WRITERS CRITERIA

Writers workshops start March 19th. The submission date for scripts is April 23rd by 11:59 pm.

To submit a play, attend workshops and get on the Writers E-mail List, read all of the information below and then fill out our contact form. Making sure to include the sentence: "I have read and agreed to the writers criteria" in the body of the form so we know you understand the criteria.

Even if you have contacted us already saying you want to write or have written with us before, you still need to do this so you can be put on the workshop e-mail list.

Criteria for the selected plays:

An entertaining, tight play with a clear beginning, middle and end. Plays will be well-written, clear, and are easy for a director and actors to understand and have fun with.

Plays will fit in the ten minute play format - 9:45 max (to give some in-the-moment leeway), and for comedies, 9:15 max (to give time for audience laughter)

A do-able play. This means that we think it actually can get put together and look good as an end product. Examples are:

One Scene: Scene changes in a short ten minute piece break up the energy and also confuse the audience as to if it's ended. It's rare that a scene change makes sense in a short ten minute format.

Less than four actors: Scheduling rehearsals for four actors and the director two times a week and two rehearsals in the Clinton Theater with limited time slots available is difficult. Very difficult. More than four actors will adversely affect the chances of you play being chosen.

Attend at least 2 writers workshops, but the more the better.

Your final submission is still a draft. The nit and grit work begins once the actors start reading the play, and scripts always change once they hit the rehearsal room. Writers are dedicated to the re-write and collaborative process in the workshops and rehearsal rooms. What makes this magic so great is that we are not individual writers, or individual groups, or an individual producer, we are a gosh darn collective of Monkeys.

How they are picked:

A Selection Committee is comprised of audience members, collaborators, and Ollie - the Artistic Director. Except for Ollie, no one in the Selection Committee knows whose play is whose. They read the plays and come to a consensus as to which plays will be produced.

Plays picked are different in the interpretation of the theme. We are not going to pick plays that have the same interpretation as everyone else. We want to provide the audience with a range of interpretations.

Diversity in tonality, style, and subject matter. We want to provide a range of different colors (...ehh?) for the audience to enjoy. We want sad, happy, slap-stick, weird, dark, sing-song, absurd, high-energy, funny, quirky, interesting, etc. We want a range.

One other big heads up: seniority does not add into any factor of the selection process. We are picking plays solely based on the criteria above.

If Your Play is Selected:

There will be a mandatory final writers workshop.

If you want a play in this play fest, do not fully fill up your schedule, plan a trip or leave town for both of these two days.

Writers/Directors/Actors are OK with AudioGlobe filming their plays and streaming it online and providing a copy of it for free to people involved and 5 bucks to family/fans.

If you choose to hand it off the play to another director, you are allowing another person to interpret your play through their filter and to direct it with their vision. Writers must be OK with things getting tweaked. Scripts invariably change when in the rehearsal room. Your vision will be maintained but if you hand it off, ultimately the director has the final say.

If you hand it off, we have directors that we can match up with your play, or you can select a director. If you select a director, they must agree to the criteria, be able to meet with a producer in-person and be OKed by the producer.

If you want to or are interested in doubling up as a director, be sure to read the full director criteria.

Did you make it this far?

Nice, that's a great start. Now, lets workshop some plays, have some fun and bring some more positive energy into this world!