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Tuesday, September 8, 2015

The Exit 7 New Short Play Contest

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Exit 7 Players (Ludlow MA, exit7players.org) is seeking submissions for The Exit 7 New Short Play Contest, performing in February 2016. The contest producers are Sue Crowther and Rebecca Johnson.

The Exit 7 New Short Play Contest will produce short plays by 16 playwrights in an exciting audience-participation format, awarding two winning writers a prize of $150 each.

Submission Process

You may submit either one or two plays. Please use the following process to enter the contest. Read all requirements carefully so as to be considered.

Format your script using no smaller than 12-point type. Use 1” margins on top, bottom, and sides. Please number your pages. (Click Sample Script Format to see a properly formatted page.)

Page one should start with the title of the play at the top of the page (as seen on the Sample Script Format). If you consider your play to be a comedy, please follow the title with “A Comedy”. If you do NOT consider your play to be a comedy, follow the title with “A Drama”. And yes, you must label your play as either one or the other.

Your play must be limited to 15 pages total. Any script 16 pages or longer will be rejected.

The plays we produce are chosen blind, so do not include ANY author information on the script itself. The contest Play Selection Committee does not see any playwrights’ names until the final selections for production have been made. Therefore, if you put your name on the script so that a member of the Committee sees it, it will be rejected. A company member who is not on the Play Selection Committee keeps the playwright contact info until the final 16 plays are selected for production.

Save your script(s) in .pdf format. You can submit your script(s) from Monday, June 29 to Saturday, September 12, 2015 via the form found on the Exit 7 Players website. Do not attempt to submit the script in any other format or to any other destination. Snail mail submissions are NOT being accepted.

Submission Restrictions

Please read the following carefully so that your script can be given due consideration:

Playwrights can submit 2 plays, but only 1 play per writer will be produced. Members of Exit 7 Players are eligible to submit to the contest, but if their script is chosen as one of the 16 semifinalists, they will be prohibited from working on the production of the contest in any capacity.

Scripts should require 2 to 5 actors. Please note that a play can include more than 5 characters, as long as they can be played by 2 to 5 actors. Scripts requiring more than 5 actors will be rejected.

We will not consider one-man or one-woman shows, musicals, or children’s theatre.

Entries must be original plays. Scripts may be co-authored, based on factual material, or an adaptation. Legal clearance of materials not in the public domain is the full responsibility of the playwright.

We will consider unproduced works as well as plays that have been previously produced, so long as their first date of production was on, or after, June 29th of 2014.

Submissions are restricted to plays that have not been published in any form, and they must be royalty-free to Exit 7 for this contest.

We’re seeking plays, not skits or sketches. Plays should have a beginning, a middle, and an end (though not necessarily in that order) and feature character development. Above all, make the script compelling.

Exit 7 is a community theatre. If we foresee difficulty producing a play due to unusual script requirements, the play may be rejected.

While Exit 7 is a family-friendly theatre, adult content is acceptable. Profanity, if it is fully justified by the script and for the character, will not be cause for outright rejection; however, profanity is no replacement for good writing. We will reject any script that requires nudity.

Keep set, lighting, sound, costume, and prop requirements to a minimum. The contest will feature 8 plays per night, with quick changeovers. A script with complex technical requirements could lead to its rejection.

Play Selection Process and Contest Format

Plays which do not meet submission requirements will be disqualified. A play selection committee of five Exit 7 members will read those plays which meet the submission requirements.

The play reading committee will select 16 plays for competition: 8 comedies and 8 dramas. Each play will be performed twice in the semifinal rounds. Eight plays will be presented in semifinals night Group A (4 dramas and 4 comedies) and eight plays in semifinals night Group B (again, 4 dramas and 4 comedies). This sequence will be repeated the following weekend and audience votes totaled.

An audience vote on each semifinals night will select the finalists—four dramas and four comedies. The audience of the finals night will select a winner in the drama category and a winner in the comedy category, who will receive a prize of $150 each. A detailed explanation of the performance format and of the audience voting system will be made available to the playwrights whose plays are chosen as semifinalists.

Additional Information

By submitting your script you are agreeing to the following:

a. You have read, understand, and agree to all of the contest rules and guidelines as detailed on Exit 7’s website.

b. You understand that Exit 7 reserves the right to change any contest rules as needed (but we will attempt to keep any such changes to a minimum).

c. You attest that your submission is an original piece, and that you are the author of said submission.

d. You attest that your play has not had a production prior to June 29, 2014.

e. You understand that Exit 7 reserves the right to reject any submission for reasons including, but not limited to, length, quality, content, or for otherwise not meeting submission requirements.

f. You give Exit 7 non-exclusive permission to perform your play as part of The Exit 7 Short Play Contest free of any royalties, as well as to record any performance of your play for archival purposes (not for resale or profit).

No playwright revisions will be accepted once a script has been submitted; Exit 7 reserves the right to request changes to any script, but none will be made without playwright consent.

No written or oral critique will be given on plays submitted.

Exit 7 will post the names of the semifinalists and their plays on its website and Facebook page once the selections have been made.

We will promote your play, but you should too.

Complimentary tickets will be made available to participating playwrights; those playwrights will be informed of our comp policy at a future date.

Playwrights must agree to allow Exit 7 to record their plays for archival purposes (not for resale or profit). A DVD copy of your play only will be copied for all semifinalist playwrights. You may use the footage of your play for self-promotion purposes, e.g. on your own website, if desired.

A Final Note

We are expecting literally hundreds of submissions…so make your plays compelling from the very first line of dialogue!

Audiences will choose the two prize winning plays from only 16 semifinalists, so once you’re in the contest, your chances are pretty good…the tough part is getting a play into the semifinals. Write a great script that grabs us, makes us laugh or makes us think, or both. Good luck! Keep an eye out for announcements on exit7players.org, and “Like” Exit 7 Players Theater on Facebook.

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