HOW DO I GET MY SCRIPT READ?

Dear Theatregoers,
I'm eager to have my script read by just about ANY theatre company that's willing. It's a finished, polished work - that has even had a public, rehearsed reading in a recent drama exhibition in Sydney.

I am now eager for it to go further.
Does anyone know of any innovative, flexible theatre companies that would read such a script. Or pehaps any competitions that I could enter.

Just for the record; - it is a short 2 ACT play, averaging 45 - 55mins performance length. And the genre is black comedy.

Please e-mail me with any info you may have - it is greatly appreciated.

Jenny.

Hi Jenny,
I'm sure lots of us would be interested to have a read of it.
Sounds like a tricky length for a production.
Could it be trimmed to 40 minutes and effectively 1 act?
If so, there would be lots of interest from participants in the 1 Act Festivals, which are always a great opportunity to take a small financial risk with a new writer or work.
Regards,
Jonno.

I'd like to read your script, it's sounds interesting,
but sorry, I'm not a theatre owner or anything, Just an actor.
Good luck!!
-Hannah~Freya

Jonno wrote:
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Hi Jenny,
I'm sure lots of us would be interested to have a read of it.
Sounds like a tricky length for a production.
Could it be trimmed to 40 minutes and effectively 1 act?
If so, there would be lots of interest from participants in the 1 Act Festivals, which are always a great opportunity to take a small financial risk with a new writer or work.
Regards,
Jonno.

I am curious to know how many local (or even new national) scripts have been produced in recent years by community theatre?

I know a number of one acts in the festival are locally written(albeit a small number)

And I appreciate it is a financial risk to put on a new play!

And I know writing takes a little bit of time.

But the bottom line is community theatre provides excellent oportunites for participation, risk taking and development for actors and directors, where's the opportunity for writers?

Okay people may not go to new theatre as readily as old favourites ( although new works at the Blue Room do fine) but is this an issue of changeing the culture of the theatre goer in Perth?

Could the One act festival be only Australian original works, with preferance given to Western Australian works?

There's much talk of the great divide, how would that divide be bridged if a show that debuted at a community theatre was poicked up by a pro company?

Writers want to see there stuff onstage and the quality of talent working within community theatre is going to provide these writers with an excellent showcase and working with a writer is an excellent experience for Directors and actors (not always easy but worth it)

But maybe I'm wrong and original writing is rife in Perth community theatre.

Hi David

David Ryding wrote:
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> I am curious to know how many local (or even new national) scripts have been
> produced in recent years by community theatre?

More than have been done by theatre companies at the opposite end of the spectrum?
But that's probably a product of the sheer numbers involved. I believe you're quite right to identify that new and local writing is largely undervalued amongst community theatre companies. Or at least, perceived as a significant risk, if not undervalued.

> But the bottom line is community theatre provides excellent oportunites for
> participation, risk taking and development for actors and directors, where's the
> opportunity for writers?

I believe some community theatre companies have made a point of supporting local writers over several years. There's even been one local Perth company staging workshops for writers!

> Okay people may not go to new theatre as readily as old favourites ( although new
> works at the Blue Room do fine) but is this an issue of changeing the culture of the
> theatre goer in Perth?

The Blueroom occupies a unique position that suits the production of new, local works. With a small, minimally equipped, "free" venue and $1,000 to kickstart productions, the breakeven point for most Blueroom productions is well below anything that most community theatre companies can afford. The risks are far lower and it's substantially easier to taker the plunge. I wonder how many of these works would find their first production in the Playhouse or Subiaco Theatre Centre on as regular a basis?

For similar reasons most community theatre companies will readily "risk" new, local work within a one act season, but appear reluctant to stage a full length production.

Changing the culture? Absolutely!

> Could the One act festival be only Australian original works, with preferance given to > Western Australian works?

And what an appropriate idea for the centenary of federation. Maybe someone on the ITA might like to look at ways of realising this as part of their annual DramaFest?

> But maybe I'm wrong and original writing is rife in Perth community theatre.

We can live in hope!

:-)

Cheers
Grant

Thanks for your, as per usual, thoughtful comments Grant. Hope you are well and I look forward to our semi-annual bumping into each other and chat.

Now I've thought a little on this writing situation and I have a little fantasy situation. Bear with me as I explain it.

Okay, the year is 2002 and several clubs have joined together for a project called "New Voices", a series of original West Australian works to be produced by each club.

The works happen throughout the year, at regular intervals, at a shared theatre. Each play for a two week season with all the plays being shown again at the end of the year in a showcase season.

How did this happen? Some clubs put their hand up and said " Why not we'll try" Realising that it would be good for the development of them also due to the new audiences they could attract and the cross promotion with other companies.

Funds? By pooling the resources the companies produced one main poster and pooled their press for the "New Voices" festival/ project. A launch was held and much schmoozing was had and some of the street press came because they love free drinks and the opportunity for stories to write themselves. Maybe one of them is enticed to be a sponsor?

A new project was pitched in such a way to prove enticing to Arts WA who sponsored the venue hire for the theatre that was used. Thus the cost were reduced. Stages offered support dramaturgically and in letting playwrights know it was happening.

Ron Banks (Bless him) was sitting at his desk avoiding work when a press release describing the project landed on his desk. Amateur theatre doing new works? Don't believe it? Of course the first season is programmed when there is little pro work on and Ron needs a review. "Well it is original and is it any different to a new Blue Room work and I don't review amateur work but it is supported by Stages and Arts WA. I might send a reviewer"

The New Voices festival isn't a financial success but the cost is shared and the word of mouth it generates in its first year sets up the second bi-annual festival.

Okay a little idealistic maybe but surely if companies work out of the circle they inhabit this may not be too far fetched? And a concerted effort to bring in new writing (and not just one company) is going to get attention from the media and from audience who don't want to see classics, musicals and another drawing room farce. (a gross generalization of the content of community theatre but many do view it like that)

Well, just an idea as I was melting in my car. Not the best idea certainly but better to try something than say " well it's a bad situation but can we do anything?"

I think the idea of a/the One-Act Drama Festival (DramaFest) being devoted to Local/Australian is a stroke of genius!
Will most certainly suggest the idea next week.
Need some ideas to get it accepted in the generally conservative community theatre scene tho.
Any suggestions? Do we run a separate Festival? Do we make one/two sessions devoted to Australiana? do we make the whole thing Australiana.
It's certainly a good year to start what with THE Centenary

Great vision, Dave!

I like the principles of the idea and i believe (or is that hope?) there's a better than even chance that it may work in practice.

My feeling is our local professional companies just aren't adequately funded to provide sufficient opportunities for all the new writers appearng in Perth. The Blueroom is the (often literally) bleeding edge but focussed usually on smaller casts and minimal staging. Perhaps there is an opportunity here to fill in some of the middle ground.

Support from Stages and ArtsWA would be fairly critical. I wonder who's reading this?

Do you want to rough up and outline Dave and publish it here for comment?

Cheers
Grant

I personally would like to see the whole one act festival being purely local/ australian premieres(why do it in half measures?) but i think it would take a little longer than the rest of this year for that to begin and I feel from next year would be a more reasonable alternative. The one act festival is the time to take a risk and having an original work in your one act season isn't that much more of a risk.

Draft a proposal? Is there interest from any other people out there? Sounds ambitious but if small steps were taken, beginning with a couple of companies showing some interest....

I think the idea of having the State Dramafest dedicated solely to local playwriting is a wonderful one. Perhaps, with this in mind, clubs could try variations on Wembley Theatre Club's theme of running highly practical playwriting workshops where playwriting lecturers/experts are invited to give initial lectures, plays are written and workshopped, actors are invited in and the whole thing ends up with actual, if extremely cost effective!, productions in front of a live audience. Wembley's next set of these begins in April but other clubs could try similar things.

Maybe this year, we could have a set of locally written plays eg. 2 sessions or whatever and next year - a whole day or even the whole event could be dedicated to it.

Just a final observation. At the series of playwriting workshops that I attended at Wembley, a limit of 15 mins and 3 actors was set for each play. While this limit seemed harsh to some and was not adhered to by many, the plays that were edited down to 15 mins and workshopped extensively were by far the most effective.

Great idea, Dave!

Hi Julia and David

julia wrote:
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> I think the idea of having the State Dramafest dedicated solely
> to local playwriting is a wonderful one.

I disagree.

:-)

I would like to see local writing given more than just some cursory encouragement, but i don't believe that's obtained by turning over what is currently a festival demonstrating the diversity of available one act writing to exclusively performing local work. We learn little about what constitutes good writing and good theatre by turning our backs on centuries of work and trying to reinvent the wheel from scratch. There's a great deal to be said and learnt from placing local work side by side on stage with the best (and worst!) writing from around the world.

In this context, i hope there is always a place for a one act festival that demonstrates the diversity of what is available. Sure, think about including sections or awards that highlight the achievements of local writers, but i believe it would be a mistake to do so to the exclusion of the wealth of other writing available.

I'm also concerned that the artificial limitations of a one act festival don't necessarily provide the best showcase for new writing. I'd much rather see a programme of full-length, full-scale productions staged throughout the year, as i took Dave's suggestion to mean.

I think if we're serious about supporting new and local writers, it's important to recognise that the commercial market for one act seasons has all but disappeared. Local writers are finding a voice at one act festivals, what i believe they need is more opportunities to extend their writing beyond the limitations of that form. How often do we see full length, locally written plays premiering on our stages?

> Just a final observation. At the series of playwriting workshops
> that I attended at Wembley, a limit of 15 mins and 3 actors
> was set for each play. While this limit seemed harsh to some
> and was not adhered to by many, the plays that were edited
> down to 15 mins and workshopped extensively were by far the
> most effective.

So often it's not a matter of the dialogue that's written, but what passes unsaid, that strengthens a play. Big red pen: playwright's best friend.

:-)

Cheers
Grant

Talk to Ted Bull (who is interested in theatre) and Benadette Young (who has a program where it could be discussed) at ABC Radio Perth.

Ted performs in musicals from time to time, and Bernie wants offbeat stories.

Ask them for advice on where to go (and btw the ABC has nice new studios),