It's the 10 Year Anniversary of NYCPlaywrights and we asked readers to share their stories of productions, readings etc. they may have found through of our blog and weekly email. Many playwrights shared their stories:
Most recently playwright Reggie Jackson shared his story
Here's to more great opportunities for playwrights in 2021 - and in-person performances!
*** FREE THEATER ONLINE ***
Mint Theater is offering free on demand streaming of archival video of six past productions. These recordings are available during the dates listed below and require password to view. Enter your name and a valid email and you will be added to our mailing list and receive the first password.
DAYS TO COME by Lillian Hellman — January 4th through February 22
KATIE ROCHE by Teresa Deevy — February 1 though March 28
WOMEN WITHOUT MEN by Hazel Ellis — February 22 through March 21
YOURS UNFAITHFULLY by Miles Malleson — March 22 through May 16
A PICTURE OF AUTUMN by N.C. Hunter — March 29 through May 23
THE FATAL WEAKNESS by George Kelly — May 17 through June 13
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
The Evanston 2nd Act Players is announcing its short-play script competition for the coming year entitled 2021: It’s not 2020, or is it? Plays that look at people changing in a changing world.
“There’s no question 2020 was a year of immense change for America, whether you looked at health issues, social justice issues or political issues. We’re looking for scripts with characters who are dealing with all those changes to create 2nd acts in their lives,” says 2nd Act Players’ Artistic Director John N. Frank. “We want scripts that deal with the issues of the past year and the coming year, either seriously or comically.”
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SOUND BITES is an Annual 10-Minute Musical Festival, which showcases ten 10-minute musicals, all in one evening. Any 10-minute piece that can be performed, has a beginning, middle, and end story arch, and includes music qualifies! Now in its seventh year, SOUND BITES offers an opportunity for talented musical theatre writers, composers, and lyricists to present their work in front of audiences and industry professionals.
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The Actors Studio of Newburyport, MA is dedicated to New Play Development and will be holding its fourth annual Short Play Festival in the Fall, 2021.
Length: 5-15 minutes. Send us your best. There is no theme and no restrictions on content.
Workshops, readings, and several previous productions are okay.
Limit: One play per playwright. There is no fee to submit.
*** THEATER GLOSSARIES ***
PROMPT BOOK is the master copy of the script or score, containing all the actor moves and technical cues, and is used by the deputy stage manager to run rehearsals and later, control the performance. It’s sometimes known as the ‘book’, Prompt Copy or Prompt Script. The member of stage management (often the DSM) cueing the show is said to be ‘On the Book’. (e.g. ‘Clare’s on the book for the next show’).
As well as the script and/or score of the show, the prompt book also contains contact lists for all concerned with the production, information about the venue(s), show reports, local amenities, emergency procedures and any other information that may be needed during the run of the show. It’s rightly known as the production ‘bible’.
The book is usually laid out so that the script is on one side of a folder, and the cues are on the opposite side, with a line between the cue word / line, and the cue itself. Left-handed DSMs may prefer the cue page to be on the left of the folder. Most prefer it to be on the right, as below.
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DENOUEMENT - In a dramatic work, the falling action after the climax, the unwinding of the complications of the plot.
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GHOST LIGHT – A light that stays illuminated on a stage when the auditorium is otherwise unoccupied. Naturally this term was coined by a thespian and therefore super dramatic (and creepy).
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UNITIES of time, place and action, the three elements of drama introduced into French dramatic literature is actually based on a misinterpretation of Aristotle's Poetics. They demanded that a play should consist of one action, represented as occurring in not more than 24 hours, and always in the same place. According to The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre, Aristotle "insists only on the unity of action, merely mentions the unity of time, and says nothing about the unity of place". The influence of Shakespeare in England was such that the three unitities were never adopted as a rule of dramatic construction.
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LIMELIGHT was the first gas lamp alternative for lighting theatres. Invented in the early 1800s, limelight was generated by heating calcium oxide with a blend of oxygen and hydrogen. Theatres first began using limelight in the 1830s as the first spotlight. Now, we continue to say that those in the limelight are the center of attention.
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PROSCENIUM is a frame or arch separating the stage from the auditorium. The proscenium opening was of particular importance to the Realistic playwrights of the 19th century, such as Ibsen and Shaw, for whom it was a picture frame or an imaginary fourth wall through which the audience experienced the illusion of spying on characters.
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ADITUS MAXIMUS is the most important or greatest entrance: the Roman entrance to the orchestra, typically located between the cavea and the scaena, one on either side of the orchestra; corresponds to the parados in the Greek theater.
