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The play is the thing when Curtain Players presents its eighth annual Playwrights’ Festival, opening this weekend. This year’s festival features plays all billed as world premieres.
The opening weekend schedule (July 9 and 10) features a double bill. Rheumatoid Floyd is a Citizen Kane spoof by Jay Huling of Jacksonville, Florida, and will be presented as a basic reading. Lot in Life is the comic untold story of what really happened to Lot and his family during Old Testament times, by Doug Brook of San Jose, California. This will be a staged reading, presented much in the same way a rehearsal would. Dale Bush directs Rheumatoid Floyd with Patrick Murphy at the helm of Lot in Life.
Closure by James McLindon is a black comedy about a dysfunctional family trying to mend itself as the time of the father’s death nears. McLindon resides in Northampton, Massachusetts. This staged reading, directed by Doug Whaley, will be presented July 16 and 17.
The Ancient Mariner by J. C. Svec of Clark, New Jersey, will close the festival July 23 and 24. This script, to be presented as a fully staged production, tells the story of members of a former hockey team reunited at the wake of the team’s co-founder who walked away from the group years ago. This play is directed by Patrick McGregor.
Michael Day is executive producer of this year’s festival, and he kindly took the time to answer some questions about the plays, the process, and he even offers some advice for next year’s hopeful writers.
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Whose brainchild is the playwright fest?
The original playwrights festival hosted by Curtain Players was 7 years ago, and although I was not involved at the time to know whose idea it was, I believe it was first organized by Michael Parsons. Michael is a playwright himself, and in fact has gone to attend the playwright masters degree program at Kent State and to help found Theatre Daedulus, here in town. This year’s festival was a result of an intentional effort to look at the festivals past, honestly look at what worked and what didn’t, and make a recommendation on its future. I headed up that study, and as a result made the recommendation for this year’s festival, and took on the role of Executive Producer.
What criteria did Curtain Players use to select this year’s scripts?
We received over 160 script submissions. The selection process took several stages, using a reading committee of 8 people. Due to the large number of submissions, we divided the reading between 2 groups of 4 each. The basic criteria was: does this play strike your interest? do you want to read more of it? are there new ideas presented, or old ideas presented in a new way? At each stage, the reading became more involved and the required number of readers wanting the play to move on became higher. The final roster of 16 scripts were read in their entirety by all committee members, and then the selection of the final four was finalized at a meeting where the candidates were discussed.
What is the process a script goes through before being staged in this festival?
There is a full range of “states” of scripts that we received. Some were brand new, never having been read by anyone other than the playwright. Some had had public readings done, and others may have had staged readings performed. Only scripts that have had full production were excluded from consideration.
Will any of the playwrights be in attendance?
We will have 2 of the playwrights attending the festival. Doug Brock, who wrote Lot In Life, will be in attendance at the 7/9 performance. J.C. Svec, who wrote The Ancient Mariner, will be in attendance at the 7/24 performance.
Can you talk a little about how you matched the directors with the scripts?
First, we determined who may be interested in directing one of the productions. The festival is a great vehicle for folks who have never directed or acted for us, or ever at all, to try their hands at it. Once we had a list of interested parties, we let them read the scripts and let us know which shows they were interested in. The selection process for the festival directors is a lot more relaxed than that for our regular season.
You have listed Lot in Life as a staged reading and Rheumatoid Floyd as a basic reading. What is the difference between the two types of readings?
Typically, a “reading” consists of the “actors” sitting or standing on stage, no movement, no props, no costumes. It is just as it sounds, a simple reading of the script. You might think of it as what you would experience with a radio play. A “staged reading” takes it a bit farther, adding stage movement, and some basic props and costumes, but the scripts are still in hand.
What made you choose to mount Ancient Mariner as a fully realized production?
The initial plan was to have a couple of one acts, and a couple of full length plays, with a combination of readings, staged readings, and fully staged productions. The Ancient Mariner ended up having the strongest support among the reading committee, and that was the basic criteria for choosing it to be our fully staged production. However, the director and cast of Closure, the second weekend’s presentation, believe in the script so much that are working hard to take it beyond the billed “staged reading” to make it as close to a full production as possible.
What has been the greatest challenge in putting on the festival?
I think the greatest challenge was selecting the plays to be presented. I had “optimistically” hoped for 50 submissions, and planned the reading work based on that. When we received over 160 submissions, it really forced us to ramp up the effort. My thanks still go to the folks that served on the reading committee.
Why does Curtain Players believe so strongly in supporting new works, especially given that they can tend to attract smaller audiences than well known works?
Without new works, theatre groups would be doing endless cycles of Oklahoma and Neil Simon comedies. Those are great shows, and will always have their place in a theatre’s lineup, but the festival is our small contribution to helping promote new works and new writers.
What advice would you give to would-be playwrights who might be interested in submitting to next year’s festival?
Creatively, there are no ideas too small or too big. But logistically, keep in mind what a non-professional group can accomplish; if your play requires 9 different distinct scenes or requires a realistic jetliner interior, we most likely will not be able to stage it.
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The 2010 Playwrights Festival will be staged at 7:30 PM on Fridays and Saturdays July 9-10, 16-17 and 23-24 at the 5691 Harlem Road playhouse, Galena, Ohio, 43021. General admission tickets are $5 (available at the door). A festival pass for the three weekends is on sale through July 10 for $10. Call (614) 360-1000 or visit www.curtainplayers.com.
