The Fusion Theater's "The Seven" festival.
This has been my favorite festival of all so far. Dennis Gromelski LOVES the theater and his festival in Albuquerque, NM shows it. The Seven chooses seven ten-minute plays out of the hundreds that are submitted each year, and they perform these plays beautifully. As a playwright, you are welcomed to come see your work performed, and you are treated with unbelievable respect. The grand prize winner of the seven plays is flown in for the weekend and does meet and greets with the audience. The other playwrights are invited to participate in audience talkbacks as well. It's a great festival and I highly recommend sending your plays to it. ALL of the plays I saw (including the production they did of mine) were wonderful.
Enter The Seven!
Friday, March 7, 2014
Manhattan Repertory One-Act Competition.
This competition was one of my favorites to enter. I won this competition, and it paid a thousand dollars, which more than compensated for the $150 participation fee. The space is extremely small, but the event is very well organized by Ken Wolf. He is fair and extremely efficient.
Manhattan Rep's competitions work the same way many festivals in New York work. To advance to the next round, you have to get your friends and family there to vote for your play. As a result, this competition has the same difficulty that all festivals and competitions in Manhattan seem to have. Because they must make money, they include plays in the lineup that are painful to watch. Inviting friends and family can be tricky because they have to shell out $20 for tickets and when they do, they must endure bad plays to get to see your good one. It gets better as the festival progresses, and semi finals and finals eliminate most of the bad plays.
One great thing about this competition that I really want to mention is that your play will run for a week in the initial round. That gives it a chance to settle in. Not many festivals offer as many chances to perform the work.
As I mentioned already, the space is very small, but Ken makes it work beautifully. I strongly recommend this competition.
This competition was one of my favorites to enter. I won this competition, and it paid a thousand dollars, which more than compensated for the $150 participation fee. The space is extremely small, but the event is very well organized by Ken Wolf. He is fair and extremely efficient.
Manhattan Rep's competitions work the same way many festivals in New York work. To advance to the next round, you have to get your friends and family there to vote for your play. As a result, this competition has the same difficulty that all festivals and competitions in Manhattan seem to have. Because they must make money, they include plays in the lineup that are painful to watch. Inviting friends and family can be tricky because they have to shell out $20 for tickets and when they do, they must endure bad plays to get to see your good one. It gets better as the festival progresses, and semi finals and finals eliminate most of the bad plays.
One great thing about this competition that I really want to mention is that your play will run for a week in the initial round. That gives it a chance to settle in. Not many festivals offer as many chances to perform the work.
As I mentioned already, the space is very small, but Ken makes it work beautifully. I strongly recommend this competition.
Modern Day Griot Theater Company - See, Hear, Taste and Touch
My experience with this company was not good at all. In fact, I would put this one in the Ugly category. I sent them one of my plays and Liza Bulos, the Managing Producer emailed me to say she would like to mount the play, but that she would like to "cut some lines - to accommodate timing, etc." I said, "I'm happy to shorten it if you need me to, and if it's a foul language issue, I will accommodate that for you as well." She informed me that there was still time to pull the play if her doing the editing was an issue. I was inexperienced at the time and wanted my plays performed in New York, so I let her make the changes. I asked her to please run them by me first, but she did not. I went to see the production, and not only had she cut lines, she had also changed lines and had reassigned lines from one character to the other. The play made no sense at all and was awful. I was embarrassed , and extremely upset at what she had done. Thankfully, the whole thing happened in Brooklyn, where no one important came to see it. I'm sure other playwrights have had good experiences with this company, but based on my experience, sadly I strongly recommend against submitting to this company if you care about your plays.
My experience with this company was not good at all. In fact, I would put this one in the Ugly category. I sent them one of my plays and Liza Bulos, the Managing Producer emailed me to say she would like to mount the play, but that she would like to "cut some lines - to accommodate timing, etc." I said, "I'm happy to shorten it if you need me to, and if it's a foul language issue, I will accommodate that for you as well." She informed me that there was still time to pull the play if her doing the editing was an issue. I was inexperienced at the time and wanted my plays performed in New York, so I let her make the changes. I asked her to please run them by me first, but she did not. I went to see the production, and not only had she cut lines, she had also changed lines and had reassigned lines from one character to the other. The play made no sense at all and was awful. I was embarrassed , and extremely upset at what she had done. Thankfully, the whole thing happened in Brooklyn, where no one important came to see it. I'm sure other playwrights have had good experiences with this company, but based on my experience, sadly I strongly recommend against submitting to this company if you care about your plays.
The Strawberry One-Act Festival.
This is the first festival I entered, and I won the festival, which was great. The Strawberry One-Act Festival pays $1500 to the winner, which is fantastic. But this is a very expensive festival to enter. The last time I participated, the fee was $400. It doesn't feel too high when you win, but when you don't win, you're basically paying a lot of money to show your play. The best director, best actor and best actress all receive a small cash prize, too, which is nice.
The festival is run by Van Dirk Fisher. He's a charming man who loves theater. Because of the high fees he charges (much of which he says covers the rental of the theater and other things relating to the festival) you would think he would only attract high-quality plays to the Strawberry Festival. Not so. More than half the plays in this festival are TERRIBLE! I've been in it twice and both times I've been astonished by the number of poor quality plays entered. I understand why Van includes these plays. The more people he includes, the more of an audience he can attract. And quite frankly, there are very few playwrights out there who seem to know how to write good work.
The festival is a popularity contest. The more people you invite to come see and vote for your play, the better the chance you have of advancing to the finals. In the final round, the best play is chosen by industry judges. That's the round where all of the bad plays have hopefully been weeded out and what's left is good work.
Tickets are not cheap for the festival, and you have to invite friends and family to advance. And those family and friends have to endure a lot of bad theater to see your great play. This festival doesn't have a top reputation in NYC because of all the bad theater it allows. Van would be well served to be more picky with the plays he allows in. It's embarrassing for playwrights to have people watch so much bad theater just to get to your good play. Like many festivals that take place in NYC, The Strawberry One-Act Festival needs lots of people there to make money, but not filtering the plays more carefully gets in the way of attracting good playwrights to the festival.
Having said all of that, I loved participating in both editions of this festival that I signed up for. I won the first one I was in and was a finalist in the second. My director won best director in the second. I got an agent from this festival, and that matters. So my recommendation is participate in the Strawberry One-Act Festival, but be ready for audiences to see a lot of bad theater along with your great play.
This is the first festival I entered, and I won the festival, which was great. The Strawberry One-Act Festival pays $1500 to the winner, which is fantastic. But this is a very expensive festival to enter. The last time I participated, the fee was $400. It doesn't feel too high when you win, but when you don't win, you're basically paying a lot of money to show your play. The best director, best actor and best actress all receive a small cash prize, too, which is nice.
The festival is run by Van Dirk Fisher. He's a charming man who loves theater. Because of the high fees he charges (much of which he says covers the rental of the theater and other things relating to the festival) you would think he would only attract high-quality plays to the Strawberry Festival. Not so. More than half the plays in this festival are TERRIBLE! I've been in it twice and both times I've been astonished by the number of poor quality plays entered. I understand why Van includes these plays. The more people he includes, the more of an audience he can attract. And quite frankly, there are very few playwrights out there who seem to know how to write good work.
The festival is a popularity contest. The more people you invite to come see and vote for your play, the better the chance you have of advancing to the finals. In the final round, the best play is chosen by industry judges. That's the round where all of the bad plays have hopefully been weeded out and what's left is good work.
Tickets are not cheap for the festival, and you have to invite friends and family to advance. And those family and friends have to endure a lot of bad theater to see your great play. This festival doesn't have a top reputation in NYC because of all the bad theater it allows. Van would be well served to be more picky with the plays he allows in. It's embarrassing for playwrights to have people watch so much bad theater just to get to your good play. Like many festivals that take place in NYC, The Strawberry One-Act Festival needs lots of people there to make money, but not filtering the plays more carefully gets in the way of attracting good playwrights to the festival.
Having said all of that, I loved participating in both editions of this festival that I signed up for. I won the first one I was in and was a finalist in the second. My director won best director in the second. I got an agent from this festival, and that matters. So my recommendation is participate in the Strawberry One-Act Festival, but be ready for audiences to see a lot of bad theater along with your great play.
I'm a playwright. I enter my plays in lots of festivals. Some are great, some are not so great, and some are just a waste of time. I have always wished that someone would review playwriting festivals for me so that I would know which ones to enter and which to stay away from. Well, after a year and a half of entering the Good, the Bad and the Ugly festivals, I have decided to share my experiences so you can avoid the mistakes I've made and enjoy the same successes I've had. I hope you find this blog helpful as you send your plays out into the festival world.
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