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Playwrights for…
The 24•7 Project
The 24•7 Project has a submission deadline of December 1 every year. The 2008 event will be held on Monday, January 14.
The Process
Interested playwrights submit a sample scene based on a prompt we provide. (see below) Selections are made about one month before the event occurs.
The next step occurs about 24 hours before show-time. We all gather at the theater and random assignments are made. At that time, we reveal the “secret ingredient” that will tie together all seven plays. It might be a theme, a prop, a costume, a song, or anything else of our choosing.
Playwrights have 12 hours to complete their scripts, the directors have 10 hours to rehearse their casts, and the musicians 4 hours to score their piece.
The Reward
The event is held at the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater, a 740-seat house that hosts touring companies from Broadway and beyond. The event begins on Sunday night with the random matching of playwrights, actors, directors, and musicians. There is just 30 minutes given to discussion planning among the teams, and then there are 12 hours until the scripts are due.
The curtain goes up on Monday night, just 24 hours after we started.
Submissions
Beginning mid-October, we accept sample scenes from playwrights that are based on a prompt we provide. The scene and your contact information are sent via e-mail with a subject line of “24•7 Submission” to:
The final prompt for 2008 is:
- Scene: A Starbucks cafe
- Characters: Trish and John
- First Line: “So…you did it?”
Please keep the sample to five pages or fewer. The scene, however, must be complete.
Acceptable file formats are limited to:
- PDF (Adobe Acrobat)
- Plain text
- Microsoft Word
Returns
Submissions are via the Internet, and thus there are no script returns necessary.
Notification
Beginning in mid-December, the selected playwrights are notified via e-mail or the other contact information provided.
Playwright Requirements
Playwrights may be of any nationality and currently reside anywhere in the world. The plays, however, must speak to North American audiences.
Winners are required to arrive in Ashland two days before the event and to remain through the last rehearsal. AWE provides transportation to and from the near-by Medford airport, if needed.
Winning playwrights are responsible for their own transportation to and from the area as well as their own lodging and meals. In short: this event appeals to local playwrights or those with local connections.
About the Fee
Fee? What fee? This event has no fees for submission or participation.