CALL
FOR SOUTH ASIAN DIASPORA
PLAY SUBMISSIONS
FOR
ANNUAL PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL IN JUNE 2005
EXTENDED
DEADLINE: January 14, 2004
For the past three
years, The Indo American Arts Council has partnered with the Lark
Play Development Center and with several theatres in the New York
South Asian Diaspora Community to produce an annual South Asian
Diaspora Playwrights Festival each November. The results of this collaboration
have been a remarkable increase in the awareness of South Asian Diaspora
playwrights and an influx of fine scripts by these playwrights.
The Lark has developed
several of these scripts, including SEX IN OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES by
Sonia Pabley and MERCHANT ON VENICE by Shishir Kurup for presentation
in its BareBones® series in April and September of 2004 respectively.
Another piece from a prior festival, David Friedman's A FIRST CLASS
MAN had a week long Studio Retreat at The Lark this spring.
We recognize the extraordinary
vitality of the South Asian Diaspora playwriting community and want
to continue nurturing its growth. To do this we have decided to further
our connection with the Lark Play Development Center. It is time to
broaden and deepen the connections between the South Asian Diaspora
theatre artists we have been working with every November since 2000,
and other diverse American thespians.
The Lark has for many
years presented an annual festival of new scripts known as "Playwrights'
Week." In the 2004-2005 season, this festival will take place
in mid June. Instead of presenting a South Asian Diaspora Playwrights
Festival this year, in November 2004, there will be 10 plays selected
for Playwrights' Week 2005, 2-3 of which will be from the South Asian
Diaspora. The South Asian Diaspora Playwrights' Festival and The Lark
Playwrights' Week will be combined, preserving the same number of
places for South Asian work in this transitional year and simultaneously
giving our Playwrights an opportunity to participate in a broader
based Playwrights group.
We are seeking full-length
plays, written in English. These plays will be reviewed by both The
Lark's literary wing and the IAAC in conjunction with previous participating
artistic leaders from the South Asian Diaspora theatres. Selection
criteria are excellence, diversity and suitability to live performance.
Plays may be written by playwrights in the South Asian Diaspora or
about issues or themes related to the South Asian Diaspora experience.
To be considered, each playwright must submit, along with a copy of
his/her play, a brief personal statement about why writing the play
is important to him/her and her/his proposed writing goals for the
development time afforded by the festival.
Selected playwrights
will be invited to the Playwrights' Week to develop their work and
to exchange ideas and information with other theatre artists. Each
Playwright will be provided with a creative team composed of a director,
actors and dramaturgical support. Each author will receive ten hours
of rehearsals, one public reading and an opportunity to debrief on
the process at the end of the week. Playwrights will be required to
attend all rehearsals of their own plays as well as all festival events.
Playwrights are responsible for their own travel costs, living expenses
and housing arrangements in New York City.
The extended deadline
for script submissions is January, 14th 2004. Applicants will be notified
about selections by May 10, 2005. Please mail scripts to the following
address: The Lark Theatre Company, 939 Eighth Avenue, Suite 301, New
York, NY 10019, Attn: South Asian Diaspora Playwrights' Initiative,
Phone: (212) 246-2676. Email: submissions@larktheatre.org.
Submissions for Playwrights' Week require a $20 fee from the playwright.
The IAAC is passionately
dedicated to promoting and building an awareness of Indian theatre
and artists in North America. The Lark supports the discovery and
development of emerging theatre voices in America and from around
the world. Both organizations believe that merging the South Asian
Diaspora Playwrights' Festival with Lark's Playwrights' Week is the
next natural step in making the work of a greater number of South
Asian Diaspora works available to the theatrical mainstream.
For further information
about this and previous Playwrights Festivals, please see
or www.larktheatre.org |
