Pacific Playwrights Festival at South Coast Repertory

Launched in 1998, South Coast Repertory’s annual Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF), part of The Lab@SCR, is a major national showcase for new plays.

The 25th festival—May 5-7, 2023—features two world premiere productions and five staged readings during an action-packed three days. PPF weekend attracts theatre professionals from across the nation, as well as SCR’s devoted new play audiences, who are drawn by the chance to be the first to see some of the best new theatrical works in the country.

Staged readings:

Dr. Silver—Friday, May 5 at 1:00 p.m.

created by Anika and Britta Johnson, music and lyrics by Anika and Britta Johnson, book by Nick Green

The day has come. It is time for Dr. Silver and his followers to drink the divine tonic and join the heavenly orchestra. But in order for his congregants to face the end, they must first think back to how it all began.

Chapters of a Floating Life—Friday, May 5 at 4:00 p.m.

by Clarence Coo

In 1940s New York City, two couples from China struggle to make ends meet. Uptown, Shen Fu and Yun long for their former lives as an academic and writer. Downtown, Tom and Elsie toil in their tiny restaurant. Chance meetings bring them together—and unlock the possibility of new beginnings.

A Small Man—Friday, May 5 at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, May 6 at 8:00 p.m.; Sunday, May 7 at 2:30 p.m.

by Noa Gardner

Mother and Son spend every night playing cards and telling Hawaiian stories about the world’s creation. Better those stories than their own, which are more complex…and challenging. But without facing their past, they’re stuck without a future.

Crasiss—Saturday, May 6 at 10:30 a.m.

by Bleu Beckford-Burrell

In New Market, Jamaica, stood a house on the hill. There, lived Granny and her five grandkids. In Granny’s house, there was something to fear. The kids are now grown and far away, but something still remains in the shadows.

Galilee, 34—Sunday, May 7 at 10:30 a.m.

by Eleanor Burgess

With Yeshua dead, his disciples are determined to keep spreading his message. The only trouble is the Roman Empire might want them dead. And they don’t have a leader. And they can’t quite agree on what Yeshua’s message was…