Proteus New Plays Festival Submissions

SUBMISSIONS OPEN NOW: PROTEUS NEW PLAYS FESTIVAL

The Proteus New Plays Festival (PNPF) is the theater component of our annual Proteus Festival, the kickoff festival for The Z season. The festival showcases community-driven staged readings of 4 scripts that have been developed in the Z Playwrights Lab or by Z Artist Members, to highlight these opportunities at The Z for local playwrights. The staged readings give the playwrights an opportunity to work with a director and a volunteer cast to see their script “on its feet” for the first time. Technical components are intentionally limited to focus the process on the script.

The Z provides onsite rehearsal time and rehearsal support, limited technical support, and a director for each staged reading. Each reading is presented twice during the 2 weeks of Proteus Festival.

Audiences are given the opportunity to rate the plays at the festival using a feedback form of questions focused on the elements writing an engaging script and story. Ratings are averaged to select the festival Audience Favorite. The Audience Favorite selected receives a workshop production with a production budget, paid cast, and a 2-week run as the final Curtain Up! New Plays Series play of the 24-25 season.

Schedule Summary

Submissions Open: May 15-May 31, 2024

Selection process complete and Playwrights contacted: June 30, 2024

Kick Off Meeting: late July 2024

Director & Playwright one on one meetings: August 2024

Common Casting at The Z: August 17-18, 2024

Rehearsal Week 1: September 1-7, 2024

Rehearsal Week 2: September 8-14, 2024

First Staging/Tech Rehearsal 4HR Blocks: September 15-21, 2024

Second Tech Rehearsal 4 Hr Blocks: September 22-28, 2024

Proteus Festival Kick Off Event: October 2, 2024

PNPF Performance Show 1: October 3, 2024

PNPF Performance Show 2: October 4, 2024

PNPF Performance Saturday – All Four Shows: October 5, 2024

PNPF Performance Show 3: October 10, 2024

PNPF Performance Show 4: October 11, 2024

Proteus Block Party and Awards: October 12, 2024

SUBMISSION INFORMATION

Submission Guidelines:

The Playwright's Commitment:

2-4 pre-rehearsal meetings with the Director – to discuss script and story, shaping changes prior to rehearsal starting
Provide a rehearsal script implementing any changes, no later than 1 week prior to rehearsals starting
Assist Directors in recruiting volunteer casts and team
Attend meetings and actively participate in discussions with the Directing team regarding the script during the rehearsal period and make revisions for rehearsal in a timely fashion. All revision decisions are the sole determination of the Playwright.
Attend rehearsals, as requested and available. Director will determine frequency of Playwright’s attendance at rehearsals as best suits the Director’s process.
Attend all 4 shows at least 1 time
Participate in Festival Wrap meeting with staff and the other selected playwrights

Proteus New Plays Festival Staged Reading Performance Guidelines:

Run Time limited to 90 minutes. Run Time does not include intermission.

Limited to 30 total hours of rehearsal (not including performances), 8 hours of which are reserved for the tech rehearsal schedule.
2 public readings per show for a ticketed audience
Actors will be On Book
Community-driven event; volunteer actors & teams only
Limited staging, no choreography
Stage directions must be read aloud as part of the ticketed performance. Choosing a stage direction reader should be part of your casting process.
One costume per actor, no costume changes. Full cast in a basic look, such as all black, is allowed.
No scenery. Furniture must remain in a single location, with the exception of folding chairs, stools, stage blocks, or music stands. Actor staging can include moving those items, keeping in mind that actors will have scripts in hand.
Hand props should be limited to items critical to telling the story only, keeping in mind that actors will have scripts in hand.
Lighting will be selected from the list of available full stage lighting looks and specials. Selections made by the Directing team.
Intro-show, act break, and out of show music may be selected by the Directing team either from available music on Spotify or by providing an mp3 or wav file of a track. Youtube links are not accepted in lieu of audio files. No sound cues or sound effects - necessary sound effects should be read (or performed) by your stage direction reader. Actors will live perform any scripted voice-overs from onstage.
Text-only projection slides, no more than one per scene, to clarify scene location or similar. Only short location titles, dates, and/or times - no long descriptions please.

The Z Provides:

Stage manager – to coordinate rehearsals, record blocking, facilitate scheduling with The Z
Director and Assistant Director– to collaborate with Playwright on pre-rehearsal script work and to direct the staged reading
Casting support at Common Casting Auditions, casting announcements on Z Arts News, and in Audition and Artist Membership e-blasts. Participation agreement document for volunteer actors, to be signed at the first rehearsal.
Up to 20 hours of onsite, non-technical rehearsals, as available. Rehearsals will be scheduled with The Z Production Manager by the Stage Manager. Rehearsal locations will be assigned as available and may vary between the Studio, Main Stage, or Main Lobby.
Use of The Z furniture & prop stock and folding tables & chairs - list will be provided
Lighting, Sound, and Projection board ops
8 hours staging/tech rehearsal time in the Studio, in 2 four-hour blocks per show. Stage Manager will schedule Staging and Tech with The Z Production manager, within the allotted hours. (ex: 1 hr dry tech, 3 hrs staging, 4 hrs tech) One hour of tech for each show will be dry tech with SM, crew, and Directing team.
Festival lighting plot with list of available looks.
Standard pre-show music for all 4 shows.
Text-only slides using a Festival template. No more that one slide per scene.
$100 budget for production materials.

SUBMISSIONS OPEN NOW: PROTEUS NEW PLAYS FESTIVAL

Schedule Summary

SUBMISSION INFORMATION

PNPF Submissions 24

Contact Information

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