Check Out the Finalists for Samuel French’s 2020 Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival.
Dominique Morisseau is the honorary playwright for the 45th annual festival, which had been scheduled to take place at The Vineyard. Thirty playwrights, selected from over 500 submissions, have been named finalists for the 2020 Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival from Samuel French. Originally scheduled to take place this August at the Vineyard Theatre, there will be no performances due to the ongoing public health crisis.
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How did you come to write your OOB play? Was there a particular inspiration behind its creation? How has it developed?
I have auditioned for the role of Anne Frank many times. And no, I was never cast as Anne. I was told I was “more of a Margot, but too much of an Anne to be a Margot.” I was offered a job as the props mistress and accepted. It was a fascinating experience to live on the sidelines of this play within a real historical artifact: a diary of a young girl we all think we know, but none of us really did.
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NEW YORK CITY: The Playwrights Realm has announced the recipients of its Writing Fellowships and Annual Scratchpad Series.
Tanya Everett, Maya Macdonald, Christopher Reyes, and Tasha Gordon-Solmon have been selected as the 2019-20 Writing Fellows. The company’s third installment of the Scratchpad Series will feature developmental workshops from Andrew Siañez-De La O, Daria Miyeko Marinelli, and Marisa Carr.
“Welcoming new playwrights into the Realm Family is a joy—one of my favorite parts of the job!” said founding artistic director Katherine Kovner in a statement. “This year we received nearly 650 applications to our two open submission programs and so making the choice of writers was not easy but I couldn’t be more delighted by the Writing Fellows and Scratchpad playwrights who will be joining us this season.”
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NEW YORK CITY: The Playwrights Realm has announced the lineup for its 2020 INK’D Festival of New Plays, featuring new works by the 2019-20 Realm Writing Fellows. The festival will take place Feb. 24-27. Maya Macdonald’s brunch (Feb. 25), an exploration of four female tropes all in search of “Mr. Right.” Annie Tippe will direct.
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Maya Macdonald's brunch, a darkly comic investigation of female tropes. Playwrights Realm Associate Artistic Director Alexis Williams says, "What's so exciting about The Realm's Writing Fellowship is that it's not just a writers' group, we aren't solely working with our fellows on the development of their plays but are also providing professional development opportunities allowing for the fellows to advance their careers. It's been so rewarding to see this cohort grow not just as writers, but as professionals carving out their space in the theater (and larger entertainment) industry. INK'D tends to be the last time we spend with our fellows as 'theater babies;' when we see them again, they're all grown up! This year will be no different - I can't wait to see what they do next."
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Katherine Kovner said, "Maya Macdonald, Christopher Reyes, Tanya Everett and Tasha Gordon-Solmon each possess vibrant distinct voices and exemplify the type of talented early career playwright we are trying to support. I'm looking forward to diving into the year with these wonderful Fellows, as well as with our 19-20 Scratchpad playwrights."
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The Playwrights Realm offers readings (two per day) of four new plays by its 2019-20 writing fellows.
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I want to invite potential viewers to Leave the Balcony Open by placing Macdonald alongside Annie Baker, the young master of tongue-tied heartache (in rural Vermont, even). Macdonald’s characters are more playfully self-conscious, running ironic circles around themselves, trying too hard and not trying enough, like their elaborate but makeshift(...)
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I remember being a naive undergraduate, not dissimilar to Macdonald’s rich characters, and her play is a haunting reminder of that period in my life. She has crafted a heartbreakingly real examination of the quarter-life crisis, when escape—through substances, jokes, silence—feels like the only option.
