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During COVID-19 - for the Press
Announcing Virtual Amplify!
Virtual AMPLIFY! An Online Celebration of Women+ in Performance
Saturday April 18, 2020 6pm - 9pm PACIFIC
Streaming Live on HowlRound & Facebook Live: www.facebook.com/baWTF
Price: Free!
Questions? Contact Festival Producer Susan Shay at bayareaWTF@gmail.com or 510-982-1615
Bay Area Women’s Theatre Festival (baWTF) centers Women+ & Non-Binary Theatre Artists with Virtual Amplify!
Virtual Amplify! will be Saturday, April 18, 2020, 6 PM-9 PM (Pacific) streaming on HowlRound (from 6pm - 7:45pm) and Facebook Live (full 3-hour stream). Bay Area superstar performer and comedy legend Marga Gomez will host this showcase of the work by a sample of artists scheduled to perform at the live event at a future date, including:
- Fauxnique, the first cis-gender woman to win a major drag (queen) performance http://www.fauxnique.net/
- "Remnants of the Ghetto", spoken word poetry performed by LadiRev https://www.instagram.com/ladirev/
- Comedian Irene Tu https://www.irenetu.com/
- A selection from Nekeia Rideout’s solo show 'a room w/ no mirrors' about Black identity and living in a Black body, and
- Susan-Jane Harrison performing a selection from her solo show Mind the Gap, about privacy/public image and finding one's voice(s) https://www.susanjaneharrison.com/
- a brand new, written for this event, half-play, half-dance party Writer Boogie featuring 4 playwrights (announced on a rolling basis this week) and a ton of woman+-created music to dance to!!
A time-specific schedule will be posted at www.baWTF.com/amplify Some programming may be not suitable for children - family friendly performances, such as Writer Boogie, will be noted as such on the schedule.
Amplify! is baWTF’s 24-hour celebration of women+ in performance, originally scheduled for April 18-19, 2020 at Brava Theater Center in San Francisco. Due to Shelter-in-Place orders, that live performance will be rescheduled once we are allowed to safely return to the theaters as both theatermakers and audiences.
The Bay Area Women’s Theatre Festival launched just when Covid-19 shut down all live performances. We are following the example set by many of our participating theaters, such as Aurora Theatre Company, Fuse Theatre, Shotgun Players, and City Lights Theater Company as well as North Carolina’s Women’s Theatre Festival (our sister festival), and pivoting to streaming performances on the web. Our podcast, Amplify! Artist Conversations, was launched in early April to connect with and support the work of our Amplify! Performers and collaborators as they navigate life as an artist under COVID-19.
The Bay Area Women’s Theatre Festival (baWTF) aims to highlight gender parity, diversity and inclusion on- and off-stage in all 9 Bay Area counties. The festival spans International Women’s Day, International Transgender Day of Visibility and SWAN DAY (Support Women Artists Now). All participating theater works are written and directed by women+** or non-binary theater practitioners and at least 50% of the performers and the designers will be women+ or non-binary artists. The festival’s producing team (called The Instigators) is led by Michaela Goldhaber (Lead Instigator) and Susan Shay (Festival Producer and baWTF Managing Director). baWTF is a member of Intersection for the Arts and is funded by WomenArts, RHE Charitable Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation and hundreds of individual supporters.
For more on the festival, please visit www.bayareawomenstheatrefestival.com.
Information on the originally planned AMPLIFY! 24-Hour Celebration of Women+ in Performance:
Our largest event will take place at Brava Theater Center (2781 24th Street, San Francisco) from 6pm on Saturday April 18 until 6pm on Sunday April 19, 2020. This 24-hour performance marathon, AMPLIFY!, features non-stop performances from primarily local Bay Area women+ and non-binary artists. Part Fringe Festival, part epic slumber party, AMPLIFY! has a little something for everyone - comedy, burlesque, plays, children’s programs, solo shows, musical, workshops, works in progress, devised theatre, clowning and more.
Over 60 acts will be performing during AMPLIFY! including The Medea Project (created and directed by Rhodessa Jones), Marga Gomez, Dominique Gelin, Zahra Noorbakhsh, Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, Victoria Evans Erville, the Granny Cart Gangstas, Be Steadwell Company, Evelyn Jean Pine, Katja Rivera, Mugwumpin, Erika Chong Shuch Dance Group, Irene Tu, E. Hunter Spreen, Lilith Women’s Theatre, Margery Kreitman, Karen Hirst, Tina D’Elia, The Right Now, Southern Railroad Theatre Company, Jublith Moore, The Wholesome Slugs, Golden Thread Fairy Tale Players, Circus Nonsense, Idiot String/Peripatetic Players, Annamarie McLeod, Susan-Jane Harrison, Pollinator Productions, Ai, Comika Harford, Kimiya Shokri, Andréa Spearman Dance Company, Nekeia Rideout, Claddagh Company, Jen Coogan, Eve Chosak, Whit Reed, Margo Hall, Britney Frazier, Dezi Solèy, Fauxnique, Theatre Movement International, Casey Jones Bastiaans, Ashley Smiley, Torey Bookstein, Carolyn Doyle, Roberta D’Alois, Sarah Matsui, Tory Weingarten, Aimee Greenberg, Amy Marie Haven, The H.E.A.T. Collective, and Tanika Baptiste Presents.
The AMPLIFY! Curatorial and producing team includes Tina D’Elia, Mary Guzmán, Erin Merritt, Cheri Miller, Patricia Miller, Ariella Wolfe and Festival Producer Susan Shay.
The Bay Area Women’s Theatre Festival is supported by WomenArts, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, the RHE Charitable Foundation and hundreds of individual donors. We are a member of Intersection for the Arts, a historic arts nonprofit that provides people working in arts and culture with fiscal sponsorship and resources to grow.
**We recognize the limiting nature of the binary use of woman. We use the term “women+” to represent the expansive definition of women to include women+, womyn, womxn, wimmin, womin, woomin and trans persons. Our artists include women+, non-binary and genderqueer folx.
For the Press
About the Festival
The Bay Area Women’s Theatre Festival: March 1 - May 31, 2020
www.bayareawomenstheatrefestival.com
Twitter: @bayareaWTF
Instagram: @bayareaWTF
Facebook: www.facebook.com/baWTF
Tickets: available at www.bayareawomenstheatrefestival.com and https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/NzUzOTE=
Price: Free-$150 (varies by event)
Tickets for participating theaters may be purchased on their websites.
A full calendar of events is available on our website and via Google Calendar here.
Questions? Contact Festival Producer Susan Shay at bayareaWTF@gmail.com or 510-982-1615
The Bay Area Women’s Theatre Festival (baWTF) aims to highlight gender parity, diversity and inclusion on- and off-stage in all 9 Bay Area counties. The festival spans International Women’s Day, International Transgender Day of Visibility and SWAN DAY (Support Women Artists Now). All participating theater works are written and directed by women+** or non-binary theater practitioners and at least 50% of the performers and the designers will be women+ or non-binary artists. The festival’s producing team (called The Instigators) is led by Berkeley-native Michaela Goldhaber (Lead Instigator) and Susan Shay (Festival Producer and baWTF Managing Director).
The festival includes:
· New plays, devised works, and classical plays written by women+ or non-binary playwrights, including a Classical Reading Series (plays written from the Restoration era to the 1930s) and a Women of Color Reading Series (comprised of contemporary plays by local women+ of color)
· Full productions produced by participating Bay Area theater companies and promoted by baWTF
· Workshops and forums
· AMPLIFY! - a 24-hour performance marathon of women+ taking the stage including solo works, stand up, short plays, staged readings, devised works, musicals, improv, clowning, workshops and more. Amplify! runs Saturday April 18, 2020 at 6pm - Sunday April 19, 2020 6pm at Brava Theater Center, 2781 24th Street in San Francisco.
By committing to be a part of the Bay Area Women’s Theatre Festival (“baWTF”), a Bay Area theatre company will produce one or more of the following in March/April/May 2020: full production, staged reading, and/or workshop/panel/event; promote the event(s) as part of the baWTF; and offer a ticket discount (20% off) to Festival Pass Holders.
We have over 40 companies participating, including 3Girls Theatre Company, 6th Street Playhouse, African-American Shakespeare Company, Alma Theatre Company, Altarena Playhouse, AlterTheater Ensemble, the American Conservatory Theater Fellows Program, Aurora Theatre Company, B8 Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Black Repertory Group, California Shakespeare Theater, Cinnabar Theater, City Lights Theater Company, Crowded Fire Theater, Custom Made Theatre Company, Cutting Ball Theater, First Person Travel, FoolsFURY, Fuse Theatre, Golden Thread Productions, Lilith Women’s Theater, Livermore Shakespeare Festival, Magic Theatre, Marin Shakespeare Company, Marin Theatre Company, Mugwumpin, Phoenix Arts Association Theatre, Play by Play, Poltergeist Theatre Project, Ragged Wing Ensemble, San Francisco Playhouse, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Shotgun Players, Symmetry Theatre Company, Silicon Valley Shakespeare, The Bechdel Test, Theatre Rhinoceros, TheatreFirst, Those Women Productions, Valley Players, We Players, Word for Word, and Wry Crips Disabled Women’s Theatre Group.
Our Festival Launch Party on March 2nd, 2020 will be at Peet’s Theatre and Lobby (2015 Addison Street, Berkeley), featuring a fundraiser reading of local playwright Daphne White’s new play about Susan B. Anthony and the early fight for women’s rights. “Susan B.” is a finalist for the Julie Harris Playwright Award and will be directed by LeeAnn Dowd.
Our Classical Reading Series explores some of the foremothers of the writers whose work is being performed throughout baWTF, and to foster dialogue between generations of playwrights. Women were writing plays long before Lillian Hellman in 1934, despite what much of American theatre programming would lead you to believe. What you see in the series is just a small sample of the ingenious women+ playwrights, some still performed and some lost to time, whose place in theatre history deserves to be restored. The 6 plays in this series are produced in cooperation with B8 Theatre Company (Concord), California Shakespeare Theater (Orinda), Custom Made Theatre Company (SF), Livermore Shakespeare Festival (Livermore), Marin Shakespeare Company (Mill Valley), San Francisco Shakespeare Festival (SF) and Santa Cruz Shakespeare (Santa Cruz).
Our Women of Color Reading Series features original work from playwrights and directors of color local to the Bay Area. Artists include all types of talents at various points in their careers, from first time playwrights to seasoned and produced professionals. Come for your favorites such as the East Bay’s Margo Hall and find out about the work of artists new to you.
Our largest event will take place at Brava Theater Center (2781 24th Street, San Francisco) from 6pm on Saturday April 18 until 6pm on Sunday April 19, 2020. This 24-hour performance marathon, AMPLIFY!, features non-stop performances from primarily local Bay Area women+ and non-binary artists. Part Fringe Festival, part epic slumber party, AMPLIFY! has a little something for everyone - comedy, burlesque, plays, children’s programs, solo shows, musical, workshops, works in progress, devised theatre, clowning and more.
Over 60 acts will be performing during AMPLIFY! including The Medea Project (created and directed by Rhodessa Jones), Marga Gomez, Dominique Gelin, Zahra Noorbakhsh, Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, Victoria Evans Erville, the Granny Cart Gangstas, Be Steadwell Company, Evelyn Jean Pine, Katja Rivera, Mugwumpin, Erika Chong Shuch Dance Group, Irene Tu, E. Hunter Spreen, Lilith Women’s Theatre, Margery Kreitman, Karen Hirst, Tina D’Elia, The Right Now, Southern Railroad Theatre Company, Jublith Moore, The Wholesome Slugs, Golden Thread Fairy Tale Players, Circus Nonsense, Idiot String/Peripatetic Players, Annamarie McLeod, Susan-Jane Harrison, Pollinator Productions, Ai, Comika Harford, Kimiya Shokri, Andréa Spearman Dance Company, Nekeia Rideout, Claddagh Company, Jen Coogan, Eve Chosak, Whit Reed, Margo Hall, Britney Frazier, Dezi Solèy, Fauxnique, Theatre Movement International, Casey Jones Bastiaans, Ashley Smiley, Torey Bookstein, Carolyn Doyle, Roberta D’Alois, Sarah Matsui, Tory Weingarten, Aimee Greenberg, Amy Marie Haven, The H.E.A.T. Collective, and Tanika Baptiste Presents.
The AMPLIFY! Curatorial and producing team includes Tina D’Elia, Mary Guzmán, Erin Merritt, Cheri Miller, Patricia Miller, Ariella Wolfe and Festival Producer Susan Shay.
The Bay Area Women’s Theatre Festival is supported by WomenArts, the RHE Charitable Foundation and hundreds of individual donors. We are a member of Intersection for the Arts, a historic arts nonprofit that provides people working in arts and culture with fiscal sponsorship and resources to grow.
**We recognize the limiting nature of the binary use of woman. We use the term “women+” to represent the expansive definition of women to include women+, womyn, womxn, wimmin, womin, woomin and trans persons. Our artists include women+, non-binary and genderqueer folx.
Events Produced by the Bay Area Women's Theatre Festival
Festival Launch & Reading of "Susan B." - Monday March 2, 2020
Opening Launch Party & Fundraiser
When: Monday March 2, 2020 - 6:30pm
Location: Peet’s Theatre & Lobby, 2015 Addison Street, Berkeley
Tickets: www.bayareawomenstheatrefestival.com
direct ticket link: https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/NzUzOTE=
Price: $15-30
Featuring a reading of Susan B. by Berkeley playwright Daphne White, directed by LeeAnn Dowd
ABOUT "SUSAN B."
Susan B. is a play about passion, betrayal, rage and the early fight for women's rights. It features Susan B. Anthony, an early feminist who loved women; Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the movement's intellectual firebrand; Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist who supported women's rights up to a point; and Sojourner Truth, a powerful preacher who was caught between her gender and her race.
More than 150 years before the MeToo movement, Susan B. was defending women who had been sexually exploited, discarded, and left to die in insane asylums. She was called “shrill,” she was called “unreasonable,” and if she were running for office today she would certainly be called “unelectable.” How can we understand the battle between the sexes if we don’t even know our own history?
Susan B. is a finalist for the Julie Harris Playwright Award.
Peet's Theatre & Lobby are wheelchair-accessible. There are reserved wheelchair & companion tickets available. Please click here to see Peet's Theatre seating charts for wheelchair seating locations. Event space is not scent free.
Please contact us at bayareaWTF@gmail.com if you have accessibility needs or questions.
AMPLIFY! - April 18-19, 2020
AMPLIFY! a 24-Hour Celebration of Women+ in Performance
When: Saturday April 18 6pm - Sunday April 19 6pm
Location: Brava Theater Center, 2781 24th Street, San Francisco
Tickets: General Admission, Under 18, VIP and Artist Sponsorship tickets available at www.baWTF.com/amplify
Prices: $10-$150
Non-stop performances all day and all night at Brava Theater Center in San Francisco’s Mission District featuring artists from all over the Bay Area and beyond!
“There is a power and urgency in our spirit right now as women, and what better way to celebrate that then through language ritual and song. Our voices matter!”- Margo Hall, Legendary Bay Area artist featured in both our Women of Color Reading Series and AMPLIFY!
BRAVA is wheelchair-accessible - there is reserved wheelchair & companion seating in the 3 main performance spaces (the Main Stage, the Cabaret, and the Studio). Wheelchair seating in the Main Stage is in the front row. Wheelchair seating in the Studio and the Cabaret is in the front, audience left. The main lobby bathrooms both have ADA Accessible stalls, the Cabaret space has single stall bathrooms. There is an elevator to the 2nd floor for access to the Studio and Main Stage balcony levels. Event space is not scent free.
Please contact us at bayareaWTF@gmail.com if you have accessibility needs or questions.
Classical Reading Series
All readings are free of charge. Donations welcome. Seats may be reserved at www.bayareawomenstheatrefestival.com
Monday March 16, 2020 - 7pm
Querida Sor Juana/Dear Sor Juana: The Letters of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Text by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, directed by Carolina Morones
Co-Produced with San Francisco Shakespeare Festival
Reading location: Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, 2868 Mission Street, San Francisco
Monday March 23, 2020 - 7pm
The Innocent Mistress by Mary Pix
Directed by Michaela Goldhaber and Heather Ondersma
Co-Produced with Custom Made Theatre Company
Reading location: Custom Made, 533 Sutter Street, San Francisco
Monday March 30, 2020 - 7pm
The Basset Table by Susanna Centlivre
Directed by Jennifer Le Blanc
Co-Produced with Livermore Shakespeare Festival
Reading location: Livermore Shakespeare’s Downtown Studio, 2172 Railroad Avenue, Livermore
Monday April 6, 2020 - 7pm
Witchcraft by Joanna Baillie
Directed by Beth Fouts
Co-Produced with Marin Shakespeare Company
Reading location: 514 Fourth Street, San Rafael
Monday April 27, 2020 - 7pm
The Busy Body by Susanna Centlivre
Directed by Kirsten Brandt
Co-Produced with Santa Cruz Shakespeare
The location of this reading is to be announced
Monday May 4, 2020 - 7pm
Play to be Announced
Directed by Elizabeth Carter
Co-produced with African-American Shakespeare Company
The location of this reading is to be announced
Monday May 11, 2020 - 7pm
Emperor of the Moon by Aphra Behn
Directed by Erin Merritt
With special thanks to California Shakespeare Theater for providing rehearsal space
Reading location: B8 Theatre Company, 3503 Clayton Road, Concord
Please contact us at bayareaWTF@gmail.com if you have accessibility needs or questions.
Women of Color Reading Series
All readings are free of charge. Donations welcome. Seats may be reserved at www.bayareawomenstheatrefestival.com
Monday March 9, 2020 - 7pm
La Paloma by Alejandra Maria Rivas
Directed by Marisa Ramos
This reading is co-hosted by Aurora Theater Company
Reading location: Aurora Theater Company, 2081 Addison Street, Berkeley
Sunday March 15, 2020 - 6pm
Reading To Be Announced
Reading location: ZSpace, 450 Florida Street, San Francisco
Sunday March 29, 2020 - 6pm
KUDZU by Tracy Baxter
Directed by Tamika Baptiste
This reading is co-hosted by Crowded Fire Theater and Golden Thread Productions
Reading location: Potrero Stage, 1695 18th Street, San Francisco
Monday May 18, 2020 - 7pm
Laveau by Britney Frazier
Directed by Margo Hall
Co-produced with Aurora Theater Company
Reading location: Aurora Theater Company, 2081 Addison Street, Berkeley
Please contact us at bayareaWTF@gmail.com if you have accessibility needs or questions.
Benefit Performance with Mugwumpin - April 4, 2020
A Mugwumpin Occurrence at the Minnesota Street Project, as part of SFArtsED's See Change Festival, and the Bay Area Women's Theater Festival
A party with immersive theater experiences by Mugwumpin, original costume creatures by Christine Crook, featuring authentic texts and manifestos by female political prisoners and other underrepresented female voices.
Saturday April 4, 2020 - DJ, Cash Bar & Performances from 6-10pm
More info at mugwumpin.org
baWTF-produced events
Our Criteria
Agreement for Participation
By committing to be a part of the Bay Area Women’s Theatre Festival (“baWTF”), a company agrees to produce one or more of the following in March/April/May 2020 (full production | staged reading | workshop/panel/event), promote the event(s) as part of the baWTF and offer a ticket discount (20% off) to Festival Pass Holders.
Promotion|Press - baWTF in Brief
The Bay Area Women’s Theatre Festival: March, April, and May 2020
The Bay Area Women’s Theatre Festival (baWTF) aims to highlight gender parity, diversity and inclusion on- and off-stage in all 9 Bay Area counties. The festival spans International Women’s Day, International Transgender Day of Visibility and SWAN DAY (Support Women Artists Now). All participating theater works will be written and directed by women+ or non-binary theater practitioners and at least 50% of the performers and the designers will be women+ or non-binary artists. The festival includes:
- New plays, devised works, and classical plays written by women+ or non-binary playwrights, including a Classical Reading Series (plays written from the Restoration era to the 1930s) and a Women of Color reading series (comprised of primarily contemporary plays)
- Full productions produced by participating Bay Area theater companies and promoted by baWTF
- Workshops and forums
- AMPLIFY! a 24-hour marathon of women+ taking the stage including solo works, stand up, short plays, staged readings, devised works, improv, clowning, workshops and more. From 6pm April 18 - 6pm April 19, 2020 at Brava Theater in San Francisco.
More information on the festival may be found at bayareawomenstheatrefestival.com
Questions? Festival Producer/Managing Director Susan Shay may be reached at bayareaWTF@gmail.com or 510-982-1615