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Photos from our Book Signing and Launch party are now live on the OOB Facebook Page!  Check out the evening’s festivities here!

Submissions are now open for the 2012 Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival!

This year we’ve made a few adjustments to the application process that will help our reading and evaluation efforts go much smoother and allow us to expand the Festival’s benefits for a increasing number of playwrights around the nation.

Our first change is that we are no longer accepting paper submissions.  Not only did we see this as a positive environmental step for the Festival, but with last year’s submissions  pool almost reaching 1,200 plays, electronic submissions allow us to make it much simpler to send submissions to our readers outside of NYC. Our nationwide reading is one of the major reasons we continue to be a truly “National” Festival; our selection of our Final Forty playwrights originates with readers from around the country.

Our second big development is that we are now charging a small application fee for submissions.  As the OOB Festival looks into the future, we realize our plans and ideas for growth will take some budgeting, and with this small fee ($9 per play), we will be able to make some wonderful improvements. This year, the money from applications will go to space rental and production costs, the printing of programs, and new set pieces for our Final Forty production companies to use in performance.

Our third change is that we’ve moved our Festival week to the fall.  We’re doing the move in an effort to get more industry attending the Festival–we want our playwrights and producing companies to have as much exposure as possible.

And lastly — the announcement we are most excited about…

This year we’ve partnered with two major regional theatres to give our winning plays a life beyond the New York stage! Both Fusion Theatre in New Mexico and City Theatre in Florida have agreed to mount productions/readings of the winning works for their audiences! Additionally, Winning playwrights will also receive an invitation to attend the 2013 Citywrights conference in Miami, hosted by City Theatre.

We hope these partnerships not only give our amazing playwright the national attention and exposure they deserve, but also serve to raise awareness of the OOB Festival as a whole. Every year, we are blown away by the amount of playwrighting and producing talent from around the country (and in some cases, the world!). We are eager and thrilled to be able to share our enthusiasm with new audiences.

Here’s to a great 2012!

It’s 2012, and as we head into a new year, and a new OOB Festival, the Samuel French staff has decided to make some fresh, exciting adjustments for this year’s competition:

• The 2012 Off Off Broadway Festival will take place in the Fall instead of the summer.
• Because of the later date of the Festival, the submissions period will be moved back.  Submissions should be open beginning sometime in early to mid February.

We made these decision with both our playwrights’ and producers’ best interest in mind. As a large component of our Festival is giving our participants industry exposure, we want to hold our Festival at a time of year when most of NYC’s theatre community is in town and eager to see new work.  The beginning of the new theatre season seems like the perfect time of year!

In addition, we hope to capitalize on this larger industry presence by providing a series of Festival-related events and workshop throughout the week, both for participants and for fans of New York’s oldest, continuous play Festival!

Keep checking back for more information on dates, venue, and our application!

We look forward to reading your plays.

-The 2012 OOB Team.

Dear Participants –

I want to extend my thanks and appreciation to all of the playwrights and producing companies involved in this year’s Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival.  Your enthusiasm and passion for theatre was felt by all members of our staff.  Because of your talent and involvement, we continue our reputation as one of the world’s premiere short play Festivals.

Special mention must go out to the directors, actors and producing companies for their unflinching commitment to bringing these bold new works to our stage.  The commitment to your playwright combined with your high level of professionalism, created an inspiring week of theatre, and one that we hope you are as proud to present as we were.

This year the task was especially difficult to come to our final selections for the publication.  From the preliminary rounds with our industry judges to the Sunday Finals, each step of narrowing down the diverse list of plays was a challenging mission.  We congratulate all of the Final Forty playwrights and look forward to their future projects.  Ultimately, the following plays were chosen for publication and licensing agreements:

• Bedfellows by Adam Peltzman
• The Truth About Christmas by Daniel Pearle
• Mountain Song by Josh Beerman
• Pluck & Tenacity by Daniella Shoshan
• My Name Is Yin by Tom Swift
• Hanksylvania by Travis Helwig

Finally, we are always looking for feedback, suggestions or ideas for the Festival.  It is vitally important to provide playwrights and producing companies the best environment possible, allowing both much deserved exposure and much desired exploration.

Thank you again for your involvement.

Sincerely,

Kenneth Dingledine

Festival Coordinator

Samuel French, Inc.