San Francisco Chronicle

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by Rob Hurwitt

March 30, 2008

Playwright 'Survivor'

Some theater companies may rely on directors, literary managers and other professionals to select the new scripts they want to develop and produce. The not-quite-a-year-old PianoFight Productions is letting the audience decide. Its ShortLived, opening Friday, is essentially a three-month elimination contest - a "Survivor" for aspiring playwrights - and the top prize is a full production of an original play by the winning writer.

Here's how it works: PianoFight, in association with C.A.F.E., will present a full evening of fully staged, new short plays and scenes by a variety of writers every Friday and Saturday at C.A.F.E.'s Studio 250 at Off-Market Theater's Stage 250. The audience will rate the plays, and every two weeks the two lowest scoring pieces will be replaced by two new ones, with voting results and new lineups posted at www.pianofight.com. At the end of the three months, the author of the highest-scoring script will be offered a four-week run of a full-length play, to be staged by PianoFight at Studio 250.

Survival of the theatrically fittest? Perhaps. Lowest-common-denominator aesthetics? Could be. Or maybe some playwrights are about to find out who has the most loyal group of friends.

- Robert Hurwitt