San Francisco Playhouse (Bill English, Artistic Director; Susi Damilano, Producing Director) continues its sixth season of the Sandbox Series of new plays with the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of Lauren Yee's in a word. Giovanna Sardelli will direct.
For Fiona, today is the two-year anniversary of her young son's disappearance. And still, nothing makes sense. Not her blasé husband, the incompetent detective, or the neighborhood kidnapper who keeps introducing himself in the checkout line. But when her son's case is on the brink of being declared "cold," Fiona delves back into her memories of that fateful day, to uncover that crucial missing piece. in a word chronicles Fiona's attempts to make sense of the past, as grief and comedy collide and ordinary turns of phrase take on dangerous new meanings.
"in a word is my attempt to theatricalize that feeling you get when you're missing something, of something lurking on the edges of your periphery" says playwright
Lauren Yee.
The cast includes Greg Ayers,
Jessica Bates and Cassidy Brown.
The mission of the Sandbox Series is to promote new works utilizing top-notch directors and actors. Sandbox Series shows, with limited design elements and reduced financial risk, bridge the gap between "readings" and "main stage" productions offering increased exposure to the new voices in American Theatre.
Lauren Yee (Playwright) Plays include Ching Chong Chinaman (Pan Asian, Mu Performing Arts, SIS Productions, Impact Theatre), Crevice (Impact), The Hatmaker's Wife (
Playwrights Realm, The Hub, Moxie Theatre, AlterTheater, PlayPenn), Hookman (Company One workshop, upcoming at Encore Theatre), in a word (Cleveland Public Theatre, Hangar and Williamstown workshops), King of the Yees (
Goodman Theatre commission), Samsara (Victory Gardens, O'Neill Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, upcoming at Chance Theatre), and The Tiger Among Us (MAP Fund, Mu). Lauren's distinctions as a writer include being a former
Dramatists Guild fellow, MacDowell Colony fellow, as well as a member of the Public Theater Emerging Writers Group, a Women's Project Lab playwright, and
Second Stage Shank playwright-in-residence, as well as
Playwrights Realm Page One resident playwright. Yee's play Samsara was a nominee for the
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and L.
Arnold Weissberger Award. The Hatmaker's Wife was an Outer Critics Circle nominee for the
John Gassner Award.
Giovanna Sardelli (Director) is an award-winning director who has worked on several world premieres of plays by
Rajiv Joseph,
Matthew Lopez,
Theresa Rebeck,
Lynn Rosen, Joe Gilford, and
Zoe Kazan among others. She has worked Off-Broadway at the
Cherry Lane Theatre,
Second Stage, Vineyard,
Playwrights Realm, The Women's Project and
Ensemble Studio Theatre and Roundabout Theatre Company. She has directed numerous productions for Dorset Theatre Festival, where she is the Resident Director,
Barrington Stage Company, Actor's Theatre of Louisville,
The Old Globe,
Hartford Stage Company,
Cleveland Play House,
Cincinnati Playhouse, CTG, and
Hudson Stage Company among others. She is the Director of New Works for TheatreWorks where her production of
Rajiv Joseph's The Lake Effect is running through March. She received her MFA in acting from NYU and is also a graduate of their Director's Lab. Currently running: Little Children Dream of God by
Jeff Augustine (Roundabout, NYC). Upcoming: Intimate Apparel (Dorset Theatre Festival), Veils (Barrington Stage Co)
Founded by
Bill English and Susi Damilano in 2003, San Francisco Playhouse has been described in the New York Times as "a company that stages some of the most consistently high-quality work in the Bay Area." Located right in the heart of the Union Square Theater District, San Francisco Playhouse is the city's Off-Broadway company, an intimate alternative to the larger more traditional Union Square theater fare. The San Francisco Playhouse provides audiences the opportunity to experience professional theater with top-notch actors and world-class design in a setting where they are close to the action. The company has received multiple awards for overall productions, acting, and design including the SF Weekly Best Theatre Award and the Bay Guardian's Best Off-Broadway Theatre Award. Presenting a diverse range of plays and musicals, San Francisco Playhouse produces new works as well as re-imagining classics, "making the edgy accessible and the traditional edgy." The company's 2012-2013 season marked its 10th anniversary and as it moved to a newly renovated venue, The San Francisco Chronicle raved: "On the verge of opening its 10th season, the company that lived a hand-to-mouth existence for its first few years has become 'the little playhouse that could.' It quickly established a reputation for attracting some of the Bay Area's best acting and directing talent, as well as for its exciting play choices. And with its bold Sandbox Series, it's become a player in developing new works as well." San Francisco Playhouse is committed to providing a creative home and inspiring environment where actors, directors, writers, designers, and theater lovers converge to create works that celebrate the human spirit.
The National New Play Network is the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays. They strive to pioneer, implement, and disseminate ideas and programs that revolutionize the way theaters collaborate to support new plays and playwrights. Since its founding in 1998, the National New Play Network has supported nearly 150 productions nationwide through its innovative Continued Life of New Plays Fund, which creates NNPN Rolling World Premieres of new plays; granted more than a million dollars to its Member theaters, their staffs and affiliated artists; and provided hundreds of playwrights and other theater-makers with developmental workshops, commissions, and paid residencies. Now, after seventeen seasons, hundreds of thousands of audience members around the world have seen plays that were created and honed with support from NNPN.
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