Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights

2010 Festival

 

For Immediate Release                              
February 3, 2010

Barter Theatre announces the 10th annual Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights Competition

Abingdon, Va – Barter Theatre’s 10th Annual Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights (AFPP) will take place July 27 through August 7, 2010. Submissions of new Appalachian-themed plays or plays by an Appalachian author may be submitted until March 31, 2010 for possible inclusion in the festival.

Founded in 2001, Barter’s AFPP provides an outlet for new plays and playwrights with a distinctly Appalachian voice. Any original play that has not been previously published may be submitted for consideration. Recent successes from the AFPP include local playwright Doug Pote’s Keep on the Sunny Side and Man of Constant Sorrow, Kentucky native Catherine Bush’s The Other Side of the Mountain, and St. Louis, Missouri, playwright Ron Osborne’s Wise Women, First Baptist of Ivy Gap and My River, My Valley. Some of these plays have gone on to production at theatres across the country.

The winner and runner-up of last year’s AFPP, The Blue-Sky Boys by Deborah Brevoort and Where Trouble Sleeps by Catherine Bush, will each receive a full production as part of Barter Theatre’s 2010 season.

Director of the AFPP, Nicholas Piper said, “Barter Theatre hopes this process will be instrumental in helping the playwright further develop their work.”

The annual AFFP process begins with the selection of six plays that are given staged readings. Following each reading, there is a discussion of the play with the Festival Panel (made up of local and regional theatre professionals) and the attending audience.

Selected plays from the readings may be given mini-productions (fully produced but with minimal technical elements) the following year and may even go on to full productions on one of Barter’s two stages.

The 2009 reading selected for a mini-production is A Southern Exposure by Kelley Kingston-Strayer, which will play eight performances throughout the 2010 AFPP.

Play submission guidelines are as follows. Plays must be written by an Appalachian playwright (defined as currently living in the Appalachian Mountains that run from New York State to Alabama) OR the plays must contain Appalachian settings and themes. Full-length plays are preferred. Please submit the full script. The writers of the selected plays will be provided with housing and transportation in order to attend the reading of their play.

The playwrights of the six selected plays will each receive $250 plus transportation and housing for two nights (the day before and the day of the reading).

The winner of the AFPP receives a $500 award. Second place receives $250.

Plays must be received by March 31, 2010. Send plays to: Nick Piper, Director, Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights, P.O. Box 867, Abingdon, VA 24212. For more information on the AFPP, go to the Barter Theatre Web site at: www.bartertheatre.com/festival.
 

Visit the Festival Information page for submission details.