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Monday, August 3, 2015

Supernova 7: A Festival of New One-Act Plays

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We at the Bench are proud to announce that the ever-successful Supernova festival of new writing will be returning next year, for it's seventh edition. Over the past fourteen years many things have changed, but the festival remains a prominent showcase of original one-act plays, each one composed by amateur playwrights, and produced and performed by our own award-winning membership.

We are aiming to display around 8 new pieces of writing in February of next year, with each piece being performed within the production week. To this end we would love to hear from anyone who would like to send us a script to contemplate - whether you are a veteran of writing for the stage, a local author who is considering turning their hand to script writing, or a complete novice with an idea for a play, we will gratefully consider your work, and are very keen to put on as wide a range of interesting and high-quality work as we can.

There is no fee for entering your piece to the festival; we only ask that you ensure that it meets the (hopefully fairly relaxed!) criteria below, and that you send it to us by the end of August (the entries officially close at midnight on the 31st).

If you have any queries about the festival, please feel free to drop us a line at supernova@benchtheatre.org.uk

You may also wish to look at the production details of Supernova 6, the last edition of this event, to get a flavour of the festival!

Terms and Conditions
  • The play should be able to be performed by a maximum of 6 actors (but could contain any number of characters)
  • Plays must consist of a single act. Playwrights should aim for compositions of between 15 and 45 minutes, short plays are just as welcome as longer ones!
  • Plays should be written for an English-speaking audience
  • Plays must be original, unpublished and previously unperformed, with no performance rights attached, and they must be new to the Supernova festival - not submitted to previous editions
  • Plays should be able to be performed within the constraints of our space, the Spring Arts Centre, and please bear in mind the nature of the festival - we will be unable to include plays which require complex sets, effects or costumes.
Submitting your play(s) gives the Bench Theatre the right to perform it/them on the dates given here, without further payment, however copyright remains with the author. We are sadly unable to offer any payment to successful entrants.

There is no fee for entering plays for consideration, but we are now only allowing three scripts per author.

How to Enter
As submissions are read and considered anonymously, please ensure that your name does not appear anywhere on any of your scripts
Scripts must be submitted electronically; please email a PDF, Word or OpenDocument file to supernova@benchtheatre.org.uk, including your name in the email
Submissions must reach us by midnight on August 31st, 2015
The Selection Process
  • Every play submitted will be read by a Reading Panel (composed of Bench Theatre members) in conditions of strict anonymity and confidentiality.
  • Approximately eight plays will be selected for performance, each play being performed twice between the 7th and the 14th of February 2016.
  • Our aim is to put on the best new writing in a varied and entertaining programme. As such, we are looking for a range of scripts, and reserve the right to choose more or less than the 8 plays we have set as our guideline, depending on the respective lengths of the successful entries.
  • Because the Festival is open to anyone, including members of the Company (except for the reading/selection panel), a non-voting administrator will ensure that confidentiality is maintained until the end of the selection process.
  • Successful entrants will be notified by the 15th November 2015

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