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NEWS

Bivins Joins Board of 3 Girls Theatre Company

September 2019

After years of serving as judge and panelist for the 3 Girls Festival, as well as dramaturging a number of plays for the company, William Bivins is proud and honored to be invited to join the board of directors of this important Bay Area theatre organization. For more on 3Girls go to https://3girlstheatre.org/

Bivins Joins Board of PlayGround

September 2018

William Bivins is proud to join the board of PlayGround for a two-year stint. He spent three years in the PlayGround Writers’ Pool and one year as a Resident Playwright. He was also recipient of the PlayGround Fellowship (which included a commission for “Scapegoat,” which PlayGround produced in 2018), and two-time recipient of PlayGround’s Emerging Playwright Award. Now, as a board member, he is looking forward to giving back to a company that has been important to his career. For more on PlayGround got to: https://playground-sf.org/

Scapegoat to be included in Lorraine Hansberry Theatre’s BATA Staged Reading Series

March 2018

The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre has announced it will stage a reading of William Bivins’s Scapegoat as part of their Bringing the Art to the People Reading Series. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, along with PlayGround, is set to co-produce Scapegoat’s first production in May. Eric Reid will direct both the staged reading and the full production. Cast to be announced.

March 31st, 2pm
Koret Auditorium
San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street, San Francisco
FREE ADMISSION. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

Ransom, Texas Premieres in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

June 2014

Ransom, Texas will receive its World Premiere in a split San Francisco/Los Angeles run. Produced by Virago Theatre Company, directed by Jon Tracy, and featuring Dixon Phillips and Damien Seperi, Ransom will open in San Francisco in September, 2014, and in Los Angeles in January, 2015. A brutal drama about the power struggle between a father and son over the family business, Ransom was originally produced by Pacific Repertory Theatre in November, 2010, in a workshop production, and won that company’s Hyperion Original Play Competition.

Ransom, Texas
by William Bivins
directed by Jon Tracy
produced by Virago Theatre Company
Tides Theatre, San Francisco, 9/30/14 - 10/18/14
Theatre Asylum, Los Angeles, 1/9/15 - 1/25/15

TICKETS AND INFO

Bivins Receives 2014 PlayGround Fellowship

May 2014

William Bivins is the recipient of the 2014 PlayGround Fellowship. According to PlayGround, the Bay Area’s premiere new works incubator, "The PlayGround Fellowship honors a distinguished PlayGround alumnus and also includes a full-length play commission.” For the Fellowship, Bivins plans to work on Scapegoat, a new comedy about a superhero whose superpower is the ability to absorb angst, blame and negative thoughts. Stay tuned.

Bivins BOA Interview

October 2013

William Bivins was interviewed for the Bay One Acts Festival by Marissa Skudlarek, BOA 2013′s Anthology Editor. Check it out here [http://bayoneacts.org/publicity/interviews/an-interview-with-the-last-couples-therapy-session-on-earth-playwright-william-bivins/]. BOA runs through October 5.

Bivins Commissioned to Create Play for StoryWorks

May 2013

William Bivins is one of two playwrights, along with Jon Bernson, commissioned to write plays for StoryWorks, a groundbreaking artistic-journalistic collaboration between Tides Theatre and The Center for Investigative Reporting. As The Tides Theatre press release describes it, StoryWorks "seeks to artistically explore investigative reporting through performances developed in front of live audiences.... This powerful, experimental project blends the art of theatre and the search for truth. We have commissioned artists, playwrights, actors and designers to discover what it means to delve into the deeper meaning of investigative stories that have resonated in California communities and bring these stories to life. The intention of this workshop production (that will evolve over the course of 9 performances) is to explore beyond the headlines and ask: What is the truth? Is it the same for everyone? How does the revelation of previously hidden information affect a community?"

William Bivins's piece, "Headlock," is based on “Manner of Death: Undetermined” by Ryan Gabrielson, an investigation into the suspicious death of Van Ingraham, an autistic man, at the California Developmental Center where he lived. Combining traditional drama with elements of Noh theatre, dance, and music, "Headlock" tells the story of Van's brother Larry and his quest for justice in a system plagued by chronic abuse, incompetence, and obfuscation.

Performances at Tides Theatre, San Francisco, May 31 – June 15, 2013. Tickets and Info.

Bivins Wins PlayGround's Emerging Playwright Award

4/1/13

William Bivins is one of six PlayGround playwrights to win the 2013 Emerging Playwright Award. His one-act play Symmetrical Smack-down will be featured in Best of PlayGround, running May 9-26 at the Thick House in San Francisco. For more information and tickets Click here.

The Education of a Rake Nominated for 2012 BATCC Original Script Award

3/10/13

William Bivins nominated for the 2012 San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Original Script (Theatres 99 Seats or Less) for The Education of a Rake, a Central Works method play.

Bivins Commissioned to Write Horseman: The True Legend of Sleepy Hollow

1/1/13

MadCap Productions has commissioned William Bivins to write an adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, to be staged at their new space, Inner Mission, in October. "It's more of an up-ending than an adaptation," says Bivins. "It's the true story of Sleepy Hollow. Far more unsettling than Washington Irving, Tim Burton, or Disney." Directed by Christy Crowley.

A December of Bivins Shorts!

12/1/12

Several of William's short plays go up this month in San Francisco. His one-act play, Stuck, will be featured in Holiday SHOTZ, an evening of five-minute plays produced by aMios Theatre Company.

One night only: Tuesday, December 11th, at the Jewish Theatre, 470 Florida Street, San Francisco. Tickets are $10 at the door, and include free beer.

If a five-minute play is too long for your attention span, come see the Third Annual San Francisco One Minute Play Festival. Two of William's plays, Spare Change and A Neighborhood of Murderers, will be among seventy (yes, seventy!) plays featured. Only three performances: Saturday, December 15 at 8pm and Sunday, December 16 at 3pm and 8pm, at The Thick House Theater, 1695 18th Street, San Francisco. For tickets and more info click here.

Rake Closes Hit Run

8/27/12

The Education of a Rake finished its five-week world premiere run in Berkeley with four sold-out shows last weekend. Read the reviews:

Hat-Trick! Three Productions in One Summer...

5/18/12

William Bivins has three--count 'em, three!--shows up for the summer of 2012.

First up: "Dude," a one-act comedy about a straight guy's reluctance to be best man at his college buddy's gay wedding. "Dude" will be part of the line-up for Marriage Equality Plays, an evening of short one-acts benefiting the American Foundation for Equal Rights. One night only! June 11 at BATS Improv's Bayfront Theater in San Francisco. For more info and tickets go to Marriage Equality Plays.

Next up: "Celia Sh*ts," a short comedy about what happens when all the mystery goes out of a relationship. Part of Pint-Sized Plays, a bar-specific one-act play festival. Opens July 16 at Cafe Royale in San Francisco. For more info go to San Francisco Theatre Pub.

Last, but not least: "The Education of a Rake," a full-length comedy about sex, politics and one man's crusade to gain equal rights for women... but not before seducing them. (Full Description under Plays.) Opens July 28 at Central Works in Berkeley. For more info and tickets go to Central Works.

William Bivins receives commission from Central Works

9/12/11

Central Works commissions Bivins to write The Education of a Rake, a new comedy about sex and politics based on Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath’s Tale. Opens July 28, 2012, Berkeley, CA. (Description under Plays.)

William Bivins in The New York Times

11/25/10

William Bivins Receives Commission from SF Playhouse

9/16/10

SF Playhouse commissions William Bivins to write a romantic comedy. Working title: Remaking Pussycat. (Description under Plays.)

The Position premieres in Los Angeles!

9/12/10

The Position opens at Theatre Asylum on September 30, 2010.
Buy tickets now at Brown Paper Tickets

William Bivins in The Readers Review

6/9/10

Pulp Scripture wins BATCC Original Script Award

5/3/10

William Bivins wins the 2009 San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Pulp Scripture (in the Theatres 99 seats or less category).

Theatre Bay Area Magazine article about William Bivins

5/10

Keep an Eye on: William Bivins, Playwright: Click here to download PDF of article

Ransom, Texas wins PacRep's Hyperion Project

3/26/10

William Bivins wins Pacific Repertory's 2010 Hyperion Project Original Play Competition: Ransom, Texas to go up at PacRep in November. Info will be available here.

Pulp Scripture Nominated for 2 BATCC Awards

3/8/10

Pulp Scripture nominated for 2 Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards:

Best Original Script

Best Ensemble

Reviews of The Position

2/28/10

Full text from The Guardian's Review:

"From the ready pen of local playwright William Bivins comes a witty dystopic thriller too good not to be (essentially) true: In the USA's not-too-distant future, after "the Great Downturn," there's 80% unemployment, the population lives by scavenging, despair is in the water and air, and there are no more dogs (those little four-legged ambassadors of hope). But there are still one or two job openings in the ultra-powerful, totemic, life-giving corporate universe of The Concern. A search narrows the candidates down to six (types played with palpable soul by Kate Jones, Asher Lyons, Gabi Patacsil, Eric Reid, Dan Williams, and Laura Zimmerman). They're flown to an exclusive island, paradisial in its accommodations, totalitarian in its panoptic surveillance and haughty obscurantism. Greeted by icy hot Mrs. Radcliffe (Jessica Cortese) and her deliriously agreeable man-servant Baylian (a joyously loopy Even Winchester)—both nattily futuristic in coordinated turquoise outfits—the candidates learn there are no rules but two over the course of the evaluation, and no clue to what's being evaluated. The contest begins and, in PianoFight's high-spirited low-budget production, it makes no difference how familiar the themes or scenario. Adeptly suggesting classics new and hoary, from "Survivor" and "The Apprentice" to "The Most Dangerous Game," "The Position" never feels merely derivative, let alone dull or predictable. It's inspired, rebellious lovemaking with our doom-clouded moment, engrossingly directed by PianoFight's Christy Crowley. (Avila)"

Afterlife Reopens!

1/25/10

'The Afterlife of the Mind' at Out North Theatre, Anchorage, January 29th. Click Here For More Info

More Reviews...

1/24/10

For more reviews and features about William's plays:

Is Bivins the most produced local playwright of the current Bay Area theater season?

The Apotheosis of Pig Husbandry

1/24/10

"The Apotheosis of Pig Husbandry" premieres at SF Playhouse May 22nd. Click Here For More Info

The Position

1/24/10

"The Position" premieres at Off-Market Theater February 4th. Click Here For More Info

Chronicle Gives Shining Review

11/16/10

San Francisco Chronicle calls Bivins a "local hot commodity" whose plays "bristle with an offbeat irreverent inventiveness." For full review of "Pulp Scripture" and "The Afterlife of the Mind":

Pulp Scripture Sweeps the SF Fringe Awards!

9/25/09

Best New Comedy

Best Box Office

6 Sold Out Awards (one for each performance)

"This play was great!.... I don't know why something this good has to be considered as 'fringe' - this was a main stage production from beginning to end." -Vox Theatricum

"Blasphemy! Sacrilege! Heresy! I love it! A perfectly executed, well paced, well written script. Tight, top level performers, capable and committed. Go see it." -nEO-sURRELAIST agent #1

Pulp Scripture: Best of the Fringe!

9/24/09

Pulp Scripture Returns for One Performance Only as part of "Best of the Fringe" at EXIT Theatre, 156 Eddy Street, San Francisco.

Tickets $20, a benefit for the 2010 San Francisco Fringe Festival.

Tickets at www.theexit.org or leave a reservation at 415-673-3847.

Pulp Scripture
7pm Saturday October 3rd
EXIT Theatre, 156 Eddy Street in downtown San Francisco
2 blocks from the Powell Street BART Station.

Bible stories they didn’t teach you in Sunday school. Sisters get Dad Drunk, have Sex with him!... Human Sacrifice at Father-son Camping Trip!... Widow Becomes Hooker, Tricks Father-in-law into Getting her Pregnant!

HERE'S WHAT THE AUDIENCE SAID ...

“Hilarious and Bawdy, a little like the Old Testament meets Monty Python meets Leave it to Beaver”

“Blasphemy! Sacrilege! Heresy! I love it!”

“A raucous , laugh filled evening at an x rated bible camp”

“Brilliant script, acting, direction, costuming, lighting, EVERYTHING!”