Firehouse News
Firehouse Theatre Project’s Seventh Annual Festival of New American Plays Jan. 22-25
posted on January 9, 2009
Continuing its artistic mission of promoting new work in contemporary American theater, The Firehouse Theatre Project presents its Seventh Annual Festival of New American Plays, running from Thursday, January 22nd through Sunday, January 25th, 2009. The culmination of the Firehouse Theatre’s 2008 Playwriting Contest, the New Plays Festival celebrates and encourages new and emerging U.S. playwrights submitting as-yet unproduced scripts, and allows the Greater Richmond community to have a say in the Festival’s winner.
Two finalists culled from among nearly 200 scripts received from across the country were selected by a professional panel of judges. They are:
Evan Guilford-Blake from Atlanta, GA, for his script An Uncommon Language; and
Caridad Svich of New York City, for her script Magnificent Waste.
Both winners explore women artists - their lives, their work, and their darkest secrets.
Veteran actor/director Bill Patton will direct staged readings of both plays, to be presented on alternating nights during the New Plays Festival; and members of the public who see both plays are eligble to vote for the Festival winner.
Event Dates/Times:
An Uncommon Language: Thursday, January 22; and Saturday, January 24.
Magnificent Waste: Friday, January 23, and Sunday, January 25.
All events, 7:30 p.m. Doors open a half-hour before showtime.
Tickets: Suggested donation $5 each play at the door; volunteer script readers and students with valid ID get in free.
New to the 2009 Festival! Two Special Workshops Added - Saturday, January 24, 2009
10 a.m.-1 p.m. Playwrighting workshop for high school students, with Festival finalist Evan Guilford-Blake. Open to all high school-age students wishing to learn or perfect the craft of playwrighting.
2-4 p.m. “The Business of Playwrighting: Developing and Marketing Your Play Without An Agent” with Festival Finalist Evan Guilford-Blake, hosted by the Richmond Playwrights Forum.
Location: Firehouse Theatre, 1609 W. Broad Street. For more information or to sign up for the workshops, call the Firehouse at 804-355-2001, or .
Both workshops are free and made possible due to the generous support of The Community Foundation Serving Richmond and Central Virginia, and The Richard and Caroline T. Gwathmey Memorial Trust.
For more detailed information on the two finalists, the playwriting contest, and the festival, please look here.