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Sunday, May 29, 2016

Seeking ten-minute comedies about politics for the second biennial Dewey Decimal Festival

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DEWEY 2: ELECTION EDITION - An evening of staged readings of short comedies about politics, public and private, to benefit the Friends of the Chappaqua Library.

Wow! What a year we're having. Election day is on the horizon, but we want to take a break from all that and talk about... politics!

Politics! They’re everywhere: in government, internationally, in the office, the local elementary school, on a desert island, even in the bedroom. Gender politics, union politics, jungle politics -- You name it, if there's arguing, negotiating, speechifying, horse trading, posturing, pollsters, posters, backroom deals, voting. and/or compromising involved we want to hear about it. And nobody says it has to be democratic - put three siblings in the back seat of a car and who wins?

We’re looking for a few good short comedies, to be presented by local actors in an evening of rehearsed staged readings, Saturday October 22nd 2016, in the 200-seat Chappaqua Library Theatre, as a fundraiser for the Friends of the Chappaqua Library.

Does your play have the right stuff?

What Do We Want?

1. COMEDIES ONLY. We like to laugh.

2. Plays should run about ten minutes (12 pages max, shorter is probably better).

3. Plays can have from 2 to 4 characters. Let us know if the genders are flexible.

4. No references to any current politician please! Historic and fictional figures are fine. They might even have some vague relationship to current events.

5. We are not looking for heavy-handed political satire. Be creative in your interpretation of the theme.

6. This will be a staged reading, so the play can be set anywhere and the characters can be most anything. However, we will shy away from plays with a surfeit of stage directions.

7. No children's plays are likely to be chosen.

8. No musicals. No monologues.

9. This is a family-friendly festival. Keep the “extra-adult” content suggested but not overt and it's fine. We won’t consider any play that includes offensive language, gun violence (ray guns are OK), or characters using banned substances.

10. Local playwrights are especially encouraged to submit.

When Do We Want It?

Deadline: May 31st 2016 (midnight EST)

How to Occupy Our Email Box
SEE COMPLETE FORMATTING AND SUBMITTING RULES at http://www.chappaqualibrary.org/friends-of-the-library/598-playwrights-seeking-ten-minute-comedies-about-politics-for-the-second-biennial-dewey-decimal-festival

  • Plays that don’t conform to the above will be discarded. 
  • Plays will be judged on their own merits. Do NOT attach anything else to your submission (reviews, resume, your favorite bumper sticker, etc). 
  • Previously produced work is welcome, as is new work. 
  • Plays produced in the first Dewey Decimal Festival are not eligible. 
  • Two submissions max per playwright, with each play in a separate email. 
How Are the Votes Counted?

1. Plays will be judged based on many parameters including creative interpretation of the theme, actual expression of the theme, score on the metric funniness scale, irrational hotly-debated opinion, and brute force. Also we need to create a balanced evening. We already know we will have many more excellent play candidates than we can include in one evening. Thanks for sharing your work!

2. No critique of plays can be provided.

3. A list of Semi-Finalists will be posted in June on the Friends of the Chappaqua Library website, and on our Facebook page. Only the Semi-Finalists will be contacted directly.

4. All Semi-Finalist plays will be read outloud in informal summer "Readers Circles" by local theatre enthusiasts, to further narrow the plays down to the Finalists round.

5. Finalists will be contacted directly, and the list will be posted on the Friends webpage and on Facebook.

6. The winning plays will be chosen from the Finalist round, and the Festival lineup will be announced by the end of August.


What Are the Winners’ Duties?

1. By submitting your play, you grant permission, if it is chosen, for local actors to perform it in up to two staged readings in the Chappaqua Library Theatre (capacity 200) in October 2016.

2 Playwrights whose plays are selected, will be acknowledged in publicity and programs, and will receive an honorarium of $5.

3. All playwrights whose work is in the Festival will be invited to attend, and should they do so, be plied with sugary snacks.

Any More Voting?

Yes! The audience will vote on their favorite plays, and the Audience Choice winner will receive bragging rights and a $25 honorarium.


Questions? Email fotcl.ywc@gmail.com. Include in the subject line: “DDF2 question”. Send entries only to DDF.Friends@gmail.com (first read formatting guidelines).

Donations to the festival will benefit the Friends of the Chappaqua Library, a non-profit community group that exists to raise funds to support the Chappaqua Public Library in Westchester County, NY. The Friends sponsor dozens of adult, teen, and children's programs open to all Westchester County residents. They also provide special acquisitions, including books, DVDs, audiobooks, and furnishings not covered by the library's budget, all available to any member of the Westchester Library System.


We look forward to reading your plays!

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