Play Cafe

05/30/2026

FUNDRAISING 101: STRATEGIES TO FUND YOUR PROJECT Workshop. Play Cafe invites you to an on-line workshop presented by Tracy Held on Sunday, July 19, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM Pacific Time. https://www.playcafe.org/workshops

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:
Do you have a story to produce, but need to raise the money to put it on stage or on screen? This workshop will help you understand your fundraising options so you can be strategic about choosing a fundraising campaign that will help you choose a practical and effective strategy for raising money. This workshop is especially geared for artists who are producing their own work and who are new to fundraising or have fundraised in the past but either struggled to successfully raise their goal amount or felt overwhelmed by the process. Tracy will help you identify a fundraising approach that will make it easier for you to fund your own projects.

In this workshop, you will gain a high level understanding of the primary approaches to fundraising: individual donor solicitation, crowdfunding, grant writing, and hosting events. You will then have an opportunity to perform a self-assessment to determine which strategies are right for your next project. By the end of the workshop, you should be able to identify an approach that is most likely to be successful for you as well as next steps for implementing your fundraising campaign.

FOR MORE DETAILS, including the instructor’s bio and REGISTRATION, go to https://www.playcafe.org/workshops. The fee to participate is $18 for Play Cafe members and $28 for non-members. Play Cafe Members, write to [email protected] to request the discount code.

05/28/2026

This is an excellent opportunity for Northern California Musical Theatre creatives.

Musical Cafe, a program of Play Cafe, is happy to announce that submissions are now open for Songs from New Musicals - Feinstein’s at The Nikko in San Francisco for original songs from musicals created by Northern California writers and composers.

All creatives in each selected team must join Play Cafe if their songs are selected.
About Play Cafe membership: https://www.playcafe.org/membership

Two songs each from five creative teams will be chosen by our jury of directors, writers, and composers to be performed live at Feinstein’s at The Nikko in San Francisco on September 27.
Feinstein’s is an exquisite venue https://www.feinsteinssf.com/ This is an exceptional opportunity for visibility.

Link to Guidelines and Submission Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe_WIp73BrZ3tvHThOqTUss1bAG8PEIb83Pyn6MbWM2BkIqcw/viewform?usp=header

04/19/2026

May 4: Actors Reading Writers

AN EVENING OF

SHORT AUDIO PLAYS

Monday, May 4, 7pm

IN-PERSON & ONLINE

Actors Reading Writers in collaboration with Play Cafe presents

An Evening of Short Audio Plays in the Drawing Room of the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. The event is free (donations appreciated) and open to the public. RSVP here.

Join us as actors read four lively works by local playwrights spanning comedy, mystery, parody, and pastiche, enhanced by live music and Foley sound effects.

Come by at 6:45pm for music performed by pianist Jeanne Walpole. Readings start at 7:15pm. Attend in person at the beautiful Berkeley City Club or online at: https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/93072639723.

THE PLAYS:

“Special Delivery” by Cherielyn Ferguson

Jake’s mad at the world this Christmas and he's not going to take it anymore. With the unwitting help of his mild-mannered neighbor Irma, he’s out to fix everyone’s wagon. Tune in as all hell—or rather, all fruitcake—breaks loose.

“On the Train” by William Brasse

All aboard! As the train for London passes through Little Ducking and Greater Ducking, three passengers decide to pass the time with impromptu ukulele music. It does not go well.

“Fair Exchange” by Sanjit Sengupta

Bruce, a college student, gets unsolicited advice from Jessie, an airport restaurant owner, about how he should pursue a romantic interest. He gets more than he bargained for.

“Pickleball” by Karen Caronna

A dark and stormy night. A body. A missing chihuahua. A sister’s plea for help. What’s a woman to do?

THE PERFORMERS:

Isaac Arriaga

Mousumi Das

Lori Gieleghem

Gregory Tiede

Musical accompaniment by Jeanne Walpole. Directed by Rica Anderson.


Attend in person: Berkeley City Club's Drawing Room, 2315 Durant Ave, Berkeley, 94704

Join via Zoom: https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/93072639723

While readings are heard clearly over Zoom, live music is not. Zoom attendees might want to join at 7:15pm when the readings start.

If you have trouble logging on, make sure you've upgraded to the latest version of Zoom. Then, try signing out of your account and signing in again.

VIRTUAL DONATION JAR
Donations to ARW are happily accepted!
Contact Rica at [email protected].
Actors Reading Writers / (510) 778-8959 / [email protected]

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 August 17, 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