We return to Santa Ana’s Artists Village on Saturday, January 28 at 3:30pm at the Empire Theatre – the home of Theatre Out – for staged readings of two new one-acts. Looks to be a real cool show.

Look Who’s Having a Baby! by John Franceschini – Cliff wants to be a sperm donor to his lifelong friend Gloria so she and her partner Melinda can become parents … but his own partner Bryce is skittish about the idea. On the other hand, Cliff and Bryce’s respective parents are ready to name the baby, film the birth and pick a school. Directed by Bob Fetes. Featuring Stephanie Schulz, Tony Carneghi, Bob Fetes, Fred Peters, Nicholas Thurkettle and Lorin Howard.

Warner Bros. by Andrea Sloan Pink – Hollywood hopefuls try to hang onto their dreams in the time of new wave, the Brat Pack, mousse and VCRs. Directed by Jenni Dillon.

The show will run about 90 minutes and if you haven’t been to the Empire, your guide to driving and parking is right here.

Robert Riemer gets an LA WEEKLY Pick of the Week

The Laguna Beach playwright and OCPA member scored the coveted critical nod for his play Hosea Nova: A Jealous and Violent Man, which opened in November at ZJU Theater Group in North Hollywood directed by the one, the only, the legendary Zombie Joe.

Trio of OCPA works being published in noted short play anthology

3 OCPA playwrights – Lorin Howard, John Franceschini, Gene Fiskin – have works in Applause’s THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT PLAYS 2010-2011 (available 8/12): Lorin’s The Subtext of Texting, John’s It’s Only a Minute a Guy and Gene’s ‘Til Death Do Us.

Johnna Adams wins Sin City New Play Contest

Johnna’s new comedy Nurture won the first edition of this competition, in which Off-Strip Productions, Original Works Publishing and the Onyx Theatre called for works from around the nation. Nurture gets a full production at the Onyx (located just east of the Stratosphere) in summer 2012.

Erica Bennett’s Water Closet at Fullerton College, Dramatists Guild

Erica’s new drama Water Closet received a reading at the Dramatists Guild’s Frederick Loewe Room in the DG’s Friday Night Footlights series. It also gets a staged reading locally on January 13 @ 8pm at Fullerton College’s Bronwyn Dodson Theatre as part of the Fullerton College Playwrights Festival. John Santoianni directs.

Jeffrey Lo named artist-in-residence at Dragon Productions

The OCPA member and UCI drama grad has been busy recently – serving as assistant director on the TheatreWorks productions of Superior Donuts and Snow Falling on Cedars, San Jose Rep’s production of The Last Romance and OSF’s staging of The Language Archive. Coming up, he’ll be assistant director for the TheatreWorks production of Lee Hall’s The Pitmen Painters. Beyond that, his play A Kind of Sad Love Story had a short run at Mountain View’s Pear Avenue Theatre in December … and he is producing the 2012 new play festival for Palo Alto’s Dragon Productions.

Tira Palmquist plays at Hunger Artists, MadLab

Tira’s 10-minute play Predator was produced in December in the Hunger Artists’ Beyond Convention new play festival. Her full-length play Age of Bees will be produced at MadLab Theatre in Columbus, OH in fall 2012.

Eric Eberwein’s comedy coming up at Hunger Artists

Eric’s award-winning comedy Great Western Wanderlust gets its second production – it opens April 20 for a 4-week run at the Fullerton theatre.

John Lane’s Festaphobia at Three Roses

John’s 10-minute play was produced in the December edition of The Writer Speaks, the North Hollywood venue’s short play series.

One-acts by John Richardson, John Franceschini at STAGES

John Franceschini’s Christmas Exchange and John Richardson’s Champion of the Western Hemisphere were produced in New Voices Playwrights Theatre’s Holiday Voices show at Fullerton’s STAGEStheatre.

Go ahead. Take a tour.

These links will take you to the web pages and web sites of OCPA playwrights.

Johnna Adams

Bev Arrowsmith

Donna Bader

Erica Bennett

Jerry Berning

Bob Bevacqua

Colleen Bevacqua

Eleanor Brook

John Byrd

Karen Fix Curry

Eric Eberwein

Sean Engard

Max Espinoza

Frank Farmer

Gene Fiskin

John Franceschini

Art Gottlieb

Lorin Howard

Arthur Kraft

John Lane

Jeffrey Lo

Ken La Salle

Yolanda Mendiveles

Lynn Wells Nelson

Tira Palmquist

Andrea Sloan Pink

John Richardson

Robert Riemer

Dorothy Weston Stauch

Christopher Trela

Martin E. Williams

Jordan R. Young

We are a dues-paying membership organization that exists primarily to develop and workshop the plays of our 30+ members. We develop plays through

• Table reads in our twice-monthly meetings (some of the best actors in OC sit in and read roles for us)
• Our Discoveries staged readings series (primarily featuring one-acts)
• Our OCPA Studios @ Hunger Artists series (featuring new full-length plays)

These are all steps toward the goal of a fully realized production, whether it happens here in Orange County or elsewhere. When you hear your play interpreted by actors, it helps you see what works and what doesn’t – you see the pacing and structure of scenes on their feet, you see how well the audience is getting caught up in the story.

Actors, directors and progressive theatres like working with us because we provide new, fresh plays – the lifeblood of any good theatre scene. The OC theatre scene has really changed in the last 15 years and we have been proud to be part of that change.

16 YEARS OF NEW WORK

OCPA started in 1995 when a group of students in South Coast Repertory’s Advanced Playwriting Workshop got the idea to create a self-sustaining playwrights organization in Orange County.

In September 1996, OCPA presented the first installment of the Discoveries series at Fullerton’s Vanguard Theatre, presenting new works from OC playwrights in staged readings. It continues to this day.

Leslie Joyce, Kyle Spiller & Luis Kelly-Duarte in the Discoveries staging of John Lane's Welcome to Puerto Seco! @ STAGEStheatre. Photo: Geoffrey Gread

In 1998, Chapman University‘s theatre department produced a collection of ten-minute plays from OCPA; we were welcomed back for two more productions. Later, we co-produced two shows with Vanguard Theatre Ensemble (The Writes of Spring in 2000 and American Stories in 2004), and presented a free lineup of comedies at the Orange County Theater Festival in 2004.

More recently, OCPA plays were featured in the two Laguna Beach New Play Festivals produced by Gallimaufry Performing Arts. Holiday Stimulus Package - our co-production with STAGEStheatre – drew packed houses in 2009.

In summer 2009, the OCPA Studios series started to keep an ongoing stream of worthy full-length plays from the Alliance in the public eye. Now it is OCPA Studios @ Hunger Artists – a collaboration with the Hunger Artists Theatre Company in Fullerton.

We have been a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization since 1998.

So, what have we done?

We might as well answer the old Hollywood question. Here are some works penned by OCPA dramatists, and what they’ve won and/or where they’ve been staged or produced.

A BRUSH WITH FATE • Joni Ravenna • west coast ensemble, hollywood

A MEMORY OF WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN • Robert Riemer • zju theater group, north hollywood

AGE OF BEES • Tira Palmquist • winner, company of angels visions of dystopia competition

AGING WITH GRACE • Frank Farmer • winner, long beach playhouse new works festival

COCKFIGHTERS • Johnna Adams • OC WEEKLY award for best new play • silver prize finalist, pinter review prize for drama • finalist, national arts club playwrights first award • hunger artists theatre company, fullerton • oberon theatre ensemble, NYC

DEAD RECKONING • Martin E. Williams • STAGEStheatre, fullerton

EL PRIMER DIA DE CLASES • Erica Bennett • mendez vs. westminster civil rights curriculum, CA state public schools

FOR PETE’S SAKE • Joni Ravenna • chance theater, anaheim hills

GOAT • Arthur Kraft • elite theatre company, oxnard

GOOD BREEDING • John Lane • winner, scripteasers playwriting competition

GRANDPA WAS A BACHELOR • Gene Fiskin • bedlam ensemble, NYC

GREAT WESTERN WANDERLUST • Eric Eberwein • winner, las vegas little theatre new works competition • las vegas little theatre

HOLLYWOOD IS A STATE OF MIND • Jordan R. Young • california artists radio theatre, KPFK-FM

OBSCENITIES • Art Gottlieb • winner, long beach playhouse new works festival

OUT OF YOUR MIND • Arthur Kraft • winner, long beach playhouse new works festival

PHILADELPHIA LAWYER • Arthur Kraft • STAGEStheatre, fullerton

PRESIDENTIAL HOPELESS • John Richardson • STAGEStheatre, fullerton

SANS MERCI • Johnna Adams • winner, reva shiner full-length play award • finalist, princess grace foundation USA playwriting fellowship • finalist, abingdon theatre company brian wolk award • bloomington playwrights project, IN • hunger artists theatre company, fullerton

SHYLOCK’S DAUGHTER • Eleanor Brook • winner, long beach playhouse new works festival

SIDE EFFECTS • Eleanor Brook • winner, long beach playhouse new works festival

SOTTO VOCE • Robert Riemer • zju theater group, north hollywood

SPLENDID MISERY • Robert Riemer • the actors temple, NYC • zju theater group, north hollywood

THE ANGEL EATERS TRILOGY • Johnna Adams • flux theatre ensemble, nyc

THE DIARIES OF DAVID KIND • Eric Eberwein • theatre publicus jury prize for dramatic literature

THE HERMIT BIRD • John Byrd • virago theatre, alameda

THE MIRACLE OF MARY MACK’S BABY • Johnna Adams • STAGEStheatre, fullerton

THE OLD BIRD • Lynn Wells Nelson • winner, long beach playhouse new works festival • winner, dezart performs play reading festival • los angeles women’s theatre project 20% festival

THE SACRED GEOMETRY OF S&M PORN • Johnna Adams • rude guerrilla theater company, santa ana

THE SWITCH • Arthur Kraft • the next stage, los angeles

In addition to these full-length plays, our members have somewhere in the vicinity of 100 one-acts and 10-minute plays produced.

OCPA is always interested in new playwrights.

New and striking playwriting voices – from all walks of life – intrigue us.

That said, we accept new members selectively. We don’t want to have 50, 100 or 500 members, or grow so fast that our meetings become gatherings of strangers and we serve our playwrights inadequately.

If you’re interested, submit a sample of your work (a full-length play or a one-act) to ocpabox@gmail.com. Our Board will read it and consider you for membership.

Some FAQs.

Q: Does OCPA teach playwriting?

A: At the moment, no. OCPA meetings are not playwriting classes (though playwrights can and do learn much about the craft of playwriting at our meetings). Most of our playwrights have been through the equivalent of Playwriting 101 and have had many productions. If you are seeking an excellent playwriting course, South Coast Repertory’s Professional Conservatory, Fullerton College and Long Beach City College frequently offer them.

Q: Will you produce my play?

A: We sometimes get calls or emails from people who have written a one-person show or musical. It frequently turns out that is the only play they have written, and they want to know if we would like to produce it. While we do occasionally produce, our productions feature works from our member playwrights – works that have commonly been developed through our process.

Q: Are OCPA playwrights asked to write in a certain style?

A: No. Never. We have had playwrights from age 19 to age 85 as members, coming from different paths in life, their playwriting informed by different points of view and different life experiences.

Q: What is the new play climate like in Orange County?

A: Very sunny. Across the LORTs and various non-Equity storefronts, there are a dozen or so new plays produced here annually (sometimes closer to two dozen). Theatres tend to be very receptive to new work. In addition to brand new work, there are another dozen-to-two-dozen “newer” plays from American and foreign playwrights that reliably go up, some of them California, west coast or even U.S. premieres.