PLAY LA
From 2015 to 2020, PLAY LA lent its support to local playwrights based in Los Angeles County, Ventura County, Orange County, and the Inland Empire. PLAY LA developed up to five new plays written by early to mid-career writers interested in creating stage works from the ground up. The development of these plays was overseen by award-winning playwright and screenwriter Shem Bitterman, founder of PlayLab at Los Angeles’ renowned Skylight Theatre.
The focus of PLAY LA was to develop new plays in an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. The program aimed to give PLAY LA members all the tools they need to create compelling plays and to extend their network of relationships into the broader Los Angeles community of theatres.
Mentors Included: Filmmaker, Mike Binder; Playwright, Lee Blessing; Producer, Nick Hamm; Warner Brother's Development Executive, Christopher Mack; Literary Agent, Kelly Miller; Critic, Steven Leigh Morris; Oscar winning screenwriter, Tom Schulman; Former CTG Literary Manager, Pier Carlo Talenti; Playwright and Showrunner, Craig Wright.
If you are a playwright looking for additional information, please contact Humanitas for a referral to a PLAY LA representative.
2020 Winners
STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS
PLAY LA PROGRAM ADVISOR
Steven Leigh Morris is an award-winning playwright, novelist and theater critic. In 2018, he received the first annual Gordon Davidson Award for Distinguished Contribution to the LA Theatrical Community, presented by the Los Angeles Drama Critics’ Circle. He chaired the Jury for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 2012, and served on that same Jury in 2011. He is the founder of the community-funded performing arts website, Stage Raw (stageraw.com). His plays have been presented at New York’s Abingdon Theatre and New York Theatre Workshop, in Los Angeles, by the Mark Taper Forum, Actors’ Gang Theater, Ensemble Studio Theater, City Garage, and Playwrights Arena, and also at international festivals in Scotland and Poland. His criticism/commentary has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, American Theatre Magazine, DRAMA Magazine in London, L.A. Stage, Back Stage West and the L.A. Weekly, where he was the theater critic for 25 years. His first novel, Fowl Play (Haqua Press, 2016) received First Prize in the 2016 Human Relations Indie Book Awards. He was also the Executive Director of LA STAGE Alliance from 2015-2018.