Mission Statement
The Playwrights Collaborative, established
April 2008, is an organization of writers,
actors, directors and others interested in
the theatre, working together to promote
the development and production of new
plays in Sacramento and elsewhere. Through cooperative peer review, the
Playwrights Collaborative assists
in making plays ready for production
and helps fin
d suitable venues where
shows might be performed. Steering Committee Bios
Gary Agid, Chairman of the Playwrights
Collaborative, retired in 1999 as a manager
for the California Air Resources Board. He
has performed in many plays in Sacramento
and Woodland and has been doing much
film work including movies, TV, training and
educational films, and commercials. He is also
having much fun as a gunslinger doing old
west reenactments. And most recently, he
has developed a comic act. Roberta Blagg, retired employee from
the State of California, has had many
positions including Information Officer
for the California Arts Council, and the
designer and manager of the Individual
Artists' Program for the Council. She
holds a Masters of Fine Arts degree in
Acting from the University of California
at Davis, has acted in over 50
productions, and has directed 12 plays. An emerging playwright, Roberta has written
two plays, one of which has been produced. Victoria Goldblatt has done a
variety of work for films, commercials
and voice overs for TV and radio. She has also performed in Sacramento
community theatre for many years and
has had her own show, Cabaret Night
with Victoria and Friends. She is the
former Casting Director for
Sacramento’s Stories on Stage. Her career background includes
corporate Human Resources for
Fortune 500 companies including
Honeywell, Wang Labs and Xerox. She is now a life coach, health
consultant and exercise specialist. Leo McElroy is an actor and director,
and is also the author of 25 plays,
a number of which have won awards
and been produced in Los Angeles,
New York, Washington DC, and
Sacramento. His credits include more
than a hundred roles in film, television
and radio. A former network newsman
(CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS), he is often
heard providing analysis of public
affairs for broadcast stations
throughout California. His memoir,
“But You Can’t Report That”,
was recently published and is available
on Amazon.com. Frank Ingram, MSW, Licensed Clinical
Social Worker, retired Chief of the
California State Office of Child Abuse
Prevention, began writing in 2007. He has written both full length and one
act plays, one of which, Merchant of Hope,
was produced by Sacramento City College. In 2012 his script for a ten minute movie,
Underwater, was selected for production
by A Place Called Sacramento. In addition
to producing this movie, he has subsequently
written another short and a full length screen
play. During the last five years he has served
as a theatre (Elly) judge. Maggie Adair Upton holds an MA in
Theatre from California State University
Sacramento. Before retiring she
was Managing Director at River Stage
(Consumnes River College), where
she also directed and acted in several
productions as well as taught
theatre-related subjects both there
and at other local community colleges. She has served on many local Boards
of Directors, including the Sacramento
Metropolitan Arts Commission (Chair),
and has been the executive director
for several arts organizations including
Business Volunteers for the Arts,
Harmony Arts, and the Fair Oaks
Theatre festival. Maggie enjoys
being an adjudicator for Lenaea, an
annual one-act play festival
competition for high schools. She also
does occasional short film ad
commercial work. She is actively
involved in directing and
performing in local productions.. Donya Wicken has a Masters
degree in Theology from Southern
Methodist University. She has had two
screenplays filmed for the "A Place
Called Sacramento" Film Festival
and has written three full-length stage
plays as well as numerous shorter
works. One of her two-act plays
“Ghost Writer” was produced locally
in 2007. A second, Mrs. Teach's
Washday Miracle, has been
performed as reader’s theater. Donya
has also participated in the City Theater
29 1/2 Hour Playwriting Competition,
the SacActors Two Page Play Festival
and the local Playwrights Festival:
Eight views of Tower Bridge. She
has recently completed a
two-act family-friendly Christmas play. Workshops are monthly (or occasionally twice monthly) on Sundays on dates to be announced. There are no dues, fees or other charges for participating. Staged readings may be scheduled occasionally by playwrights. "The Playwrights Collaborative is an organization of writers, actors, directors and others interested in the theater, working together to promote the development and production of new plays in Sacramento and elsewhere. Through a cooperative process of peer review, Playwrights Collaborative assists in making plays ready for production and helps in finding suitable venues where shows might be performed." WORKSHOPS: At each workshop, original plays by local writers are read and discussed as are ways to promote deserving works for production. Several theaters have expressed an interest in producing one new original play per year and Playwrights Collaborative has encouraged similar interest by other theatres in the area. There will also be occasional speakers with expertise in various aspects of theater. STAGED READINGS: Playwrights participating in the Sunday workshops will be scheduling occasional "staged readings" of plays that have been developed sufficiently to be ready for production. A staged reading is a play production with the actors holding scripts. Playwrights Collaborative invites interested writers and actors to attend and take part in the workshop readings which can lead to invitational staged readings of new works. The group actively promotes new plays to prospective producers. Following each reading, comments and suggestions for improvement will be solicited from all who are present. The Playwrights Collaborative does not share its e-mail list information with anyone.
