PlayGround’s 4th Innovator Incubator RFP

Posted by on November 14, 2021

Guidelines for the 2022 Innovator Incubator cohort have been announced and the deadline to apply is January 17, 2022. Sign up for a 1-hour information session, December 12-19.

PLAYGROUND INNOVATOR INCUBATOR 2022 RFP

The PlayGround Innovator Incubator is a multi-year intensive incubation program to support theatrical innovation and the launch of new innovative theatrical production companies. PlayGround will competitively select up to 2 new projects/teams per year to join the returning cohort, providing each with access to a suite of services and resources in support of their initial development, first production, and strategic plan for post-incubation sustainability. At the conclusion of each year, all Innovator Incubator companies are invited to apply for a slot in the yearly Innovators Showcase, a multi-week festival of new and innovative productions and works in development (the 2021 Showcase runs through December 5). Participants for the Showcase are selected from competitive applications to receive free performance space and technical support to produce their vision: be it full length production, developmental reading, or symposium/workshop. The initial Innovator Incubator class was launched in January 2019 with a second cohort announced in January 2020 and the third cohort announced in January 2021. Applications are now being accepted for the 2022 class, due by 11:59pm on Monday, January 17, 2022, and the third cohort will be announced by late-January 2022.

Over the past 25 years, PlayGround has served the Bay Area arts community, and most recently Los Angeles, as a leading incubator of significant new playwrights and plays. Through PlayGround’s suite of integrated playwright and new play services, PlayGround has supported over 200 early-career playwrights in the development of more than 300 short and full-length plays. PlayGround has premiered 175 of these through its PlayGround Festival of New Works and innovative New Play Production Fund and helped launch playwrights onto the national scene, including Lauren Yee, Aaron Loeb, Geetha Reddy, and Garret Jon Groenveld. In 2015, PlayGround added the 99-seat black box Thick House theatre in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood to its suite of resources and, following a $300,000 renovation, relaunched the performance space as Potrero Stage: PlayGround Center for New Plays. In addition to hosting PlayGround’s expanding new play programs, Potrero Stage is home to some of the Bay Area’s leading new play developers and producers and offers more than 200 public performances each year. PlayGround also operates the PlayGround PlaySpace, a 300 square foot rehearsal, classroom and meeting space in South Berkeley, supporting the development of new plays and playwrights.

PROGRAM & APPLICATION INFORMATION SESSIONS

PlayGround will host online public information sessions regarding the program and the application process in December 2021:
Sunday, December 12, 2pm-3pm PT
Tuesday, December 14, 8pm-9pm PT
Sunday, December 19, 2pm-3pm PT

To sign up, visit https://forms.gle/GY4uVLsa7JJ9itNg9.

PROGRAM FEATURES

Participants will sign up for PlayGround’s fiscal sponsorship program, providing them with access to both institutional and individual giving opportunities under the umbrella of PlayGround’s 501c3. Incubator participants will collectively attend monthly gatherings with opportunity for intensive training and peer-to-peer learning on a variety of key capacity building areas, including grant writing, budgeting, artistic and organizational strategic planning, and marketing, among others. Teams will each develop a proposal to fund and implement an initial project and, as part of a three-week Innovators Showcase (November 7-27, 2022), PlayGround will competitively award free rehearsal and performance space at Potrero Stage for the top 2-3 teams’ opening projects and remaining times will be awarded for public showings/workshops/staged readings as part of the showcase. Following their initial presentations, PlayGround will work with each of the incubated companies to map out plans for the following year, including strategies around production planning, fundraising, and organizational development.

Services and resources will include:

Fiscal sponsorship (under the umbrella of PlayGround’s 501c3);
One-on-one mentorship;
Monthly group intensives in key capacity building areas, including grant writing, budgeting, artistic and organizational strategic planning, and marketing;
Free access to administrative space;
Discounts on rehearsal and performance space;

2-3 projects will be selected to receive a free production package for their initial offerings, including:

Technical support (technical director, 10 hours);
Marketing support (web, email, social media, printed material, online advertising, PR);
Rehearsal space (up to 60 hours);
Performance space (1 week at 99-seat Potrero Stage, 3-4 performances, as part of the 2022 Innovators Showcase);
Potrero Stage house inventory (lighting, sound, soft goods) and PlayGround additional rental items (projectors, screens, cyclorama, scrim, supplemental sound system);
Front-of-house support (house manager/box office staffing, 4 performances);
Projects will retain 100% of all net box office revenues from public performances;

Through the PlayGround Innovator Incubator, PlayGround seeks to launch several bold new companies that will make a lasting and significant contribution on the Bay Area theatre community while further establishing Potrero Stage as a leading center for new play development and production.

HOW TO APPLY

Applications, due by 11:59pm, Monday, January 17, 2022, must be submitted via this google form. Notification of selections will be made on or before January 31, 2022.

Applications must include the following:

Name & contact information for individual completing application;
Name, contact information and short bios for team leadership (2-4); each team must be comprised of at least two committed individuals, we have found the workload necessitates teamwork and collaboration;
Description of past collaboration(s), if any, of team members;
Name of proposed theatre company;
Mission statement for proposed theatre company;
Vision statement for proposed theatre company;
Detailed proposal for initial production;
- - Title of project/play
  - Author(s)
  - Evidence of permission for any copyrighted material or intellectual property;
  - Proposed production team (director(s), performer(s), designer(s), etc.), including indication whether confirmed, requested but pending, and still to be selected; for all open positions, please indicate the process by which your team will make final selections (auditions, etc.);
  - Production budget, including all projected outlays/expenses, in-kind services (confirmed, pending, to be requested), and income (note: projects will retain 100% of projected ticket revenues from incubated presentations); to download a budget template, click here;
  - Resource development plan for securing all resources (or in-kind) needed to ensure the initial production; this can include crowd-funding, fundraising events, etc.;
  - Target audience (size, age, demographics, specific communities, etc.) and marketing strategy to reach the target audience (in addition to marketing services provided by PlayGround);
  - Confirmation of availability for the rehearsal period (October-November, 2022) and production period (November 7-27, 2022);
  - Proposed rehearsal, tech, and performance schedule (selected projects will be assigned a one-week production period: November 7-13, November 14-20, or November 21-27, 2022);
A proposed strategy for how the project can achieve sustainability once it emerges from the incubator. This may include ideas for an initial three production season of works: (“Season 1”), including titles, authors, and other lead artists if known/confirmed.

Applications, due by 11:59pm, Monday, January 17, 2022, must be submitted via this google form. Notification of selections will be made on or before January 31, 2022.