Events

We regularly meet for Gatherings and other events involving Micro-Reads, organize LAFPI Nights at the theater, and have other plans up our collective sleeves including a new Online Writer’s Group and experimental Directors Workroom.

Huzzahs to you intrepid souls who’ve jumped online the past few years, and great to celebrate in person at our Fall Gathering + Micro-Reads at Ensemble Studio Theatre/Los Angeles and our 9th Annual Holiday Micro-Read Hook-Up in December at Moving Arts!

Thank you to all of the amazing artists who were part of our 14th (Virtual) Micro-Read Hook-Up: “Can They Do That?”

–> And Mark Your Calendars for the Fringe Femmes #HFF25 Happy Hour Gathering, 4-5:30pm on May 10th!

But first! See you Thursday, May 1 for the next LAFPI Night at the Geffen Playhouse: “Furlough’s Paradise” by a.k. payne, directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden.

Featuring DeWanda Wise & Kacie Rogers, this exciting new play was recently awarded the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. And on May 1st, we’ll be there in community with the femme-led LA arts org Black Girl Magic Creative Series. Starting at 7pm, plan on meeting in the Geffen Lobby to catch up and chat with fellow writers, as well as curious audience members and artists – and perhaps meet future collaborators!

Use Code: FP25BCE for 25% off tickets*
Visit https://www.geffenplayhouse.org/shows/furloughs-paradise/

And remember: After you purchase your ticket for the 1st, RSVP to Jennie Webb @ [email protected] so we know to look for you before the show!

* Code for Premium, Section A & Section B price levels for performances 4/16 – 5/18/25. Code excludes 5/2 BPAN performance and Section C seating. No ticket limit. No refunds or ticket exchanges. Code expires 5/18/25 or while supplies last.

About “Furlough’s Paradise”: Cousins Sade and Mina used to be inseparable. Now leading very different lives, they return to their childhood town for the funeral of their mother and aunt. While Sade is on a three-day furlough from prison and Mina experiences a brief reprieve from her career and life on the West Coast, the two try to make sense of grief, home, love, and kinship. As the clock ticks down, the cousins grapple with their conflicting memories of the past and their shared hopes for the future. Poetic and theatrical, “Furlough’s Paradise” explores family dreams of a utopia yet to be realized.

Visit https://www.geffenplayhouse.org/shows/furloughs-paradise/ for cast info, to purchase tickets and more.

Check out the 1st LAFPI/CoA Directors Workroom!

We were excited to work with Company of Angels to present a new experiment: our first-ever Directors Workroom.

This is a chance for female and nonbinary directors to hone their skills by working on scenes from new femme-penned plays, learn from observing other directors at work, and chat with professional theater artists about their role and experiences as directors in LA. The Directors Workroom was conceived and facilitated by LAFPI Instigator Miranda Stewart.

Special thanks to Company of Angels’ Artistic Director Armando Molina and CoA Writers’ Group Co-facilitator Tamadhur Al-Aqeel. Such a great day of open rehearsals and community!

Shout outs to directors Sylvia Cervantes Blush, Jennifer Bobiwash, Elana Luo, Kelie McIver, Tarah Pollock & Donna Bonilla Wheeler, playwrights Tamadhur Al-Aqeel , Sophie Goldstein & Dana Schwartz and actors Justin Huen, David Huynh, Andrea Lwin, Robert Paterno, Nitya Vidyasagar & Tamara Zook.

Nods and thanks to director/producer Jeremy Aluma for the seeds of inspiration through his 2015-16 directors group.

Questions, have an idea for a scheme or want to get involved in LAFPI events and activities? Email [email protected]

Here are the upcoming 2025 sessions of our LAFPI Online Writers Group! (Thanks to Pamela Sanchez, and co-moderators Annette Sanchez and Sophie Goldstein.)

Make sure you’re on the LAFPI Mailing List and connected through Facebook and Instagram for updates.

Many thanks to Joyce Mehess and crew at Samuel French for opening up the bookshop’s fabulous Green Room for food, wine, connections and Micro-Reads, giving us a home from 2013-2018!

LAFPI Nights at the Theater are a Blast!

Very much enjoyed a matinee in good company at the remarkable LAFPI Afternoon at the Victory for Laura Shamas’ FOUR WOMEN IN RED in February, 2025.

How fun to be working with new partners this spring to celebrate short plays by women during our LAFPI Night at Company of Angels & LAFPI Night at PlayGround-LA!

Great to be back at the Geffen in January for another LAFPI Night at Geffen Playhouse: POTUS by Selina Fillinger, directed by Jennifer Chambers. Starting the new year seeing the work of hilarious theater artists in the company of amazing women playwrights was the perfect way to kick off 2024!

Thrilled to have our first night at Theatre of NOTE in September, 2023: a performance of Ashley Rose Wellman’s KILL SHELTER, directed by Shaina Rosenthal, followed by Micro-Reads with the cast! So fun.

And such a fantastic night at the Geffen Playhouse in June: Hanging out and catching up with fellow female playwrights before the powerful performance of Katori Hall’s THE MOUNTAINTOP, directed by Patricia McGregor.

We were glad to be able to gather and be back in person at the Geffen in November, 2021 before the opening of PARADISE BLUE by Dominique Morisseau, directed by Stori Ayers.

Thank you to those of you who joined us in early March, 2020 (one of our last nights out at the theater pre-pandemic!) for LAFPI Night at the Geffen Playhouse – MAN OF GOD by Anna Moench, directed by Maggie Burrows.

Great fun in August, 2019 for our first LAFPI Night at the Odyssey: FEFU AND HER FRIENDS. It was great to have a chance to see this ground-breaking feminist work by María Irene Fornés, directed by Denise Blasor, in good femme company!

Many thanks to the Odyssey, as well – we hope this is the first of many nights at this LA theater, now celebrating its 50th Anniversary.

And we can’t thank the Geffen Playhouse enough for continuing to open its doors to all things femme-theater!

In 2019, We had a fantastic time at LAFPI Night at the Geffen Playhouse: The Niceties by Eleanor Burgess, directed by Kimberly Senior.

LAFPI Night at the Geffen for Inda Craig-Galván’s Black Super Hero Magic Mama, directed by Robert O’Hara was an amazing evening, and then some.

In October, 2018, our LAFPI Night at Garry Marshall Theatre for Real Women Have Curves by Josefina López, directed by Mary Jo DuPrey, gave us the chance to celebrate GMT’s production, which had an all-women design team!

And Instigators gathered in 2018 for three LAFPI Nights at the Geffen:

in September for THE CAKE by Bekah Brunstetter, directed by Jennifer Chambers; in June for SKELETON CREW by Dominique Morisseau, directed by Patricia McGregor; and in February for IRONBOUND by Martyna Majok, directed by Tyne Rafaeli.

It was terrific to bring together women playwrights, women directors and audience members before the show, enjoy the performance, and in the case of IRONBOUND, stay for a talkback with the show’s artists.

We were proud to be East West Players’ Community Partner in 2016 for their production of Leah Nanako Winkler’s KENTUCKY, directed by Deena Selenow; LAFPI Night at EWP included a fab female playwright/director mixer.

And we had a blast in 2014-2015 at our LAFPI Nights at Pasadena Playhouse, bringing together groups of over 75 for Vanessa Claire Stewart’s STONEFACE, Diana Son’s STOP KISS & REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES by Josefina López – fantastic nights that included Micro-Reads read by the casts! Thanks so much to Seema Sueko and her crew for making these happen.

Do you have any ideas for companies or productions to approach? We want to connect with theatermakers, share our work, and fill the house to deliver the message, “It Pays to Produce Plays by Women!”

For more info go to our Facebook Page and check us out on Instagram.

THANKS! to those of you who joined us in 2013/14 for Tactical Reads, produced by The Vagrancy, to Atwater Crossing for kicking the program off, and to Rogue Machine Theatre, Son of Semele Ensemble, The Working Stage, Park La Brea, studio/stage & Theatre Asylum for giving shelter.