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This page contains the latest news about the DFW Playwrights' Alliance and
its members.
Newsletter April 2009
Announcing
CyberfestThe Electronic New Play Festival
Cyberfest will be a periodic playwriting festival in which much of the activity occurs on the internet or electronically.
THE SELECTION: First, we will put in a call for writers, directors and actors who will be available to participate within the parameters and deadlines. All participants, or at the very least, the playwrights, will write in seeds when they declare they are available to participate. They will be printed and put into a basket and then drawn at the start time. The seeds should be a noun, an adjective, a verb, and maybe a phrase.
PARAMETERS: The shows should be at least 15 minutes but no longer than 40 minutes, and should require no more than 4 actors with minimum tech.
START: At the specified time, live via webcam if possible, the playwright’s names will be drawn of who will be participating in that cycle, followed by the directors, and then the seeds. An E-mail will immediately go out and the writers may begin writing.DIRECTORS: One week later, all four final scripts will be sent to the directors. The directors will declare which shows they want to direct via E-mail and they will be assigned in the order they are received. They will begin rehearsals
SHOW: The shows will open the next Friday, and possibly run Saturday too. Ideally the shows will be broadcast live and also recorded to stream off the website. There will be a short break between each piece with an intermission for the audience after the first two.
Contacts
Website: www.dfwplaywrightsalliance.org
Web Master: Tim Shane (Tim@shane-arts.com)
Newsletter Editor: Allene Nichols (allenen@pobox.com)
Mark Your Calendar
Our Next Meeting April 28 at 7:30 P.M. at The Hub
This will be our first meeting using the new format, which will include a brief business meeting followed by a table reading of a member's play.
If you have a play you'd like to have read at an upcoming meeting, please contact Tim Shane at Tim@shane-arts.com.
Play Reading: May 5 at 7:30 P.M. at The Hub
This will be a reading (with actors) of the play that we read at the meeting on April 28.
Cyberfest May 1-16
May 8- Seeds are selected and playwrights informed. Playwrights have one week to write the play.
May 15 - playwrights will email their plays to the directors, who will use FaceBook or a similar service to determine who directs whose play and to cast the plays. They will email the scripts to the actors and set up a rehearsal schedule. The rehearsals will take place during the following week.
May 22 and 23 - the plays will be performed at The Hub.
Playwright News
Carol Rice
1. Rover Dramawerks hosted my world premiere production of Around the World in 80 Days, adapted from the novel by Jules Verne on March 5-21 at the Courtyard Theatre of Plano.
2. I have two 10-minute plays that will be featured in Rover Dramawerks' The Best of One Day Only, Vol. 2 running April 2-4 at the Cox Building Playhouse in Plano - "Power Makes the World Go Around" and "The Perfect House." I will also be directing Cambell Navarro's "Pa's Lucky Hat" for the festival.
3) I am attending Theatre Professionals Weekend at HumanaFest at Actors Theatre of Louisville this weekend (March 27-29). |
Gary Swaim
1. "Bossa Nova," a poem just published in Chest (journal for Thoracic Surgeons), 25,000 subscriptions out of Massachusetts.
2. Short story, "Discomfort," to be published in an anthology in May, 2009. Main Street Rag out of North Carolina will be presenting the anthology under the title "Dots on aMap: Stories About Smalltown Characters" (or something very close to that).
3. I've just finished the first draft of my full-length play, Morphine, based loosely on my 6-month hospitalization with 54 days in a coma. Hoping to put this in front of DFW Playwrights.
4. Teaching Creating Playsfor University of Texas at Dallas in the Fall, 2009 on Fridays (12:30-3:15).
Allene Rasmussen Nichols
1. “Hutch,” a short play, will be performed by Newburgh High School in Newburgh, NY on May 7 and 8.
2. “If I Were a Woman in the Sudan,” a poem published at NewVerseNews.Com, March 13, 2009.
3. I’m working on a series of poems about my teaching students with learning differences. Do You Know This Person??
As we cleaned up the Yahoo! Group and updated the membership list, we discovered that several people were missing in action. Their emails were bouncing, possibly due to a change of email address. We’ve guessed at some of the names based on email addresses. If you know any of these people and they want to continue to be a part of DFW Playwrights Alliance, please have them contact Allene Nichols at allenen@pobox.com with a working email address.
E. Burdette
Erik Knapp
Lee Trull
Marc Rouse
Christopher Soden
R.J. McMillan
Tim Long
Wes Copeland
Rick Elina
Guillermo de Leon
Jon-Paul
Kathy Vaught |
Attention Directors and Producers
Are you looking for a few good plays? If so, please send an email with dates and requirements to allenen@pobox.com and we’ll put your submission opportunity in the next newsletter.
Submission Opportunities
NEW WORKS OF MERIT PLAYWRITING CONTEST
New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest is accepting scripts through June 30, 2009 for new works that:
1) Enhance self-realization
2) Support peace and social justice
3) Foster new understanding of minority issues that focus on racial, ethnic and gender discrimination both in the United States and abroad
4) Empower youth to build healthy inner foundations
5) Educate to gain further insight into healthy social/emotional living
6) Shed new light on religious, spiritual, and cultural differences and issues
7) Build respect for cultural expression and identity in a world that is experiencing rapid globalization
8) Explore the widening gap between the values this country was founded on and the values we present to the world today
For Guidelines and Application Form: http://playwritingcontest.cjb.net/
As a directresult of the New Works of Merit Playwriting Contests:
· “Arkadelphia” by Brett Williams was published in Best American Short Plays by Applause Books.
·“He Came Home One Day While I Was Washing Dishes” by Christine Rusch was published in Best American Short Plays by Applause Books.
·2004 contest winner, Rudy Gray, is now a Resident Playwright of 13thStreet Repertory Company-NYC
·“Conversation with a Kleagle” by Rudy Gray was produced twice in NYC Feb 16, 2006 – Apr 7, 2006 and also Feb 6, 2009 – Mar 29, 2009
·“Ruby's Story” by Ron Osborne was produced in NYC May 13, 2004 - July 3, 2004 and will be produced again June 12, 2009 – July 19, 2009.
·“Interview” by Valerie Killigrew, was produced in NYC Nov 2 – Dec 2, 2006.
·Eleven finalists and five scripts that were not finalists received a free reading.
Since January 2002, Sandra Nordgren, the founder of the contest, has been responsible for the offering of over 150 readings, 36 productions, 16 development workshops, and two theater playwriting residencies, all in New York City at no cost to the playwright.
SHORT LEAPS SUBMISSIONS
Our annual event of rehearsed stage readings held each year in the late Summer or Fall.
Play submissions must meet the following criteria:
• Submissions accepted annually, March 1 - April 30
• Plays must be less than fifteen minutes in length
• Plays must not have had a production in San Francisco
• Previous Short Leaps submissions are ineligible (unless the script has major revisions)
• Limit two submissions per playwright
• All plays must have a title page that includes: author’s name, address, email, andtelephone number
• Production history must be included in the body of the script
• Email submissions need to be in either Word (.doc) or PDF format
Best submission method is via email to: scripts "at" threewisemonkeys "dot" org(SHORT LEAPS must be in the subject line)
Plays can also be snail-mailed to:
Three Wise Monkeys Theatre CompanyLiterary DepartmentPO Box 640326San Francisco CA 94164-0326
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