THE NEW JEWISH THEATRE RESIDENCY AT THE 14TH STREET Y

web site

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

The National Laboratory for New Jewish Culture at the 14th Street Y and the Jewish Plays Project are seeking five collaborative teams of theater artists for a three-week pilot residency program. Modeled on the Space residency at Mabou Mines (and to some extend ART-NY's Creative Spaces Grant), the residency is designed to give selected artists time, space and support to create vibrant new work that extends the Jewish conversation through cutting-edge theater forms and techniques.

At the same time, the residency is a key pilot program in the Project's mission to engage Jewish audiences in the future of Jewish theater. Projects are selected using a curated jury process that gives equal voices to a 30-member Community Panel and a ten-member Artist panel.

Selected artists will also participate in the revolutionary artists' Beit Midrash process developed at LABA, learning how ancient texts can inspire and inform their artistry.

IMPORTANT NOTE: THE CONTEST IS OPEN TO ARTISTS OF ALL BACKGROUNDS, DENOMINATIONS, FAITHS, CREEDS, RELIGIONS and other IDEALS. We believe that Jewish identity and culture are specific manifestations of universal human cravings for spiritual, ethical, moral and worldly joy. "Matrilineal descent" is neither important nor necessary.

SUBMISSION: Proposals are due by March 15 at 6 PM, and are expected to contain multimedia descriptions of the project that give a full sense of the work to be created. Use short videos, slide presentations and/or audio support – not just text. Each proposal must submitted electronically and consist of three individual documents:

1. Artists: Resumes/bios of the three primary artists on each project.
* Show us your personality. Give us a sense of who you are and the kind of work you make.
2. Project: Scripts, treatments or concept pieces that describe the project and give a full sensory description of the proposed work.
*Be creative. If your piece has a full script, don't let that be the end of your proposal. Think broadly about how to communicate, visually and aurally, the work to be made.
3. Target Audience Demographic: A breakdown of the expected audience for the piece. Describe your ideal producer, in or out of New York, and the key demographics that you believe your piece is meant for.
* This is not a business test – we are looking for an understanding of where the project fits into the wider New York and regional theater culture, so that we may best assist in the future life of the pieces developed.

All three sections must be in emailed as attachments to open@jewishplaysproject.org. No single file can exceed 1.5 GB. Try to make each section into one document or zip file. PLEASE – email all sections from the same email address!

Each submitting project leader must also fill out the LABA Application form, which is available on the Project's website: http://www.jewishplaysproject.org/open
There is no fee to submit, but there is a one (1) submission per artist rule.
For more information, go to http://www.jewishplaysproject.org/laba/