The Loop is nevermore...

From The Loop Online:

Hi, everybody. We hope you’re having a terrific start to the fall, and that you’re writing is growing in all directions. We have some bad news and good news to share with you. It’s time to wrap The Loop up. We started 8 years ago, when Facebook didn’t exist, Twitter wasn’t apart of the cultural landscape and the internet wasn’t a glorious proliferation of resources. What begin as a simple group email grew to 2500+ strong in a short amount of time. We went from emails, to Word documents, to pdf’s, to an on-line magazine, to its current incarnation. And that’s where it started going wrong. The Ning network, that hosts the Loop, is just too cumbersome, too awkward, too hard to navigate, doesn’t do justice to the submission opportunities and the site has essentially just become a social network (which is done much better in so many other different places). There are too many resources in this day and age that do things with more time, money, people and resources than we have and frankly, do them better. 

So we’re shutting it down at the end of this month. But we did want to leave you with a lot of resources that may or may not know. First, and this has been a long-standing confusion, The Loop is not tied to the Dramatists Guild. But you should be a member of the Guild if you’re serious about being a playwright. Aside from being tireless advocates for members’ rights and the extraordinary business advice from three staff lawyers, you get live-streamed seminars and workshops and podcasts from the country’s leading playwrights. Add to that a magazine that is all about you and your career, a national conference that explores what it means to be a writer in this day and age, a dynamic website that connects writers with the entertainment industry and simple being an integral part of your tribe. For more information, go to: www.dramatistsguild.com.  

We pull submission opportunities from a number of places, but start here with this relatively new site: http://www.submissioncalendar.com. 

An extraordinary resource for writers can be found at http://www.2amtheatre.com, or The Center for the Theatre Commons at http://www.howlround.com 

Also look at or subscribe to: 

 · Playwrights' Center: www.pwcenter.org 

 · Emerging Playwrights: info@emergingplaywright.com 

 · Sart Plays: sartplays@aol.com 

 · Northwest Playwrights Alliance: samanthaj.cooper@gmail.com 

 · The Playwrights Realm Gang: info@playwrightsrealm.org 

 · EBE Ensemble: info@ebeensemble.com (occassional email) 

And then below are more websites that are only sometimes helpful (always best to check the theatre's personal website to make sure the submission is still valid): 

http://www.stageplays-forum.com/ (see "Markets and Marketing" two-thirds of the way down the page) 

http://www.playwritingopportunities.com/ 

http://www.burryman.com/submissions.html 

http://p202.ezboard.com/benavantplaywrights 

http://www.nycplaywrights.org/nycplaywrights/ 

http://www.aact.org/cgi-bin/webdata_contests.pl?cgifunction=Search 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/playsandplaywrights/ 

If you’re in a college or university program, check out The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival at www.kcactf.org and look under the Kanin Awards. 

And finally, if you’re on Twitter, follow The Loop founder, Gary Garrison at this address: @PlayAtWriting. 

And one of the smartest men in the playwriting field, Gwydion Suilebhan, at this address: @GwydionS 

Or Adam Szymkowicz: @AdamSzymkowicz 

Or Jeremy Sony: @JeremyWrites 

Or I Follow Playwrights: @IFollowPW’s 

We wish you all the best with your writing. Remember, it all begins with you. Nothing in the theatre can happen without you being there first. You’re important, your vital, your essential. Hold fast to your dreams and tell your stories: we need to hear each other, our communities need to hear our stories and our culture desperately needs your heart and soul to shine a light on what it does right and what it does wrong. 

Write well, 

The Staff of the Loop

Unique Play Concept 2/9-20th (NYC)

Gary Garrison, founder of The Loop and Roland Tec co-wrote a 70-min. play in which all the characters on stage are meeting each other for the first time. In a bold act of theatrical chutzpah, Artistic New Directions -- a New York Theatre Compnay -- has commandeered five separate theatre companies in town to rehearse the play separately. Five different companies, then, are rehearsing the five-character play in five separate locations; they've never met. On any given night of performance, one actor from each company will be called to perform the play with unknown scene partners whom they meet on stage (as in the story of the play) in front of the audience. In essence, the result is: 25 unique opening nights. The play is called The Rubber Room and involves a bunch of NYC public school teachers caught in one of these "Reassignment Centers" while they wait for a hearing on the disciplinary charges that caused them to be swiftly yanked from their classrooms. Come check it out. Performances are twice nightly (plus some weekend afternoons) on every consecutive day between Feb 9 and Feb 20. Please click the post's title to go to the Artistic New Directions web page. The Loop Online is a tremendous resource for playwrights. You can find its link on the right side of this blog. Membership is free.

For All Women Writers and the People who Love Them: The Lilly Awards 5/24 (NYC)

Gender parity in the theatre has recently gained public momentum as an extremely important issue of theatre in the 21st century; some might argue that it is the single, largest issue to present itself in the last fifty years. Through Emily Sand’s well publicized study, Opening the Curtain on Playwright Gender: An Integrated Economic Analysis of Discrimination in the American Theatre, and Julia Jordan’s public presentations of that study, we know through indepth research and statistics that there is an alarming, troublesome disparity between the total number of plays written by men produced in our theatres and the number of plays written by women.

Simply put, but not so simply understood, female playwrights can’t seem to get traction of any kind in our community. With all the major theatre awards having now been announced in New York (The Tony Awards, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortell, Theatre World, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, etc.), one outrageous fact emerged: in all the awards combined, only one woman writer was nominated (Sarah Ruhl) in a season that showcased 51 new plays written by women.

To acknowledge the extraordinary work by women in this year’s season (and by doing so, educate the community on many levels), a group of passionate artists and producers (myself, Marsha Norman, Theresa Rebeck, Julia Jordan, Tina Howe, Julie Crosby, John Eisner, G Tim Sanford and Susan Rose) quickly assembled to create an evening of celebration. Equal parts party and awards ceremony, the event will be held at Playwrights Horizons and the West Bank Café, emceed by Christopher Durang, with an invocation by Gloria Stein, entertainment by Kristin Chenoweth and a host of awards to women in the theatre.

Each year, this event will grow and become inclusive to writers all over the country. Because the event will – by its nature – highlight the issues of gender parity in the theatre, as well educate playwrights and the theater community at large, we’re hoping to generate support and buzz anywhere we can. Voice your support at the FB page.

Be strong, write well.

Gary Garrison
Founder
The Loop

Call for Playwrights of Color under 40yrs old

Submission Deadline: April 15, 2010
Announcement of Six Festival Participants: June 15, 2010
Festival Dates: August 15 - August 22, 2010

Submission Guidelines:

• There is no restriction as to subject matter. Victory Gardens hopes that a diversity of perspective will inform the plays, but the plays do not have to deal specifically with race, ethnicity or identity issues.
  
• The initiative is open to all playwrights of color under 40 years old.
• Playwrights must not yet have received a full production at a major regional theater.
  
• Submitted plays must unproduced and must be in English or primarily in English.
  
• Playwrights may only submit one full-length play.
  
• Plays must be submitted by mail, not electronically, and should not be permanently bound.
  
• Please include a biography or resume.
  
• Please include a return addressed postcard if you wish to be notified that the script arrived.
  
• All scripts will be recycled after reading and will not be returned.
  
• There is no submission fee.

Submit to: IGNITION
Victory Gardens Theater
2257 N. Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60614 60614
Source: The Loop

Playwrights need nurturing according to new study

Close relationships between playwrights and theaters are increasingly rare these days, and developing more of them is one of the chief recommendations of a new study of the state of the American play that the nonprofit Theater Development Fund published in book form in late December. Yet several obstacles stand in the way, according to the study, which also looked at playwrights’ struggle to make a living and which has set off a debate in some theater circles.

To continue reading The New York Times article, please click:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/theater/14playwrights.html?pagewanted=1&emc=eta1

Source: The Loop

Plays staged the most in America during the last decade

America's Favorite Plays
Which are staged most often? You may be surprised
By
TERRY TEACHOUT

Facts, it's said, are stubborn things. Anyone curious about the state of American theater will find plenty of stubborn facts to chew on—some of which are tastier than others—in American Theatre's annual list of the 10 plays and musicals, not counting Shakespeare revivals and seasonal shows, that are produced most frequently in the U.S.

I recently spent a couple of hours poring over American Theatre's lists and came up with this meta-list of the 11 plays produced most often between 2000-01 and 2009-10. In descending order, they are:

1. "Proof," by David Auburn (54 productions).

2. "Doubt," by John Patrick Shanley (48 productions).

3. "Art," by Yasmina Reza (45 productions).

4. "The Drawer Boy," by Michael Healey (36 productions).

5. "Rabbit Hole," by David Lindsay-Abaire (33 productions).

6. "Wit," by Margaret Edson (29 productions).

7. "I Am My Own Wife," by Doug Wright (26 productions).

8. "Crowns," by Regina Taylor (26 productions).

9. "Intimate Apparel," by Lynn Nottage (25 productions).

10. (tie). "The Glass Menagerie," by Tennessee Williams, and "The Laramie Project," by Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project (23 productions each).

What does this list tell us? To begin with, six of the 11 plays—"Doubt," "I Am My Own Wife," "Intimate Apparel," "The Glass Menagerie," "Proof" and "Wit"—are all distinguished pieces of writing, while the rest are at least respectable. Only one, "The Laramie Project," is an explicitly political play—and none is a musical. ("Crowns" is a play with music, not a musical comedy.) This suggests that, Broadway producers notwithstanding, American theatergoers are not know-nothing neanderthals but intelligent people who are prepared to spend time and money grappling with straight plays that are artful, thoughtful and well written. On the other hand, it should be noted that all but three of these shows, "Crowns," "Wit" and "The Laramie Project," call for no more than four actors. The lesson is clear: If you want to write a smart, serious play that has a halfway decent chance of getting produced, keep the cast as small as possible.

Source: The Loop

Call for WOMEN playwrights (1/15/2010 Deadline)

Leah's FEWW: The Leah Ryan Fund for Emerging Women Writers (Leah Ryan's FEWW) intends both to encourage brilliant and unrecognized women playwrights with an annual cash prize and a New York City showcase of the winning work. This prize honor the memory and artistry of Leah Ryan (1964—2008.)

Leah Ryan's FEWW is pleased to announce its first annual Prize for Emerging Women Playwrights. The Prize will be given each year to one emerging woman playwright in recognition of an outstanding work written for the English–speaking theater. Eligibility does not require that a submitted work adhere to the traditional three–act structure. One–acts, two–acts (even four–, five–, six– acts), monologues, adaptations, and any other wild or deceptively tame format will be considered with equal seriousness. The only absolute requirement is that the submitted text be a completed full–length work for theater.

The Winner will be chosen by a committee selected by the board members of Leah Ryan's FEWW. The Fund and the Prize are administered through the Community Foundation of Dutchess County.

The Winner will receive a cash award of $1,000 as well as a staged reading of her play hosted by FEWW at a theater in New York City. In addition, a stipend of up to $700 for travel and accommodation may be provided by FEWW if necessary. All finalists will be recognized on the FEWW website, and in any other announcements pertaining to the 2010 Prize.

The 2010 Winner will be announced on May 1st, with the reading to follow on an evening to be determined in mid–June.

TO APPLY: All women who consider themselves emerging playwrights (as distinct from fledgling or mid-career playwrights) are encouraged to apply for the Prize. Applications must be received no later than 6pm EST on January 15, 2010 and must include the following:

* An initial submission of up to ten pages excerpted from a fully-developed, completed script. Please note: Finalists will be required to submit the complete script to the FEWW.
*A cover letter of no more than one page describing yourself and your work.
Make sure to also include the following contact information: address, daytime
telephone number, and email address.
*A resume
*At least one letter of support from someone who knows you and your work well

All applications and supporting materials should be submitted electronically to:
leahryansfeww@gmail.com . Enquiries can also be made to this address.

Hard copies of the application are also accepted, but discouraged, and should be sent to:
Leah Ryan’s FEWW
P.O. Box 287
Amherst, MA 01004-0287

www.leahryansFEWW.com

Source: The Loop

Call For Plays (1/15/2010 Deadline)

Premiere Stages, the Professional Theatre Company in residence at Kean University, seeks submissions to the annual Premiere Play Festival. Three playwrights will be given public readings of their work in March. One playwright will receive $2,000 and a fully produced Equity production in our 2010 season; another will receive $750 and an Equity workshop in June; the third will receive a cash prize of $500. Agents may submit full scripts; playwrights may submit a synopsis and 8-page script sample directly. All playwrights must reside or have been born in the greater metropolitan area (NJ, NY, CT, PA). Deadline: January 15, 2010. No entry fee. For complete submission guidelines, please visit www.kean.edu/premierestages

About the Festival
Premiere Stages is committed to supporting emerging playwrights by developing and producing new plays. We provide playwrights with an encouraging and focused environment in which they can develop their work through discussions, rehearsals, sit-down readings, staged readings, and fully-produced Equity productions.

Submission Guidelines
*Plays must be full-length and have a cast size of no more than six.
*Plays submitted must be unpublished and must be works that have not been previously produced (readings, workshops, showcases are okay).
*Plays must be written by playwrights who were born or reside in the greater metropolitan area (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania).
*Playwrights of color are highly encouraged to submit their work.
*Preferred plays will have at least one character that can be played by a college-age actor.
*Preferred submissions will explore or address contemporary issues.
*If you would like the script/synopsis returned, please include a SASE
*DEADLINE for postmark of scripts/synopses is January 15, 2010.

Plays and synopses will be evaluated by a panel of arts professionals. The panel will submit their recommendations to the producing artistic director and resident dramaturg.

Playwrights (non-agent submissions)
Playwrights submitting without an agent must include:
*A brief synopsis of the play (no more than half a page).
*A character breakdown.
*A history of the play’s development (if any).
*The playwright’s professional bio or resume
*A script sample from the play (no more than 8 pages).

The panel will request full scripts from synopses of interest. Playwrights who are asked to submit full scripts, including those not selected for expanded development, will receive an evaluation of the submitted play from the panel upon request.

Agent submissions
Full scripts will be accepted from legitimate literary agencies and by professional recommendation.

The schedule for the Premiere Play Festival is as follows:
*September, 2009: Premiere Stages begins accepting submissions
*Through Jan. 15, 2010: Deadline for submission to festival
*March 1: Scripts are reduced to three finalists
*Mid-March: Readings of three plays
*March 21: Festival winner and runner-up are selected for expanded development
*March to July: Development of scripts continues
*June, 2010: week-long staged Reading of Runner-up
*July or September, 2010: Full Production of Festival Winner

Send all submissions to:
John Wooten, Producing Artistic Director
Premiere Stages at Kean University
1000 Morris Avenue
Hutchinson Hall, 2nd Floor
Union, NJ 07083

For more information about the Premiere Play Festival, please visit our website at www.kean.edu/premierestages

Source: The Loop

A Message from Gary Garrison, Founder of The Loop

Dear Ones:

It’s been a while since you’ve heard from me, but I’m here – in the background – reading your posts, listening to your chats, giving a word of advice here and there. The new year is upon us. And I wanted to take a moment to remind you of something:You’ve been given a gift. You’re a Wordsmyth, a Word Warrior, the Brilliant Developer of the Dramatic Idea. You have the ability to create intricate, dimensional worlds and to people them with infinitely interesting, complex beings in such a way that folks here on this tiny planet will smile wide with recognition, burst at their seams with laughter or sink low in their seats from great sadness. You have the ability to make whole groups of people THINK about their lives, their loves, their relationships, their histories, their politics and to take an action – a real action – because of something you question, say, show, demonstrate or illuminate.

That’s a pretty powerful notion, no?

So use it. Use it however you can. Take the year ahead and blow it out of the fuckin’ water, baby. Of course we’d all like a big, ol’ shiny brand new production of one of our plays. And for some of us, that’s going to happen. But that doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t be highly productive, creative, purposeful writers that leave a footprint everywhere we step.

I know it’s frustrating sometimes. I know you lose your direction, or passion, or purpose, or drive, or energy sometimes. I know time’s short, money’s tight and life’s hectic. I know the theatre community is fickle and unfair and unkind sometimes. And I know you can write for weeks/months/years with little to no recognition. But that’s the price you pay for being given a gift that few have and so many treasure.

You are the Writer, the Brilliant Developer of the Dramatic Idea. In your mind are all the solutions to the problems I’m trying to solve in my life. Help me out. Write your stories. Show me the way.

Write well,

Gary (Garrison)
Founder, The Loop

Visit The Loop Online at: http://thelooponline.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Source: The Loop

Call for Plays (Limited Time Offer)

This is the best source for submission opportunities, residencies, agent addresses, contests, etc. A limited number of copies are available to non-Guild members. If you'd like to take a look, go to:

http://focusbookstore.com/2010dramatistsguildresourcedirectory.aspx

This is the bookstore page. Free shipping is available to anyone who includes this code: DGRM2010 when they process the order. They can use this with the Resource Manual, and any other books or set of books from Focus.

Visit The Loop Online at: http://thelooponline.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Source: The Loop

Call for WOMEN playwrights

The Leah Ryan Fund for Emerging Women Writers (Leah Ryan's FEWW) intends both to encourage brilliant and unrecognized women playwrights with an annual cash prize and a New York City showcase of the winning work. This prize honor the memory and artistry of Leah Ryan (1964—2008.)

To apply, please click the post's title.

Source: The Loop Online

Call for Plays (Deadline: 12/31)

Like 7 Devils, this is equally an incredible development opportunity. I've personally been to WordBRIDGE and I can honestly say it changed my life and writing. Here are the details below. Neither 7 Devils or WordBRIDGE requires a fee to apply. Bravo.

Greg Garrison
The Loop

Playwrights applying for the laboratory should:
1. Complete an online application, available through http://www.wordbridge.org/. Details of what to include are available on the website now.
2. Upload a copy of your script (only one per person, limit of three per institution)
3. Provide the name of your nominator (unless the nominator contacted us first; then use thesame email address of yours that the nominator would have provided)
4. Make sure your nominator writes and uploads a letter of support; without this letter, no application is complete. We will confirm with you once your application is complete. We place no restrictions on either genre or length.

Please check post's title for application.

Source: The Loop

Call for Plays (Deadline: 12/31)

7 Devils is just about one of the best development deals going on in the country. 2 weeks in residence, you, your play, loving people interested in taking it to the next level. Can't recommend it enough.

Greg Garrison
The Loop

Please click the post's title to go to the 7 Devils submission page.

Source: The Loop

Call for Plays

The Castillo Theatre Launches the 2010 Mario Fratti-Fred Newman Political Play Contest

Deadline: 10-15-09 (Received by)
Material: Political/Social/Cultural Plays

The Castillo Theatre announces the third annual Mario Fratti-Fred Newman Political Play Contest. Castillo is seeking new scripts for the stage that engage the political/social/cultural questions impacting on the world today. The purpose of the Mario Fratti-Fred Newman Political Play Contest is to encourage the writing of such plays and to provide a stage for scripts that, due to their progressive/radical and/or experimental vantage point(s), would not otherwise be produced.

The contest is seeking politically progressive plays that expand or connect or open up the conflicts they explore beyond the isolated relationship or family unit to a larger social/historical perspective. Castillo also encourages scripts that experiment with form and seek new ways of seeing and new ways of experiencing theatrical performance. That said, the plays submitted to the Fratti-Newman Contest may be written in any style, set in any historical time, geographic or fanciful location, contain any number of characters and be of any producible length. The plays must be in English and, due to production limitations, no musicals can be considered.

All scripts should be submitted in hard copy. No scripts will be considered that have previously received a full production or that have won other contests. Only one script per playwright will be accepted.

The winner (or winners, the number varies from year-to-year) of the Mario Fratti-Fred Newman Political Play Contest will receive a reading and/or a full production at the Castillo Theatre in New York City sometime during the theatre's 2010-2011 Season.

All scripts submitted must be accompanied by: Brief synopsis of the play; Character breakdown, including specific gender, age and ethnic requirements; Set requirements, including how many sets and any special effects needed; Statement of the political/social/cultural questions that the playwright believes she or he is engaging with the script; 100-word biography of the playwright; Stamped, self-addressed post card, which will be mailed back to the author to acknowledge receipt of the script.

Please note, that scripts will not be returned.

All scripts must be received by October 15, 2009. The winner(s) will be announced at the Otto René Castillo Awards for Political Theatre to be held in New York City on May 23, 2010.

Send all submissions to:
Castillo Theatre
Mario Fratti-Fred Newman Political Play Contest
543 West 42nd Street
New York, N.Y. 10036.

Questions and inquiries should be addressed to contest producer Madelyn Chapman at madelynchapman@hotmail.com, 212-356-8485.
http://www.castillo.org/

Source: The Loop

Call for Women Playwrights

Material:
AGENT: Full-Length Plays;
Unrepresented PLAYWRIGHTS: Synopsis, sample dialogue

The WP is a developmental program dedicated to providing a working forum for the unique and underserved voice of women writing for the theatre today. Each season 3 new plays are selected for a collaborative workshop process, with a professional director and actors, which takes place over a period of a approximately 1 week, allowing time for the playwright to hear their work and make any adjustments they would like to make. At the end of the rehearsal, a staged reading of the play is presented at CSC (50 miles w. of NYC) for our regional audiences, giving our audiences larger exposure to new work, as well as offering the playwright an opportunity to get feedback from the audience during the development process.

PLAYWRIGHTS: Full-length scripts must be submitted through a bona fide industry agent.

Unrepresented playwrights are encouraged to apply for WP's Playwrights Lab or you may send:
*Brief synopsis (under 100 words)
*Ten-page dialogue sample
*Cover letter
Please do NOT include any other materials such as press clippings or dramaturgical notes. Please submit clean copies, and not originals. Submissions will NOT be returned.

Our address is:
Women's Project
Attn. Literary Department
55 West End Avenue
New York, New York 10023

We read every submission, and should the work spark an interest, we may contact you and request a complete script. Due to the enormous volume of submissions, response time for materials is nine to twelve months.Playwrights selected for the workshops process will receive a $250 honorarium. Additional funds for travel and housing are available for one playwright each season. One play from the WPS is selected each year to be produced in a CSC main-stage season .

Please click the post's title to visit the WP website.

Source: The Loop

Call For Playwrights

AMERICAN RENAISSANCE THEATER COMPANY (ARTC) (NY)
Material: Application & Interview
American Renaissance Theater Company (ARTC) seeks new playwright members. ARTC is a 35 year-old membership organization of theatre professionals. Each week, in a midtown Manhattan location, our workshop provides uniquely specific and supportive feedback to our members - actors, writers, directors - as they present their works in progress. There are also several public presentations each year. There are no dues or fees except for a suggested donation at meetings.

Membership is via application and interview. For details, please submit a professional resume and a 10 to 20 page writing sample to: artcmatters@verizon.net, or ARTC/Membership, P.O. Box 255, New York, NY 10108.

Source: The Loop

Playwriting contest WARNING!

The following warning is from The Loop Online:

We've often heard of issues surrounding this contest. This is extracted from someone who was an intern at the theatre. We thought we should pass it forward:

Now the internship is bad, but what I learned about their contest is worse. The scripts she [producer] is so determined to have interns read are submission scripts for their big money making New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest. They charge $25 for the submission, and then offer the option of having your evaluation sent to you: one evaluation for $40 more or two evaluations for $80 more -- a price which she claims to have raised this year to "make it more worth her time". The fact is however that these evaluations are the exact same evaluations which the interns are doing for her. I am personally a graduate student at the _____ @ ___ University as a playwright, however many of the other interns are 18 year old actors fresh to New York having never attended college, some are undergraduate NYU students confused about how to read a script, and still others are simply people interested in becoming a "theater person" and looking to this internship to help them make an educated decision about whether or not to do it . . . .As far as I know she's the only "professional" who ever reads these submissions, and even with that she said on one occasion that if a script gets enough bad reviews she doesn't even bother reading it. After having spent three weeks with this group, I would strongly recommended that no serious playwright ever remotely consider this contest. And while I am sympathetic that this would mean losing another venue in a constantly depleting collection of outlets, I believe the practices which her group employ require this action. Hopefully this will help other people out there looking for a place to submit. Thanks for your time.

Visit The Loop Online at: http://thelooponline.ning.com

Call for Plays

Penn State University's new play festival CULTURAL CONVERSATIONS is celebrating its 3rd season in 2010, and has already produced staged readings for Sean Lewis, Saviana Stanescu, Jennifer Fawcett, Ruth McKee, Damon Chua, Vicki Grise, and Irma Mayorga. We are a funded festival with room/transportation/honorarium for playwrights chosen to participate, and new work appears every spring at The York Theatre in NYC as a part of Penn State at The York. Our website is down at this time, but we are accepting plays for our 2010 season and the deadline is 10/31/09. We are seeking full length works that circle issues of local or global diversity. This year's theme is "The Abled, Disabled, and Disappearing Body." Please send unpublished, unproduced work to:

Susan Russell
Artistic Director
Cultural Conversations
Penn State University School of Theatre
116 Arts Building
University Park, PA 16802

Source: The Loop Online at: http://thelooponline.ning.com

AAPEX Interview: Gary Garrison

Gary Garrison

Gary Garrison is the Executive Director for Creative Affairs for the Dramatists Guild and founder of The Loop, a social networking group for playwrights.

What role did theater and the arts play in your childhood and upbringing?
Theatre saved my life. I was always a very different, hyper, wildly-imaginative, day-dreaming kinda kid. And when I found the theatre, I realized there were a lot of people like me, people who understood my fascination with things most people took no note of (like how and why people behaved). I found my “kind,” my real family. I was no longer the “outsider;” I was very much inside.

Tell us about your own evolution as an artist.
I started off as a dancer, actually, but lost my hair when I was 17, so it was clear that wasn’t going to work. Then I went into acting, studied that on the undergraduate college level, did the summer stock thing, applied to graduate school and got accepted. For some reason, when they asked me what I wanted my major to be, I said “directing.” Nobody was more surprised than me, but clearly I was tired of acting and thought directing was where my real artistry was to be found. (Let’s be honest: I didn’t really know what the hell I wanted.) I directed up a storm, kept acting, kept doing summer stock (because that paid for so many other things), got my Equity card and was eventually hired (for summer stock) into Michigan Ensemble Theatre – an Equity company that was aligned with The University of Michigan. When I finished my summer contract there they asked if I wanted to stay and be in the company full-time. There was one condition: I had to be enrolled in a degree program. Well, since I already had a Masters, the only thing left was a Ph.D. So badda-bing: I was in the Ph.D. program. You talk about a misfit. BUT, I had to work as a teaching assistant in the program and they connected me with the playwriting teacher, Milan Stitt. Two days into his class and I knew what I was really meant to be: a writer. That feeling hasn’t change in 30+ years.

What does your postition with The Dramatists Guild entail?
I’m the Executive Director for Creative Affairs; essentially I handle the care and feeding of playwrights; another department addresses all the business and legal aspects of a career. I supervise and help shape the magazine, The Dramatist, oversee the design of our website, create special programming for our members, help resolve the more emotional issues for our members (“I don’t trust my director . . .” or “I feel isolated as a writer in Ohio….”), regionalize the country to best address the needs of our members not in our tri-state area, study trends in writing and careers in theatre, report those trends to our members – things like that.

What are the requirements for becoming a member of the Guild?
Write a play, submit it with an application. It’s really that simple. You can get the application on line at http://www.dramatistsguild.com/ .

What is THE LOOP and how does one subscribe?
The Loop is a very, very large online community of playwrights tied together in a social network that has 15 sub-groups of playwrights and hundred of submission opportunities posted. Each member gets his/her own profile page which they can upload scripts to, post a resume, news about their writing, a link to their own web page. It’s very cool. Go to http://www.thelooponline.ning.com/ to sign up.

In your opinion, what are the greatest challenges facing playwrights in the contemporary American theater?
To have our plays produced – pure and simple – because it’s only dramatic literature until our work lives on a stage. So we have to re-imagine our careers; we have to include self-production as a very real possibility. We have to think about co-productions, and playwrights’ collectives like 13P in New York, or, Playwrights 6 in Los Angeles. We have to take our careers in our own hands. Period.

Call for Ethnic Playwrights

The Luedtke Agency in NYC seeks plays and musicals with small casts (6 and under). Also seeking plays written by writers under 30, and ethnic writers.

Send scripts to:
The Luedtke Agency
1674 Broadway
NYC 10019

Source: The Loop