2008 PLAY FESTIVAL PLAY WRITING COMPETITION
TO COLLECT ORIGINAL SHORT PLAYS
FOR 10-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL
Heartland Theatre Company is seeking eight short original plays to be considered for production in June of 2008 for our 7 th annual 10-minute play festival. Last year’s plays focused on the theme "One Shoe." This year, the theme is The Coffee Shop. The competition is open to all playwrights wishing to participate. Eight plays will be selected and performed from among all the submissions.
Learn more about the Heartland Theatre Company's Performance Space.
Guidelines -
- Stick with the theme: The Coffee Shop
- Stick with the scenic requirements.
- We prefer submissions by email. If you submit hard copy, please include a $25 entry fee to cover administrative and photocopying costs.
- Please use no more than four characters, and no fewer than 2.
- Characters should be within the 18-70 age range.
- Your play should mainly consist of dialogue. Ten-minute monologues will not be considered.
- No plays previously submitted to Heartland Theatre Company, no children's plays, no musicals, and no previously staged productions will be considered. In this context, “previously staged” means any production for which tickets were sold and admittance charged.
- If your play cannot be considered for any reason (see items 4-7, etc.) you will be notified as soon as the problem is discovered. No entry fees will be refunded.
- Please include a title page including your name, address, phone number and email address. Do not put your name on the play itself as plays are judged blind. Your title should appear on each page of the play.
- Plays will be videotaped for archival purposes
- No contracts beyond the guidelines mentioned here will be offered.
- All applicants must complete and submit the Heartland Theatre 10-Minute Play Festival Entry Form, . If you are sending your submission by regular mail, please complete the entry form on-line and print it to include with your entry.
- Only one submission accepted per playwright
- No scripts will be returned
- Keep it TEN MINUTES long and in English.
- Keep in mind the physical space at Heartland.
- Remember something has to happen in those ten minutes.
- MAKE IT GOOD!
You may email your script in MS Word, pdf or rtf format in
an email to playfest@heartlandtheatre.org
or mail one hard copy to
Heartland Theatre Company
P. O. Box 1833
Bloomington, IL 61702
(Attention: Play Fest 2008)
We'll also need a brief summary or "blurb" of your play to help our readers as well as provide a guide for auditions and advertising if your play is produced. Please include this summary -- one paragraph, no more than 50 words -- after your cover page but before your script.
Deadline for entries February 1, 2008. Winners will be posted
on the Heartland website by April 15, 2008.
For more information call Heartland's Box Office at 309/452-8709
or playfest@heartlandtheatre.org
2008 Ten-Minute Play Festival Scenic Requirements
Counter with 4 bar stools
2 tables with 4 chairs each
Street entrance/exit to coffee shop
Exit to restrooms
Clock on wall
Description of Heartland Theatre Company's Performance Space
Our intimate theatre is vital and immediate to all 87 spectators. We've effective sound
resources, and adequate lighting. There is no off-stage wing space, and we find the most
successful staging is designed to accommodate a three-quarter house. We do use four entrances
in our presentations, two upstage openings, and two vomitoria that come from both sides of the
center section of the audience. There is not a working fly gallery in our theatre, and the
audience is terraced upwards so they are looking down on our presentations. Ten-minute plays
are performed in groups of four plays before intermission with a separate curtain call for
those involved in those plays, and four plays following intermission. Ideally we'd find
elements of all four plays at work on the stage from the beginning of the performance and
move effortlessly from one play to the next with a minimum of re-arranging of properties
and furniture. In an ideal world all necessary scene changes would transpire only during
intermission. Exceptions to this are sure to arise, but by keeping your imagined floor plan
simple you are giving us a deserving advantage.
Follow these links to view Photos of past 10-Minute Play Festival plays in performance:
2003
Play Festival: The Parlor Plays
2004
Play Festival: The Classroom Plays
2005
Play Festival: The Attic Plays
2006 Play Festival: The 20 Year Plays
2007 Play Festival: One Shoe
For more information call Heartland's Box Office at 309/452-8709 or playfest@heartlandtheatre.org
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