Welcome Che’Rae Adams, the new Artistic Director of PlayPenn!

Che’Rae has been the Producing Artistic Director of the LA Writers Center since 2006 where she develops new work with local writers. She was the Director of Operations and Programming for the Moss Theater in Santa Monica for seven years and has been the Development Executive for Playhouse Pictures Studios, Co-Artistic Director of the Road Theatre Company, and Managing Producer for the LA Women’s Theatre Festival.

She began her career as the Assistant to the Staff Producer at The Mark Taper Forum where she worked on the writing workshop of the Pulitzer Prize winning Angels in America, Part II: Perestroika. As you can imagine, this was like a master class in new play development for her. Bitten by the new play bug, she went on to do other projects for the Taper that supported playwrights such as coordinating the Taper Lab Series and Mentor Playwright’s Series. There she worked with writers such as Luis Alfaro, Anthony Clarvoe, Han Ong, Oliver Mayer, Ellen McLaughlin, Alice Tuan and Mac Wellman.

She has a master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music (CCM) and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from California State University, Northridge. For almost two decades, she has produced the Directors Lab West which takes place at the Pasadena Playhouse annually.

Che’Rae has developed and directed the West Coast premiere productions of several new plays including plays by Lee Blessing, Ken Hanes, Tim Toyoma, Patricia Cardosa, John DiFusco, Jon Bastian, and Abi Morgan. She has also provided direction and/or dramaturgy for productions with Cincinnati Opera Outreach, Disney/ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop, Highways Performance Space, and Troupe Vertigo at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre. She has worked with prominent performers such as Tonya Pinkins, Lynn Redgrave, Kim Fields, and Carlos Alazraqui; as well as award winning directors and choreographers such as Vincent Paterson, Tom Hulce, Jane Jones, Bonnie Story, Kitty McNamee, and Tina Kronis; and distinguished designers such as Sara Clement, Cricket S. Myers, and Ming Cho Lee.

As the Director of Programming for The Moss Theater she worked with numerous musical organizations including Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), Duo Del Sol, Jazz Bakery, Musical Theatre Guild, and Musicians At Play Foundation (including Seth McFarlane’s Jazz Band). As part of the Moss Theater’s Live Talks LA and Writers Bloc series, she has hosted celebrities such as John Irving, Jason Segel, Shepard Fairey, Moby, Kevin Costner, Linda Ronstadt, Diane Keaton, Maria Bello, Camyrn Manheim, Eric Bogosian, Herb Alpert, Deborah Voigt, Ann Rice, Nicholas Kristof, Amy Tan, Russell Brand, Mitch Albom, Malcolm Gladwell, and Kristoffer Kristofferson.

As a producer for Directors Lab West she has curated close to two decades of programming (workshops, panels, and master classes) at the Pasadena Playhouse. This annual event hosts fifty international midcareer directors free of charge. Highlights include Vincent Paterson, Moises Kaufman, Jason Alexander, Martin Benson, Marc Masterson, Todd London, Sheldon Epps, George Furth, Anne Cattaneo, Des McAnuff, Jessica Kubzansky, Chay Yew, Jack O’Brien and Bill Rausch.

Che’Rae is also an experienced public speaker and educator, having taught acting and writing workshops at various institutions around the country such as The Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Catholic University, Miami Dade University, California State University Fullerton, UCLA Extension, Azusa Pacific University and Hussian College. She has also served on panels for Hollins University, USC, The New Playwrights Festival at the College of the Desert, and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

Che’Rae is an advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion. She spent the last two years of the pandemic producing diverse online programming with HowlRound TV in response to the social inequity taking place in our society. Recently, she curated Breathe: A BIPOC Reading Series in response to George Floyd’s murder; Home: Asian Voices Reading Series to amplify Asian-American stories; and The Voices of Afghanistan project where monologues were constructed from interviews with Afghan artists in hiding.

Che’Rae has had 22 articles published online at NOHOARTSDISTRICT.COM, and self-published a workbook for writers called Writing is Hard… She is the recipient of a SDC Foundation Observership award where she shadowed James Burrows on the TV show Will and Grace. She has been nominated for a Cincinnati Enquirer Entertainment Award and Backstage West Garland Critics Citations Award. Fun fact: In 2009, Che’Rae played Gladys Presley in Cirque du Soleil’s Viva Elvis which opened the Aria Casino in Las Vegas.

Press Release: Nonprofit Dedicated to Playwrights and New-Play Development Names New Artistic Director -PlayPenn Board of Directors Selects Che’Rae Adams to Lead Organization into New Era

PHILADELPHIA, PA—(January 11, 2022)—PlayPenn, a nationally-acclaimed artist-driven organization d01edicated to the development of new plays and playwrights, has named Che’Rae Adams its new Artistic Director. Adams will lead the 17-year-old nonprofit into a new era.

Adams spent the last 15 years as Producing Artistic Director of the LA Writers Center, where she developed new work with local writers after previously serving as Director of Operations and Programming for the Moss Theater in Santa Monica. A respected advocate for diversity, equality, and inclusion in the arts and culture community, Adams’ recent major projects include BREATHE: A BIPOC Reading Series in response to George Floyd’s murder; Home: An Asian Voices Reading featuring AsianAmerican stories; and The Voices of Afghanistan, a series of monologues based on interviews with Afghan artists in hiding. For the last two years, she’s worked with HowlRound TV to develop diverse online programming that addresses the country’s social inequities.

“I am thrilled to take up the baton that has been entrusted to me by everyone at PlayPenn,” said Adams. “My entire career I’ve worked hard to reach new audiences by telling stories that truly reflect the diverse world in which we live in. Now is the perfect time for us to embrace our role as storytellers to our community, making inclusive and compelling work that is as relevant as it is excellent.”

Adams said one of her priorities will be the relaunch of PlayPenn’s Annual Conference in July 2022 with a renewed commitment to diversity and inclusion. Also, Adams has made the decision to ask for submissions for the 2022 New Play Development Conference exclusively from Philadelphia playwrights. The submission window will open January 15, 2022 and close February 15, 2022. For nearly 17 years, the Conference has helped playwrights fine-tune their work with great success; there have been over 400 productions of PlayPenn-developed plays.

PlayPenn conducted a top to bottom re-evaluation of the organization after former Artistic Director, Paul Meshejian resigned in July of 2020. Longtime staff member, Sabrina Profitt was appointed Acting Executive Director shortly thereafter and worked tirelessly with the board on an aggressive transformation strategy. The first step was hiring Davis Gay + Associates, a consulting firm specializing in diversity and inclusion initiatives, to ensure that PlayPenn is creating an intentionally equitable organization.

Steps were then taken to make significant changes throughout the organization and in early 2021, a national search for a new Artistic Director was led by Arts Consulting Group. PlayPenn Board President Nancy Boykin said that in addition to the tremendous work that has been done over the 18 months to create needed change, the appointment of Adams will move PlayPenn into a new era.

“At its heart, PlayPenn is a group of artists who come together with a mission to develop the work of new playwrights, encouraging new voices, telling stories that speak to the community and engaging our audiences,” said Boykin. “Our organization needed amendment overhaul and that change has been critical to getting us back to our true mission.”

Boykin said they have done significant work to ensure change and will continue to do what is needed to pursue creative work as “an intentionally equitable and anti-racist arts organization that allows for a culturally diverse and inclusive future.”

Adams said it is her intention to honor the past by continuing to develop risk taking, boundary-pushing new plays. “However, I also want to build on the past by expanding our definition of new play development to include all forms of live entertainment that a playwright might need support with.” Prior to bringing on Adams, last year PlayPenn appointed a new Operations Director, LaShawna Bean; added four new Board members, all from the BIPOC community; partnered last summer with an Indigenous theater company, Native Voices at the Autry Museum, to develop a series of Indigenous plays; and reconfigured its budget to fund more diversity initiatives, community engagement, and professional development. For the first time in its 17-year history, PlayPenn is entirely female-led.

PlayPenn also hired interim lead artists, L M Feldman and R. Eric Thomas, for The Foundry, the organization’s emerging writer’s group, to cultivate and mentor the next generation of PlayPennsupported playwrights. The Foundry offers a three-year program that provides craft and technique instruction, networking opportunities, and exposure as these emerging artists launch their playwriting careers.

“I am proud I could play a role in the rebuilding process,” said Kimberly S. Fairbanks, one of the newly appointed board members. “Plays are a socially active force, allowing for cultural expression, societal reflection, and individuality that can highlight our commonalities and create a bridge to understanding. Having PlayPenn back in the game is good news for all of us.”

PlayPenn is a Philadelphia artist-driven organization dedicated to the development of new plays and playwrights. PlayPenn fully supports the needs of the writer and the demands of the play in an ever-evolving process within which playwrights can engage in risk taking, boundary-pushing work.