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.