Ars Nova Play Group

Ars Nova is now accepting applications for our writers group, Play Group, for 2011. For those of you who may not know, Play Group is a wonderful and eclectic group of emerging writers who meet here at Ars Nova every other week to share their work and get peer feedback. New members join for a two-year cycle starting in January, and each year culminates in a group created production at Ars Nova. The writers are at the heart of our community of artists, and we would love to find some great new members to join the returning group in January.


More information about the group as well as application forms can be found on our website at  http://arsnovanyc.com/playgroup.html.

The Loop

Playwrights -- visit The Loop online to connect with other playwrights, submission opps and tons of information about theatres big and small.  Click on the title above and it's free to become a member.

Call for Proposals

International Conference
"Performing Arts Training Today"
December 1-4, 2010
Retzhof Castle, Leitring bei Leibnitz, Austria

Professional conference open to performers, performing arts educators and teachers from all over the world interested in the research of topical questions and processes in contemporary performing arts education and training. The conference is open to different art genres, techniques and forms - theatre, dance, music, circus, visual and multimedia art.

At the moment the Conference is accepting presentation proposals!

The working language is English.

short play festival

Submissions invited for the Claire Donaldson 8 in 48 Short Play Festival

Augustana College (SD) and The Great Plains Dramatist Exchange seek submissions for the Claire Donaldson 8 in 48 Short Play Festival. Submissions are accepted from January 15, 2010 to May 15, 2010. Eight ten-minute plays will be selected by a national panel of selectors; winners are notified by June 15, 2010. A scholarship and cash prizes are offered. This festival is founded in honor of the late Claire M. Donaldson. Ms. Donaldson was a 2000 Augustana College graduate passionate about the art of playwriting.

Julia Bennett, Augustana Theatre Faculty and Co-Producer, says, "The 8 in 48 is an outstanding opportunity for us to honor Claire while supporting the development of new short plays. Producing eight plays in forty-eight hours is a challenging and exciting artistic event. Our community loves to see the new works and our students mark it as a highlight in their college careers." Heidi Sue Meyer, Festival Coordinator and Augustana College Alumna, adds, "As a playwright, I was eager to create a supportive environment for young playwrights in our state. The Festival continues to offer that possibility."

All submissions must be previously unproduced, 10 minutes or less in length, and can focus on any topic or genre. No more than two submissions per playwright, please. Submissions by electronic attachment are encouraged. Winning selections will be mounted during the 8 in 48 Festival on September 18, 2010 at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

A call for Festival directors, designers, and actors will go out March 1, 2010. Augustana's community and alumni are strongly encouraged to participate. All interested individuals are invited to bring their talents to this unique opportunity. For more information regarding the Festival, contact Julia Bennett at julia.bennett@augie.edu

Direct any submission inquiries to Heidi S. Meyer at haleyhayworth@hotmail.com

Send all submissions to:


Electronic: haleyhayworth@hotmail.com

Subject: 8 in 48 Submission

Ground: Augustana College Theatre – 8 in 48

2001 S. Summit Ave

Sioux Falls, SD 57197

playwriting contests

PREMIERE STAGES at KEAN UNIVERSITY
DEADLINE: JAN 15
Seeks submissions to the 6th annual Premiere Play Festival. Winner awarded $2,000 and a fully produced Equity production in 2010 season. Runner-up receives $750 and an Equity workshop in June; 2nd runner-up receives $500. Premiere Stages hosts public readings of all three finalists in March. FOR MORE INFO: kean.edu/premierestages.

INTERACT THEATRE COMPANY
DEADLINE: JAN 15
Seeks submissions for their 20/20 Commissions project, an ambitious initiative that will award 20 new play commissions and development grants over six seasons. Development Awards will be $2,500, while New Play Commissions will range from $5,000 - $10,000. InterAct will accept proposals on an annual basis. FOR MORE INFO: www.interacttheatre.org

Legacy by Whitney Channing Sargent

December 11, 12 and 13, 2009
Friday and Saturday at 8pm; Sunday at 2pm

at the Electric Lodge
1416 Electric Avenue
Venice, California

$15 in advance; $20 at the door Purchase

Online Brown Paper Tickets

About the Show

Legacy is an original theatre work that tells the complex story of Whitney Channing Sargent's family ties to Mormonism, polygamy, and the state of Utah. Incorporating textual research, personal narrative, video, and movement, Legacy is a true tale of fantastical proportions in which Sargent asks, "What does it mean to be a non-Mormon granddaughter of Brigham Young?"

Performed by Marion Dunham, Celeste Martinez, Tinia Orduña, Whitney Channing Sargent, and Diana Wyenn

sundance: two new labs for theatre

SUNDANCE INSTITUTE THEATRE PROGRAM ANNOUNCES
TWO NEW ARTIST LABS TO BE HELD IN 2010 AT
MASSACHUSETTS MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART (MASS MOCA)
AND NEW YORK’S GOVERNORS ISLAND

Announces Call for Entries: Theatre Lab at Mass MoCA (March 28-April 11, 2010)

Theatre Lab on Governor's Island (May 23-June 6, 2010);

New Deadline for All Submissions is October 12, 2009

Los Angeles — Sundance Institute announced today the expansion of its Theatre Program with two new labs: the first to be held at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MassMoCA) from March 28-April 11, 2010, and the second to be held on New York’s Governors Island from May 23-June 6, 2010. The labs are two-week developmental retreats designed to provide private, creative environments for playwrights, directors, composers and librettists to devise new work with the support of dramaturgs and full casts. Participants will be chosen from an open submission process. The Program is interested in both established and emerging theatre artists, as well as artists making a transition from areas outside of theatre. Artists are encouraged to apply quickly; the deadline for submissions is October 12, 2009. These two labs will temporarily replace the annual Sundance Theatre Lab, held in Utah each July, while upgrades and construction take place at the Sundance Resort. Visit www.sundance.org/theatre for full submission details.

"We are thrilled to expand the Sundance Institute Theatre Program to these unique environments," said Philip Himberg, Producing Artistic Director, Sundance Institute Theatre Program." Sundance Institute labs provide a crucible for innovative developmental work. They are more than a place to “rehearse"; they are environments that encourage and support risk-taking, experimentation, and rigorous re-writing and re-imagining. MassMoca and Governor’s Island both provide a connection with nature, which is integral to our view of nurturing the creative process, and both have been generous with their resources and rehearsal space – critical gifts during this economic climate. We are thrilled and grateful that these venues will allow us to continue our 33 years of supporting theatre artists while our home base in Sundance, Utah undergoes some vital renovations.”

Sundance Institute Theatre Lab at Mass MoCA

North Adams, Massachusetts
March 28-April 11, 2010

This is a new, two-week development retreat for theatre artists held at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, ranked among the most visited institutions in the United States dedicated to new art. Since opening in 1999, MassMoCA has become one of the world's premier centers for making and showing the best art of our time. More than 80 major new works of art and more than 50 performances have been created through fabrication and rehearsal residencies in North Adams. The Sundance Institute Theatre Lab at Mass MoCA offers an opportunity and process for an independent-minded community of artists to engage with their work, ask questions, build text and take risks.

Sundance Institute Theatre Lab on Governors Island
May 23-June 6, 2010
The Sundance Institute Theatre Program is honored to be selected as the first theatre group to use the Island. This is a new, two-week development retreat for theatre artists held on and in collaboration with New York's Governors Island Preservation & Education Corporation. The Theatre Lab on Governors Island will provide a creative environment (artsists will take a short ferry ride to the island daily from the Battery Maritime Building at the southern tip of Manhattan) for playwrights, directors, composers and librettists to develop new work with the full support of dramaturgs and full casts. This lab will celebrate the diversity and rich resources of New York Harbor while providing a protective canopy of private time and space in which to create.

ELIGIBILITY
The Sundance Institute Theatre Program welcomes applications for projects at any stage of development. Submitted work cannot have been previously produced, but may have received prior labs or readings. In addition, projects scheduled to receive a production before July 11, 2010 (Mass MoCA Lab) and September 6, 2010 (Governors Island Lab), are not eligible. Commissioned work is eligible for submission.

Playwrights, directors, composers, ensembles, performance artists or choreographers may submit applications. Playwright/director teams are permitted and encouraged to apply together; however, because many emerging playwrights do not have access to a director, Sundance Institute is positioned to match these artists with an experienced director.

Participants must be available for the entire length of each lab. Artists can only submit one application. Previous applicants may re-apply, but not with previously submitted material.

PROJECT SELECTION
Through open submissions, Sundance Institute Theatre Program considers an estimated 600 projects. Each full-time Fellow (playwright, director, and collaborator) receives a $500 honorarium and company of actors (if applicable), selected by Sundance Institute in collaboration with the Fellows, to support their project. It provides professional actors, dramaturges and playwrights rehearsal space and stage management for the collaborative team working on each project. At the end of each lab, projects will culminate in an informal presentation for the community only, followed by a feedback session with Sundance artistic staff and guest Creative Advisors. Actors are selected for their professionalism, versatility and suitability for the development process. Actors operate on a Special Agreement with Actors’ Equity Association during the Theatre Labs.

Sundance Institute Theatre Program

Through its developmental activities at the Sundance Institute Playwright’s Retreat at Ucross, the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab at White Oak, Sundance Institute East Africa,and two new pilot theatre programs at Mass MoCA and Governors Island, The Sundance Institute Theatre Program identifies and assists emerging theatre artists, contributes to the creative growth of established artists, and encourages and supports the development of new work for the stage. Under the guidance of Producing Artistic Director Philip Himberg, more than 85% of the work coming out of the Program’s labs has found professional production at theatres across the United States, Mexico and Europe. Recent productions of Sundance-developed work include: Passing Strange by Stew and Heidi Rodewald, which won the 2008 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical and Grey Gardens by Doug Wright, Scott Frankel and Michael Korie.

Sundance Institute

Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a not-for-profit organization that fosters the development of original storytelling in film and theatre, and presents the annual Sundance Film Festival. Internationally recognized for its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Angels in America, Spring Awakening, Boys Don't Cry, Sin Nombre, Born into Brothels and Trouble the Water. www.sundance.org.

International Physical Theatre Laboratory

Date & Time: 2009-10-25 5:00 PM Location:

International Physical Theatre Laboratory http://www.iugte.com/projects/PhysicalTheatre.php October 25-31, 2009 Leitring bei Leibnitz, Austria PARTICIPANTS: Actors of physical, dramatic, dance and musical theatres, dancers, choreographers, circus performers, directors. PROGRAMME: The programme includes intensive training, lectures and discussions. The Lab is open to performers from different creative genres and techniques inspired by Physical Theatre as a bold, vibrant and multidimensional approach to contemporary theatre performance. Practical physical training is the core of the Lab programme. Participants will explore physicality as the key to form, style, atmosphere and emotional palette in contemporary performance. Practical sessions develop in the form of various exercises which progress from simple to compound. Gradually the group is proceeding to group improvisations and structures. Every day is setting advanced creative tasks, developing the preceding steps. Through the system of consecutive exercises the group is growing common language and trust, ability to collaborate and create together. STRUCTURE OF THE DAY: Each day begins with morning warm-up which combines breathing, movement and imagination. It will help participants to wake up and to prepare for the intensive practical process during the day. Practical training. Part I. Training by method of improvisation. Practical training. Part II. Structural Improvisation. From exercises to performance. Practical training. Part III. Principles of Biomechanics. Meyerhold's etudes. Lectures & Discussions: Performer's Physicality in the methods of Meyerhold, M.Chekhov and Stanislavsky. The working language is English. VENUE: The Lab will take place in Leitring bei Leibnitz, the beautiful town located within 30 min from Graz Thalerhof Airport, 2.5h from Vienna by car, 40 min from Graz by car, and 20 minutes from the Slovenian border. The public transportation to the venue is easy. The programme will take place in the historic castle of the 16th century. Accommodation and meals are organized for the group. PROGRAMME & REGISTRATION DETAILS: http://www.iugte.com/projects/PhysicalTheatre.php Photo Gallery of the past events: http://picasaweb.google.ru/globtheatre

hotINK 2010

Deadline: September 1, 2009

hotINK is an annual festival of plays, presented at the Tisch School of the Arts by the Department of Drama which has featured the work of writers from 17 countries. hotINK brings together playwrights from around the world with distinguished actors and directors from the New York theatre, as well as students, alumni and faculty from the Tisch School of the Arts. All scripts must be submitted in English.


FOR SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: www.hotink.org

Southern Rep Calls for Play Submissions

New 10-Minutes Plays to be Highlighted in Southern Reps 2009/10 Season

New Orleans Southern Rep calls on Southern writers to submit bold new ten minute plays for the SOUTHERN REP NEW PLAY RIOT by October 1, 2009 for readings, production or broadcast during the 2009/10 Season. As New Orleans premiere professional theatre, Southern Rep continues its mission of finding, developing and producing outstanding original theatre with the RIOT. The competition-based NEW PLAY RIOT promises to showcase the new work of some of the Southern Gulf Coasts most exciting playwrights, both established and emerging.

Playwrights should go to www.southernrep.com for the NEW PLAY RIOT guidelines. The RIOT competition is open to playwrights native to or a resident of The Gulf Coast South, defined as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, or Texas. Deadline for submissions is October 1, 2009 at midnight. Electronic submissions only. Questions and submissions should be sent via email only to newplayriot@southernrep.com

With this new Season, Southern Rep enjoys its 23rd triumphant year of developing and producing bold new plays, providing SRTs audience with professional theatre of the highest artistic quality and achievement, and establishing a creative working environment that nurtures theatre professionals. As New Orleans premiere professional theatre, Southern Rep strives to use the artistry of theatre to enlighten, educate, and entertain audiences, and aims to extend that service through educational and outreach programs.

deadlines for submissions

Public Theater Emerging Writers Group
DEADLINE: AUG 28
Through an open application process, 10 playwrights will be selected for the Emerging Writers Group. FOR MORE INFO: publictheater.org

hotINK International Festival
DEADLINE: SEPT 1
Playwrights from around the world and faculty from the Tisch School of the Arts come together. FOR MORE INFO: hotink.org.

New Dramatists
DEADLINE: SEPT 15
Now accepting writers for free seven-year residencies. FOR MORE INFO: newdramatists.org.

STAGE (Scientists, Technologies, and Artists Generating Exploration) Script Competition
DEADLINE: DEC 15
Plays must explore scientific and/or technological stories, themes, issues, or events. The winner of the STAGE competition will recieve $10,000. Multi-media theatre pieces, non-traditional plays, and new forms are encouraged. FOR MORE INFO: stage.cnsi.ucsb.edu

Women's Theatre Project
DEADLINE: ROLLING
The Women's Theatre Project is seeking full-length plays by and about lesbians written for an all female cast. Plays of interest will have a reading with an audience, with possible production in 2010 or 2011. E-mail play to twtp@bellsouth.net with "Lesibian Full-Length Play" in the subject.
FOR MORE INFO: womenstheatreproject.com

writing intensive in nyc

PLEASURE AND RISK: Testing the Limits
a weekend writing intensive with Brooke Berman and Karen Hartman

Explore pleasure and risk-taking (and the pleasure of risk-taking) in this two day exploration of what lives at the edges of your own writing.

Saturday August 8th and Sunday August 9th
1-6 pm both days
Art New York - 520 8th Avenue b/w 36th and 37th

What is more delicious, safety or breaking boundaries? This workshop will help you figure out what is SAFE, how to make a haven for yourself as an artist. We will also approach what is UNSAFE, how to move beyond individual boundaries and "limits" to create work at a new level.

Both instructors will be present the entire time, with lots of writing ideas and exercises, and opportunity to share work as well.

$250 for the weekend.

Limited space, write to Brooke and Karen at karensworkshop@gmail.com
with questions or to reserve.

Who We Are:

BROOKE BERMAN's plays have been produced and workshopped across the US and in London. She is a two-time recipient of both the Francesca Primus and Lecompte du Nouy awards; she is a recipient of a Berilla Kerr Award, a Helen Merrill Award, and a commissioning grant from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture for the play Until We Find Each Other, which was produced at Steppenwolf in 2002, directed by Anna D. Shapiro. Brooke’s play Hunting and Gathering premiered at Primary Stages, directed by Leigh Silverman, and was named one of the Ten Best of 2008 by New York Magazine. Her memoir, NO PLACE LIKE HOME, will be published by Random House in July, 2010. Brooke is also a screenwriter whose credits include the short ALL SAINTS DAY (directed by Will Frears), MAJOR MINOR DETAILS (the Mark Gordon Company), DISOBEDIENCE (Vox films), and an adaptation of her play SMASHING. Brooke has taught playwriting and creative writing as a guest artist in the New York City public school system, at assorted colleges, as well as privately to adults and through the “24 With 5 Teaching Collective” which she co-created at New Dramatists with Karen Hartman, Lynn Nottage, Jorge Cortinas and Dominick Taylor.

KAREN HARTMAN has taught playwriting for years at the Yale School of Drama, Yale University, Bennington College, and other universities and New York companies. She is the author of Gum, Leah’s Train, Goliath (Dorothy Silver New Play Prize), Going Gone (N.E.A. New Play Grant); Anatomy 1968; Girl Under Grain (Best Drama in NY Fringe; ALICE: Tales of a Curious Girl (Music by Gina Leishman, AT&T Onstage Award); Troy Women; Donna Wants, Goldie, Max, and Milk; Sea Change, a musical with AnnMarie Milazzo, and MotherBone, an opera with Graham Reynolds. Her plays have been performed in New York at the Women’s Project, NAATCO, P73, the NY Fringe, and Summer Play Festival, and at regional theaters including Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, the Magic Theater, Dallas Theater Center, and elsewhere. She was awarded new play commissions from ACT in San Francisco, McCarter Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, and others. Her work is published by Theater Communications Group, Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, Backstage Books, and NoPassport Press. An alumna of New Dramatists and Yale (B.A., M.F.A.), Karen has received playwriting support from Rockefeller Foundation at Bellagio, the N.E.A., the Helen Merrill Foundation, a Daryl Roth "Creative Spirit" Award, a Hodder Fellowship, a Jerome Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship to Jerusalem, and Core Membership at the Playwrights Center.

A double published day!

What a life I'm having! After an amazing and inspiring week in WV with HOW CISSY GREW, I returned to LA to have a double-published Tuesday!

The first play, HOW CISSY GREW is now available through Dramatic Publishing. Check out Liz and Stewart on the cover!

You can order copies online:http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/p2073/How-Cissy-Grew/product_info.html

The second book is a collection of scenes curated by fellow NYU grad Steve Ramshur and published by Smith & Kraus. It's called KISS OR KILL: CONTACT SCENES OF LOVE & STRIFE FOR YOUNG ACTORS and it includes a scene from my play BETTER DAYS PART ONE: ON THE ROAD TO FIND OUT.

http://www.amazon.com/Kiss-Kill-Contact-Scenes-Strife/dp/1575255820/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8& ;s=books&qid=1246398886&sr=8-1

Thanks to all of you for your continued support of my work and please, find me or become a fan of HOW CISSY GREW on Facebook for more regular updates.

oh my goodness gracious!

On Monday night, among a standing-room only crowd, I won LA Weekly’s 30th Annual Theatre Award for Playwriting!!!!!

The crazy thing is they forgot to say my name during the list of the nominees so when they said I was the winner, I thought they were just announcing me as a nominee so I didn't get up!!! Everyone was jumping up and down and screaming at me to go up to the stage!!!! I was so confused. And then the spotlight hit me and I completely freaked out.

See photo above of me completely freaking out - enjoy!

I truly have no idea what I said in front of that microphone so let me say it now –

Thanks to Casey Stangl and John Spokes, Jamie Denton and Erin J. O’Brien and Victor Williams for believing in HOW CISSY GREW and making the production happen. Thanks to Jamie, Erin, Liz Vital and Stewart Calhoun (YOU WERE ROBBED!!!) for bringing the characters to life. Thanks to every member of our crew and marketing team who built and sold an absolutely gorgeous production that rivaled any regional!!!

Thanks to The MacDowell, The Echo Theatre, The NYU Grad Actors Collective, NYU Writer’s Lab West, The Tisch West Alumni Council, The Wednesday Ladies, SeaGlass Theatre, The El Portal, C. Josephine Hagerty, Nick Mills, Betsy Reisz, Ned Menoyo, Megan McNulty, Michael Goldenberg, Julia Cho, David Rock, Maura Teitelbaum and Abrams Artists Agency.

MUCH LOVE TO ALL OF OUR FANS – I WISH YOU ALL COULD HAVE BEEN THERE TO HELP ME CELEBRATE.

NEXT STOP – THE OSCARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

family planning by julia edwards

The Chalk Repertory Company site-specific production of FAMILY PLANNING

a play by Julia Edwards

directed by Larissa Kokernot

IS COMING TO A LIVING ROOM NEAR YOU!

“A fabulously intimate conceit, carried out beautifully. This site-specific ride is irresistible.”--Backstage West

In Sherman Oaks – April 3, 4, 5

In North Hollywood – April 10, 11, 12

In Melrose Hills – April 17, 18, 19

In Pasadena – April 24, 25, 26

TICKET INFORMATION HERE: http://www.chalkrep.com/

FAMILY PLANNING is a brutally funny play about a late-thirties couple trying so hard to have a baby, they’re veering toward divorce. But this isn’t just another night at the theatre. Because FAMILY PLANNING will NOT be showing at a theater near you. FAMILY PLANNING will be performed in REAL living rooms in REAL homes throughout the Los Angeles area.

THE JEROME FOUNDATION TRAVEL AND STUDY GRANT PROGRAM

ARE YOU AN EMERGING ARTIST PLANNING TO TRAVEL SOMEWHERE FOR RESEARCH AND/OR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT?

FOR SHORT TRIPS UP TO $1,500 MAY BE GRANTED
FOR TRIPS LONGER THAN ONE WEEK UP TO $5,000 MAY BE GRANTED

THE APPLICATION DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 20, 2009

The Jerome Foundation's Travel and Study Grant Program is accepting applications from emerging artists currently living in Minnesota or one of the five boroughs of New York City. Travel may be national or international, and must occur between June 1, 2009, and December 31, 2012. Wondering if you're eligible?

Travel and Study Grant Program awards grants to emerging artists who create new work (music: composers and sound artists; theater: playwrights and creators of performance art and experimental theater; and visual artists). The program supports such activities as research leading to the creation of new work, the development of collaborations, participation in specific training programs, time for reflection and individualized study, investigating artistic work outside of Minnesota or New York City, and dialogue on aesthetic issues. This is not a program that supports the production of new work or acquiring teaching credentials.

To apply for The Travel and Study Grant Program please visit http://www.jeromefdn.org/IV~Grant_Programs/C~Travel_and_Study/.

The deadline is February 20, 2009

theater festival in slovenia

Announcement for performers, performing arts teachers, playwrights, stage designers, journalists and arts managers.

Theatre Methods 09
Between Tradition and Contemporaneity
July 6-12, 2009 Bovec, Slovenia

"Theatre Methods" is the annual professional festival-fair dedicated to the Bridge between Tradition and Contemporaneity in performing arts. This is the opportunity to demonstrate your performance, workshop or work-in-progress and to attend numerous events of the programme!

You are welcome to take part in the festival as a Presenter or a Participant.
More details...

How to submit your presentation?
Submission Guidelines:
http://www.iugte.com/projects/fest.reg.php

Bovec, Slovenia:
http://www.iugte.com/projects/slovenia.php

Photo Gallery of the previous festivals:
http://picasaweb.google.ru/globtheatre

theatre lab

International Physical Theatre Laboratory
with Sergei Ostrenko (Russia)
July 1 - 12, 2009
Bovec, Slovenia

The Lab is open to professional performers from different creative genres and techniques inspired by Physical Theatre as a bold, vibrant and multidimensional approach to contemporary theater performance. The process includes intensive practical training and discussions.

The Lab will take place in the heart of the Alps at the mountain resort Bovec.
Hotel accommodation (11 nights) and meals (buffet breakfasts and lunches) are provided for participants.

If you would like to know more... http://www.iugte.com/projects/performers.physicality.php

Submissions requested

DOWNTOWN URBAN THEATER FESTIVAL IS NOW ACCEPTING NEW WORKS

NEW YORK— After another successful summer, the Downtown Urban Theater Festival (DUTF) returns for its seventh season to accept new works from playwrights. Although the dates of the festival are yet to be determined, this annual event will showcase a two-week celebration of urban theatrical expression by a cross-section of emerging playwrights whose work is underrepresented in American Theatre in NYC. For the past three years, the legendary Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village, has been the venue of choice to host the festival, however, for DUTF 2009, the staff will be considering other venues. Below are submission details.

For DUTF 2009, the staff will accept 12 theatrical works; six full-length productions (60-90 minutes) and six shorts (30-45 minutes). Each work is performed only once during the festival. Three of the outstanding works produced during the festival will receive $1,000 in cash in the following categories of Best Play, Best Short and Audience Awards.

Please forward all materials to Marie Denise Jean-Louis, mjeanlouis@arcos-ny.com by 5pm on Friday, December 19, 2008 or via mail at Downtown Urban Theater Festival, C/O Arcos Communications, 341 West 38th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

Must include the following:
Biography with contact information of the playwright’s name, address, telephone number and email address, and photo
Synopsis of theatrical work
Complete script of theatrical work
Biographies of actors, director, and crew, if available
Description of stage set (if any) and production needs (i.e. sound and lighting)

###

About DUTF
Downtown Urban Theater Festival (DUTF) has been recognized as one of the world’s best festivals for new works and described as “not only prestigious, but a slice of heaven for playwrights who want the chance to freely express themselves.” (Theater Festivals, 2005) From an inclusive, multicultural perspective, DUTF presents works that echo the true spirit of urban life and speak to a whole new generation whose lives defy categorizing along conventional lines. It has been a catalyst and an outlet for some of NYC’s most vibrant and creative playwrights and has presented 64 original theatricalworks for more than 7,000 urban theatre-goers.

Variety Review: HOW CISSY GREW

How Cissy Grew

(El Portal Forum Theater; 99 seats; $40 top) A D-I-Y Project, in association with SeaGlass Theater, presentation of a play in one act by Susan Johnston. Directed by Casey Stangl.

Butch - James Denton

Darla - Erin J. O'Brien

Cissy - Liz Vital

The Guy - Stewart W. Calhoun

By JULIO MARTINEZ

Susan Johnston examines the jagged shards of a dysfunctional family's sorrowful history, offering compelling if arbitrary glimpses into the aftermath of a horrific event in "How Cissy Grew." Featuring a finely tuned four-person ensemble, play looks at the frailty of human interactions that have been scarred beyond the possibility of empathy or forgiveness. Helmer Casey Stangl ably choreographs the 20-year flow of memory bits thrust forward in nonlinear disarray as each family member struggles to find redemption and salvation.

Covering 1988 to the present, this one-act legiter offers a free-form kaleidoscope of moments in the lives of West Virginia blue-collar laborer Butch (James Denton), his common-law mate Darla (Erin J. O'Brien) and their relentlessly misanthropic daughter Cissy (Liz Vital).

Cissy's brief abduction as an infant drives an ever-deepening wedge into Butch and Darla's relationship, crippling their lives as well as their daughter's. Johnston's insistence that this couple must wallow in their dysfunction in order to survive is not entirely believable, but is certainly made more viable by the perfs.

"Desperate Housewives" regular Denton offers an impressive, detailed outing as underachieving Butch, a former football star who cannot overcome the crushing guilt he feels, despite his attempts to anesthetize himself with drugs and alcohol. Denton's Butch effectively segues into a self-righteous born-again disciplinarian who still fails to win Darla's trust or Cissy's love.

O'Brien's Darla, a formerly lighthearted, foul-mouthed barmaid, becomes an open wound overflowing with anguish following her daughter's abduction. O'Brien gives veracity to Darla's inability move on once Cissy has been safely returned. Her perf is particularly noteworthy as Darla attempts to deal with Butch's rejection and her maturing daughter's lack of respect.

The highlight of the production is Vital's near-sociopathic Cissy, an amalgam of seething contempt and cold-blooded distain for her life and everyone around her. Yet Vital imbues Cissy with a compelling sensuality and keen awareness of her effect on others, as if she is waiting for someone to break through her facade and convince her that life is worth living.

Stewart W. Calhoun offers the closest thing to comic relief, competently wending his way through all the confused and defeated boys and men and in Cissy's life.

"How Cissy Grew" is complemented by the all-purpose modular sets of Laura Fine Hawkes, the mood-enhancing lighting of Trevor Stirlin Burk and the evocative sounds of C. Andrew Mayer.

Sets, Laura Fine Hawkes; costumes, Jennifer May Nickel; lighting, Trevor Stirlin Burk; sound, C. Andrew Mayer; music, Lauren Adams; production stage manager, Kimberly Van Luin. Opened, reviewed, Oct. 18, 2008. Runs through Nov. 23. Running time: 1 HOUR, 20 MIN.

Read the full article at:http://www.variety.com/story.asp?l=story&r=VE1117938782&c=33