Custom Made Theatre Joins National New Play Network

San Francisco's Custom Made Theatre Company has been accepted as an associate member of the National New Play Network (NNPN), according to Custom Made's managing executive director Leah Abrams.

Abrams says she is thrilled that Custom Made is now part of the network.

"NNPN opens up so many doors for us. They provide a platform for us to expose the playwrights we feature in our reading and studio series, find new playwrights and scripts from all across the country, and access funding for new work productions," she says.

"Folks often don't realize that it's not a lack of desire to produce new work or a lack of new scripts we'd love to produce - it is simply a huge economic risk when you have an unknown playwright and title. NNPN is supporting this kind of development in concrete terms," she explains.

The National New Play Network (NNPN) is the country's alliance of non-profit professional theatres that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays.

Since its founding in 1998, NNPN has supported more than 150 productions nationwide through its innovative Continued Life of New Plays Fund, which supports the "Rolling World Premieres" for which NNPN has become most well-known. Additional programs, such as its National Showcase of New Plays, commissions playwright and producer residencies, developmental support, and member-accessed travel banks.

Its newest initiative, the New Play Exchange, allows its members to launch new work across the country and around the world. This action helps NNPN to open up opportunities with regional theatres and position itself as a key invaluable incubator of the future of American theatre.

NNPN Core Member theatres include San Francisco's Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theater (D.C.), New Rep (Watertown, MA), and New Jersey Rep (Long Branch, NJ).

Abrams sees NNPM as "a little gift from the heavens to support smaller theatres like ours expand their new play development opportunities. Here was an organization that seemed to be doing exactly what they aimed to do - make it easier for theatres and playwrights to find each other and financially support the development of new plays."

Custom Made Theatre continues its 2014-2015 season with...

Now thru Dec. 7 -- Edward Albee's Three Tall Women. Directed by Katja Rivera

Jan 8 - Feb 7, 2015 -- Late: A Cowboy Song by Sarah Ruhl. Directed by Ariel Craft

Feb 12 - March 14 -- How the World Began by Catherine Trieschmann. Directed by Leah S. Abrams.

March 27 - April 26 -- The Braggart Soldier, or Major Blowhard by Plautus, adapted and directed by Evren Odcikin.

May 14 - Jun 14 -- Grey Gardens, the Musical book by Doug Wright, music by Scott Frankel, and lyrics by Michael Korie. Directed by Stuart Bousel. Musical Direction by David Brown.