Playwrights

Information for playwrights is below. You can also download our writers briefing slides for a summary.

AVT will be hosting a Playwrights Concept Workshop at Sagebrush Cafe on March 31st, 2011.

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PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE FOR YOUR SCRIPT

One of the main goals of AVT is to produce original work by playwrights local to Quartz Hill and the Antelope Valley. Seeing your play undergo the production process gives you a great insight into how your script might be interpreted by a director and actors.

Additionally, concepts that are challenging or impractical from a technical perspective will need to be ironed out in the first production, allowing you the chance to perceive the strengths and drawbacks of your script’s technical feasibility. The feedback you will receive from the cast, crew, and audience will provide invaluable information as you put the final touches on your manuscript before offering it up for publication.

Being accepted for production is also a great way to show a publisher that the theatre community takes your work seriously enough to stake a significant investment of time and money to produce it.

AVT currently offers many different outlets for original work, based on where you are in the playwrighting process. The cultivation of a new, produceable, quality script can be a long and involved process; AVT is there with people, tools, and ideas to help you along the way.

In February 2011, AVT will hold a Writer’s Briefing to describe the nature of our company and to discuss upcoming events with local writers.  We will also have our directors and Dramaturg available for Q&A on what we are looking for and why.  Stay tuned to our blog, Facebook Page, or Twitter feed for updates on details for this event.

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CONCEPT WORKSHOP – March 2011

Firstly, you can submit unfinished or early-stage work to be considered for inclusion in a Concept Workshop with AVT’s production team. Workshops involve readings of any dialog by AVT actors in an informal setting, as well as ideas and feedback on the play’s concept, themes, and characters. Feedback will be provided by AVT’s directors, dramaturg, and technical crew, if requested.

Workshops are closed to the general public, and provide the playwright with useful theatrical perspective during the earlier phases of crafting a new play.

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SCRIPTFRENZY! – April 2011

AVT is happy to support Script Frenzy, an international writing event in which participants take on the challenge of writing 100 pages of scripted material in the month of April.

Take those ideas that you hashed out in the Concept Workshop and belt out a script to get it out there! Don’t worry about editing or style at this point; just give yourself a starting point, and refinements will follow.

For more information on ScriptFrenzy!, visit their website at www.scriptfrenzy.org.

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SCENE EXPO – July 2011

After the whirlwind of ScriptFrenzy, take a couple of months to recover, salvage, and refine. Then exhibit your short-plays or scenes at our Playwrights Expo. Each script or scene selected for expo will be given a staged reading, limited direction, and time for discussion with feedback from actors, techies, directors, fellow writers, audience members, and the company dramaturg.

Expo submissions should be scripted and workable on the stage, though perhaps not quite ready for full production.

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FINAL MANUSCRIPTS – Due October 1, 2011

Taking the feedback from the Expo, refine and rework again to move towards a completed manuscript. When you feel ready, submit a complete play for full production consideration. If your script is refined enough that you might consider attempting to publish it in the relatively near future, it may be at the right stage for submission to an experimental theatre group such as our own for a test run.

Preference will be given to local writers who have participated in a Workshop or Expo.

Manuscripts must be submitted to the Dramaturg (nicelle@avthespians.org) by Oct 1, 2011 for production consideration in the 2012 season.  However, if you’re not finished with it yet, don’t let us rush you. Refine and resubmit the following year, or whenever it suits you.

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SELECTION PROCESS FOR FULL PRODUCTION

AVT’s dramaturgical philosophy is to be character-driven, unique, and thought-provoking.

AVT’s Dramaturg analyzes all incoming scripts, published or original, and then forwards the script along with her recommendation and analysis to the company’s Producing Director and Artistic Director. Should these directors agree that the work is ready for full production, that it aligns with AVT’s artistic philosophy, and that a production is practical given our resources, then the Producing Director will open royalty negotiations with the playwright.

It is AVT’s policy to duly pay a fair royalty to our playwrights for production of their work. We consider the going market rate for published plays, the record of the playwright in creating work for AVT, and also the financial risk involved with staging a new, experimental production that is unfamiliar to the theatre-going community.

Accordingly, AVT holds all submitted manuscripts by local playwrights to the same standard that we apply when considering published work.

AVT may also from time to time post a competitive call-for-scripts. These are intended to spur submissions on a particular theme, and will be accompanied by incentives or compensation for winning writers.

Email the Dramaturg, Nicelle Davis (nicelle@avthespians.org), with any questions or to submit original work.