Shoah Stories seeks full-length, one-act plays, musicals

web site


 Shoah Stories
Official Call for Artists

The Holocaust Council of MetroWest and the Jewish Plays Project are seeking two new plays and musicals on Holocaust themes written by members of, and featuring the stories of Survivors from, the Metrowest Community. One play will be for adult audiences; the other for students in grades K-12. Selected plays will receive professional direction and staging.

These scripts will form the basis of Shoah Stories, a series of staged presentations of Holocaust-related plays and musicals. Created with a two-year grant from The Jewish Community Foundation and the Daviroff Family Foundation, these presentations will tour to adult and student audiences in New York and New Jersey, adding an innovative and engaging level to Holocaust education throughout our area.

IMPORTANT NOTE: THE CONTEST IS OPEN TO ARTISTS OF ALL BACKGROUNDS, DENOMINATIONS, FAITHS, CREEDS, RELIGIONS and other IDEALS.

The Holocaust remains a pivotal event in world history, and the HCM and JPP are eager to hear all points of view on the subject.

ELIGIBILITY:

Material: Full-length and one-act plays and musicals that deal with Holocaust themes and history that have never been produced in New York City.

Authorship: At least one principal artist involved in the piece (playwright, lyricist, composer, director, etc.) must be from, or have strong ties to, the Metrowest New Jersey Community.

Productions limits: Plays must be able to be performed by up to six actors and one musican/technician. Plays must be able to be produced in theatrical and non-theatrical spaces (20 x 30 feet staging area).

Intended audiences: General audiences, schools (K-12) and universities, synagogues, senior residences and nursing homes.

SUBMISSION: Entries are due by December 14 at 6 pm.  There are two steps to apply:
1. Email your play as an attachment to shoah@jewishplaysproject.org, with the playwright's name removed from ALL pages of the script.

2.  Click here and fill out the Shoah Stories Application form.

There is NO fee to apply, but there is a one (1) submission per person rule.

SELECTION PROCESS: Shoah Stories seeks to discover and develop new plays and musicals that reflect a 21st Century understanding of the Holocaust experience and history, and strives to engage a broad audience in a discussion of what that experience may be. Each script will be reviewed by a Community Panel of up to 30 lay leaders involved in the Metrowest Jewish Community who will score the play on the clarity, importance and personal connection of the historical ideas in it. A separate Artistic Panel of noted actors, directors, writers and academics will evaluate scripts for their aesthetic value, structural and stylistic innovation, and production feasibility.

Submissions will be due on December 14. Panel reviews will be completed in February 2013, and rehearsals will begin in March 2013.

PRODUCTION: The selected plays will receive their first staged-reading presentations on or near Yom HaShoah 5773 to an invited audience of supporters in the community. Following feedback and revision, the presentations will tour to a minimum of six sites by Spring 2014. All performances will be directed and performed by professional artists with ties to the Metrowest Community.

Authors will receive a royalty for all performances. If the play is premiered by Shoah Stories, a future percentage of royalties will be due to United Jewish Communities of New Jersey (such percentage to be negotiated at the time of selection).

ABOUT THE HCM: Our mission is to remember the Holocaust and convey its history and lessons. In this context, we address the central tenets of what it means to be a moral and responsible citizen. We serve the MetroWest community; the general community, including public, private and parochial schools, colleges and universities, synagogues, churches, museums, corporations, civic, professional and service organizations and entities such as the City of Newark; eyewitnesses to the Holocaust (Survivors, Rescuers, POWs and Liberators;) the New Jersey State Commission on Holocaust Education; and the various Holocaust centers around the state.
http://www.ujcnj.org/

ABOUT THE JEWISH PLAYS PROJECT: The Jewish Plays Project is a development house for 21st Century Jewish theater. We seek to ignite an explosive engagement between cutting-edge theater artists and Jewish audiences by developing and advocating for a new generation of plays and musicals that embrace and investigate the intersection of Jewish identity and secular self.
www.jewishplaysproject.org



QUESTIONS? CONTACT:

David Winitsky
Director, Jewish Plays Project
david@jewishplaysproject.org  
347.878.5771

Barbara Wind
Executive Director, Holocaust Council
bwind@ujcnj.org
973.929.3066