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HUMANITAS
Changing the World One Story at a Time

Center Theatre Group and HUMANITAS Request Submissions For PLAY LA Workshop

Center Theater Group and HUMANITAS will be accepting submissions from Los Angeles-based playwrights from March 1 to April 15, 2015 for its new PLAY LA Workshop. Writers will receive a $1,500 stipend as well as access to advice from theatre, film and television professionals throughout the year. At the end of the process, one play will be featured as a workshop at the Kirk Douglas Theatre as part of PLAY LA’s weekend celebration of new plays in the spring of 2016.

Award-winning playwright and screenwriter Shem Bitterman will oversee the PLAY LA Workshop. "The focus of the PLAY LA Workshop will be to develop new plays from the ground up.” Bitterman says. “On given nights professional directors, guest writers or actors may drop in to discuss the plays in progress, or aspects of craft. Also, we will draw on the greater theatre community to help put scenes on their feet. My intention is to give PLAY LA Workshop members all the tools they need to create plays as they see fit. The hallmark will be openness and mutual respect. The main thing is to offer writers a place to create freely and to realize their visions."

The workshop will meet once every four weeks for twelve three-hour working sessions, from May 2015 through March 2016. Attendance is mandatory.

Writers interested in participating should submit two ten-page samples from two different plays along with a resume by no later than April 15, 2015 to:

playlaworkshop@humanitasprize.org

You will be notified of our decision in early May 2015.

About Shem Bitterman

Shem Bitterman has written over 30 produced plays and screenplays. Awards include; PEN USA Award ("Harm's Way"), CBS/FDG New Play Program ("Iowa Boys"), Kennedy Center Fund For New American Plays ("Beijing Legends"), SCR California Playwrights Competition ("The Ramp"), LA Drama Critic Circle's Ted Schmitt Award ("The Job"). His teleplay, “Betty & Coretta,” was nominated for a HUMANITAS. His film, “Whitney,” directed by Angela Bassett, aired on Lifetime in January. In 2011, Shem initiated the PlayLab at LA’s Skylight Theatre which has been responsible for mentoring more than 25 original plays from idea stage to completion.

About Center Theatre Group

Center Theatre Group is Los Angeles’ leading non-profit theatre company, programming seasons at the Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center, and the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to providing theatre of the highest caliber to the vibrant, diverse communities of Southern California, CTG supports a significant number of arts education, community partnerships and play development initiatives.

About HUMANITAS

Since its inception in 1974, The HUMANITAS Prize honors film and television writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced, meaningful way. A signature HUMANITAS story challenges us to use our freedom to grow and develop, confronts us with our individual responsibility, and examines the consequences of our choices, while also entertaining us with fully realized characters and elegantly crafted stories. The overarching goal of HUMANITAS is to promote peace and love in the human family – one story at a time.