Update 2009-05-15

Quest closed.

The theatre quest returns for 2009!

Write a sixty second play by 8th May. The best entries will be performed on stage, in front of a paying audience.

Details

Each year, the Gone in Sixty Seconds project requests submissions from writers anywhere and everywhere. Two venues, one in the USA, and one in the UK, each select 50 plays, and they are performed on stage, in front of a real audience, by a mixture of drama students and semi-professional actors. Every year, everything2 members submit their plays, and so far each year has seen a selection of everything2 submissions chosen to be performed.

This year, the American show will be performed at The New Workshop Theatre, Brooklyn College, and the UK show will be at The Viaduct Theatre, Halifax.

Check out Apollyon's review of last year's UK show!.

The show will be recorded, and, in theory, the plays will be made available to view online. However, in previous years, this part of proceedings has been fraught with problems, so I am reluctant to make promises about it. I'm sure the organisers fully intend to put the videos of the plays online, but, please, don't be too disappointed if they don't, or if they do, but it takes MONTHS.

Rules

  • Plays must last no longer than 60 seconds.
  • All work must be totally original and the author's own work.
  • Avoid complicated staging.
  • Submit your entry to the Gone in Sixty Seconds 2009 - Theatre Quest Entries node.
  • Each author may submit multiple plays.
  • Deadline 8th May.
  • 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 Terrifying Absence of Auctioneers, 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.

Please make sure I have a name, location and play title from you! Every year I spend ages chasing people around with msgs for this information, please don't make me chase you!

Guidelines

  • Most obviously - check out the previous five quests and look at the ones that got chosen to be performed.
  • 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.
  • 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. Dick Cheney 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.
  • 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 reading your contributions!