Musical Cafe: The SF Bay Area Musical Theatre Development Program

04/04/2026

GREAT PLAYS PLAYWRIGHTS SHOULD KNOW Workshop. Play Cafe invites you to an on-line workshop presented by Anthony Clarvoe on Sunday, May 17, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM Pacific Time. Details & Registration: https://www.playcafe.org/workshops

01/14/2026

ARTIST STATEMENT SEMINAR, for writing your Artist Statement (AKA Artistic Statement). Play Cafe invites you to an interactive workshop presented by Emma Goldman-Sherman on Sunday, February 22, 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM Pacific Time. https://www.playcafe.org/workshops

We will look at a few examples of different approaches to the Artistic Statement so that you can create one that is unique to you! We will do 3 short writing sprints (no athletic ability required) to free write from 7 optional lenses from a place of grounded embodiment to create some raw material. Then we will shift to convergent thinking to edit and shape our material into a draft of an Artistic Statement. Everyone will be invited to share their draft either in the workshop or afterwards privately (or both)!

For More Info, including the instructor's bio, and Registration go to: https://www.playcafe.org/workshops

08/12/2025

DATE CHANGE: Musical Cafe invites you to an online workshop presented by Lianne Marie Dobbs, "SOLO" CABARET CREATION: FROM BRAINSTORMS, TO BUILDING YOUR TEAM, TO MARKETING, TO SHOWTIME! Sunday, September 21, 4-5:30 pm Pacific Time. DETAILS AND REGISTRATION:

Play Cafe invites you to an online workshop presented by Lianne Marie Dobbs. Sunday August 17, 3:30-5:30 pm Pacific Time.

08/02/2025

Ira Marlowe’s musical THE METAMORPHOSIS OF BARRY SCHLECKMAN was selected for Musical Cafe’s 2025 Next Stages program. Jennifer and Piper Loomis’ musical BUBBLE GUM is the semi-finalist. Congratulations!

07/30/2025

Play Café presents: AUDIO DRAMA SCRIPT MARKUPS & CRITIQUES - September 28 at 12:30PM Pacific Time. Workshop taught on-line by Rick Toscan. https://tinyurl.com/2uh4ajc3

For this workshop, participants will submit a 8-12 page audio drama script (not a musical) with no more than three characters. Rick will review a markup of your full script, providing a guide for final revisions and submission to the ARW competition.

Through analysis of participants’ scripts, we’ll cover the essentials of writing audio drama while also exploring techniques for live presentation with sound effects and musical accompaniment. Topics will include conceiving stories in sound environments; plot and scene structures in audio; visual aspects of audio storytelling; integration of environmental ambience, special effects, and score with dialogue; and audio adaptations of plays originally written for the theatre.

DETAILS, INCLUDING INSTRUCTOR’S BIO & REGISTRATION: https://tinyurl.com/2uh4ajc3

A pair of online workshops presented by Rick Toscan designed to assist you in developing short audio drama scripts for Berkeley’s Actors Reading Writers submission opportunity for Play Cafe members based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

07/30/2025

Musical Cafe invites you to an online workshop presented by Lianne Marie Dobbs, "SOLO" CABARET CREATION: FROM BRAINSTORMS, TO BUILDING YOUR TEAM, TO MARKETING, TO SHOWTIME! Sunday. September 21, 4-5:30 pm Pacific Time.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
It's ironic how many people it requires to create a "solo" cabaret! Using her latest "solo" endeavor, FOR DUSTY SPRINGFIELD... THE WINDMILLS OF MY MIND, as a template for one of the many ways to go about forming a cabaret, Lianne will get your dormant ideas moving along.

We'll start with an artist that you are drawn to, look at some questions to help focus your theme, where to research additional information on the artist, how to supplement your personal creative team, and how branding can help focus your show for the audience and YOU. We'll get into marketing, too, and how to ask for help. There will be recommendations for podcast episodes and reference materials, and frequent reminders that artists learn from failure.

MORE DETAILS, INCLUDING INSTRUCTOR’S BIO AND REGISTRATION:

Play Cafe invites you to an online workshop presented by Lianne Marie Dobbs. Sunday August 17, 3:30-5:30 pm Pacific Time.

07/16/2025

There's space for Auditors in the July 27 Audio Drama workshop, presented by Rick Toscan, on Zoom: https://www.playcafe.org/workshops

06/19/2025

This is why you should attend Play Cafe’s June 29 Zoom workshop on Sketch Comedy, per instructor Grace Kessler Overbeke, “Sketch comedy is not only fun (and funny) it's also a valuable exercise in structure and heightening.”

THE SERIOUS ART OF COMEDY SKETCHES, Sunday June 29, 4-5:30 pm Pacific Time.

Need some laughs? “Saturday Night Live, Laugh-In” and even “The Muppet Show” are all composed of 'comedy sketches'--brief (typically under 10 minute) comic plays. In this workshop, we will explore the underlying structure of comedy sketches, learn the concept of the 'game of the scene,' and...

06/16/2025

Curious about writing Audio Drama? Play Cafe is offering two Audio Drama workshops leading up to an opportunity to submit for a live in person Audio Drama event in Berkeley in 2026. Only Play Cafe members may submit to the live performance. Everyone may attend the workshops. The first workshop takes place: July 27. Only ten slots available for WRITERS and unlimited for AUDITORS.
Details:

A pair of online workshops presented by Rick Toscan designed to assist you in developing short audio drama scripts for Berkeley’s Actors Reading Writers submission opportunity for Play Cafe members based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

05/02/2025

Musical Cafe is happy to announce that submissions are now open for its 2025 NEXT STAGES developmental program for original musicals created by Northern California writers and composers. This is an in-person opportunity only available to Play Cafe members. Go to https://www.playcafe.org/ to learn about Play Cafe and become a member,

One musical will be chosen by our jury of directors, writers, composers and musical directors for two full readings (including recorded music). The readings, presented by professional actors, and follow up feedback discussion with the actors and invited guests will be led by a literary dramaturg and a musical dramaturg. The dramaturgs will share their notes with the creative team followed by a detailed private discussion of the work with them. The creative team will have approximately two months for rewrites before the second reading following the same sequence of events.

Here's the link to Eligibility, Guidelines and Submission Form:
https://forms.gle/khFNoS3W46LMTjbTA

04/09/2025

Market Your Play with a Compelling Blurb, Sunday, May 18, 4-5:30 pm Pacific Time. Play Cafe invites you to an online, hands-on workshop, led by Patricia Milton, to help you develop an effective blurb for your play or musical. https://www.playcafe.org/workshops

A marketing "blurb," or short description, of your stage work is vital to excite the interest of producers, artistic directors, literary managers, festivals, publishers, and audiences. A blurb is a few sentences introducing your central dramatic action, used in promotional materials to hook the reader. You might be asked for a blurb by a theatre if you're trying to self-produce your play. You might use it when submitting your play to theatres for possible production, or on your play's page on the New Play Exchange. Or, on an application form, it might be called "a 100 word description."

In this workshop, we'll begin a ten-minute overview of best practices for writing your short play description. Then, we'll work with your existing play blurbs (bring one to paste into Chat!) to focus them for maximum impact, eliminate unnecessary language, and help your play stand out from the crowd.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP LEADER:
Patricia Milton is Resident Playwright at Central Works, and her plays have been produced around the world. UPCOMING: The Victorian Ladies' Detective Collective will be produced in Ashland, Oregon by the Collaborative Theater Project, October 9-November 2, 2025.

REGISTRATION: $17 for members, $30 for non-members. Registrants will be sent an email with Zoom instructions from [email protected]. https://www.playcafe.org/workshops