List of Fears

I'm not scared of cops...that much. I'm aware that they can kill me with impunity but I grew up in the 1980s in the middle of a drug war so my brain is hardwired to fear death by street criminals or stray bullets more than cops. I know that the arrests for random acts of violence rarely happen and you can't arrest a stray bullet for murder. The words 'innocent bystander' are usually connected with 'tragic' in the news reports. I was raised to be good and stay clear of bad folks so if I had a violent and untimely demise, I would assuredly be innocent. Right after that on my fear list was getting kidnapped b/c it was the 1980s and we were all told that strangers were going to kidnap us, do bad things to us, and throw us in a ditch. Next on my list of fears was car accidents, and then it was plague-like diseases so AIDS, cancer, rare strains freakish strands of hepatitis that wipe out an entire family eating at a restaurant. If I were growing up now, covid would be on that list.

So my personal order of fears were 1) random acts of violence 2) kidnapping and/or targeted violence 3) car accidents 4) disease. After that, came cops...maybe. They were definitely in the top 10 but I spent so much energy on just the top 4 that things further down on the list (animals like poisonous snakes and sharks) were fears I reserved when I wanted to 'switch things up' and have anxiety about something else. I would ask my friends for their top ten b/c I was a weird child. My white and black friends had radically different lists. I found that white friends didn't fear stray bullets and certainly didn't fear the cops. Cops wouldn't even make their top 20 list. Cops? No, they help. White kids were mostly scared of kidnapping and maybe disease. White male straight friends weren't even scared of kidnapping or disease. Their entire list of fears consisted of freak accidents, snakes, and sharks. When you tried to explain that more people died from vending machine accidents than died from sharks, they would laugh. But I wonder if there was a secret lists they had in their minds. A list they dare not speak in mixed company.

In college, there was only one time panic spread through the dorm. We were told that someone suspicious was walking around, possibly casing out the place. People locked themselves in their rooms. And for a split second, I did too. Then I thought...hmmm...let me go see this thing people are panicking about, My suspicions were confirmed: it was a black kid. A prospective student wandered in. He was a nerdy skinny kid with glasses. A parody of Urkel. Someone saw this kid and ran to a person and said 'hide' and then that fear spread through the dorm. At a certain point, maybe the race got dropped from the description (did it only get dropped with me?) The police and campus security was coming. I ushered the Black teen out of a side exit and told him were to go to avoid the encircling forces. An odd look came over his face. Maybe he was offended and embarrassed or enraged. Maybe I was all of those things for him too. He thanked me and quickly walked away. In that moment it felt like we were immediately joined in a conspiracy. A mundane moment was charged with a familiar instinctive urge to protect this random black person from harm via cops and security. It's one of those underground railroad moments when you two black people conspire...to live. 

Meanwhile in the other world, the white students were relieved when campus security came. The officers found nothing. I did not tell them the student they were looking for was black and harmless. I told them nothing. I said I didn't see anything. When we got to the cafeteria I let my white friends know 'that was a harmless Black prospective student who just wanted to ask a few questions.' Oh...there was a pause. No one knew what to say next, so the conversation just moved along. We continued eating. I realized that this was actually something I feared that was on my top 10 list: white people's fear. It would surely kill me quicker than snakes or even cancer. Their fear is all-pervasive and can snatch up a Black life in a moment of panic. No one bears any responsibility for the panic. It lurks underneath pleasantries and dinner. I am surrounded by it. 

RNC is for C Students (and you should be worried)

 The average person is a C student. Remember that. You don't get to be a C student because you study hard, pursue truth, seek out your passion. C students move when they are shoved, read when are forced to do it, vote when they are afraid. If you are an A+ student who wants to say 'no, no, Aurin...you are looking down on ppl' STFU. You are an elitist. It's fine to be that, but recognize your place in the world and that the average person is a C student. And that should worry you. 

In the last 5 presidential campaigns I have been asked/stalked/harrangued/sought out to volunteer twice: 2008 and 2012. The other 3 times the Dem candidate said 'don't worry about it. We got it in the bag'...and then lost. The DNC outreach to the POC community? Minimal. The outreach to the youth? Nonexistent. And in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 the Republicans had batshit crazy conventions in an alt reality where they just made up stuff...and they won 60% of the time. White Centrist Dems are the Chris Webber of politics. They are anti-clutch. In each case the Democratic candidate was smarter, more well-read, and actually existing in a world of reality. In each case the Dem candidate had platform and policies which would have benefited the average person and they lost to outright crooks. This is not an accident of history. History doesn't 'accident itself' 60% of the time. 

Gore, Kerry, Clinton all faced cartoonishly bad liars and criminals and expected the American ppl to understand the depths of the lies. They did not. The American ppl understand what you tell them and what is right in front of them. Even now as we race toward 200,000 dead in 6 months, the virus has slowed a millimeter in some swing states and white voters are already starting to flock back to Trump. The dead bodies aren't even cold and American white ppl have such a short-term memory that they will step over the corpses to give a white guy a second, third, 5000th chance to kill, steal, lie, and corrupt all standards. Americans do not understand history, truth, sociology, health care, economics, or biological genocide. They understand shiny, big, fat, simple balloon words.  They understand word clouds and foggy optimism. They understand chicken soup for the soul, a vague Jesus who allows them to love sporadically and kill generously, and loudness/repetition equals truth. Loudness/repetition equals truth. Loudness/repetition equals truth. 

The big fat dumb monstrosity the RNC puts on every year isn't meant for Emmy voters. It is meant to be loud and repetitive. Joe Biden needs to be loud and repetitive. It doesn't even matter that much what he is talking about, although it would do wonders for him if he actually came out in favor of Medicare for All, UBI, ban assault weapons. It would do wonders for motivating progressives if he was loud and repetitive about 3 bumpersticker ideas. Notice, I did not say policy. You are loud and repetitive about IDEAS! Policy chokes thought and gets you buried in fact-checkers and eggheads. Ideas allows the researchers to work for you, to imagine, to dream how something could work, rather than telling you all the reasons why your policy may not work. 

I can't believe Dems are still this bad at politics. Politics is the art of presenting big shiny fat simple ideas. Say it loudly and repeat it again and again until you get sick of hearing it. Repeat it until it becomes a mantra. Be loud, be garish, if you get caught in a Dean scream moment you don't apologize. You double down on that scream. You make tik-tok videos in which you challenge people to scream you big, fat, shiny slogans. Politics is grotesque, short, and brutish...just like life. 

The winners in life are almost never the book smart, savvy, well-read, perspicacious A+ students. The winners are the B students who are just smart enough to pretend like they're on the honor roll but shrewd enough to get the C- students to kick the crap out of the A+ students. The B students realizes that there are a lot more C students in life and the smart pupils have their heads so far up their own elitism that they look down on the average person. 

The B- student is the middle child...cunning, shrewd. They have an inferiority complex because they're overlooked and under appreciated. And they want revenge. While Trump is certainly dumb, he is smart enough to fill his staff with B-students. They're hungry, they have nothing to lose, and they are motivated to destroy the Obama honor roll class. And they know who their audience is and how to reach them. The loud/repetitive lies are not for you. They are for the swing state voters who want life to go back to normal, even if their normal wasn't that great. The C students can't envision incrementally better change according to researched data. If you are loud and repetitive the average person can be conned into fake dreams while accepting their tragic reality. 

Conversations with Aunt Barbara

Aunt Barbara Cross called me today. Her voice always soothes me. Now that she's approaching the big 8-0, she has softened and her voice moves a slightly slower pace. Nevertheless, it's still enjoyable to hear from her. She wanted to tell me about my family. So I pulled up my google document that has become my memory reservoir and let her talk....

-your grandmother (Mema aka Lynn Maddox) was a pinup girl for the war. She was in NYC. It wasn’t bathsuit pinups. It was uplifting poster of women in army uniform with a little cap that they made back then. Your grandmother was so pretty. And that’s how she met Stanley’s dad. And your dad has a half-brother. (this part I do know because I drove with my Dad to meet his half-brother 15 years ago).

Squire’s from Barbados are lawyers and business people. 

Mother Squire’s dad came from Ireland...County Cork. It’s the county right next to where my daughter’s husband’s ppl come from. He came cross country by himself and shoe’ed horses. And when he got to Florida he met Mother Squire’s mom. I was maybe 6 then. He was a very tall man and very slender, had a beard. Mother Squire’s sister was Aunt Sade. But her last name was Meriwether. He was at her home and they had this big house with a wraparound porch. He was standing up there with his walking cane and he looked so distinguished. His name was O’Toole and when he got to America they were rough on Irish and he went to the black community and changed his name to Taylor. 

And then Mother Squire was from Barbados and all the Squire’s back there are doctors and lawyers. 

Prophecy pt....

I can see things. And your name isn’t an accident. It’s going to be known by everyone. 

 

Biden's Acceptance Speech (In My Dreams)

 The person who frames and drives the argument wins 9 times out of 10. Doesn't even matter how stupid that person is or how ridiculous their argument is to analysis. That's what we were taught in high school debate. 

So yeah, even if Biden is 10% up, I'm worried. The Dems are not controlling the narrative or framing any issue. The GOP has a famewhore who controls 99% of all the media w/ their outlandish, appalling, boorish, corrupt, homicidal behavior. On the other side we have...what? Decency. Even the 'decency angle' is a narrative that highlights the other side by comparison. 

Biden, I'm gonna need you to give the speech of your motherf***ing life. The speech your motherf***ing life is not your most eloquent speech. Fire your speechwriters. The last time Biden said something memorable was when you were speaking out against school busing...40 years ago. Wrong side of history but at least I can remember it. The last time you did something memorable was 1) cursing on a hot mic 'that's a big fucking deal' about Obamacare 2) treating Anita Hill like shit. I'm just being honest. I'm going to vote for you anyway but that's what I remember about your entire career. No bueno. 

I need you to give a speech as passionate simple-minded as a child. In 2016 Clinton gave...a very nice speech. All y'all that said it was the best thing ever were lying. I knew you were lying at the time b/c I was watching the speech and...I couldn't remember a thing she said. Clinton spoke very well, eloquent, calm. I don't remember anything besides her white suit...and a few barbs but they were about her opponent. I need Biden to be sharp, short, concise. Terse. H. Ross Perot folksy. "Here's the deal folks...' should be your opening and you should just launch into it: 1 out of every 1,000 of you is going to be dead by the end of the year. 30 million are going to be evicted. America is a third-world shit hole. Period. He did that. They did that with the permission of the Senate. They killed your grandmother. They stole your check and gave it to trillionaires. They're shitting down your throat and calling it a throat lozenge. I'm gonna stop this motherfucking virus. I'm going to hunt these crooks who killed your grandmother. I want their heads on a stick. I want them in prison for life. They are worse than Osama Bin Laden...yeah I said that shit. Fight me. They are more deadly than the worst terrorist we hunted down to the end of the earth. They are KKK-spouting, racist biological terrorists who sent your kids back into a burning building. Guess what, I'm not playing around. 

They used to call me Sleepy Joe but now they call me Batman' and raise up a motherfucking bat and have the word JUSTICE on it. Point that Louisville slugger at the camera and say "I'm coming for your heads you shit-fuckers. I'm gonna tear your dick into beef jerky and feed it to my pitbulls. I'm going take this country out of the shit hole these lying scumbags put it in...and then I'm coming for each one of them. I'm not going to stop until I hunt every one of them down. And then I'm coming after Putin b/c he's coming after us. I'm coming straight for our enemies who are fucking with your freedom. Putin...fuck you. Anything you hear about me in the 70 days is suspect. Media, if you cover anything leaked like you did in 2016 I'm going to introduce you to my bat.

Then I want everyone in the DNC to walk out with bats with different slogans written on them...Beat the Virus....fuck racism....eat a dick, QANON...KKK Killers...Nazi hunters...

And then Biden says 'this is my team. This is my squad. You see these slogans...fuck Nazis...yeah. If you have any defense against this, then I'm swinging at your head. If you're trying to defend racism, QANON, or the death of 300,000 Americans then I'm swinging at you. This is life and death and there's no gray area any more. These  people are lying, stealing and literally killing you. There's no place for that on my squad. Suit up, America. It's time we win back our country and then hunt these people down. If we don't hunt them down, they're going to come back and kill you and steal from you. This is justice. This is the only way we save this democracy. Don't give up, don't surrender, keep fighting, we're going to win. 

And then I want fireworks. Go online and buy a bat bitch! I ain't playing around with these heauxs. And yes, I spelled it like a drag queen b/c if you're not down with drag, you probably got little dick energy. And we're swinging bats up here! 

All right, this may be my dream speech that will never happen. But Biden's sales pitch should have this feel to it. No more eloquence. 

A Tale of Two 2020's

 I am between extremes, like the opening of  "A Tale of Two Cities." It is both the busiest of times with work, and the most boring of times without theatre, gym, dining out, meeting ppl. I'm both doing well personally and wrecked by what I see around me. I did a breakdown of my time and b/c my writers' room is meeting only 4 hrs a day. I don't travel at all. I don't shop for groceries (almost all delivery), no eating out, no theatre, no traveling to Manhattan. My world is now the few blocks around my apartment and the park. I have an extra 50 hours every week! It's like having an extra two days. The disadvantage is that because work happens through zoom there is a sense that our labor has becomes a numinous thing that floats throughout the day. I have time and also I don't because it is spread everywhere. My time is both more plentiful and more fleeting/scattered/chopped. 

I expected this administration to destroy the arts, our gov, our democracy, the black community, POC, our national dignity, trade, and our reputation around the world. I did not think they would destroy the seasons, the outdoors, and time itself. When we look back on this time.

I hope we remember the disorienting, deadly, and existential threat that constant lies create for human existence. Lies don't just cause war, death, disease, famine. They unravel our very sense of time and self.

90-Day Prez

Does he know that the overwhelming % of ppl who vote by mail are older and white, aka his base? 

-Conversely, the ppl most likely to vote in person are POC and the young.

-does he know that old white ppl are also most vulnerable to covid?

- does he know Herman Cain died of covid?'

- does he know that a campaign slogan of 'promises kept' will sound so tone deaf with 300,000 dead Americans, mass evictions, Great Depression level unemployment, no repeal of Obamacare, and NO WALL (and Mexico didn't pay for it). 

-if you were the Dem party you could have not sabotaged Trump's re-election more than his own actions. He's ushering in a permanent plague that is weakening the economy, ravaging the south, flipping his voters, killing his supporters, motivating his enemies. And now due to his obstinate refusal to listen to facts, he can't hold rallies which was his juice. He can't have a convention. About 70% of the country wants a national mask mandate and to shut down tightly so that we can start over. And every day we put on a mask we are viscerally reminded that this has been the WORST YEAR EVER for most people...if they're still alive. 

I want Biden to do more, but I also don't want him to gaffe his way into getting low-information voters to equate his tone-deaf malapropism to actual mass biological genocide happening right now thanks to our government. Maybe we are such a dimwitted nation that we need bright, bold lines to differentiate between an old grumpy man and someone who is the embodiment of a 'fiery pedo death comet filled with molten diarrhea' hurtling toward every American institution and vaporizing us in an apocalyptic shit cloud of horror. I know it's not as catchy as MAGA, but do you think if we just kept reminding Evangelicals that 'Jesus is going to give you big ol' frown if you keep voting for the pedo raping death monster' that they'll get it? I know Schumer and Pelosi might bristle at such strong language, but I'm ok with bristling their kente cloth centrism if the msg penetrates the layers of congealed fat sitting encasing the brains of 'working class voters.'  We need bunker-busting msging to hit and tunnel under the collected layers of generational racism, privilege, and fragility, and explode into the basement of their basic humanity.

Goodbye to Paul Lucas: a friend and mentor

 Paul Lucas passed away this week. We knew each other for over 15 years. We would see each other at plays, talk in the lobby, occasionally have coffee. The first time I met him was at the MFA reading of my play BLEED (dark comedy about a guy who bleeds to death.) The graduation reading/showcase was open to students, families, and industry. 6 ppl came to mine. Total. There were more people on stage than in the audience. Paul brought 3 of the 6 ppl. I had never met him. I wondered 'who is this guy in a bow tie and how can I thank him?' After the reading we went out for drinks and he introduced me to his friends...who were also producers in the industry. He had brought more people and more industry to my reading than the school...and I did not know him. And now he's paying for my drinks, introducing me to other people, encouraging me. I was blown away. 

Later on, Paul asked me if I wanted to pitch a tv show to IFC. WHAT?!? I prepared a treatment, practiced, and shook off the nerves. I still thought 'WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? Is this a con? Is he going to ask me for money?' But no....he said he liked my voice and the way I thought. He just wanted to support me. So we pitched at show at IFC. I tried to return the favor by reading Paul's plays, attending readings, showing up for him. But it was more than that...he was the first person I met right out of school who said 'hey, don't give up. I don't know you but I want to support you.' He liked my weird play about a dimwitted loser bleeding to death over the course of a day. He said it reminded him of life...that it was existential and absurd. And many of our future interactions had that same absurdist bent to it, as if saying 'this world is so strange and violent, and cruel and absurd. Let's just drink some coffee...or pitch a show...or lament at the state of things. Let's just...be. For a moment. Breathe and be. The life is so short. Let's just press pause...do you like my bowtie? Have you seen any new musicals?

The last time I saw Paul was at the hub of NY theatre: the Signature Theatre lobby. I was waiting for a friend. Paul was waiting for someone else. Our final interaction was like all the previous ones: funny, weird, light, conversational, fraught with the feeling that he wanted to say...but couldn't. So we just shared that moment. We planned on meeting again when this was all over. I just didn't know what he meant by 'this.' Now I do. Goodbye, Paul. I'll meet you in the lobby when this is all over with. We can talk and have coffee and talk about your bowtie. It's all so strange and sad. That's all I have right now. Goodbye my friend. See you soon.

Gig Life

 I recently switched my representation. It wasn't a planned. It was a confluence of many different factors that I could not have foreseen. But underlying my decision was a realization of how many dreams I had given up on over the last few years. I had given up on a New York off-broadway premiere. Granted, I was getting work around the country at various theatres, happily puttering along. New York was always the goal but it felt like I was getting frozen out of the market. My plays are about contemporary black culture and it's not taking place in the ghetto or in slavery times...not the cup of tea for most white theatregoers. My plays had been developed at Juilliard, Royal Court, the O'Neill Center, National Black Theater, etc. Despite that development, education, and being a resident playwright at New Dramatists, I still couldn't get a workshop or even a reading in an off-broadway space after 7 years of hustling. I moved on. I started writing tv. It's a lot more money, higher profile, more prestige, more attention. Then I started gigging my theatre career around at regional theatres, and that was that. The dream faded and no one brought it up much anymore, so I didn't. I got jobs, my agents were connecting me to work, so that was that. In the war of attrition that is the American arts scene, I was eating. I was working. Credits of some sort were rolling in steadily. 

But I had given up on my dream. I didn't trash it, the dream just slipped away. It's so easy to 'gig' and lose focus of building a career. For most of my life, I have gigged. I hop and skip around to jobs. Nimble, flexible, shrewd are traits associated with my decisions. It's so easy to get disappointed that you learn to never commit your heart too much. Just gig, one-night runs, short jobs. There is nothing dishonorable about living a gig life. It's certainly a great way to build one's craft. Like a jazz musician, if you're playing in juke joints and fancy clubs with differentiating between the two there is a certain magical equanimity to the life of an artist. You stuff the money in the boot, tip your hat, and move on. 

But what if there was something more than living gig to gig? What if there is a plan connected to a deeply-held dream. What is there is a path to bliss. 

I'm beginning a new phase in my life. I'm officially middle-aged. The fleet-footed zig zagging and multitasking served me well in my 20s and 30s. But now is the painful transition that happens for people as they turn the corner on 40. My life requires more discipline, focus, and willpower. I need not hop around in desperation. The gigs will come. But now it's time to build. 

NYC or LA?

Young artists ask me: NYC or LA? There's no solid answer.

 LA has 500 times more opportunities for TV and film. There are more resources and more smart people so it's a great chance to make a name for yourself. But you will not make your masterpiece in LA. Sorry. It won't happen. You can work, earn a lot of money, climb the professional ladder, you can start a family in LA, buy a home with a backyard, you can even become sickeningly rich and live a content life...as long as you don't expect to improve your craft as an artist. You will not. LA is an industry town. There is no hub, there is no centralized shop in which people hone themselves. If you are in LA, you craft your art on an island. If you're lucky you have a few friends you can rely on but there is no community push for new narratives. Whatever skills you have coming into town, you will pretty much maintain. No one EVER gets better in LA. They just maintain where they were before going there. Now if you are a genius before you arrive to SoCal, then congratulations...you may be able to crank out a few RAGING BULL's or GOODFELLAS from your past experience. But everything in the town is built for commerce, speed, comfort. These are not words associated with great art. Everything in the town is built for highway living. And it's not their fault. This is not the usual East coast slam of LA LA land.  

If you go through art history there are periods in time where art explodes in a particular region. Russian novelist in the 19th century, 17th century Dutch painters, Hollywood movies (mostly from Jewish immigrants) in the 1920s-1940s, NYC theatre in the 1950s-1960s. There is nothing inherently evil or awful about LA. The town is filled with very smart people. Resources abound for young artists...and yet it's almost impossible to find groundbreaking work. According to Western Art theory, this makes no sense, right? After all, masterpieces come from singular geniuses and LA is filled with them. But the idea of a singular genius crafting gems is not only outdated its a destructive model. 

Masterpieces usually happen in clusters because a community of artists feed off each other. It's a little like how Silicon Valley is the space needed for the synergy of technological innovation. In Shakespeare's time he had Marlowe and Ben Johnson and numerous other writers who were probably writing at or above their level who we will never know. London theatre had that same Silicon Valley energy. Were there probably some very good writers in Dublin or Manchester? Of course. But a good writer can't grow by themselves. Even if they had access to the finest books in the world, it is almost impossible for an individual artists to elevate to that rarified air of genius work. Shakespeare's plays took other people's work and elevated them. He didn't start from scratch. King Lear was a popular drama before Shakespeare tried his hand at it. He fed off the energy of the time and observed what went right and what went wrong, and then sought to improve that with his version. 

Right now something is happening NYC theatre when it comes to black playwrights. We are feeding off each other. The work is astonishing because it keeps elevating off the last person. The same is true for new musicals. In the era known as 'post Hamilton' there has been a noticeable shift in what is allowed on stage. From this new freedom, artists are competing, riffing, challenging, and pushing each other in this field. It's not like genius musical writers just all grew up in the early 2010s. They raised each other up. 

NYC is dirty, filthy, and dangerous. It has been that way for about 300 years. But it can still attract an almost miraculous kind of artists who travel from all around the world to be put in a cage match of wits. 

It's sad. I wish masterpieces could be made on luxury cruises and luxurious resorts. I wish masterpieces could be made from the fat, happy, family men and family women who have big houses. Life would be so much easier if all you had to do was provide people with decadent resources and wait for innovation to sprout. 

In Buddhism it's the same thing. There are saints and great masters during different periods in human history. And they usually happen in clusters with other masters. 

Now this isn't a knock on LA. Most people don't care about masterpieces. Hell, most people don't even know how to define great art. It's irrelevant. The average consumer and audience member wants something pleasing and simple. Industry towns are perfect for making pleasing, simple art. 

#WAP Appeal

WAP broke the internet. Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion dropped #WAP and I've probably listened to a few dozen times. It's catchy, nasty, and manages to be shocking in this age of shock proof fans. I don't know if it's good or appropriate. But it's definitely causing a debate.

It's hard for me to be self-righteous about #WAP when I grew up in 1980s Miami. All the kids on the school bus knew the lyrics for 2 Live Crew's "Face Down A** Up (That's the way we like to F___)." And decades later when Uncle Luke was grand marshal of the King Mango Strut Parade and he screamed out 'FACE. DOWN!..." and older adults started laughing b/c we knew the rest of the song. The kids looked confused, 'face down' but we have a generational secret. We were the adults now and the lyrics had aged into a charming dirty limerick. We could giggle about it, like our generation invented dirty song, never mind Little Richard's "Tutti Fruiti" was also named in honor of the same sexual act came out in the 1950s and was such a coded phrase that no one ever thought to ask 'what IS a tutti fruiti...and why is he so excited about it?' 

I can say that on the same 2 Live Crew album with "Face Down" there were also songs like "Fuck Martinez" that cursed out the Florida Governor as well as the Broward sheriff (fuck Navarro). There were libertarian brags about violating societal norms and standing up for the first amendment. The dirtiness was in the streets, sheets, and also the courthouse and statehouse. 

But I can also say the kids were rapping 2 Live Crew b/c of their righteous first amendment stand, lol. We were rapping it because it was the dirtiest thing we could say. It was our Tutti Fruitti and our WAP. 

I guess one day 60-year-old Cardi B will be the grand marshall of some boring-ass parade and someone will make some sly comment about 'macaroni in a pot' and she'll only have to say 'WAP' to get all the adults to laugh. The kids will look around confused...what's so funny? But that older generation will have their own dirty joke that has aged into something nostalgic.

Use of Time During Quarantine Week

 time seems different. It feels like I'm doing less but more is getting done, but also there's this floating feeling b/c I'm doing stuff in the same space. I broke it down between then and now....

WORK

-Normal TV writers' room (including travel): 10 hrs a day/50 hrs a week

-TV writers' zoom room: 4 hrs a day/20 hrs a week

- total saving: 30 hrs

GYM

-Normal Gym time (including walking, shower, etc): 

2 1/2 hrs, 5 X a week: 11 hrs 

-Working out at Home: 45 minutes 4 X a week: 3 hours

-total saving: 8 hrs

ENTERTAINMENT

-Normal Theatregoing (including subway, waiting, etc):

 4 hrs, 4X a week: 16 hours 

-Zoom Theatre: 1 hr, maybe 2X a week: 2 hrs 

-total saving: 14 hrs

RESTAURANTS/GROCERY STORES

Normal (including subway): 3 hrs, 3-4 times a week: 12 hrs

Homecooking and Instacart: 1 hr, 7 x week: 7 hrs

-total savings: 5 hrs a day

SCREEN TIME (including laptops and phone)

Normal Screen time: 6 hrs/day, 7X a week: 42 hrs

Quarantine Screen time: 10 hrs/day, 7 X a week: 70 hrs

Total deficit: -28

WEEKLY TOTAL: I am saving 57 hrs a week, which is like adding an extra 2 days added to the calendar, BUT...

-I am also using screens (b/c of work, entertainment, ordering food, ordering groceries) 28 more hours every week! Which is a lot. It is like having one day just devoted to be on screen. 

Overall I still feel like that is a net total of an extra 29 hrs every week I'm not on a subway, walking somewhere, waiting for food in a restaurant, shopping in person, and 4 hrs every day we are not at work on EVIL or THE GOOD FIGHT. 

-The question is...would you want to go back to the way it was before?

 Of course I want the gym back. I want theatre back and to see people at work...but at the expense of adding an extra 47 hrs back to my week? A lot of my writing in contemplating and I think this extra time is why I'm writing so fast now. Granted some of that contemplation was happening before quarantine when I was walking and on the subway and waiting for food...but this is quieter and more focused. I have an extra 2 days of more focused thinking, mulling an idea around, and rewriting. I think this is why tv writers' rooms are becoming so efficient on zoom. Most writers HATE zoom but grudgingly admit that time flies by and scripts are getting cranked out b/c they're only at work 3-6 hrs a day, and they no longer have to worry about getting dressed, transportation. The awful convenience of zoom rooms means that writers are saving an entire day of planning, dressing, transportation.

Half-Ass Monsters

it's true.

we're all just making things up

there is no grand conspiracy

no treasure map

no plotting illuminati 

death and chaos is more slapstick

men become monsters in a half-assed way

you pity and rage against these half-asses 

these half-asses destroy continents with memos

emails circulate with misspellings for genocide

you read the notes and see the monster 

never learned the 'i before e except after c' rule

they are probably embarrassed about their grammar

more ashamed of the foible than the massacre

these half-ass monsters some times go to prison...

not for genocide. For half-assed crimes. 

Tax evasion and perjury on a witness stand

it's never for the monstrosity

our laws have no way of dealing with the massacre

our ethics are too small to consider what it means to kill

hundreds of thousands of people out of ill will

so we find an accountant to look for stupid math

and we laugh...we call it justice

we call it a grand finale 

half-ass monsters going to prison because of accounting

that's justice?

Never an apology or acknowledgment of genocide or betrayal

we niggle on the math and spelling error.

Evil rarely goose-steps down the street

in thigh-high leather with shark sharp teeth

Half-ass monsters roll out of bed and have back pain

comb-overs, and sort of figure out ways to do the next bad thing

'you fight the crocodiles closest to the canoe' is what I was told

they don't have to plan big, 

they just have to do the next bad thing

and then the next and the web is spun.

Violin as Pen

I played the violin back when public schools actually dared to teach kids to read music, dance, and play classical instruments. Our poor teacher was trying to explain classical music to a bunch of hyperactive gonzos and she boiled it down to three things: rhythm, harmony, and volume. She told us that's all we needed to play music. Each stanza had a collection of notes that had a rhythm, harmony/dissonance, and a volume level. Although I've grown up and come to appreciate music as a lot more than that simple definition...it's also not. 

Some times when I look at dramatic scenes I see them as stanzas of music. And each scene has a rhythm, harmony, and volume. That's why when you watch a movie like THE GODFATHER II and it begins in a wedding scene (LOUD VOLUME, harmony of matrimonial love, communal rhythm) and then the flow switches to a small private scene (soft volume, dissonance in an argument, personal rhythm of something seedy and hidden happening behind closed doors).  Or you watch THE AVIATOR and it begins in a soft scene of a mother bathing a child in darkness before cutting to a bright noisy airfield with planes taking off. The jump between the scenes is cognitively satisfying to the brain just like how the bombastic cannons of the 1812 Overture needs quiet moments around it. When writing I think a lot of about the LOUD-soft, harmony-dissonance, and breath. I wish more people taught writing like it was music. That's where the poetry is and that's where the emotions are buried. 

I remember writing a monologue in school that made every actor cry when they read. It was just about a man sitting in front of window, having a sunstroke, and breathing. When I rewrote the scene I snipped out two sentences to save time...and everyone stopped crying. I edited the monologue some more and then it became boring. I had unknowingly taken the musicality out of the story.

We might be able to teach writers how to tell stories of catharsis instead of just the crashing noise of a finale. 

GET WHAT YOU WANT: AUGUST 2020

1.  NYLON FUSION THEATRE COMPANY

Deadline: August 8th

Website: https://www.nylonfusion.org/submissions

RETROSPECT: The Worst of Times

We have some epic fails in our past. Explore one of them. Was this a failure to all or just some? Could it have been prevented?   Should it have been prevented?  Take any angle you want, even speculating what it would mean if things were different.

​

PROSPECT: The Future

Every era has a “future” style. A future outlook based on the present. What does “future” look like now? What does it sound like? What does it feel like? We look at The Jetsons or Back To The Future and say “where is my flying car?” What do we expect now that we know that flying cars aren’t (yet?) a thing? Speculate. Have fun!

To be considered This Round's On Us please submit/email the following: A cover letter, brief synopsis, resume and full script to nylonsubmissions@gmail.com Please be specific as to which project you are submitting to. Write on the SUBJECT LINE For example: This Round’s On Us: The Worst Of Times, Jane Jones.  Accepted plays are produced (including casting) by Nylon Fusion Theatre Company. Playwrights are encouraged to attend rehearsals.

2. NATIVE VOICES: FESTIVAL AND RETREAT

Deadline: August 10th

Website: https://theautry.org/events/signature-programs/native-voices-annual-call-for-scripts

2021 Playwrights Retreat and 27th Festival of New Plays: Native Voices is currently accepting submissions of full-length plays (60+ pages) by Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and First Nations playwrights addressing all themes and topics.

The Retreat and Festival bring artists to Los Angeles to work on 3–5 plays through a rigorous directorial and dramaturgical commitment for 8–10 days in May/June. The retreat culminates in public staged readings of the plays at the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles. Selected playwrights receive artistic support as well as an honorarium; out-of-town artists receive roundtrip airfare plus lodging in Southern California.

Selection Process: Full-length plays (60+ pages) will be read and evaluated. A select number of playwrights will be invited to submit formal proposals detailing their developmental goals should their play be chosen for the short list. Scripts will then be sent to a committee of nationally recognized theatre artists for further evaluation. With their help, Native Voices selects up to five plays for the Playwrights Retreat and Festival of New Plays. Playwrights will be notified in January 2021.

2021 OPEN Submission for Production Consideration

We accept scripts all year long. Do you have a full-length script that has been developed and produced that you’d like us to consider for a future Native Voices production in Los Angeles? Please follow the Checklist for All Submissions below and in the Native Voices Script Submission form check the box for 2021 General Submission for Production Consideration.

A Note About the Native Voices Distance Dramaturgy Process

Months prior to residencies at the Playwrights Retreat and Festival of New Plays, selected playwrights participate in dramaturgical conversations with an assigned director and dramaturg. Workshops with these creative teams and a cast of professional actors commence once the playwright arrives on-site. It is important to note that these conversations and workshops are playwright driven, allowing the writer to shape their own developmental path. Selected playwrights should be prepared to dedicate adequate time to this process prior to arriving on-site.

Checklist for All Submissions

Please label script attachment as follows: PlayTitle_Author’s Last Name, First Initial (Example: MyNewPlay_Doe, J.doc).

All submissions must conform to a standard play-script format (one-inch margins, #12 Times or Courier font, all pages numbered).

Include a title page with full contact information (mailing address, phone numbers, e-mail address) and a draft or revision date.

Include a character breakdown at the beginning of your script.

Provide a biography of 75–100 words. Please label attachment as follows: Bio_Author’s Last Name, First Initial (Example: Bio_Doe, J.doc).

Provide a press ready photo of at least 300dpi. Please label attachment as follows: Photo_Author’s Last Name, First Initial (Example: Photo_Doe, J.doc).

Provide development history for the play. Label attachment as follows: DevHistory_PlayTitle_Author’s Last Name, First Initial (Example: DevHistory_MyNewPlay_Doe, J.doc).

To submit, fill out our online form and upload your submission materials here: Native Voices Script Submission Form

Previously submitted plays should only be resubmitted if the play has undergone significant dramatic changes. Previously produced plays should be submitted under the 2021 General Submission for Production Consideration. Plays that are not selected are kept on file for consideration for future opportunities. Playwrights are encouraged to make multiple submissions (up to three per event), but selection will be limited to only one play per playwright, per event.

3. YALE DRAMA SERIES PLAYWRITING COMPETITION

Deadline: August 15th

Website: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/yale-drama-series-submissions

The Yale Drama Series is seeking submissions for its 2021 playwriting competition. The winning play will be selected by the series' current judge, Paula Vogel. The winner of this annual competition will be awarded the David Charles Horn Prize of $10,000, publication of their manuscript by Yale University Press, and a staged reading at Lincoln Center’s Claire Tow Theater. The prize and publication are contingent on the playwright agreeing to the terms of the publishing agreement. This contest is restricted to plays written in the English language. Worldwide submissions are accepted. Submissions must be original, unpublished full-length plays, with a minimum of 65 pages. Plays with less than 65 pages will not be considered. Translations, musicals, and children's plays are not accepted. 

The Yale Drama Series is intended to support emerging playwrights. Playwrights may win the competition only once.

Playwrights may submit only one manuscript per year. Only manuscripts authored by one playwright are eligible. Plays that have been professionally produced or published are not eligible. Plays that have had a workshop, reading, or non-professional production or that have been published as an actor’s edition will be considered. Plays may not be under option, commissioned, or scheduled for professional production or publication at the time of submission. Plays must be typed/word-processed and page-numbered. If you are submitting your play electronically, please omit your name and contact information from your manuscript. The manuscript must begin with a title page that shows the play's title, a 2-3 sentence keynote description of the play, a list of characters, and a list of acts and scenes. Please enter the title of your play, your name and contact information (including address, phone number, and email address), and a brief biography where indicated in the electronic submission form.

If you would like to submit an electronic copy of your manuscript please go to: https://yup.submittable.com/submit.

4.  PLAYHOUSE CREATURES THEATRE COMPANY 

DEADLINE: August 15th

WEBSITE: http://www.playhousecreatures.org

 Playhouse Creatures Theatre Company is honored to announce a call for original plays, for its 3rd Annual Dr. R. J. Rodriguez Emerging Playwrights’ Contest. Nazareth Housing is a community-based nonprofit serving vulnerable families of the LES. For almost 40 years, NH has helped families and individuals unlock their potential, build pathways out of poverty, and avoid homelessness. Since 2011, PCTC has provided the NH community with FREE theatre camps (“Little Creatures Act Out”), for over 1200 LES youth. Given the fact we can’t share the winner’s work in a traditional theatre space, we are asking writers to create plays that will initially be shared on-line, but (adhering to social distancing guidelines) can easily be performed live—especially to underserved audiences. We are asking playwrights to follow these guidelines: A 30 minute play (or less), with a cast of 4 (or fewer); A play that may be performed via internet, phone, or live (we’d love to bring it to the community—at a safe distance—when we are able to). And, most importantly, a play that deals with the un-dealt-with racial divide we have been suffering through since 1619; and, how the Covid-19 pandemic has served as a pressure cooker of a catalyst.  Submit to: 2020PCTC@gmail.com 

The winner will receive a Zoom workshop production, and $100 will be donated to the Nazareth Housing Food Pantry in their name. There is no entry fee. Donations are accepted at: www.playhousecreatures.org.

5.  THE CROSSROADS PROJECT: 2021 DIVERSE VOICES PLAYWRITING INITIATIVE

DEADLINE: August 15th

WEBSITE:  https://finearts.illinoisstate.edu/crossroads-project/

The 2021 Diverse Voices Playwriting Initiative welcomes submissions for full-length, unproduced plays by playwrights of color in accordance with the mission statement of the Crossroads Project (see below). A diverse panel of judges comprised of faculty, staff, and students will select one playwright as the winner of the contest.

The winning playwright will receive:

An invitation to Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal, IL for a one-week new play development workshop, culminating in a public staged reading. The playwright may also be invited to offer guest lectures and colloquia. The Crossroads Project will cover costs for travel, housing, and meals during the workshop.

An honorarium of $500 for the workshop.

To be eligible to win the contest, the playwright must be available for a one-week workshop in late March 2021 (exact dates TBD). Due to funding limitations, the Crossroads Project can only cover costs for travel within the United States. There is no entry fee. We only accept electronic submissions in PDF format. Because our staff and resources are limited, we can only consider the first 100 submissions.

Please include in your submission:

A sample from your play up to 15 pages. This does not have to be the first 15 pages of the play.

A playwright’s statement (max. 250 words) describing your inspiration for writing the play, as well as how you believe a workshop in a university setting will further your development process.

A synopsis of the play (max. 250 words).

A character list with short descriptions for each character (age, ethnicity, gender, occupation, family relationships, etc.)

A playwright may only submit one play per contest. The writer of the play must submit their own work.

Plays that have been previously fully produced or published are ineligible for the contest. Plays that have previously had workshops or staged readings are eligible.

Submissions must be the original work of the playwright, which may include adaptations of fictional or factual material. Translations of other playwrights’ work are not accepted.

The submitting playwright must either be the owner and controller of the copyright or provide written proof that they have acquired the legal right to use copyrighted material in their work.

Submissions must be full-length plays.

Musicals are not accepted. However, plays with limited music requirements are accepted.

The primary language of the play must be English.

To submit your play, use the play submission form . Please try the link first to check if the contest is still open. We will contact semi-finalists by the end of October and ask them to submit the full play. Inquiries about the Diverse Voices Playwriting Initiative should be directed to: Kee-Yoon Nahm, Email: knahm@ilstu.edu

6.  SPOOKY ACTION THEATER NEW WORKS IN ACTION

DEADLINE: August 15th

WEBSITE: https://www.spookyaction.org/new-works.html

New Works in Action (NWIA) aims to host a play development experience that is playwright-centered.  At various stages in your writing process, we can give you access to professional directors and actors to help you experience your play. We are here to serve you and your vision. 

New Submission Criteria for Round 13- Short Play Virtual Reading Series

Send us your most impossible short play. Do you have a brilliant idea for a play but you think can never be put onstage? We are looking to present digitally streamed readings of plays that still fit in the magic realism genre but include a certain epic or unbelievable element. Therefore, we are calling Round 13 “THE IMPOSSIBLE PLAY CYCLE.” We want short plays, ranging from 8 to 40 minutes (ideally between 5 and 35 pages). Selected plays will be rehearsed and presented on YouTube via Zoom in October. Additionally, due to the overwhelming popularity of our last round of submissions, we are only asking local DC/Baltimore area playwrights.

About Spooky Action Theater:

Spooky Action’s programming fits within that ambiguous label of “magical realism”, and our definition expands to include stories from every race, culture, background, gender, orientation, and ability. We want plays that are mind-blowers. Reality twisters. We want plays that explore the primality of humanity, experience life in fresh ways, and reach beyond the conscious world. Styles and forms that break ordinary order and bend to a new paradigm of rules. 

Please note: we do not typically look for sci-fi or horror scripts; instead, we are committed to scripts that live in the intersection of the cerebral and the soulful. If you need additional accommodation, please contact Bridget Grace Sheaff at bgsheaff@spookyaction.org

7. ABINGDON THEATRE COMPANY: VIRTUAL FESTIVAL OF SHORT PLAYS

DEADLINE: August 17th

WEBSITE: https://www.abingdontheatre.org/about/

If you are a BIPOC emerging artist please send your short play ( max 60 pgs) to bcavalieri@abingdontheatre.org. 

Abingdon Theatre Company continues its mission in creating opportunities for all voices to be heard. With this in mind, the company will produce a Fall Festival of Short Plays, a two-week virtual festival shedding light on stories by people of color. A diverse panel of judges, theatre professionals who are Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), will select 6 new short pieces created and performed by people of color. At the conclusion of the Festival, the panel will select a winner who will receive a stipend to be used to support further exploration of their piece and will be invited to become an "Artist-in-Residence." The Abingdon Theatre Company has committed to producing the winning piece as part of their "Around the Table" free reading series. Through the outreach, online readings, and finally the staged reading of the winning piece, the hope is to engage around 1,500 people of color and to create a more diverse environment at the Abingdon.

8. THE STOREFRONT THEATRE (WAXHAW | NC)

DEADLINE: August 15th

WEBSITE: http://www.thestorefronttheatre.org

 

Our 8th annual 10-minute play competition will be presented as staged or online readings in March 2021. 1st and 2nd place winners will receive a cash award. The Storefront Theatre presents plays in a concert reading style followed by a “talkback” session with the playwright (whenever possible), cast, and director. Our mission is to enrich, educate, and entertain our community by providing a superior theatre experience at a price all can afford.

 

·       No more than two characters,

·       suited for a general audience,

·       no children or teens,

·       only one entry per playwright,

·       send as PDF attached to an email.

·       All contact information should be in the body of the email but there should be no name or contact information on the play itself. 

9. ENSEMBLE PLAYWRIGHT LAB (Letter of Marque Theatre Company)

DEADLINE: August 24th

WEBSITE: https://www.lomtheater.org/

The Ensemble Playwright Lab (EPL) is a residency program for NYC-based playwrights to engage with Letter of Marque's (LOM) ensemble of actors, musicians, dancers, designers, and dramaturgs to create, develop, or re-imagine a piece of work. This experimental process of creation and development is designed to welcome the playwright into the rehearsal room through active participation in devised and improvisational explorations. The goals and outcomes of each residency are mutually determined by both LOM and the playwright.

Playwrights are chosen using an anonymous submission process. Each entrant is asked to create an alias so as to mask their identity. Entrants are also required to omit all mentions of names of previous collaborators and the titles of their previous work. 

This season, for the first time ever, LOM will proudly offer a $500 honorarium to each playwright chosen for a residency. There will be two residencies: Fall (Oct.-Nov.) and Winter (Feb-March). Each residency will consist of 7 consecutive sessions to develop a work with the LOM ensemble. At the end of each residency, there will be 2 public Zoom showings and a facilitated post-showing talkback with the audience, playwright, and cast.

This season, LOM will be exploring the theme of action. All meetings, rehearsals, and showings will take place on Zoom. Therefore, playwrights should have a strong interest in working on pieces within this format. To qualify: playwrights must currently live or have lived in NYC in the past 12 months, be able to attend all required sessions on Zoom, and be age 21 or older.

LOM is striving to amplify more BIPoC and LGBTQA+ voices. Playwrights from these communities are encouraged to apply. The purpose of the Ensemble Playwright Lab is to build a relationship between a playwright and the LOM ensemble, and to explore/allow for/create new ways of collaboration. This program is intended for artists who identify as playwrights and want to improve their craft as well as their work. Yes, there will be public presentations at the end of the residency. However, what gets presented will be based on the interest and goals of the playwright. Letter of Marque’s mission is to spread ensemble culture, through responsive, inclusive, and accessible theater, and to engage individuals in collective success and meaningful dialogue.

10.  BLUE INK PLAYWRITING AWARD

DEADLINE: August 31st

WEBSITE: https://americanbluestheater.com/

The international Blue Ink Playwriting Award was created in 2010 to support new work. Since inception, we’ve named 9 Award winners, 64 finalists, and 83 semi-finalists.  Over $5,000 in cash and prizes will be distributed to playwrights.

Each year American Blues Theater accepts worldwide submissions of original, unpublished full-length plays. The winning play will be selected by Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside and the theater’s Ensemble. The playwright receives a monetary prize of $1,250 and a developmental workshop or staged reading at American Blues Theater in Chicago. Cash prizes are awarded to finalists and semi-finalists too.  All proceeds of the administrative fee are distributed for playwrights’ cash prizes.

11.  THE WARREN MILLER PERFORMING ARTS CENTER AND MONTANA REPERTORY THEATRE

DEADLINE: August 31st

WEBSITE: http://montanarep.org/

 

The Warren Miller Performing Arts Center and Montana Repertory Theatre seek proposals for a new theatrical work to premiere at Montana Repertory Theatre in its 2021/2022 season, followed by a statewide tour. The commissioned work could be a play; a piece of dance theater; an interdisciplinary performance event; or any work meant to be performed live for/with an audience. The commissioned artist will receive a fee of $10,000; development support in the form of an artist’s retreat in Big Sky and a workshop in the Bitterroot Lab at Montana Repertory Theatre; and research support from the University of Montana School of Law, the Margery Hunter Brown Indian Law Clinic, and the Payne Native American Center. The timing of these development activities will remain flexible, pursuant to ongoing social distancing advisories. The project will culminate in a premiere production at Montana Repertory Theatre in April, 2022, followed by a statewide tour of Montana.

Proposals should include: 

·       An introduction to you and your previous artistic work. This could include a biography or brief personal statement; a resume or CV; and/or links to websites/media.

·       A sample of previous artistic work: for playwrights, a full-length play (60+ pages); for dancers/choreographers, performance artists, and others, documentation of a full-length work (including but not limited to script, music, and/or video).

·       A one-page proposal describing the project you would like to make.

The commissioning theaters are eager to receive proposals from any artist who feels called to this opportunity. Artists without formal resumes or CVs or documentation of their previous work are encouraged to apply. Please tell us about yourself and what you would like to make.

Proposals will be accepted via Submittable (https://montanarep.submittable.com/submit) If you are not able to submit online, please call Michael Legg at 406-243-5288 to discuss other options. Now one of the most dynamic and respected touring companies in the country, Montana Repertory Theatre was established as a professional touring company in 1967, providing professional theatre to our own and neighboring Western states at an affordable cost. Our mission is to tell the great stories of our world to enlighten, develop, and celebrate the human spirit in an ever-expanding community.

12.  PLAYERS WORKSHOP

DEADLINE: August 31st

WEBSITE: NA

 

Players Workshop seeks plays for its Ninth Annual International 10-Minute Play Festival. This fully-staged festival will be in English and will take place in March of 2021 in the center of the international arts of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

 

Each playwright whose script is selected and performed will receive a $25 USD cash honorarium and two complimentary tickets to the production. One play will be selected as the Audience Favorite and its playwright shall receive an additional $25 USD cash award. No other remuneration will be provided, and any playwright attending must do so at his or her own expense.

Submission Guidelines

·       Only one play may be submitted per entrant.  Scripts are not limited to subject matter or content. However, there must be no nudity, and suitability for performance before a general adult audience will be a factor in selection. 

·       No musicals or children’s plays, please.

·       The play must be submitted by email, as an attached PDF file, with a separate PDF listing playwright information. No Word files or other formats will be accepted.  Your name must not appear on the script. The second PDF shall include all contact information for the playwright, including name, address, telephone number, and email address on a separate title page. The script must be in standard play format, with a title page, a character listing, the setting, props, and any technical requirements or other production considerations. The two PDF files should be titled "Submission [Name Of Play]” and "Title Page [Name Of Play].”

·       The play must be in English and no longer than 10 pages in standard format, with a calculated running time of no less than eight minutes and no more than twelve minutes. The play must be unpublished but may have had previous productions. If the play has had previous productions, a production history must be included with the submission of the title page. The submitting playwright must own all rights to the play.

Notification is expected to be made no later than December 1st. Only playwrights whose plays have been selected for performance during the festival will receive notification of acceptance. Plays are restricted to  4 or fewer characters.   Small casts are preferable, as the stage size is modest, with minimal set, props, sound cues, and costuming.   Our talent pool is composed mostly of actors aged 40 and older. This will be a factor in selection.  Please email your submission to: diezminutosfestival@gmail.com. Any inquiries should be sent to the same address.  

13. CROSS AWARD

Deadline: September 15th

WEBSITE: http://www.crossproject.it/en/application/

LIS Lab Performing Arts – in collaboration with Fondazione Piemonte dal Vivo and Ricola – announces the fifth edition of the ‘International CROSS award’ for artists and companies in the field of performing arts and music, with particular attention to original productions focused on the close interaction between artistic creation and environment, understood as landscape, territory or community. With respect to the profound changes that shake our everyday life, CROSS Award 2020 aims to be an incubator of images and practices which are engaged on the rewriting of the present as well as the re-appropriation of public spaces.

The award aims to promote investigation and artistic expressions related to the combination of different styles and genres, considering multi-language practices and the mix of techniques and codes pertaining to the various performing arts as reward factors. The artistic creation aims to be a mean of research and intervention on the reality. Through their relational and permeable quality, performative arts represent the place to build again trust on the community and social dimension of our experience of the world. The goal of the competition is to identify new productions – thoroughly unpublished – that put in dialogue the language of the body and of the stage performance with musical composition, without any restrictions or constraints of kind, category or practice.

The call is open to individual artists, professionals and companies. The project must be submitted as a production that can be developed during the different phases of the residency and that could include multiple expressive practices at the same time (as such: dance, music composition and interpretation, DJset, live soundtrack, composition of a soundtrack, activity of noise music, theatre, body performance, urban performance and dance, walkways, participated workshops, singing, new technologies, video art, motion capture, readings, site-specific design).

For this edition will be selected 5 projects for a 15-day residence in Verbania (Italy) with a fee for the production of € 2.000,00 each.

14.  NANCY DEAN LESBIAN PLAYWRIGHT AWARD

DEADLINE September 15th

WEBSITE: http://www.openmeadows.org/nancy-dean-lesbian-playwriting-award.html

Open to playwrights who identify as lesbian, gay, queer, trans, and nonbinary. Playwright must have written one play and am writing a play about lesbians. In these times of social definition and refinement the age-old conflict of acceptance and the right to live our true lives as we truly are is still our continuing fight which is refined and embolden by each new generation. We understand people have their own language for their gender and sexuality. We are open to submission from people who are lesbian, queer or gay, trans, and nonbinary. We are asking professors, teachers, artistic directors, directors, literary managers, actors, writers, and others to nominate promising writers. As we want to be inclusive, we will allow people to self-nominate. The awarded playwright will receive $5000 + $1,000 from Arch Brown.

 

The following are our guidelines:

1.   Writer is lesbian, queer or gay and nonbinary;

2.   Writer has written at least one play;

3.   Writer is writing plays about lesbians;

4.   Writer is committed to writing plays and furthering her/their career; 

 Please send a letter(pdf) describing why your writer should receive this award and a full-length play (pdf) to openmeadowsfdn@gmail.com.   In your letter, please be as detailed as possible in up to 2 pages. Include the writer’s resume and website or other social media links.   The awarded playwright will receive $5000 + $1,000 from Arch Brown.

 

15.  THEATREFOLK

DEADLINE: September 15th

WEBSITE: https://www.theatrefolk.com/

 

 Theatrefolk Inc. is seeking one-act Middle School play submissions by BIPOC playwrights for immediate publication. Plays must be between 25 and 35 minutes in length. Simple staging requirements, for middle-school-aged audiences and performers. Our mission is to represent student voices and to let students know they are not alone. It has been made clear where we have succeeded and where we have failed in this pursuit. We want to do better and we want to start with Middle School plays.

Submission Criteria

·       Plays must be between 25 and 35 minutes in length.

·       Plays must have a majority of middle-school-aged characters.

·       Plays must be contemporary.

 Please submit your work via email to submissions@theatrefolk.com with a cover letter and contact information. Tell us about yourself and your play.

16.  THEATRE VISCERA

DEADLINE: September 25th

WEBSITE: https://www.theatreviscera.com/work-with-us-playwrights

We are only able to accept the first 100 submissions, upon which the submission period will close. If we reach our cap of 100 submissions before the stated close date we will make an announcement on our website and social media that the contest will close the following day. 

As the situation with the Coronavirus and COVID-19 continues to develop, we are moving to virtual work for the time being in order to continue our commitment to telling queer stories while focusing on the health and safety of our community. We are therefore accepting submissions for the 2021 Podcast season with Theatre Viscera. We are looking for pieces that will read well in a podcast format, but we are not producing Radio Plays. This is a great opportunity to send us weird work that might be “less producible” because of strange conventions or unique storytelling.

At this time we are accepting only one submission per playwright. Submissions may be full length plays, a collection of one acts totally no more than 100 minutes reading time, or a collection of 10 minute plays totally no more than 100 minutes reading time. Submissions must be between 60-100 minutes of reading time, or about 60-100 pages of formatted script.

For collections of one acts or 10 minute plays, we are accepting collaborations as long as the individual pieces have a through line of plot, theme, or theatrical device. We are not accepting musicals at this time. We have a preference for pieces with modest cast lists (8 characters or less.) We have a preference for pieces that tell  stories of trans and GNC characters, as well as stories at the intersections of oppression; disabled queer characters, BIPOC queer characters, etc. We are looking for plays by queer artists, about queer characters, for queer actors.

For your submission please include: A cover page with a brief synopsis and cast breakdown; Your full script as a PDF or Word Doc formatted appropriately; Your artist bio and contact information, including your pronouns.

Email submissions to theatreviscera@gmail.com and use subject line “Podcast Play Submission”.

17.  THE DOROTHY AND LEWIS B. CULLMAN CENTER FOR SCHOLARS AND WRITERS FELLOWSHIP

DEADLINE: September 25

WEBSITE: https://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/fellowships-institutes/center-for-scholars-and-writers/fellowships-at-the-cullman-center

The Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers supports projects that draw on the research collections at The New York Public Library's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (formerly the Humanities and Social Sciences Library). The Center looks for top-quality writing from academics as well as from creative writers and independent scholars. Visual artists whose projects require extensive use of Library collections are also encouraged to apply. The Center aims to promote dynamic conversation about the humanities, social sciences, and scholarship at the highest level—within the Center, in public forums throughout the Library, and in the Fellows' published work. Successful candidates for this Fellowship will need to work primarily at the Schwarzman Building rather than at other divisions of the Library. Applications from those working in languages other than English are welcome; however, the applicant must be conversant in English, and the application materials must be in English. In order to avoid real or apparent conflicts of interest, the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers does not accept applications from New York Public Library staff members or their partners, or from people active on the Library’s Board of Trustees, Board Advisory Committees, or Library Council. Please visit www.nypl.org/research-collections for detailed information about the collections of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. 

Fellows are required to work at the Cullman Center for the duration of the Fellowship term and may not accept other major professional obligations during the term. Some Fellows may have a few prior commitments but must limit research trips, attendance at scholarly meetings, and speaking engagements to short periods of time. Anyone who needs to be away for more than two days must notify the Center's Director or Deputy Director. The Library will pro-rate stipends for Fellows who spend too much time away from the Center. Fellowships will not be granted for academic projects to post-doctoral fellows or to applicants doing graduate-school dissertation research. The Cullman Center will not accept dossier letters in place of new letters of recommendation.

We offer a $75,000 stipend.

18.  ALMOST ADULT PRODUCTIONS

DEADLINE: open-ended

WEBSITE: http://www.theatresantafe.org/auditions

Almost Adults Productions is looking for 10-15 minute LGBTQ+ themed plays for an ongoing reading series to be presented on Zoom starting this summer. Writers do not have to be LGBTQ+ identified, but their material should be thematically relevant to the queer community. There is no requirement for premiere status. Writers will be asked to participate in the production of their reading but Almost Adults can help out wherever needed. At least one rehearsal will be required prior to each reading.  Send plays as Word or PDF documents to Aaron Leventman at writingcoachsf@gmail.com. Questions may be sent to this address as well. Writers may send up to three plays and will be notified within one month of submission.   We are also looking for actors and directors for this series. Please send an email if interested in participating.