Money Blues Come to Berea

Money Blue$: A Collection of Ten Minute Plays by Carrider M. Jones, Toby Sturgeon Wilcher, Melissa Lamb-Rue and Trish Ayers run Thursday February 10 through Saturday February 12, 2011 at Berea Arena Theatre. The plays are directed by
Glenda Dent White.

Trish Ayers and Glenda Dent White are both members of the Kentucky Playwrights Workshop, Inc. and 517 Playwrights.

Admission is $5.00 and 1 Food Item for the Food Pantry. Tickets are available at the door, from cast members or, for more information,
Email Mail4trish@earthlink.net

Six New Plays to be Read on Sunday

Six new plays will be given first readings at the next meeting of 517 Playwrights on Sunday February 13, 2011. The readings of new scripts, all by Kentucky playwrights-- will take place from 2-5 pm at Common Grounds Coffee House in Lexington. Among the plays are two short one acts by Heidi Saunders, a 30 minute one act by Bill McCann and three related 10-minute plays by George McGee. The meeting is open to both the members and the public. If you have an interest in the development of new works for the stage, please join us.

February Meeting

The February meeting will be held at Common Grounds Coffee House on Sunday February 13, 2011 from 2-5 pm. Members with one-act or full-length plays that they would like to have read should let Bill McCann know in advance of their interest in having a play read. Members or visitors with 10-minute or shorter works may simply bring those to the meeting and they will be read and commented on as time allows.

The public reading of plays tenatively scheduled for February 2 and 3 at the Lexington Public Library Theatre has been cancelled. Our apologies for any inconvenience this may create.

Please join us for the February 13 regular meeting at Common Grounds. Hope to see you there.

2011 Events and Meetings

The new year will start with a flurry of activities.

Our first meetings will be held on January 23 and February 13th at Common Grounds Coffee House in Lexington, KY. As usual the meeting will be held from 2-5 pm for the purpose of reading the full-length or one act plays of members. Additionally, anyone who wishes to may bring a 10-minute or shorter work and those will be read as time allows.

Meetings and memebership is open to anyone who is a resident of Kentucky and wishes to belong. The only requirement for membership is a desire to encourage the development of new works for the stage; dues are $10 per year (Sep- Aug). Member playwrights are given opportunities to have their full-length and one act plays read aloud and such other benefits of membership as may develop as the organization grows.

The first public reading of new works by member playwrights will be held on February 2 and 3, 2011, from 6:30-8:45 pm, at the Lexington Public Library (main branch) Theatre. The reading is FREE and open to the public.

Taking Stock to be Read in Berea

Award winning playwright Trish Ayers’ most recent full-length play Taking Stock will have the first public reading as the featured November 5th Berea Arts Council literary program. Ayers was awarded a 2009 Kentucky Foundation for Women (KFW) Individual Artist grant to edit Taking Stock, a play that explores the issue of horse slaughter and the impact of hurt turned inward.

The reading will be an opportunity for community members to be a part of hearing for the first time these new characters come to life. Audience members who volunteer will read different character parts and a short question and answer session will take place following the reading.

Ayers originated the Kentucky Women Playwrights’ Seminar, which has twice been funded by the KFW. She is the co-artistic director and resident playwright of Mountain Spirit Puppets with her husband Shan Ayers. Her plays have toured the United States and Japan. She has been a guest artist at Iowa State and Western Illinois University. Her plays have won numerous awards from the Appalachian Writers Association and were a finalist in the 2009 Heartland Ten-Minute and One-Act Play Festival. Judging Quilts, one of her ten-minute plays was recently selected to be a part of the Kentucky New Play Festival to be held in Bardstown in November. She is a member of Dramatists Guild and 517 Playwrights, and the Kentucky Playwrights Workshop, Inc. a non-profit supported in part by the Kentucky Arts Council.

Next Meeting of 517 Playwrights

The next meeting of 517 Playwrights will be Sunday October 10, 2010 from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm at Common Grounds Coffee House, Lexington, KY. Please join us to hear new plays read.

517 Playwrights to meet September 19

The regular meeting of 517 Playwrights-- the new works development committee of Kentucky Playwrights Workshop, Inc.-- will be Sunday September 19, 2010 at Common Grounds Coffee House on High Street in Lexington. The meeting will focus on reading works by Steve Taylor, Shan Ayers, and Trish Ayers. Shorter works may be brought by members or interested people and read and discussed as time allows. The meeting will begin at 2pm and last until 5pm, as interest and circumstances dictate. Please join us. We are always interested in finding new members.

Important Meeting July 11, 2010

The next meeting of 517 Playwrights is important: we will be choosing the winning Kentucky scripts that will be produced this October as part of our Festival of Plays. We will read and discuss the best plays submitted during the recent contest and try to agree which four to six scripts stand heads above all the rest. Also, we will be discussing which of two possible venues might work best AND discuss a proposed set of bylaws. It will be an important meeting, please join us.

Picture Us: 517 Playwrights

Members of 517 Playwrights gathered at Common Grounds Coffee House on Sunday June 13th included: (l to r) Bill McCann, Jr, Steve Taylor, Kathi E. B. Ellis, and James Brown. The photo was taken by yet another member, Bill Forsyth. Missing are Shan and Trish Ayres and Jim Betts. New members are always welcome. The next meeting will be Sunday July 11th at Common Grounds at 2:00 pm. Anyone who has an interest in encouraging the development of new works for the stage is welcome to join us.

Fridge Door Live Theatre Camp Still Has Openings

Len Cuthbert's theatre company for youth and children, Fridge Door Live, is running four weeks of camp in London Ontario, Canada this summer. Weeks two and three (July 5-16) are full. Weeks one and four still have some vacancies. http://www.fridgedoorlive.com/

In 2006, Len Cuthbert created a Summer Theatre Camp designed for kids with an interest in the performing arts. Children and youth with an interest in the performing arts are involved in a variety of theatre activity while working together as a team to prepare a final production that will be presented before a live audience of family and friends.

SUMMER CAMPS 2010
Hillside Church, 250 Commissioners E. London
July 5-9 - Grade 3-6
July 12-16 - Grade 5-8
July 19-23 - Grade 7-10

Summerside Church, 1447 Commissioners E. London
August 9-13 - Grade 4-8

For more information visit the Fridge Door Live Theatre Company web site, via the link above.

In 2009, Len Cuthbert's 10-minute play Enigmatic Lucidity was presented as part of the Midway Festival of Plays at the Thoroughbred Community Theatre by Kentucky Playwrights Workshop, Inc.

Glass Menagerie Revealed in a 'Brilliant New Light'

KPW, Inc. member and director Kathi E. B. Ellis' version of Tennessee Williams' play Glass Mengerie recently opened to critical acclaim: theatrelouisville.org said "ShoeString Productions and Ellis deserve thanks for bringing us this production that joins fine performances with one of America’s greatest dramatic works, and for revealing all in a brilliant new light.”

Don’t miss The Glass Menagerie! – four more performances at the historic Water Tower: June 20 and 29 and July 2 and 5. Performances at 8:30p.m. Gallery with Ne10: Louisville, illuminated glass art, exhibit open at 7:30p.m. Reservations at 502-741-8392 or shoestringproductionsky@gmail.com.

“Director Kathi E.B. Ellis casts four strong and accomplished performers — Megan Burnett (Amanda), Laura Ellis (Laura), Lee Look (Tom) and Doug Sumey (the Gentleman Caller) — to carry out her vision. All four give honor to their roles, illuminating and interpreting without resorting to type. New facets emerge throughout the evening, and none will disappoint; but to say more would be to rob you of the pleasure of uncovering the subtleties for yourself.” Lighting design by John Newman and sound design by Laura Ellis.

Check out the full review at http://theatre-louisville.blogspot.com/2010/06/review-shoestring-productions-glass.html

Kentucky Arts Council Grant Approved

Recently the Kentucky Arts Council (KAC) approved the Kentucky Playwrights Workshop Inc.'s application for assistance in applying for 501(c)3 recognition from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a charitable organization. With the help of a "peer advisor" (arts consultant) KPW will receive advice about how to organize its business affairs in order to receive IRS recognition as an approved charity.

The KAC's KPAN (Kentucky Peer Advisory Network) program is intended, according to the KAC website, as "a flexible, user-friendly program that has been designed to give arts organizations, community groups, schools, and eligible individual artists, professional assistance in a timely manner at minimal cost."

"KPAN is a program of the Kentucky Arts Council, a state agency in the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet that creates opportunities for Kentuckians through the arts. Kentucky Arts Council funding is provided by the Kentucky State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts."

"Organizations or eligible individual artists can apply to have a Peer Advisor assist them with specific issues such as: Board Development, Grantwriting, Marketing & Promotion, Strategic Planning, Festival Planning and More," year around. There is no application deadline or fee.

The KAC will pay the consultant's consulting fee; travel and incidental expenses will be the responsibility of the KPW. 517 Playwrights is the New Play Development Committee of KPW.

For more information about KAC or its programs, including KPAN, visit its website: http://artscouncil.ky.gov/

A potential KPAN consultant has been contacted to assist KPW. When an individual agrees to work with KPW the name and background of the consultant will be discussed in a future article.

Next Meeting

The next meeting of 517 Playwrights will be Sunday July 11th beginning at 2:00 pm at Common Grounds Coffee House in Lexington. The meeting will last until 5:00. The focus of this meeting will be to decide on the winning KENTUCKY plays for this year's 10-minute play contest as well as to read and discuss member plays.

Please not that we have changed the meeting time back to 2:00 from 1:30 in order to allow members who are travelling from out in the state-- we now have members from both Louisville and Berea-- to have time to make it to Lexington after attending church or other Sunday morning activites.

Membership Approved KAC Application

At the membership meeting on Sunday June 13th the membership of the Kentucky Playwrights Workshop, Inc. (KPW) approved submission of an application to the Kentucky Arts Council, Frankfort, requesting assistance in seeking approval of 501(c)3 status as a charitable organization from the Internal Revenue Service. The KPW was incorporated as a non-profit with the Kentucky Secretary of State's Office, Frankfort, in September 2009; In the months since then the organization has drafted a mission statement and a set of bylaws, but has not submitted those and such other paperwork as may be required to obtain charitable organization status from the IRS. It is hoped that with help from a KAC peer consultant that the basic requirements for 501(c)3 status can be met prior to year's end.

The KPW is the producing arm of 517 Playwrights; according to the draft KPW bylaws 517 Playwrights is the "New Play Development Committee" of KPW.

10 MINUTE PLAY CONTEST = 10 PAGES

Okay. I thought this would have been obvious, it's in the title of the contest, but we are seeking 10 minute plays. A ten minute play runs 10 minutes, not three, or four, or five minutes. Please submit plays that are 10 pages long, or close to that length (8 or 9 pages, at least). Plays that are too short are not considered for production; Neither are plays that too long-- in excess of 10 pages of dialogue. Common sense is the factor that should be your guide: 11 pages is too long, seven pages is too short.

Use a 12 font sized font such as Courier or Times New Roman and make certain that your play has 10 pages of dialogue. Last year we produced seven scripts: 6 of the 7 scripts were between about 9 minutes 50 seconds and 10 minutes 15 seconds; the seventh script, which ran about 8 minutes, was about 8 1/2 pages long. Please do not submit short scripts, they may be read; they will not be chosen for production.

As a reminder: this is a 10-minute play contest, submit a 10-minute play script.

517: On the Radio!

News about this year's play contest is starting to get around. On Sunday May 30, 2010 Bill McCann, Jr., contest coordinator for the 2nd Annual 517 Playwrights 10-Minute Play Contest will be on "Key Conversations" on Groovin' 1580AM radio to discuss this year's play contest. Key Conversations, sponsored by Key Newsjournal and Clear Channel Radio, Lexington, KY, airs at 10 am each Sunday morning. For more information about the program you may go to the link www.groovin1580.com Happy listening!

June Meeting

The June meeting of 517 Playwrights will be Sunday June 13th, from 1:30 to 4:30 pm, at Common Grounds Coffee House, Lexington. Bring scripts if you've got 'em and want 'em read and discussed. Please remember to bring one copy per character (max. 5 copies) to make reading and sharing easier. Keep in mind that our July and August meetings will likely be focused on reading and discussing contest entries so bring your script to the June meeting. See you then.

Kentucky Playwrights

Slow off the starting line, Kentucky playwrights are catching up to those from elsewhere who have submitted plays to this year's 2nd Annual 517 Playwrights 10-Minute Play Contest. Currently a total of 35 plays have been submitted, eight are from Kentuckians. Plays by six Kentuckians have come in from Berea, Georgetown, Lexington and Louisville. This year's contest is intended to put a spotlight on Kentucky playwrights who are allowed to submit two scripts and as many as six of the selected plays will be by Kentuckians. So, if you reside in Kentucky and have written a 10-minute play... submit today.

Rules for this year's contest were posted on this site, on May 2, 2010. If, after reading the rules, you still have questions please send them to ky.playwright@yahoo.com.

Scripts are Coming in. Have You Submitted Yet?

Since May 2nd more than two dozen playwrights from sixteen states, including Kentucky, and two Canadian provinces have submitted scripts to this year's 10-Minute Play Contest. Among the contestants this year. so far, have been six women and 20 men.

Characters include a juggler, two clowns (in different scripts!) a newscaster, people of Middle Eastern and British extraction, a realtor, housewives and husbands, friends and lovers, and college students. The ages of this diverse group of characters range from 12 to 70+.

Settings include not only the expected living rooms and apartments but also a beach, the front seat of a car, a coffee house, a library, and a "tv writer's room."

What is missing from this diverse mix of characters and locales? Your script with your characters and settings. We are accepting entries through June 30, 2010. Please submit today.

Entries Coming In

Since May 2nd, the first day we accepted submissions for the 2nd Annual 517 Playwrights 10-Minute Play Contest, we have received 24 submissions. Included among those received are submissions from Canada (3), California (2), Iowa (2), Missouri, Maryland, and New York. We will stop accepting submissions on June 30th, but it is not too soon to submit.