LAUNCH PAD’s Summer Reading Series Features Comedy and Drama | Arts & Entertainment

Idris Goodwin

Death is easy, comedy is hard. For actors, the same goes for playwrights, who are acutely aware of how difficult it is to keep audiences entertained all night long.

“Writing comedy is like writing music,” said Idris Goodwin, a beat poet and author of more than 60 plays. “It has a rhythm that you can never give up.

“In a film, you can create that rhythm by editing. You can’t do that on stage, so I wanted to make sure it was as integrated into the text as possible.”

Differentiating between baked and half-baked is a major goal of the UC Santa Barbara LAUNCH PAD program, which provides writers with the opportunity to experience work performed by actors at different levels of development. Its 2022 summer reading series begins July 10, and two of its four ongoing productions this year are comedies.

For LAUNCH PAD Artistic Director Risa Brainin, this makes perfect sense, as the last summer festival of 2020 is via Zoom. “Everything on Zoom is harder, but comedy is especially hard,” she said.

“I need real people who can respond with a smile,” agrees Goodwin. “I also need to know where the jokes are bombing.”

The series, which is free to the public and kicks off at 3pm on Sunday, July 10, features a play: Frankie Gonzalez’s “A Month,” inspired by Harold Pinter’s Betrayal. Like that classic, it travels back in time and tells the story of a marriage jeopardized by an affair. UCSB alumnus and guest artist Daniel Andres Blanco will join the student cast.

This is followed by Christopher Oscar Pena’s “Los Feliz” on Thursday 14th July at 7pm. Arizona Theater Company Associate Artistic Director Chanel Bragg will direct. Set in Hollywood, the show follows a queer Latino looking for true love. Scenes from the film were read in January as part of LAUNCH PAD’s Zoom-only 2022 BIPOC Reading Series Festival.

Goodwin’s “What’s Best for Kids?” starring guest artist Austin Dean Ashford on Thursday, July 21 at 7pm. “It’s about the politics of textbooks — how and what we teach our kids,” said Goodwin, the new artistic director of Seattle Children’s Theater.

“It’s a serious topic, so I wanted to give it some frivolity,” Goodwin said. “The idea of ​​Texas having a group of people voting on the in and out of textbooks used across the country is completely ridiculous. I want to get into that ridiculous situation.”

Originally written in 2017, this work has only become more relevant to the recent controversy over the existence of critical race theory in the curriculum.

“Fundamentally, we’re talking about who defines what’s appropriate and what’s useful for kids to know,” Goodwin said. “These are the questions we’re going to ask. To me, theatre should be a meeting place to engage, reflect and hopefully spark some conversation.”

The series ends Thursday, July 28 at 7pm with James Steele’s “Drama About Longing.” It contains a series of skits written during the pandemic that “will be curated with student artists as part of this process,” Brainin said.

“There’s a poignancy to these plays, revealing the ways in which life is both vivid and fleeting,” Steele said. “All of the stories center around some kind of bittersweet, exploring the extremes of deep and unsettling sadness, as well as deep and meaningful. Unbelievable joy.”

This series is part of the UCSB Summer Program. For Brainin, giving students the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of new game development is an important part of the program.

“Every week, we have 16 to 20 hours of rehearsal and exploration, followed by reading and Q&A,” Brainin said. “Then we report the whole process to students and guest artists. This year’s students include 8 actors, 2 playwrights, 1 stage manager, 1 designer, 1 director and 1 playwright.

“This is one of my favorite classes to teach because participants are encouraged to step out of their comfort zone,” she said. “An actor might try a design, a designer might be stage manager for a week, a director might work on marketing.

“Students decide which aspect of the process they want to work on. I’m always inspired by their willingness to take risks and try new things.”

In recent years, Steele and Goodwin have both had “preview works” of LAUNCH PAD – full stages of their work in progress. Still’s “Appoggiatura” came out in 2013, and Goodwin’s “We Want the Funk” is a rusty lullaby! 2016 followed closely.

“I love building long-term relationships with writers like James and Idris, and the summer reading series provides an opportunity to continue those collaborations,” Braining said.

For his part, Goodwin is excited to be back at UCSB.

“Risa is a great advocate for new work,” he said. “She respects the creative process of a playwright. She has such a wonderful passion. She understands that developing a screenplay is a tricky business. We are treated well and respected and it’s one of the most beautiful places in the country. Not to love Kind of?”

All readings are in the Performing Arts Theater on the UC Santa Barbara campus. Admission is free. Audiences are invited to a reception 30 minutes before the event and a Q&A with the playwrights after the event.