday beginning at noon
  • Tech can begin Tuesday
  • Producing organization will be responsible for setting the load-in and tech schedule, in coordination with PlayGround’s Production Manager

To apply, complete the Google form application by 11:59pm PT on October 31, 2022. Selections will be announced on or before November 7.

APPLY

Questions? Contact Jim at jim@playground-sf.org.