Deadline - Friday, December 30, 2016
Metropolitan Playhouse, New York's OBIE Award-winning explorer of America's Theatrical Heritage, is currently accepting submissions for new plays inspired by the life and history of New York's Lower East Side.
Submissions will be evaluated by Metropolitan's artistic staff, and we will produce up to 10 of the submitted plays in April 2017, as part of our 8th Annual East Village Theater Festival.
Subject - Very Important:
Plays MUST pertain specifically, though not necessarily exclusively, to the East Village and Lower East Side of Manhattan. Please DO NOT submit plays that do not conform to this simple guideline. We are eager not to waste your--and our--time. Plays that do not in some way illuminate life and/or conditions in that neighborhood--past, present or future--will not be considered. The subject or theme may well pertain to other places as well, but they must be quite specifically applicable to the East Village/Lower East Side.
As a secondary consideration, and as in prior years, preference will be given to plays that pertain to a chosen theme. For Volume 13, the theme is Prosperity as it relates to life in the East Village of today and in eras past. (See below for more information.)
Submission Deadline:
Completed scripts must be RECEIVED, by mail or e-mail, by 5:00 pm Friday, December 30, 2016.
By Mail:
Metropolitan Playhouse
220 E 4th Street
New York, NY 10009
By e-mail
PLEASE SUBMIT as ".pdf" files to EVC13@metropolitanplayhouse.org
The Festival
East Village Chronicles, Vol. 13 is the 13th seasonal festival of new, one-act plays that celebrate and explore the varied history and eclectic culture that have defined Manhattan's Lower East Side (in all its permutations). Combined into two, distinct evenings of short plays, which run on alternating nights over three weeks, the presentations will include a variety of styles and tones, unified by their being clearly related to life in the theater's neighborhood.
Metropolitan Playhouse will produce the plays on our 3/4 thrust stage in our 51 seat theater at 220 E 4th Street.
The plays will be directed by directors engaged by Metropolitan to coordinate and rehearse the entire festival.
The plays will be performed by a core company of actors, cast specifically for the festival, each of whom will perform in at least two festival plays. The cast of any given play will be drawn from this core company, and therefore anyone cast must be suitable for more than one play. Because we are forming a company, while playwrights' input is highly desired, final decisions remain with Metropolitan's artistic staff.
East Village Chronicles, Vol. 13 is the 13th seasonal festival of new, one-act plays that celebrate and explore the varied history and eclectic culture that have defined Manhattan's Lower East Side (in all its permutations). Combined into two, distinct evenings of short plays, which run on alternating nights over three weeks, the presentations will include a variety of styles and tones, unified by their being clearly related to life in the theater's neighborhood.
Metropolitan Playhouse will produce the plays on our 3/4 thrust stage in our 51 seat theater at 220 E 4th Street.
The plays will be directed by directors engaged by Metropolitan to coordinate and rehearse the entire festival.
The plays will be performed by a core company of actors, cast specifically for the festival, each of whom will perform in at least two festival plays. The cast of any given play will be drawn from this core company, and therefore anyone cast must be suitable for more than one play. Because we are forming a company, while playwrights' input is highly desired, final decisions remain with Metropolitan's artistic staff.
The Theme for 2017: Prosperity
The Chronicles plays have been connected each year in that they have focused on a certain topic, theme, or timeline. Selecting plays that are inspired by some such organizing principle helps to give the festival shape and to enrich the experience for audience members. (See * below for further discussion of the theme idea.)
This year, the Chronicles will be devoted to Prosperity. We believe this theme is especially resonant within the context of our national conversation and the particular history and character of the neighborhood. In our neighborhood, with its history of promise to newly immigrated Americans, its long defiance of the conventions of mainstream lifestyles, and its current rapid rise in real estate values, what it is to prosper has meant many different things over the decades.
Playwrights are encouraged to respond directly, indirectly, and creatively to this idea; how a play relates to the notion of "Prosperity" is up to the playwright.
Technical Guidelines
We are seeking plays of no more than 30 minutes that can be played by 5 or fewer actors.
The plays will be presented with at least three others in a given evening, and as a consequence, should not require elaborate set or properties.
Performance Dates (subject to change): April 11 - April 30, 2017
Theater: Metropolitan Playhouse
220 E 4th Street
Questions:
Alex Roe
Artistic Director, Metropolitan Playhouse
212 995 8410
EVC13@metropolitanplayhouse.org
* Interviews from nytheatre.com regarding past festivals and the selection of themes may be found at:
http://www.metropolitanplayhouse.org/Interviewevc1.htm , and
http://www.metropolitanplayhouse.org/Interviewevc2.htm