June 17, 2009 > Playwrights compete for audience love Playwrights compete for audience love Submitted By Rob Ready After issuing an open challenge to the Bay Area theater community on its website www.pianofight.com, PianoFight, in association with Combined Artform, is proud to announce the return of its three-month playwriting competition ShortLived 2.0, running every Friday and Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Studio 250 at Off-Market till June 27, in which local playwrights and theater groups will compete for audiences who will decide who wins the top prize of a one-month run of a full length production. This year, Daniel Heath, winner of last year's competition, will be back to defend his title as ShortLived Champion against not only other playwrights, but also theater groups who will write and perform their own work in the competition. ShortLived 2.0 is broken into six rounds, with a final Championship Weekend June 26-27. Each round will last two weeks, and feature 8 short plays, one of which will be written and performed by a local theater group (one group will compete each round), all vying for a shot to compete in the Championship Weekend. To decide the winner, audiences will be given scorecards and asked to rate each of the 8 pieces, including the piece by the local theater group. At the end of the round, the scores will be tallied and the 4 lowest scoring pieces will be dropped from the line-up, and 4 new pieces introduced in the next round. The top 4 scoring pieces will stay on to the next round. The piece that wins the round (scores the most points with audiences) will clinch a spot in the Championship Weekend. The piece which scores the highest at Championship Weekend will win the top prize of a full length, one-month run at Studio 250 at Off-Market. PianoFight is an SF-based production company founded by Rob Ready and Dan Williams, which has been running Studio 250 at Off-Market since June of 2007, and has produced original works, premiered all-new shows, created and developed an online web series, and cut a short film, all while remaining true to its commitment of producing new work by new artists. For more information, visit www.pianofight.com ShortLived 2.0 Fridays and Saturdays Thru June 27 8 p.m. Studio 250 at Off-Market 965 Mission St (between 5th and 5th streets), San Francisco (917)363-9646 www.pianofight.com Tickets are $20 at the door and $15 online