July 26, 2009

The next meeting of 517 Playwrights will be Sunday July 26, 2009 at the downtown branch of the Lexington Public Library. We will meet at a table near the window on the second floor. If you are a director interested in directing one of the 10-minute plays please join us. Or if you are an actor interested in biting into some meaty new plays, please come to the meeting. We will be discussing the selected plays, seeking out directors and planning for auditions. If any of this sounds like something you'd like to be involved with join us at 2:00 pm on July 26th.

Waiting for playwrights

Six of the eight playwrights who have had plays selected for production have responded and said that yes we could produce their shows. Once we have heard from the other two-- probably after the Fourth of July-- I will post the names of the winning plays and their playwrights on this blog along with a one sentence description of each plot. Check back.

Would you like your play televised?

If you were a playwright would you like to see your award winning play televised? When we began the play contest we thought we would pick the best few plays, find a few directors and actors and either do a staged reading or perhaps stage them. End of story.

Well, a little research and difficulty finding a suitable venue has lead to SOME (not much, admittedly) discussion about filming the plays and putting them on tv. This would mean that fewer plays could be selected, but that they'd get greater exposure. What do you think? Comment and let us know. Thanks very much.

Join Us Sunday...

You do not need to be a playwright to be involved with 517 Playwrights so please join us this Sunday, May 17th, at 2 pm for our regular meeting. The meeting will be at the main branch of the Lexington Public Library on Main Street, across from the Downtown Arts Center. We will meet near the elevators on the 2nd floor, then find a quiet table to meet at. The meeting will begin promply at 2 pm; however, if you're running late we'll catch you up!

The agenda will primarily consist of reading and discussing scripts received for the 10-minute play contest. However, we will also discuss how to find directors and actors for the winning plays as well as where and when the plays will be either read and/or produced. The meeting will end no later than 5 pm (as that is when the Library will close).

Whether you've ever attended a meeting of 517 Playwrights or not, whether you are a playwright or not, you are welcome to join us for the Sunday and future meetings. Hope to see you Sunday at 2 pm.

May 17th Agenda

Our May 17th meeting is likely to a bit different than most of our meetings: in an effort to try and find the semifinalist plays we'll focus on reading and discussing submissions to the play contest. This of course will not be our last opportunity to judge submissions, or to discuss them. But, at least from my perspective, judging the submissions has been difficult work; the quality of scripts entered in the contest has been high, cutting down to only nine semi-finalists is going to be a hard job. We need this opportunity to discuss the plays that have been submitted.

So, even if you've never been to a meeting of 517 Playwrights, plan to come to this month's meeting. We will meet near the elevators on the second floor of the downtown (main) branch of the Lexington Public Library then find a quiet table where we can read and discuss submitted scripts. Please join us in finding the best nine (9) semifinalist plays possible.

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Next Meeting

The next meeting of 517 Playwrights will be Sunday April 5th. We will meet from 2 pm to 5 pm at the downtown branch of the Lexington Public Library. We'll meet by the elevators on the second floor then get a table. Bring a script you've been working on. Hope to see you there.

UPDATES

The play contest is really going well: less than a month into the submission period we have received almost half of the submissions. At this rate we might very well reach 100 submissions by the end of March. So please get your submission in ASAP.

The next meeting of 517 Playwrights is scheduled for March 1, 2009. Anyone who wishes to may attend the meeting at the Northside branch of the Lexington Public Library. Bring a play you would like to have read. Not finished? Get busy! Time is a wasting.

10 Minute Play Contest

This is to announce The First Annual 517 Playwrights 10 Minute Play Contest. As those of you who follow this blog know 517 Playwrights is a new organization, founded in November 2008, for the purpose of supporting and encouraging the creation of new plays and the playwrights who write them. Presently we have only six members.

So, for this first play contest we will judge the first 100 scripts received between February 1, 2009 and July 31, 2009; after the first 100 scripts are received all others received will not be judged.

Copyright remains with the playwright; those submitting agree, by virtue of entering the contest, that their scripts may be produced by 517 Playwrights at no cost, for up to one year after the contest closes.

RULES:
1.)Any playwright who wishes to may submit one play, in standard script format.
2.)Plays may be comedies or dramas, on any topic, but must be no longer than 10 pages/10 minutes in length.
3) Plays longer than 10 minutes in length will not be considered.
3.)Submissions are to be made be made by email to b.mccann@insightbb.com.
4.)There is no fee for submitting by email; snail mail submissions will NOT be accepted.
5.) Deadline: July 31, 2009 (or the first 100 received)

PRIZES:
Up to 10 of the plays received may be cast and produced using local Lexington area actors and directors on a local stage for at least one, possibly more performances during October 2009.

Don't forget...

Don't forget to bring extra copies of your script with you to today's new scripts reading at 2:00 pm TODAY-- an hour from now! Please keep in mind that it is very hard for five or six people to share a single script. It is not necessary for there to be a script per actor, but bring enough that it is not difficult for the readers to keep their places and for the play to be read at a "normal" pace. See you soon.

Last Sunday in January?

So far the last Sunday in January 2009 is the leading candidate to be the next time 517 Playwrights will meet to conduct a reading of new plays. Any other suggestions? Leave a comment and let us know when you'd like to have another new plays reading. Thanks.

Four Playwrights Met

We started small yesterday-- but we started. Altogether, four playwrights-- Greta Fields, Steve Taylor, Bruce Williams and myself met to read plays we'd written. Each playwright brought a play, or an excerpt from a play and the four of us spent about 3 hours reading and discussing the scripts that we had on hand.

Bruce Williams is from Georgetown and author of a play that is actually in production; Steve Taylor, from Frankfort will see three of his short plays produced in January 2009. Greta Fields, from Whitesburg and Lexington and myself (from Lexington) are the cofounders of 517 Playwrights and do not have plays in production.

While we were few in number, we were high in enthusiasim and expect to hold another play reading in January 2009.

Come Rain or Come Shine

As I write this it is 6:00 am, and raining hard outside. But the show must go on! The initial meeting of 517 Playwrights will be held today at 3563 Georgetown Road, beginning at 2:00 pm, regardless of the weather.

Even if you have not signed up before, you are welcome to join us. You need not bring a play to participate. You need not be a playwright. All you need to be is interested in new plays whether as an actor, audience member, director or playwright; heck, you can be a theatre critic and come. Everyone is welcome!

Come one, come all and meet Lexington area playwrights who have scripts that they want to share.

Bring Plays and Copies of Plays

You do not need to be a playwright to attend the reading of new plays this Sunday afternoon; all who have an interest in new plays are invited. However, if you are a playwright and do want to hear one of your plays read, please bring enough copies to make the reading of your play easier. Ideally, we'd like you to bring one copy for every character-- 4 characters = 4 copies. On the other hand if a character has a single line, or does not speak, then fewer copies are fine. Please just keep in mind that if six readers are sharing a single script that you are less likely to get a true feel for how your script "sounds." In short, use common sense in determining how many copies of the script are necessary.

Play reading "RULES"

The purposes of the playreading this coming Sunday are: to allow time for conversation and "shop" talk; to read aloud plays that many playwrights may only have heard themselves read; and to allow playwrights to receive feedback from those who attend the reading.

We will gather at 2:00 and begin the readings at between 2:15 and 2:30 depending upon how many people are present and whether or not more are still arriving.

We will begin by reading the shortest plays first (1 minute, 10 minute, 1 act and then full-length).

We will discuss 1-10 minute length plays for 10 minutes each; 1 act plays will be discussed for 20 minutes; full-length plays for 30 minutes.

Discussions may last for less than the allotted time per play, but I will strictly enforce the upper limits of discussion or we will get bogged down and not get as many plays read and discussed as we could otherwise.

I am not trying to cut off discussion but to keep things moving; remember, you can always discuss a play with its playwright privately.

When discussing a play either make a POSITIVE comment (I liked how you did X) or ask a question (Why did John do Y?). Please do NOT make negative comments about a play.

Generally, playwrights have put a lot of thought and time into their works and negative comments will (more often then not) simply put him/her on the defensive. A person in a defensive posture is unlikely to hear your negative comment. However, a good question can cause a playwright to write down your question and consider later whether or not to change the play.

Playwrights may NOT respond to any question asked about their play (nor comment upon it once the reading of their play has begun).

Playwrights may, if necessary, respond to questions privately. Responding to questions publicly will use valuable time and prevent other participants from speaking about that particular play.

Discussion by the playwright prolongs the reading process. The purpose of the reading is for the author to receive feedback not have an opportunity to lecture those in attendance.

Commentators should keep both comments and questions SHORT.

Let's keep things moving!

Speak only once about a play unless everyone present has had an opportunity to speak and the moderator SPECIFICALLY opens the floor for a second round of questions/comments.

Playwrights need to hear as many points of view as possible, not just yours (or mine).

Have a good time.

Come back for the next new plays reading.

The next new plays reading will be in January 2009. Check the twitter site and this one for the date, time and place!