The Summer Play Festival (SPF) was a theatre festival held in New York, USA.
The annual four-week Summer Play Festival took place during the summer months at the Public Theater in New York City. It was founded by Broadway producer Arielle Tepper Madover and staged new plays and musicals by emerging writers. The first Summer Play Festival was presented in 2004, introducing a $10 ticket price that was a key feature of the event for its entire run. A year later in 2005, The Living Room for Artists, Inc. was formed as a non-profit organization to ensure that the Festival perpetuates its goals, and whose central mission is to both fuel the growth of emerging theatre artists and encourage people of all ages to create, attend and work in the theatre. Unlike the New York International Fringe Festival, there was no application fee and each production was allotted a significant budget. The SPF organization handled all the marketing and maintained no long-term rights to the plays and musicals showcased. The Festival's advertising blanketed New York during the summer, with television, newspaper, and magazine ads. Bus stops and street posters also advertsied the event.
100 emerging playwrights and composers, and around 1000 directors, designers, and other theatre artists worked at the Festival during its six-year run. The Festival had a successful track record in identifying emerging talent: SPF’s writers and artists have gone on to receive numerous awards and accolades, and productions on Broadway, off-Broadway, regionally and internationally. Many have also developed projects with major film and television companies. The New York Times, Variety, and numerous other newspapers lauded Tepper's vision of creating affordable theatre for audiences, and a unique creative opportunity for emerging and established artists.
Other Festival programs included concerts, panels, salons, and forums developed in conjunction with Time Out New York and the NYC Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting, a university internship program, a play commissioning program, and residency programs with the Donmar Warehouse, the National Theatre of Great Britain, and a number of Festivals in Europe.
Artists included Ally Sheedy, Mary Beth Peil, Marin Hinkle, John Gould Rubin, Annie Parisse, Katherine Waterston, Stew, Annie Golden, Adam Gwon, Jeremy Schonfeld, Georgia Stitt, Sam Gold, Beau Willimon, Christopher Gattelli, Trip Cullman, Jordan Harrison, Chloe Moss, Evan Cabnet, Kristoffer Diaz, J.T. Rogers, and Quiara Hudes.
2009
The Chimes by Kevin Christopher Snipes, directed by Adam ImmerwahrDeparture Lounge by Dougal Irvine, directed by Christopher GattelliReborning by Zayd Dohrn, directed by Kip FaganThe Happy Sad by Ken Urban, directed by Trip CullmanThe Sacrifices by Alena Smith, directed by Sam GoldTender by Nicki Bloom, directed by Daniella TopolWe Declare You A Terrorist by Tim J. Lord, directed by Niegel SmithWhore by Rick Viede, directed by Stephen Brackett2008
The Black Suits music & lyrics by Joe Iconis, book by Joe Iconis & Robert Maddock, directed by John SimpkinsEsther Demsack by Billy Finnegan, directed by Stafford ArimaFuture Me by Stephen Brown, directed by Joanna SettleGreen Girl by Sarah Hammond, directed by Wendy McClellanNeighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by Jennifer Haley, directed by Kerry WhighamTell Out My Soul by Jacquelyn Honess-Martin, directed by Evan CabnetThe Ones That Flutter by Sylvia Reed, directed by Stephen BrackettTio Pepe by Matthew Lopez, directed by Caitlin Moon2007
Alice in War by Steven Bogart, directed by Alice ReaganBlueprint by Bixby Elliot, directed by Jonathan SilversteinCipher by Cory Hinkle, directed by Kip FaganDevil Land by Desi Moreno-Penson, directed by Jose ZayasFlesh and the Desert by Carson Kreitzer, directed by Beth MillesThe Gabriels by Van Badham, directed by Rebecca PattersonHalf of Plenty by Lisa Dillman, directed by Meredith McDonoughLower Ninth by Beau Willimon, directed by Daniel GoldsteinMinor Gods by Charles Forbes, directed by Gaye Taylor UpchurchMissing Celia Rose by Ian August, directed by Adam ImmerwahrMy Wandering Boy by Julie Marie Myatt, directed by John Gould RubinThe Nightshade Family by Ruth McKee, directed by Shelley ButlerNot Waving by Ellen Melaver, directed by Douglas MercerNovel by Anna Ziegler, directed by Michael GoldfriedUnfold Me by Joy Tomasko, directed by Linsay FirmanVrooommm! A NASComedy by Janet Allard, directed by David Lee2006
The Butcherhouse Chronicles by Michael P. Hidalgo, directed by Thomas CarusoFather Joy by Sheri Wilner, directed by Pam MacKinnonThe Fearless by Etan Frankel, directed by Scott SchwartzGardening Leave by Joanna Pinto, directed by Michael GoldfriedHardball by Victoria Stewart, directed by Lou JacobHitting the Wall by Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich, directed by Drew BarrMarge by Peter Morris, directed by Alex TimbersMillicent Scowlworthy by Rob Handel, directed by Ken Rus SchmollSonia Flew by Melinda Lopez, directed by Justin WaldmanSpain by Jim Knable, directed by Jeremy DobrishSplitting Infinity by Jamie Pachino, directed by Matt ShakmanThe Squirrel by Alex Moggridge, directed by Patrick McNultySwansong by Patrick Page, directed by David MuseTraining Wisteria by Molly Smith Metzler, directed by Evan CabnetA Wive’s Tale by Christina Ham, directed by Rosemary Andress2005
The Adventures of Barrio Grrrl! by Quiara Alegría Hudes, directed by Liesl TommyCourting Vampires by Laura Schellhardt, directed by Lou Jacobcrooked by Catherine Trieschmann, directed by Linsay FirmanEphemera by John Yearley, directed by Erma DurickoHow Love is Spelt by Chloë Moss, directed by Michael SextonIndoor/Outdoor by Kenny Finkle, directed by Daniel GoldsteinMadagascar by J. T. Rogers, directed by Gus ReyesThe Map Maker's Sorrow by Chris Lee, directed by Stefan NovinskiMessalina by Gordon Dahlquist, directed by David LevineMimesophobia by Carlos Murillo, directed by Matt AugustSick by Zakiyyah Alexander, directed by Daniella TopolSplit Wide Open by Christina Gorman, directed by Lisa RotheTed Kaczynski Killed People With Bombs by Michelle Carter, directed by Jeremy DobrishtempOdyssey by Dan Dietz, directed by Randy WhiteWelcome to Arroyo's by Kristoffer Diaz, directed by Jaime CastanedaWildlife by Victor Lodato, directed by Michael Sexton2004
Anatomy 1968 by Karen Hartman, directed by Lisa RotheArrivals & Departures by Rogelio Martinez, directed by Lou JacobColorado by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, directed by Tracy WardEarthquake Chica by Anne Garcia-Romero, directed by Leah C. GardinerEl Paso Blue by Octavio Solis, directed by Juliette CarrilloHonor & The River by Anton Dudley, directed by Ken SchmollIt's Only Life: The Songs of John Bucchino by John Bucchino, directed by Daisy PrinceKid-Simple by Jordan Harrison, directed by Will FrearsKitty Kitty Kitty by Noah Haidle, directed by Carolyn CantorMayhem by Kelly Stuart, directed by Melissa KievmanPink by Heather Lynn MacDonald, directed by Linsay FirmanProzak & the Platypus by Elise Thoron and Jill Sobule, directed by Rebecca Taichman Prozak and the Platypus webbed siteSam & Lucy by Brooke Berman, directed by Trip CullmanSpin Moves by Ken Weitzman, directed by Suzanne AginsStealing Sweets and Punching People by Phil Porter, directed by Michael SextonSweetness by Gary Sunshine, directed by Trip CullmanThe Dew Point by Neena Beber, directed by William CardenWet by Liz Duffy Adams, directed by Kent Nicholson