From a selection of 40 short plays, six plays have been chosen as the winning scripts from the 34th Annual Samuel French Inc. Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival, which concluded yesterday, July 19th at Off-Broadway's Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street).
The winning scripts are: Just Knots by Christina Gorman; Drop by J. Michael DeAngelis & Pete Barry; Thucydides by Scott Elmegreen & Drew Fornarola; The Student by Matt Hoverman; Realer than That by Kitt Lavoie; and The Education of Macoloco by Jen Silverman. The scripts will be published as a collection and licensed by Samuel French Inc. The collection will be available for sale later this fall/winter.
The week-long festival featured a full program of the selected plays performed for audiences and a panel of judges comprised of the following playwrights: Charles Busch (The Third Story, Psycho Beach Party, Die! Mommie! Die!), JorDan Harrison (Doris to Darlene, Amazons and their Men), Arthur Kopit (Indians, Nine, Wings), Leslie Lee (The First Breeze of Summer, Black Eagles, Colored People's Time), and Billy Van Zandt (Love, Sex and the I.R.S., Silent Laughter, The Property Known as Garland). In addition, theatrical agents representing the following agencies and the following artistic directors also judged this years festival: Abrams Artists Agency, Creative Artists Agency, Elaine Devlin Literary, Inc., The Gersh Agency, and William Morris Endeavor Entertainment; Jan Buttram (Abingdon Theatre Company), Evans Haile (Cape Playhouse), Julia Hansen (Aspen Theater Masters), Bill Hayes (Palm Beach Dramaworks), Jeffrey Rosenstock (Queens Theatre in the Park) and Jim Simpson (The Flea Theater).
The Off Off Broadway Festival started in 1975 and is New York City's oldest continuous short play festival. Over 400 theatre companies and schools have participated in the Festival's first thirty-three years, including companies from coast to coast as well as abroad from Canada, UK and Asia. By requiring authors to collaborate with a producing organization and present their work in performance, Samuel French seeks to encourage the collaborative and creative process of playwriting. Over the years, 181 submitted plays have been published, and many of the participants have become established, award-winning playwrights. For more information about the Festival, plays, playwrights and participating companies, please visit the official festival website at www.samuelfrench.com/oobfestival or the official festival blog at samuelfrenchoobfest.blogspot.com.
