Evento

Second Annual Short Play Festival

This is The Actors Studio of Newburyport's second annual nationwide short play festival. In response to our call for submissions, we received 253 scripts from 253 playwrights, hailing from 42 states, three Canadian provinces, and Ireland. After close and careful consideration, the list was trimmed down to 26 semi-finalists. All 26 plays were given a cold read in front of our panel of 12 judges and 30 voting audience members. By July we had chosen our eight short plays to be presented this fall at our black box theater.

Eight directors signed up to mount the plays. We held open auditions and met or were reacquainted with 37 wonderfully talented actors. We are excited to be presenting these new pieces as they represent points of view and sensitivities from across the country.

Five comedies, two hard-hitting dramas and a play that's so ethereal it defies description make up our fabulous program. These plays span the emotional spectrum, from side-splitting-hysterical to stunningly dramatic. We are very proud to once again showcase national playwrights and the amazing talent of our Newburyport directors and actors.

Our winning playwrights are:

Daniel Curzon, CA, "I and the Queen," winner of The Clopton Prize for Best Play
Rich Orloff, NY, "The Unforgivable Sin of Forgiveness"
Judith Strang-Waldau, MA, "Reaping"
Bruce Menin, MA, "Luminous"
Maripat Allen, MI, "Stay"
Tom Misuraca, CA, "True Colors"
David Guaspari, NY, "Mortality Play"
Bryan Harnetiaux, WA, "Meta"