That’s right it is festival season. And today I bring you the news of a short festival… short plays that is, The 35th Annual Samuel French Inc. Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival. Submissions are now being accepted!  Playwrights should visit www.samuelfrench.com/oobfestival for application and  submission details. Applications must be postmarked on or before March  12, 2010 to be considered for this year’s festival.

The Samuel French Inc. Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival will take place on July 13th – 18th at the Lion Theatre in Theatre Row (410 W. 42nd Street). The festival will feature a selection of 40 short plays, chosen from hundreds of submissions by playwriting workshops, university theatre programs, and professional companies both in the U.S. and abroad. Out of these plays, six finalists will be chosen by the Samuel French, Inc. Editorial Staff to receive publication and licensing contracts.

This week-long festival features a full program of the selected plays performed for audiences and a panel of judges comprised of established playwrights, literary agents and artistic directors who nominate one or more of each evening’s plays as finalists.

The Off Off Broadway Festival started in 1975 and is Manhattan’s oldest continuous short play festival. Hundreds of theatre companies and schools have participated in the Festival’s first thirty-four years, including companies from coast to coast as well as abroad from Canada and England. This festival has served as a doorway to future success for many aspiring writers. Since its inception, 181 plays from the Festival have been published, and many of the participants have become established, award-winning playwrights including Theresa Rebeck, Shirely Lauro, Bekah Brunstetter, Steve Yockey, David Johnston and Sheila Callaghan.

Emerging playwrights have produced work in the festival with the support of such theatres as The Public Theater, The Royal Court, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Flea Theatre, The Living Theatre and Naked Angels, and with the backing of prestigious university playwriting programs such as The New School for Drama, Columbia University, University of Iowa, and Tisch School of the Arts’ Dramatic Writing Program. By requiring authors to collaborate with a producing organization and present their work in performance, Samuel French seeks to encourage the collaborative and creative process of playwriting.

Samuel French Inc. was founded in 1830, making it the oldest and largest publisher and licensor of plays in the world. It currently maintains offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto and London, and retail bookstores in Hollywood and Studio City, CA. For more info visit www.samuelfrench.com.

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