Our Finalists!
Ashland New Plays Festival
Annoucing the top eight finalists for 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Ashland, Oregon
ArtWork Enterprises, producers of the Ashland New Plays Festival and the Southern Oregon 24•7 Project, is pleased to announce the eight finalists for the ANPF 2008. Our process that began in January with 194 unread plays has resulted in the selection of eight excellent scripts, and shortly we will begin the task of deciding which of these eight will become the winning four.
This year's finalists
| Playwright | City | Script Title |
|---|---|---|
Tony Pasqualini |
LA |
Loyalties |
Steven Lyons |
Berkeley |
Mystery Spot |
Barbara Lindsay |
Seatte |
A Death Defying Act |
Richard Aellen |
Tampa |
Shiksa |
Les Thomas |
WeHo |
Cave Quest |
Alan Brody |
Cambridge |
Victory Blues |
Aline Lathrop |
Chicago |
And Eat It, Too |
EM Lewis |
Santa Monica |
Song of Extinction |
Each year AWE receives scripts from hundreds of playwrights for its three annual theatre festivals. By the the middle of January this year, we had received submissions from 194 playwrights for the ANPF, to be held in October. Of these we found it necessary to disqualify ten based on festival guidelines, leaving 184 playwrights in the running for the four prized slots. Winners will be announced by August 1.
AWE is fortunate to have the services of 20 excellent theatre afficiados on its Readers Committee. Beginning in February it becomes their job to read and rate each script. Led by long-time AWE board member David Walper, this year's committee was given the daunting task of reading more than 130,000 pages over the course of four months.
"In our first round, we read about 55,000 pages," says John H. Lee, AWE president. "The second round of judging added about 76,500 to that number. It's a herculean task and we're extraordinarily fortunate to live in a community that so values good theatre that residents are excited to participate in the support of the play-writing process. That's what makes the ANPF special and what makes Ashland so unique in America today."
Coming up next
Recently AWE held the first in a series of public workshops designed to explore the concept of reading plays, not just seeing them performed. The next workshop will be held in September, shortly after our Ten-Minute Plays Festival. Profits from the 2008 TMPF will support Friends of the Anmial Shelter, a local non-profit group. The event will feature 6-10 short plays, selected from among the more than 450 submitted by playwrights from across the nation and around the globe—many of them written specifically for the evening and in support of animals.
ANPF 2008: Information
The prize package includes a $500 honorarium, lodging for a week at an Ashland B&B, and a few other perquisites. Our four winning playwrights will set their travel plans to arrive in Ashland by Monday, October 6. The entire week will be filled with rehearsals, rewrites, seminars, workshops, public presentations, and will begin with a fun kick-off party.
In residence once again at the 
Oregon Stage Works theater on A Street in Ashland, the schedule of times, plays, and workshop topics will be announced on our website by September. Peter Alzado, Producing Artistic Director of OSW says that AWE "consistently brings excellent new works and exciting new playwrights to our area through their festivals. I've had the enjoyable honor of directing the world premiere production of one ANPF winner over the years, and hope to discover that next great piece that earns a place on our schedule."
This year's ANPF will offer workshops for playwrights and everyone else who wants to learn more about scriptcraft.
"Over the past few years, all of the participating playwrights have learned a great deal from one another," notes AWE board member Elizabeth von Radics. “Having the winning playwrights lead workshops is a great way to explore some of the reasons why their plays became ANPF winners. Local playwrights always enjoy this part of the festival the most, and the public finds it fascinating to discover some of the backstage process that they are otherwise never privvy to."
Over the years AWE has been fortunate enough to bring the talents of many people to work with the winning playwrights. Throughout the rehearsal process, experiments are tried, bits get changed, and sometimes that special spark of an idea is born that really makes the piece near-perfect. Actors from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival such as Dee Maaske, Anthony Heald, John Tufts, Eileen DeSandre and dozens of others have joined with the best regional talent including Brandy Carson, Doug Rowe, Orion Bradshaw, and many more since the first ANPF in 1992. This year will be no different, and we'll post the line-up as soon as possible.
Looking to the future, our goal is to create a complete theatre laboratory.
"Looking to the future, our goal is to create a complete theatre laboratory," said AWE president John Lee at a recent event. "We have all the right ingredients available to us in this valley, and over the next few years the ANPF will become a little bigger, inviting more playwrights to participate, offering more services to support the winning scripts, and more events for the public to enjoy."
Tickets
The festival consists of a kick-off party, four playwriting workshops, and eight script-in-hand performances of this year's winning plays. All events are ticketd and open to playwrights and members of the public.
Tickets will go on sale in September, with a basic price of $13 for the readings, and $10 for the workshops. Tickets to the kick-off event are $20. The popular Festival Pass will once again include tickets to all four plays for just $44. The new Playwrights Pass is all-inclusive with tickets to the play readings, plus all four workshops, plus the kick-off party for just $80.
Senior, student, and group rates will be available.
Volunteers
Like most theaters across the country, AWE always welcomes eager and reliable volunteers. If you would like to learn more about all of the wonderful opportunities we have available, then please phone us at 541/482.4357 and speak with someone in our office. Our volunteers receive many benefits, including free tickets to AWE events.
Be alert!
To receive e-mail alerts from AWE that include schedules and ticket information, please send a request to info@AshlandNewPlays.org today!
