Rich is delighted to participate in Phoenix Theatre Company’s Festival of New American Theatre for the fifth time since 2006. Previous festival plays include SKIN DEEP (which later won the Larry Corse Playwriting Prize), ENGAGEMENT RULES (which later won the Janet & Bruce Bunch New Play Award), TROPICAL HEAT (which later won the Maxim Mazumdar New Play Competition), and JENNIFER’S BIRTH (which hasn’t won any awards… yet). His fifteen other full-length plays include FUNNY AS A CRUTCH, produced locally by Improbable Theatre Company; ADVANCED CHEMISTRY, which had a a benefit reading starring Ed Asner for Arizona Jewish Theatre Company; and CHATTING WITH THE TEA PARTY, presented locally by Theatre Artists Studio and at 16 other theaters around the country in the two years leading up to the 2016 election. Rich’s short plays have had over 1800 productions on six of the seven continents, and a staged reading in Antarctica. His short comedies have been published seven times in the annual Best American Short Playsseries, more than any other contemporary playwright. Rich is always thrilled to return to Phoenix, even when it’s not freezing in New York.
