Category Archives: New Play Development

Work we do to help foster the new plays of other playwrights. Not new work being developed by Akropolis.

We Want to Read Your New Play!

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • September 15, 2018 - 9:07 AM , , ,
Members of Theatre Battery at the 2018 NYNP Salon reading of Jessica Andrewartha's "Choices People Make." (L-R: Joshua Hamilton, Jessica Andrewartha, Annelih Hamilton, and Gianna Gargiulo)

Members of Theatre Battery turned out for the 2018 NYNP Salon reading of Jessica Andrewartha’s “Choices People Make.” (L-R: Joshua Hamilton, Jessica Andrewartha, Annelih Hamilton, and Gianna Gargiulo)

APL invites submissions of new plays for a developmental reading at our 5th-Annual New Year New Play (NYNP) Salon January 27.

This call is for new plays that have not yet had a developmental reading. While we are most interested in a full-length piece, we are open to other synergies and ask current or former PNW playwrights (emerging or established) to submit their long- or short-form plays for consideration.

The play will be read by local actors at our Sunday Salon on January 27, 2019. The reading will be followed by lively, lightly moderated discussion. APL’s artistic directors provide guidance to the actors so they can bring their best creativity and engagement to the reading. We also confer with the playwright before and after the Salon, provide limited dramaturgical assistance, and offer the playwright the opportunity to frame questions for the discussion.

The Salon is an invited event focused on bringing an optimal mix of artists, intellectuals, and community members into the space to focus on your play. We also open it up to the public to attend.

We promise a rich and productive experience for the playwright. As with all APL Salons, the gathering includes great community, food, and drinks. There are no stipend or travel funds.

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT: Sunday, November 11, 2018

NOTIFICATIONS: December 17, 2018
Our selection committee provides feedback to all playwrights about their submissions. We view this as a service to fellow artists in the future evolution of their work, regardless of whether it has been selected for our Salon. If you prefer not to receive feedback from our selection committee, please indicate this on your cover sheet.

(L-R) Playwright Stacy Flood takes notes on the discussion about his new play, The Pleasure & Sorrow of Your Company, as fellow playwrights Olivia Pi-Sunyer and Ina Chang listen. | Photo: Zhenya Lavy

(L-R) Stacy Flood and fellow playwrights Olivia Pi-Sunyer and Ina Chang absorbing the group discussion of Flood’s “The Pleasure & Sorrow of Your Company.” | January 2015 Sunday Salon | Photo: Zhenya Lavy

TO APPLY

  • Email PDF or DOC files to ensemble@akropolisperformancelab.com, with “Submission: [Title]” in the subject line.
  • Along with the complete script, submit a cover sheet with your full contact information, short bio, brief synopsis of script, development history (as applicable), character breakdown, a brief statement of your hopes for how this reading might help further the play’s development, and indication of your feedback preference.
  • NO FEE.

PREVIOUS NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT SALONS

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Call for Submissions: New Plays

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • September 1, 2017 - 1:03 PM , , ,
(L-R) Playwright Stacy Flood takes notes on the discussion about his new play, The Pleasure & Sorrow of Your Company, as fellow playwrights Olivia Pi-Sunyer and Ina Chang listen. | Photo: Zhenya Lavy

(L-R) Stacy Flood and fellow playwrights Olivia Pi-Sunyer and Ina Chang absorbing the group discussion of Flood’s “The Pleasure & Sorrow of Your Company.” | January 2015 Sunday Salon | Photo: Zhenya Lavy

APL invites submissions of new plays for a developmental reading at our New Year New Play Sunday Salon in February.

This call is for new plays that have not yet had a developmental reading. While we are most interested in a full-length piece, we are open to other synergies and ask current or former PNW playwrights (emerging or established) to submit their long- or short-form plays for consideration.

The play(s) will be read by local actors at our February 11 Sunday Salon, and the reading will be followed by lively, lightly moderated discussion among the artists and intellectuals attending. There will not be a rehearsal, but APL’s artistic directors will provide guidance to the actors for their preparation, as needed. We also will confer with the playwright both before and after the reading, provide limited dramaturgical assistance, and offer the playwright the opportunity to frame questions for the discussion.

This Salon will be an invited event focused on bringing an optimal mix of people into the space to focus on your play. Although we cannot offer a stipend or travel funds, we promise a rich and productive experience for the playwright. And, as with all APL Salons, the gathering includes great community, food, and drinks.

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT: Sunday, December 10, 2017.

NOTIFICATIONS: January 14, 2018. Please note that our selection committee  provides feedback to all playwrights about their submissions. We view this as a service to fellow artists in the future evolution of their work, regardless of whether it has been selected for our Salon. If you prefer not to receive any feedback from our selection committee, please indicate this on your cover sheet.

TO APPLY

  • Send PDF or DOC files to ensemble@akropolisperformancelab.com, and write “Submission: [Title]” in the subject line.
  • Along with the complete script, submit a cover sheet with your full contact information, short bio, brief synopsis of script, development history (as applicable), character breakdown, a brief statement of your hopes for how this reading might help further the play’s development, and indication of your feedback preference.
  • NO FEE.

PREVIOUS NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT SALONS:

FANGS by Jim Moran | January 2014 Sunday Salon | Photo: Zhenya Lavy

FANGS by Jim Moran | Inaugural New Year New Play Salon | January 2014 | Photo: Zhenya Lavy

 

 

Tommer Peterson’s play selected for Jan Salon

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • December 11, 2015 - 10:59 PM , , , ,
Playwright Tommer Peterson

Playwright Tommer Peterson

The New Year New Play Salon, held annually since 2014, features the work of a Pacific Northwest playwright and/or Pacific Northwest themes. A team of four evaluated all the submissions for 2016, and we are delighted to announce that out of a very competitive pool of applicants, the play selected to be read at our January 17 New Year New Play Salon is Tommer Peterson’s No One on Board Took Notice.

Perhaps best known for his work as a designer, Peterson also has authored or co-authored several plays, including Va-Va-Va-Voom and (with KJ Sanchez) two documentary plays: Night at the Opera (2012) and Duck Soup (2011).

No One on Board Took Notice starts from a simple yet infinitely complex premise: What we see is largely determined by where we stand…. or perhaps even more by where we choose to gaze and what we choose to remember.

Learn more about Peterson and this exciting new play.

Playwrights, send your new scripts!

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • September 1, 2015 - 11:41 PM , , , ,
(L-R) Playwright Stacy Flood takes notes on the discussion about his new play, The Pleasure & Sorrow of Your Company, as fellow playwrights Olivia Pi-Sunyer and Ina Chang listen. | Photo: Zhenya Lavy

(L-R) Playwright Stacy Flood takes notes on the discussion about his new play, The Pleasure & Sorrow of Your Company, as fellow playwrights Olivia Pi-Sunyer and Ina Chang listen. | January 2015 New Year New Play Salon | Photo: Zhenya Lavy

We are now accepting submissions for our annual New Year New Play Salon. Entering its third year, this popular New Year New Play Salon features the work of a Pacific Northwest playwright and/or Pacific Northwest themes.  Check out our guidelines, and help us spread the word to area playwrights!

Submission Deadline: Nov 1
Notifications Made: Dec 11

July 26 Salon Cast Announced!

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • July 18, 2015 - 7:59 PM , , , , ,

Goody GoodyWe have some exciting announcements about our July 26 Sunday Salon reading of John Longenbaugh’s Noir thriller, The Sound in the Next Room!

The cast assembled for this reading is absolutely stellar:

EUCA/CLARICE – Alex Highsmith
MELANIE/LESLIE – Annie Paladino
CLEO – Emily Jo Testa
DANIELLE – Kate Kraay

Playwright John Longenbaugh will join us for the reading and discussion, as well.

If you haven’t already made plans for what promises to be a hot, midsummer Sunday, we hope you will join us for this great night of theatre and conversation. Registration information.

Dozens Turn Out for Reading of New Play by Stacy Flood

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • January 26, 2015 - 2:24 PM , , ,
(L-R) Playwright Stacy Flood takes notes on the discussion about his new play, The Pleasure & Sorrow of Your Company, as fellow playwrights Olivia Pi-Sunyer and Ina Chang listen. | Photo: Zhenya Lavy

(L-R) Stacy Flood and fellow playwrights Olivia Pi-Sunyer and Ina Chang. | Photo: Zhenya Lavy

What an outstanding Salon last night!

Special thanks not only to playwright Stacy Flood for providing a work so ripe for discussion but also to Erin Pike for pinch-hitting as a reader.

Twenty five people joined us to participate in our second-annual New Year New Play developmental reading and discussion of The Pleasure & Sorrow of Your Company, including university theatre faculty, local critics, artists, and other playwrights. By night’s end, Stacy had not only heard his words spoken by working actors but also written many pages of notes for use in further development.

In his message to Akropolis this morning, Stacy wrote:

“The actors read beautifully, and the occasion was impeccably organized and hosted! I cannot thank Akropolis, as well as those in attendance, enough for the obvious care and attention paid to the script, the discussion, and the event on the whole. Every note collected will be cherished, and the entire experience was an absolute honor, one for which I will be eternally grateful.”

We will post a call for submissions for our third-annual New Year New Play reading in September.

Cast Set for Pleasure & Sorrow of Your Company

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • January 16, 2015 - 9:26 PM , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Omer Fast, 5000 Feet Is the Best, 2011, digital film stills © Omer Fast

Omer Fast, 5000 Feet Is the Best, 2011, digital film stills © Omer Fast

The cast for January 25th’s New Year New Play reading of Stacy D. Flood’s The Pleasure & Sorrow of Your Company has been finalized.

We are excited to announce that APL Company Members and apprentices will be joined by local talents Natural Israel, Samara Lerman, and Paul Budraitis in giving voice to Flood’s examination of warfare in the drone age.

The event is wrapped in lively conversation; generous and careful discussion of the play; great food; and  ample opportunities to network with artists, intellectuals, and enthusiasts.

Learn more about the play, view the complete casting, and RSVP on the Salon page.

Announcing the 2015 Sunday Salon Playwrights

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • December 13, 2014 - 8:06 PM , , , ,
2015 Salon Playwrights: Stacy D. Flood, Pattie Miles Van Beuzekom, and John Longenbaugh

2015 Salon Playwrights: Stacy D. Flood, Pattie Miles Van Beuzekom, and John Longenbaugh

In 2015, Akropolis Performance Lab’s Sunday Salons will be a celebration of the work of local playwrights!

  • January | Stacy D. Flood
    The Pleasure and Sorrow of Your Company
    This piece was selected through a competitive submission process for this year’s New Year New Play Development Program.
  • April | Pattie Miles Van Beuzekom
    Blood Orange Bakersfield
    This Salon is guest curated by Jose Amador.
  • July | John Longenbaugh
    The Sound in the Next Room
    Hell with Drinks Afterwards
    Thank You
    That’s right: 3 by John in an evening promising intrigue and surprise!

Learn more about about each of these wonderful plays and playwrights via the links above.

Each Salon is a unique, dynamic assembly of artists, intellectuals, provocateurs, friends, and family. We read, drink, eat, and — with minimal moderation — let discussion go where it will. As always, there is no charge to attend. But the event is potluck, so bring food or drink to share as you are able. RSVP requested.

We hope you will join us and contribute to the discussion at a Salon this year!

Mini-Review of Fangs

  By Zhenya Lavy • November 14, 2014 - 10:13 AM , , ,

This time last year, I was working my way through the (digital) stack of original plays submitted to our inaugural “New Year, New Play” Sunday Salon. When I got to the title page of Jim Moran’s Fangs, I thought, “Vampires? Werewolves?” But what I read was something very different — delightful, even. We gave Fangs a developmental reading in January and were thrilled to learn it would receive full production at Eclectic Theater  and would even feature two of the actors from our reading –Samantha Routh and Shane Regan — albeit in different roles. Fast forward to last night, when Joseph and I attended its opening.

One thing I appreciate in Fangs is Jim’s excellence at crafting simple, inherently comedic characters — ably balancing text and space so the actors can really crack them open — with a more subtle approach to humor that yields the biggest laughs… every time. In this production, Ashley Bagwell takes the already wonderfully quirky character of Ed and develops him with such a fullness of presence and action that it’s hard not to walk away without feeling that this smaller role actually anchors the entire show. And Shane Regan takes Toby from his unassuming, uptight beginnings through a complete unraveling that… you should see for yourself. Jim has less success with the other characters, whose banter or attitudes are “trying” to be witty or funny, and through them we feel the playwright trying a bit too hard: these larger characters, ironically, become reduced in such a way that they never transcend caricature. That said, while Joseph and I have endured many a “funny” play of late that delivered few real laughs at all from anyone other than friends/family of the production, Jim’s Fangs succeeded in making us laugh a lot. The character of Ed alone — LMFAO!!!

Want to support new work by local playwrights in a vibrant community of development? Check out Fangs. Want the old-school, small theatre culture legacy of Capitol Hill to survive the neighborhood — and artistic — gentrification? Get out and support Eclectic and the other orgs hanging onto their real estate by the skin of their teeth.

Former Salon New Play Selection now in Full Production

  By Akropolis Performance Lab • November 1, 2014 - 7:27 PM
FANGS production poster

Production Poster, Eclectic Theater

 

APL’s 2014 pick for our New Year, New Play development Salon opens its fully produced run at Eclectic Theater later this month.

The production features Samantha Routh and Shane Regan, both of whom read in our Salon.

Congratulations to playwright Jim Moran!

Check it out!