<div dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr" style="text-align:center;font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12.8px;font-weight:700;white-space:pre-wrap"><font color="#ff0000">PLAYWRIGHTS LOCAL ANNOUNCES</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="text-align:center;font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><font color="#ff0000">THE MAC WELLMAN HOMECOMING FESTIVAL</font></span></p><p style="text-align:center;font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:center;font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><font color="#0000ff">COMING IN MARCH 2017!</font></span></p><div dir="ltr" style="text-align:center;font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Playwrights Local announces <b><font color="#000000">The Mac Wellman Homecoming Festival</font></b>, a three-day celebration of the widely renowned, groundbreaking playwright who was born and raised in Cleveland. Running March 23 through 25, 2017, the Festival provides long-overdue recognition of one of the city’s most-lauded literary products. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Most events are free and do not require reservations, and will be held at Cleveland State University, a major partner in the event. Playwrights Local proudly welcomes Mr. Wellman himself to the proceedings, thanks in part to funding provided by the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts (NEOMFA) creative writing program. </span></p><div dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">As a playwright, Mac Wellman has been described as an “avatar of alternatives to the well-made play” (</span><span style="font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">American Theatre</span><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">) and “James Joyce reborn as a rap artist” (</span><span style="font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The New York Times</span><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">). As a professor of playwriting, he has been praised by prominent former students as “a teacher who changed my life” (Annie Baker) who “explodes all the boundaries” (Sibyl Kempson) and “extends the limits of what’s possible on stage” (Sarah Ruhl). He has received multiple Obie awards along with NEA, Guggenheim, and Rockefeller fellowships; had hundreds of productions in the U.S., U.K., Europe, and Asia; and founded one of the country’s most prestigious Master of Fine Arts programs at Brooklyn College. The Festival is the first Cleveland-based event in honor of this tireless theatrical innovator, who moonlights as an accomplished writer of poetry and fiction.</span></p><div dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The Mac Wellman Homecoming Festival features <font color="#ff0000"><b>productions and readings of classic plays</b></font> <b><font color="#ff0000">including </font></b></span><font color="#ff0000"><b><span style="font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Cleveland</span><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, </span><span style="font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Bitter Bierce</span><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, </span><span style="font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Harm’s Way</span><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, and </span><span style="font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The Sandalwood Box</span></b></font><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. There will be <b><font color="#0000ff">a Q&A with the playwright, an exhibit of memorabilia, a panel discussion, and an open wrap party</font></b>. Special sessions include </span><span style="font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><font color="#000000"><b>Bad Scenes</b></font></span><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><font color="#000000"><b>, a collection of short plays by local writers</b></font> responding to a signature Wellman exercise. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Additional <b><font color="#ff0000">partners for this event are Cleveland State University’s Department of English and Michael Schwartz Library</font>. <font color="#0000ff">Along with Playwrights Local, performers include Theater Ninjas, convergence-continuum, Baldwin Wallace University Department of Theatre and Dance, and Cleveland State University Department of Theatre and Dance</font></b>. The Festival was curated by David Todd, Artistic Director of Playwrights Local in Cleveland. </span></p><div dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The Festival’s primary locations will be Drinko Hall and the Michael Schwartz Library, both on the campus of Cleveland State University (2121 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH 44115). All events at those locations are free and open to the public, with no tickets or reservations required. Tickets for the March 25 performance of </span><span style="font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Harm’s Way</span><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> at The Liminus can be purchased through convergence-continuum at </span><a href="http://www.convergence-continuum.org/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://www.convergence-continu<wbr>um.org/</span></a><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. A final gathering at The Tremont Tap House also will be free. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><b><br></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><b><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Complete information, including a schedule and a Mac Wellman press pack, is available on the Festival website at </span><a href="http://playwrightslocal.org/mac-wellman-homecoming-festival/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://playwrightslocal.org/ma<wbr>c-wellman-homecoming-festival/</span></a><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><wbr>. </span></b></p><div dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Mac Wellman is the present-day experimental theatre’s wily uncle,” says Clyde Simon, Artistic Director of convergence-continuum. “His plays are roller-coaster rides across this strange landscape we call America, and the Mac Fest is a rare chance for us all to hop on.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-m_849673122734105314gmail-m_-348118160777213092gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">CONTACT</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Tom Hayes</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Managing Director</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Playwrights Local</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a href="tel:%28216%29%20302-8856" value="+12163028856" target="_blank">(216) 302-8856</a></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a href="mailto:hayes@playwrightslocal.org" target="_blank">hayes@playwrightslocal.org</a></span></p></div>