Abingdon Theatre Company’s THE LAST RESORT PLAYS Benefit Challenge

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Abingdon Theatre Company
THE LAST RESORT PLAYS BENEFIT CHALLENGE SERIES:
An evening of short plays
NYC/Metropolitan Area Playwrights

Dear Playwright,

You are invited to submit an original 10-minute play to Abingdon Theatre Company’s THE LAST RESORT PLAYS Benefit Challenge. This effort engages artists who support a theatre dedicated to new plays.

Our LAST RESORT PLAYS challenges your creativity to write an original play that will be presented as a staged reading on the set of Abingdon’s next production MALLORCA by Sheldon Bull and directed by Donald Brenner. We are seeking plays written in any style that reveal a fresh plot, sufficient conflict and a running time of 10 minutes, maximum. Plays are due at midnight on May 13, 2015. SERIES A performs on Tuesday, June 9 @ 6:30pm & 8:30pm, and SERIES B performs on June 16 @ 6:30pm & 8:30pm. Are you ready? Here are the guidelines. Please read carefully!

SCRIPT GUIDELINES:

The play must be set in the living room of a modest island villa. There is a small balcony, which overlooks the ocean.

One character must make a last effort to resolve, salvage or confront a situation, or escape an irreconcilable problem.

Write for a cast of 2-3 actors. At least one character must be mid-30s in age or YOUNGER.

We prefer scripts that can be staged without relying on stage directions. If stage directions are necessary, please keep them to a minimum.

Your script will be presented as a staged reading in accordance with AEA guidelines. Keep production values to a minimum. Costumes are at the discretion of the director and the willing cooperation of the actors. No hand props can be used.

Plays should be in standard script format: 12 point font, 1” margins on all sides, and character names on a separate line. Be sure to number all pages.

Submit scripts in MS-Word - preferred - or PDF format.

Scripts longer than 10 pages – title and character breakdown pages are not counted – will NOT be considered. Regardless of the number of pages, the running time MUST be no more than 10 minutes!

You may only submit one script for consideration.

Playwrights must attend both performances of the staged readings. Please specify your availability for SERIES A (6/9), and/or SERIES B (6/16). If you are available for both dates, let us know that, too!

We encourage you to attend rehearsals, if possible. The schedule will be determined later.

The deadline for script submission is midnight, May 13.

We strongly encourage original scripts developed for this presentation.

GENERAL GUIDELINES:

Abingdon presents the play. We provide the actors, directors, stage manager, rehearsal space and the theatre (the 56-seat Dorothy Strelsin Theatre at the Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex, 312 W. 36th Street, NYC).

ALL participants are donating their time and talent, and HELPING TO RECRUIT AN AUDIENCE. Our goal is to fill every seat! There is no fee or cost to the playwright. There is a ‘pay-what-you-will donation’ for audience members to attend the staged readings.

Each playwright and director will attend the staged readings of their script in designated seating.

Every play gets two performances on the same evening.

Please make sure you follow all submission requirements.

HOW TO SUBMIT:

Email your scripts to LastResortPlays@abingdontheatre.org. You will receive an auto-generated reply; if you don’t, you have used the WRONG email address.

Write in the subject line: LAST RESORT PLAYS / Your Name

In the body of the email send:

Your complete contact information;

A one-line summary of the action of your play; and

Your availability (Series A and/or Series B).

You will be contacted regarding your script’s status by May 20.

If you have any questions, use the email address above. For more information on Abingdon Theatre Company, see our website at www.abingdontheatre.org. We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Bara Swain & Kim T. Sharp
Co-Producers
Abingdon’s Benefit Challenge Series