call for submissions

Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre

PO Box 1720

Mars Hill, NC 28754-1720

828-689-1384

fax 828-689-1272

sart@mhc.edu

www.sartplays.org

Thank you for your interest in ScriptFEST 2010, the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre’s 29th

Annual Playwrights’ Conference. We welcome your submission and hope the following information will

answer your questions. If you need more information, please call the SART business office at 828-689-1384.

AN OVERVIEW

SCRIPTFEST, the Playwrights’ Conference typically receives 100-200 scripts each year. A small army of

SART volunteers read each submitted script; those recommended for further review are read again by a

committee of theatre professionals. Once all scripts have been reviewed, SART invites up to six playwrights to the annual conference to hear their plays read by SART actors and Mars Hill College Theatre Arts students. Playwrights join the directors, actors, and audiences in discussions and critiques following each reading. One script may be considered by SART to be included and fully produced in a following SART summer season.

The 2010 Conference will be held in October over one weekend in the historic Owen Theatre on the

campus of Mars Hill College in Mars Hill, North Carolina. The Conference is free and open to the public; all are welcome to attend. Playwrights invited to participate in the conference are selected by late-August and receive room and board while attending the conference. If a play is chosen for production to be included in SART’s regular summer season, it will be scheduled for a one to three week run in Owen Theatre during June, July or August of one of the subsequent years, earliest being the 2011 season. The author of a script selected for production in a regular SART season will receive a $1,000 honorarium plus room and board.

Since its opening season in 1975, SART has produced fifty-seven new plays, many supported by a New

Works grant from the North Carolina Arts Council. World premieres at SART include Ark of Safety by

Howard Richardson and Francis Goforth in 1975; Wednesday’s Children by C. Robert Jones (1980); Ed

Simpson’s The Battle of Shallowford (1990); My Castle’s Rockin’ by Larry Parr (1993); William Doswell’s Full Moon Over Montmartre (2001); Finding Clara by June Guralnick (2003), Mountain of Hope by William Gregg and Perry Deane Young (2004); Finding The Absent Crescent by Gina Pauratore (2005); Taking A Chance On Love by C. Robert Jones (2006); The Memory Collection: The Legend of Bascom Lamar Lunsford by Randy Noojin (2007); Miracle in Bedford Falls by Mark Cabaniss & Lowell Alexander (2008); Home Again by William Gregg & Perry Deane Young (2009). Recent ScriptFEST winners are Ruthie by David Wright (2008), and Big Criminals by Steve Wisniewski (2009).

SART recognizes that developing new scripts is neither an easy nor a short process. The testing and

development of new material at the conference allows the playwright to refine and build the work toward

possible production. SART’s commitment to developing and producing new plays has distinguished the

company from other regional summer theatres and earned a Professional Division Award from the N.C.

Theatre Conference (NCTC).

SART MISSION STATEMENT

A professional theatre dedicated to proven favorites, heritage of the Southern Appalachians, new works development, and opportunities for students and playwrights.

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION

• New scripts of full-length plays and musicals in English that are unpublished and previously

unproduced. No One-Acts. (Scripts that have gone through a developmental process or other readings

are eligible. Scripts produced by amateur community theatres and/or educational theatres are eligible.

Scripts produced by professional theatres are not eligible.)

• TWO “hard” copies of scripts are required. And one author resume.

Author’s name and other author information should not appear in the scripts.

• Playwrights may submit up to two different titles each submission period.

• Excerpts and summaries will not be accepted without the FULL script.

• No One Acts.

• No film or television scripts, translations or adaptations.

• Adaptations of novels and short stories are acceptable. Adaptations of movies and stage scripts are not

acceptable.

• If you have submitted a particular title of yours in a previous year, it may be submitted again IF and

ONLY IF you have made significant revisions to the script since it was last submitted to us.

• Provide a LARGE self-addressed, stamped envelope if you would like for SART to mail back your

script. The size of the envelope should be appropriate for the size of the script, and postage should be

the required postage necessary to deliver your script from Mars Hill NC to your address.

• Preferred submission: ALL pages at least standard 3-ring hole-punched, if not in a binder.

1. Title Page: with no other information on it but the title

2. Synopsis Page(s) (optional) inserted directly behind the Title Page: containing play synopsis,

character descriptions, and other notes. (Do not include synopsis, notes, or other important

information in your cover letter. It will not be read by the adjudicators.)

3. Script

*DO NOT have the author’s name anywhere on the Title Page, Synopsis Page or the pages of

the manuscript. If you do, your submission MAY NOT be accepted!

4. Provide ONE additional and separate Title Page including author’s name, date, etc.

5. Author’s resume or some given background including thorough information.

6. If you include a cover letter, do not include synopsis, notes or other important information in the

letter. Anything you want the adjudicators to read, include on the inserted synopsis page(s) of the

manuscripts.

• White paper. Two-sided or one-sided pages is author’s choice.

• Musicals should be submitted with the above materials, and in addition a score and/or a recording of at

least four songs on cassette or CD. (Only ONE recording is necessary for each title.)

• SART will not notify you of receipt of your submissions, unless with your submission you provide a

reply-postcard for us to send you, including postage. (optional)

• SART will contact you by email if your submissions are not chosen in the final twenty. If you would

prefer postal-mail notification, you must provide a SASE with your submission. (optional)

The deadline for submission for the 2010 ScriptFEST Conference is a postmark of no later than October 31, 2009.

Submit to: SART ScriptFEST ‘10, PO Box 1720, Mars Hill NC 28754-1720.

(We suggest you mail by the US Postal Service. UPS will not deliver to PO boxes.)