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Monday, November 25, 2019

Chain Theatre Playwriting Lab

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Chain Theatre Playwriting Lab continues its commitment to developing new plays by diverse artists and underrepresented voices in the American Theatre. Since its inception, Chain has developed plays focusing on what unites us, links us together as well as what divides us. This is a highly collaborative process with a personal, intensive focus on the playwright, your story, and your words.

This program has been made possible with the support of the New York Department of Cultural Affairs.

SUBMISSIONS OPEN: OCT 25, 2019
SUBMISSIONS CLOSE: DEC 12, 2019
ANNOUNCEMENTS: JAN 6, 2020
“THE FOLKS AT THE CHAIN THEATRE ARE AMONG THE GREAT  UNSUNG HEROES OF CULTURAL NEW YORK.”

Richard Price, Clockers, HBO’s The Night Of, The Wire

CHAIN PLAYWRITING LAB SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Eligibility:

  • All playwrights must be NYC based artists. 
  • Must be part of an under-represented community in the arts. Female identifying, a person of color, LGBTQ, or trans artists are encouraged to apply. 
  • Must be full length plays. 70 pages or more with a completed draft. 
  • Playwright must have all necessary rights. 


Application Process:

Applications will be accepted Oct 25, 2019 – Dec 12, 2019. Free to submit and participate. Include the following with your submission:

  • Resume and Bio. 
  • History of where the play has been previously produced or developed.
  • PDF Attachment of your play. It must be a completed draft. 
  • Must be available for in-person interview.

SUBMIT TO: info@chaintheatre.org

THE LAB

This is an intensive, highly collaborative process. We ask that you only submit if you have the availability to participate in the Lab.

Playwrights will meet regularly with your Director and the Director of the Lab. While each play will have different needs depending on how far along in the development process your play is, a typical timeline for the Lab would be: Weeks 1-2, meet with the Director and the Director of the Lab once a week to discuss your work and structure. Following each of these meetings, you will be given time to work on the play outside of the Lab and return with any changes. Weeks 3-5, actors are brought in to read through the script and/or work on specific scenes. At a second meeting during these weeks, you will meet with the Director to discuss what was learned from the previous rehearsal and any possible changes to consider. Week 6, there will be two to three rehearsals to fine tune the intentions of the characters with the actors in preparation for the staged readings.

A Director will be chosen for you from the Chain Theatre Team, so plays that already have a director attached cannot be considered. All actors will be chosen by the Director and the Chain to ensure an opportunity to hear the text with a fresh voice.

Following the 6 weeks of development, playwrights will be given two professional staged readings at Chain Theatre with an invited audience. Tickets to the staged reading will be FREE to all patrons. Staged Readings will take place February 21st - February 23rd, 2020. All plays developed are candidates for full production for the Chain 2020 Season.
LEADERSHIP

Chain Playwriting Lab will be led by Ella Jane New, Ella is a theatre and film maker based in NYC. After receiving her MFA from University of London, Ella wrote and directed Banquet of Chestnuts at the George Wood Theatre in London, where she received the Goldsmiths New Writing Award. Other awards include: WOMEN MAKE MOVIES Fellowship and Eastman Foundation Grant and was chosen for the Creative Minds Program in association with Sundance Institute & Sundance Film Festival. Ella's work has been seen around the world at the U.N. Global Wake-Up Fest; Unspoken human rights Festival and has received distribution by BBC Worldwide, Al Jazeera and Globostat Brazil."

Ms. New will on hand, moderating the rehearsal and development process. Christina Elise Perry, Director of Outreach for the Chain Theatre, will also oversee the completion of the Lab in collaboration with the Chain Theatre’s Artistic Director, Kirk Gostkowski, and Literary Director, John Arthur Long.

All rehearsals and meetings will take place at the Chain Theatre located at 312 W. 36th Street, 4th Floor.

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