Update 2007-05-23
Word from Brooklyn has come in - they will be performing Matthew's play "The Red Telephone."
Congratulations to Matthew; commiserations to other authors who weren't chosen this year. Thanks to everyone for taking part!
Update 2007-05-15
The Harrogate play was performed (see Apollyon's w/u below for a review!) and, with what amounts to miraculous lightning speed compared to last year, a video stream of the event is online already at http://video-2.leedsmet.ac.uk/Asx/?mswmext=.asx&id=604%7C3x%7CfD6brX*.
I'm still hoping to get a DVD copy of it as well, so I can send that to anyone who can't view the stream for whatever reason.
Update 2007-05-05
Harrogate's choices are in - of our plays, they will be performing:
Congratulations to all the above!
The performance will be on Friday the 11th of May (sorry for the short notice!) at Harrogate Theatre in North Yorkshire, England.
Details on the Harrogate Theatre site at http://www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk/ht05/production.asp?prodID=141. Box office phone number 01423 502 116.
No word from Brooklyn on their choices yet, so there's still a chance that more E2 plays will be chosen.
It's theatre quest time!
Write a sixty second play by 14th April. The best entries will be performed on stage, in front of a paying audience.
Details
Each year, the Harrogate Theatre (in the north of England), and Brooklyn College (in the eastern USA) collaborate on the Gone in Sixty Seconds project. They request submissions from writers anywhere and everywhere. Each selects 50 plays, and they are performed on stage by a mixture of drama students and semi-professional actors. The plays are filmed, and eventually a DVD will be sent out to those lucky people whose plays where performed, so you can see your work. I say "eventually", and boy do I mean it - the DVD for the 2006 production has only just been sent out. Theatre folk mean well but can't get anything done without a deadline.
Rules
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Plays must last no longer than 60 seconds
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All work must be totally original and the author's own work
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The cast size may not exceed 12 actors
- Submit your entry to the Gone in Sixty Seconds 2007 - Theatre Quest Entries node.
- Deadline 14th April. (it's been extended!)
- Include your name, location, and the play's title
That last rule is because when each play is performed, they like to display e.g. "The Infuriating Penguin, by Joe Bryant (London)" behind it on a screen. If you don't want to publish your name and location here on E2, either make up a pseudonym, or send me the information by /msg, and I'll pass it on to the theatres if your work is chosen.
Guidelines
- Most obviously - check out the previous three quests and look at the ones that got chosen to be performed.
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Don't write anything that depends on elaborate costumes, sets, or props - there's little time for these things when you are performing 50 sketches in succession. A fireman's hat is okay; a Big Bird costume is not. Think practicality.
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Recall that the audience haven't read the script and so don't know that the guy up there is supposed to be e.g. Paris Hilton unless it's apparent from the dialogue. (Sounds obvious, but it escapes people surprisingly often.)
- Read the thing aloud with a stopwatch to make sure it really fits into sixty seconds. They aren't kidding about the time limit.
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If you have doubts - ask me! I used to perform these things, I like to think I've got a good idea of what will fly and what won't.
I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with this year! Last year, E2's contributions accounted for a huge portion of those performed; we wrote about a third of the Brooklyn show, which is fantastic. I'd love to do better though: maybe one year I'll be able to say we wrote the majority of the material...
This year the quest sponsor is the lovely paraclete, who hasn't yet realised that being the quest sponsor means she is obliged to submit something.