Material: One-Act plays (30min or less). Submissions are being accepted for Quo Vadimus Arts’ ID America Festival. America is made up of many communities and our diversity is what makes dialogue both difficult and vital. QVA is looking for plays and playwrights to help us create a festival that questions, explores, challenges and celebrates what it means to be living in America today.

The ID America Festival was inspired by QVA’s growing concern over the polarization of media in America. News organizations are increasingly biased towards the left or right, and it is rare to find an open forum where differing points of view are given equal weight. We are becoming divided by the papers we read, or the news stations we watch; a nation whose people are pigeonholed based on their political or religious affiliations, by their lifestyle choices. We are demographics before we are Americans. We at Quo Vadimus Arts want to create a festival where everyone, audiences and artists alike, emerges having seen the world from a different point of view; having walked in someone else’s shoes.

QVA is looking for playwrights of all ages, of all levels of experience, from all over the country. If you are native-born or foreignborn, whatever your political or religious affiliation, if you consider yourself an writer or just have something to say, we want you to send us a piece that reflects your view of America.

10-16 short plays will be chosen to be performed several times at the Clemente Solo Velez Center in New York City, from November 16-21, 2007. At the end of the festival, 4-5 plays will be selected as part of an evening of winning plays. In addition, QVA intends to take the winning plays on a national tour of Universities and regional theaters in 2008.

Quo Vadimus Arts is an international community of artists working to promote the exchange of ideas and experiences between cultures. Quo Vadimus means ‘where are we going?’. This is a question that our company seeks to continually explore by broadening the scope of dialogue at a community level. It is the constant confrontation of this question that gives us direction. Our projects are chosen to bring new stories and voices to audiences who may have not had an opportunity to hear them otherwise.

IT IS ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY NECESSARY THAT YOU READ THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION BEFORE SUBMITTING TO THE ID AMERICA FESTIVAL.

How does this work? After you’ve finished reading all of the information on this festival, you can go to our website www.idafestival.org. From there, you can register for your show ID number. This number needs to be written on ALL materials that are submitted to the festival. Please note that the author’s name cannot appear on the submitted playscript or synopsis. Should the author’s name appear on either of these materials, it could be cause for a disqualification.

What are the restrictions on the plays? They should be one act plays of 30 minutes or less and submitted in .doc, .rtf, .pdf, or. fdr format. Please submit no more than three separate works.

What will it cost to be involved in the ID America Festival? Not a thing. Should your one-act be chosen for the ID America Festival, we will assume the full cost of mounting a production of your show. Should you choose to, you will have only to pay the transportation amount required to get yourself to the ID America Festival to see your play produced.

Where and when will my show be performed? The festival will be held from November 6-21, 2007 at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center. Should your show be selected for the festival, it will be scheduled into a time slot to be performed at separate times throughout the festival. Those days and times will be available through this website in late September 2007. We anticipate that your show will have approximately five (5) performances. It will appear back-to-back with other one acts of our choosing. In selecting which shows will appear back-to-back, we will be looking for different shows whose themes create a dialogue about the identity of America.

Is there anything more to the festival other than my show being performed with other shows? Yes. The ID America Festival staff will select the top five (5) favorite shows from the festival based on audience response. These shows will then be combined into a “best of festival” presentation, which will perform at least two (2) times on the final weekend of the festival. In addition, the producers of the ID America Festival are considering touring the “best of festival” plays to major cities around the United States and Europe.

What is QVA’s policy regarding rights? The ID America Festival will be acting as the Producer in all ways with regards to your show. Should you have an option with any other producer regarding performance of your play, then your show is not eligible. If your play is accepted into the ID America Festival, you will be asked to sign an option agreement with the ID America Festival’s parent company Quo Vadimus Arts for the right to produce your accepted play through the end of the November 2007. This agreement will also include an “option renewal” clause stating that should Quo Vadimus Arts be interested in mounting any further productions of your play, you
and Quo Vadimus Arts agree to negotiate an extended option in good faith. This is because Quo Vadimus is considering touring the “best of festival” plays to major cities around the United States and Europe. Source: The Loop newsletter. To be included in the newsletter, email a request to looptyloop@gmail.com.