Ojai Playwrights Conference Fundraiser

Ojai Playwrights Conference Presents One-Night-Only Benefit Concert In Partnership With Ojai Playhouse Featuring Grammy-Winner Emily Saliers (Indigo Girls) and Folk Rock Sensation Jonatha Brooke

One-Night Only Benefit Concert in support of Ojai Playwrights Conference (OPC) in partnership with the Ojai Playhouse, featuring performances by Grammy-winning artist Emily Saliers (of Indigo Girls) and folk rock sensation Jonatha Brooke. They will showcase never-before-heard songs from their upcoming musicals, along with a few beloved hits. OPC’s day of fundraising festivities kick off with  a screening of the documentary film, It’s Only Life After All, followed by a conversation with Emily Saliers. In keeping with OPC’s commitment to equitable access, there will be 50 free tickets to the film screening and talkback made available to the public.

This special event will highlight OPC’s legacy of fostering new plays and musicals over its 28 year history (including the 2015 Tony-award winning musical, FUN HOME), and will celebrate the success of influential singer-songwriters who have ventured into musical theater. 

Proceeds will support Ojai Playwrights Conference’s mission of developing new theater works by providing support and resources to playwrights, educational programs and theater partnerships. Funds will also support OPC’s Equitable Access Program, which provides Pay What You Can tickets to all public events, Education programs, and OPC’s annual New Works Festival, which returns to The Thacher School in Ojai this August. 

Ojai Playhouse will open its doors for a pre-show reception in the newly renovated and reopened Ojai Playhouse lobby and theater at 6:00pm. General Admission doors open at 6:30 pm. Performance begins at 7:00pm, followed by an intimate gathering with event guests and the artists, featuring sommelier-curated wines to compliment food from one of Ojai’s most revered and exclusive restaurants.

Tickets for the event are available: ojaiplays.org/fundraiser2025

About Ojai Playwrights Conference (OPC):

OPC supports playwrights with unique resources and a nurturing environment to develop new stories for the American theater. Now in our 28th year, the summer Conference and New Works Festival is our primary new play development program. In 2023, we instituted open submissions for playwrights across the country and added “pay what you can” tickets to increase access for artists and audiences. Our Intern and Youth Workshop programs provide opportunities for students to participate in the Conference and Festival, and create and share their own work alongside professional artists.

Holding this year’s Fundraiser in partnership with Ojai Playhouse marks a pivotal moment in OPC’s exciting new path of expanding our partnerships, and investing in the Ojai community year round. In the past year, OPC has expanded into year-round programming, with a key focus on partnerships within the Southern California theater community, and particular efforts oriented toward supporting the artist communities of Ojai:

We have launched a workshop featuring renowned playwright Young Jean Lee in partnership with Center Theatre Group and The Thacher School, which included a free reading of their new play, open to the public of Ojai. Last spring, we began offering Taco Tuesday Write Nights – a writing workshop for Ojai-based high school students with professional guest artists from the OPC community, now in  its second year. Our inaugural Fall Playwrights Residency was a tremendous success, bringing playwrights with support from Los Angeles theaters to Ojai, culminating in a free public reading. This March, we launched our first ever Spring Gathering – which is an invitation to local playwrights, actors, directors, other theater-artists and community members in Ojai to connect with Ojai Playwrights Conference staff at various local events over the course of several days, to meet, share their work and open pathways of collaboration and connection. As we significantly expand our program offerings throughout the year, we continue to make our Summer Conference and New Works Festival accessible to the community of Ojai with Pay What You Can tickets.

Numerous plays developed at OPC have been produced on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in theaters across the country. Some have been nominated for and won prestigious awards: both Fun Home by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori and Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin Baitz were Pulitzer Finalists; Fun Home won the Tony Award for Best Musical; and Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed and Stephen Adly Guirgis’ The Motherf**ker with the Hat were each nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. Learn more at www.ojaiplays.org.

About Emily Saliers: 

Emily Saliers is a founding member and one-half of the Grammy award-winning duo Indigo Girls.

Indigo Girls have sold over 15 million albums worldwide since being signed to Epic Records (Sony) in 1989 and were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Emily holds a BA in English from Emory University. In addition to her work with Indigo Girls, Emily co-owned the restaurant Watershed in Decatur, Georgia whose chef won the James Beard award for Best Chef, Southeast U.S.A. Emily is co-author of the book A Song to Sing a Life to Live: Music as Spiritual Practice written with her father, Professor Don Saliers. She has written soundtrack music for films, including the Sundance short film One Weekend a Month, among others. Her first full-length solo album, Murmuration Nation, was released in 2017. Emily is currently working on a musical with Broadway’s Beth Malone and Mary Ann Stratton, as well as a musical with the Elliot/Larsen Musicals team and one based on The Gospel of Eureka with director Jeremy Cohen and writer Mfoniso Udofia. Her newfound love of musical theatre has become an obsession. Emily adores her family, dogs, good food, and the sea.

About Jonatha Brooke:

Jonatha Brooke is a singer-songwriter who has released four albums with major labels and ten albums on her independent label, Bad Dog Records. She has co-written songs for artists such as Katy Perry and Jessica Simpson and has composed music for Disney. 

In 2014, her one-woman Off-Broadway show My Mother Has Four Noses, directed by OPC’s Jeremy Cohen, ran for three months at the Duke Theater in NYC and was a critic’s pick in the New York Times. She has performed “..Four Noses” at various theaters, including People’s Light in Malvern, PA; The Cleveland Playhouse; and The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, to name just a few. 

Jonatha has written two musicals with Anton Dudley – Hopper and Death and Venice – and is currently reviving Quadroon, written with the late jazz pianist/composer Joe Sample. She is also working on Switched with playwright Geoffrey Nauffts and TEMPUS with playwright Jaclyn Backhaus. 

In late 2024, Jonatha, along with Laurie Flannagan Hegge (Prick), was commissioned by the History Theater in Minneapolis to adapt Sheila O’Connor’s memoir Evidence of V for the stage. 

She continues to perform live in concert across the U.S. and Europe and is working on her 15th album, scheduled for release in 2025.

LOCATION: Ojai Playhouse; 145 E. Ojai Ave. Ojai, CA 93023

TICKETS: Ojai Playwrights Conference Fundraiser Tickets are available March 10th and range from $500 – $1500, with 50 Free Tickets available to the Film Screening and Post-Film Discussion.

• FREE: 50 free tickets available for Screening/Post-Film Discussion
• $500 tickets include General Seating, Concert Access, Screening Access – first 50 buyers will gain access to the screen. We are reserving 50 free tickets for the community. 
• $1,000 tickets include Preferred Seating, Concert Access, Screening Access, Pre-Show Reception, Post-Show Gathering with the Artists, Artisanal Eats & Sommelier-paired wines
• $1,500 tickets include Premiere Seating, Concert Access, Screening Access, Pre-Show, Reception, Post-Show Gathering with the Artists. Artisanal Eats & Sommelier-paired wines, Luxury Gift Bag, Valet Parking, Additional Exclusive Perks