Nurturing Stories that Matter

2020 OJAI PLAYWRIGHTS! first row (l to r): Ebony Booth (PRIMARY TRUST); Ramiz Monsef (THE ANTS); Zora Howard (BUST); Luis Alfaro (MY FATHER’S HOUSE); Julia Izumi (REGRETFULLY, SO THE BIRDS ARE) |second row (l to r): Jon Robin Baitz (I’LL BE SEEIN’ YA); Elizabeth Irwin (UNTITLED SUPPORT PLAY); Will Arbery (CORSICANA); Vivian Barnes (THE SENSATIONAL SEA MINK-ETTES); Franky D. Gonzalez (EVEN FLOWERS BLOOM IN HELL, SOMETIMES) | third row (l to r): Anna Ziegler (ANTIGONES); Bill Cain (THE PATRIOTS); Gideon Jeph Wabvuta (ONE MORE SUNDAY); Samuel D. Hunter (A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD); Liza Powel O’Brien (APOSTROPHE).

YEAR-END MESSAGE FROM THE OJAI PLAYWRIGHTS CONFERENCE

This past year OPC forged ahead to confront the extraordinary challenges facing our playwrights during this pandemic moment. Our board, staff, artists and donors moved decisively ONWARD TOGETHER . . .

CONCEIVING, funding and launching two online residency programs where 15 new plays by 15 visionary writers were intensively developed.

CREATING an online series of over 50 readings, discussions, interviews, and community gatherings providing deeper insight into the artistic process and creating valuable community in a time of isolation.

INAUGURATING an International Youth Workshop between young artists in America and Zimbabwe building needed bridges of understanding between our two continents.

PROVIDING financial support and a community of purpose for over 130 playwrights, directors, dramaturges, actors, students and staff.

For 2021, we are COMMITTED to once again move boldly forward! INSPIRED to support and develop playwrights whose dramatic stories create a better, healthier and more equitable world. HOPEFUL we will be back together soon embracing the creation of stories that matter.

With your help we will be stronger and more resilient than ever! Please support OPC and our community of artists with a year-end donation.

With gratitude from all of us at the Ojai Playwrights Conference, and best wishes for a healthy and happy new year.

Robert Egan
OPC Artistic Director/Producer

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“In a time of profound disruption, fracture and uncertainty, OPC gave us constancy, community and hope.” - Liza Powel O'Brien, Playwright, APOSTROPHE

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“The OPC Foundry Project was an anchor for me during this difficult time. It was a consistent source of motivation, camaraderie and incredible dramaturgical feedback. I’m very grateful for it!”– Anna Ziegler, Playwright, ANTIGONES

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"During the pandemic, meeting with the Ojai community online was the only thing that was keeping the theater alive for me personally. I'm incredibly grateful for it.”– Samuel D. Hunter, Playwright, A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

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“Lockdown? What lockdown? Within the Foundry Project, I have traveled to a monastery in Central California, Twin Falls Idaho, a prison in New York where flowers bloom, Washington DC in 1853, a few Super Bowls and all around the USA and Africa as well. The travel has been endless. And all in the company of extraordinary artists.”– Bill Cain, Playwright, THE PATRIOTS

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“I cannot overstate how essential the OPC Foundry Project has been to helping me truly understand both my process and my abilities as an artist. I know more about my own humanity after the Foundry Project than when I started . . . what more could I have asked for?”– Franky D. Gonzalez, Playwright, EVEN FLOWERS BLOOM IN HELL, SOMETIMES

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“Even in the isolation of this year, the Foundry Project reminded me that the very heart of theater is communality. Theater, I realized, is society itself, at its most life-affirming. It can be created and shared in the barn, in the living room, a great Broadway theater, and even on screens. The Foundry was an act of profound prospecting and excavation.”– Jon Robin Baitz, Playwright, I’LL BE SEEIN’ YA

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“The Foundry Project breathed life into a play that I had been scared to work on because it was so close to me. There is definitely nothing better than having a community supporting you especially in a pandemic.”– Gideon Jeph Wabvuta, Playwright, ONE MORE SUNDAY

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"The Foundry Project this year was the virtual equivalent of a playwright’s favorite neighborhood hub, where every week you slide in to connect with the other black sheep, and show your scars, or as we call them, plays, and compare notes. A refuge in the pandemic pause where you get to set your way of working and sharing. A joy."– Luis Alfaro, Playwright, MY FATHER'S HOUSE