Theatres: New Play Festivals
Washington
Deaf Spotlight Presents
P.O. BOX 20191
Seattle, WA 98102
Contact: Ryan Schlecht, Artistic Director
Founded in 2011, Deaf Spotlight is a non-profit organization serving the Deaf community, fostering artistic and cultural awareness and experience in a variety of areas including cinema, literature, visual arts and performing arts. Deaf Spotlight inspires, encourages, and showcases creative works of, by, and for Deaf people in the Pacific Northwest through events that celebrate Deaf culture and American Sign Language.
Begun in 2013 and continuing every odd year, Deaf Spotlight Presents will produce a theatrical show or a festival featuring works written by Deaf playwrights. Deaf Spotlight will hire Deaf directors and Deaf cast to bring the story onto the stage. Not only that, the technical and backstage crew (Deaf and/or people who are fluent in ASL) will be hired to support the production.
A ten-minute play festival is planned for 2019. (See also in Ch. 1: Non-Union Pfressional Theatre, Fringe Theatre, and Ethnic and Foreign Language Theatre)
Fantastic.Z Theatre’s Annual New Works Festival
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 22733
Seattle, WA 98122
(206) 390-3450
Founded in 2009, Fantastic.Z is Seattle’s LGBTQ theatre company. Their New Works Festival is an annual event featuring short 10 minute plays. Fantastic.Z is an artist founded and run company presenting the Puget Sound with quality theatre focused through a queer lens. Writers, of all gender and sexual identities, may submit their work through the website and auditions are announced via their website, social media, and the TPS Audition Listing Service.
Hedgebrook Women Playwrights Festival
Hedgebrook (Whidbey Island)
PO Box 1231
Freeland, WA 98249-9911
(360) 321-4786
hedgebrook.org/women-playwrights-festival
The annual Hedgebrook Women Playwrights Festival™ (HWPF) has celebrated the work of women playwrights since 1998. The festival begins with a “pre-retreat” weekend, in which the playwrights have the opportunity to get to know one another, a two-week retreat at Hedgebrook, and concludes with a public presentation of excerpts from each play. Playwright participation in the Hedgebrook Women Playwrights Festival is by invitation in collaboration with partner theatres from around the country.
The 2 performances associated with the Festival utilize local actors we contact through our Seattle partners: Seattle Repertory Theatre and ACT Theatre.
Icicle Creek New Play Festival (PP)
Mailing address:
Box 2071
Leavenworth, WA 98826
Performance space:
Snowy Owl Theater
7409 Icicle Road
Leavenworth, WA 98826
(509) 548-6347 or toll-free 1 (800) 265-6026
icicle.org/performances/icicle-creek-new-play-festival
Contact: Allen Fitzpatrick, Artistic Director.
Founded in 2007, playwrights come to Icicle Creek Center for a week of intensive workshopping with the support and help of a skilled team of theater professionals.
The week ends with a presentation of the plays and feedback to the playwrights. The new plays then go to ACT in Seattle as part of ACTLab, where they receive feedback from Seattle audiences. Casting for this Festival is through ACT Theatre’s casting office
Send headshot, resume and cover letter indicating interest in the Festival to Margaret Layne at ACT Theatre. Actors are also welcome to send headshot & resume to Artistic Director Allen Fitzpatrick at: [email protected]. (See also Partial Equity Listing)
Quickies
Live Girls! Theater
Contact:
Meghan Shalom Arnette, Artistic Director. Founded in 1999,
Live Girls! is a nomadic theatre company with a national reputation for creativity, innovation and resourcefulness. Quickies is their annual festival of ten-minute plays written by women.
Seattle Festival of Improvisational Theater
c/o Jet City Improv
5510 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
(206) 352.8291
Since 2002, the annual Seattle Festival of Improv Theater has grown from a two-night gathering of a handful of performers into one of North America’s top showcases of unscripted, interactive theater.
This week-long curated festival seeks to attract today’s most innovative improvisational acts from around the globe with the dual purpose of providing one-of-a-kind entertainment to Seattle audiences while showcasing the Northwest’s improv community to the world’s top talent.
With a focus on professionalism and integrity, SFIT has earned a national reputation as an essential part of the national improv circuit.
WARP (Writers and Actors Reading and Performing)
305 Harrison St
Seattle, WA 98109
Twitter: @warptheatre
Contacts: Jason Dooley, Managing Director or John Paul Sharp, Creative Director. Founded in 1996, WARP is a multdisciplinary performing arts collective curating and producing new works for theatre.
WARP is composed of playwrights, actors, and other people who are interested in theatre production. The group is open to everyone from seasoned professional to those with little experience.
WARP meets every Tuesday night from 7 – 9 pm, at the Armory Building of the Seattle Center. In addition to weekly meetings, WARP produces several shows a year using material written, directed and performed by participants. Call announced on Facebook and website.
South Sound
Bill and Peggy Hunt Playwrights Festival
c/o Burien Actors Theatre
P.O. Box 48121
Burien, WA 98148
facebook.com/BurienActorsTheatre
Every 2 or 3 years since 1999, Burien Actors Theatre has organized the Bill and Peggy Hunt Playwrights Festival, , which is produced as a mainstage show. The festival is open to both one act and full length plays. BAT provides black box productions in the festival of the winning scripts. Review the festival’s web page for complete information about submitting scripts. BAT accepts scripts in both hard copy (through the mail) and electronic formats.
Penisula and Islands
Island Theatre Ten-Minute Play Festival
Mailing Address:
7781 NE North Street
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Performance Venue:
Bainbridge Performing Arts
200 Madison Avenue North
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
(206) 696-6960 or (206) 790-9934
[email protected], [email protected]
Contact: Steve Stolee, Managing Director.
Started in 2012, the annual Island Theatre Ten-Minute Play Festival runs over one weekend in August and presents ten original short plays written by Kitsap County playwrights. Auditions are announced on the Island Theatre website, on Facebook, and in the IT eNewsletter.
Northeast Washington
Pend Oreille Playhouse
Pend Oreille Players Association
Community Theatre
236 South Union
Newport, WA 99156
(509) 447-9900
pendoreilleplayers.org/one-act-play-festival-entry
facebook.com/Pend-Oreille-Playhouse-86321007038
Contact: Millie Brumbaugh, President.
Since 2010, Pend Orielle Players Association has produced a summer festival of original, unproduced one-act plays. Plays cannot be longer than 20 minutes, must be family friendly (no strong language), and use small casts and simple sets due to staging constraints. Playwrights may submit as many plays as desired. Consult the website for more details. (See also Ch.1: Commmunity Theatre)
Oregon
Ashland New Plays Festival
PO Box 3314
Ashland, OR 97520
(541) 488-7995
Since 1993, Ashland New Plays Festival assists winning playwrights in the development of new works. This five-day festival in Ashland, Oregon, features professional actors from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the community.
The current festival is an international playwright competition that culminates in the reading of four new plays chosen from hundreds of submissions. The winning playwrights receive a $1,000 stipend and local accommodations for the entire week.
Fertile Ground: A City-wide Festival of New Work
c/o Portland Area Theatre Alliance
1507 SW Morrison Street
Portland, OR 97205
(503) 241-4902
portlandtheatre.com/Fertile-Ground
Contact: Nicole Lane, Festival Director.
Fertile Ground is an 11-day arts festival held in late January in Portland, Oregon. Fertile Ground was launched by the Portland Area Theatre Alliance (the service organization for Portland theater artists and organizations) in 2009 to provide a platform for theater companies to showcase their commitment to new work created by local artists.
Recent festivals showcased new works that ranged from fully staged world premieres to staged readings in theatre, to ensemble and collaborative driven work, dance, comedy, visual art, animation and film. The works are not produced by Fertile Ground, but by individual producers.
JAW Summer Playwright Festival
c/o Portland Center Stage
Gerding Theater at the Armory
128 NW Eleventh Ave
Portland, OR 97209
(503) 445-3700
facebook.com/pages/Portland-Center-Stage/21845966926
Contact: Rose Riordan, JAW Festival Director.
In 1999, members of New York Theater Workshop came to Portland to work with PCS staff to launch a new play development effort named Just Add Water/West. Over time the name was shortened to JAW—Just Add Water.
Every summer the festival takes over the Armory as the universe of artists required to make a play—writers, directors, dramaturgs, actors, stage managers—gathers to pull apart and then put back together, the newest work from some of the country’s most exciting writers.