AFT Literary Intern Emma Stanton (pictured above) updates us on next year’s XYZ Festival of New Works.
In the last three weeks, the literary department of About Face has been focusing on our 2010 XYZ Festival of New Works. This is a festival that gives four plays in development the opportunity to have a reading at About Face Theatre in the fall of 2010. About Face will provide professional actors and directors for the reading and offer feedback, as well, to the playwright.
While the XYZ Festival enjoyed a successful run in 2009, we have decided for the first time to open up the pool of submissions to the national community of playwrights. By March 15, one hundred and eighty-seven plays were submitted—twice as much as expected! Since the pool of applicants was so large, we sought readers across the country to read at least two plays (all anonymous to the readers) in order to give each play a fair, well-rounded assessment. These plays were sent out March 17th.
By March 24th, readers sent back their evaluations of the plays to the literary department and between March 24th and April 1st, we lived and breathed XYZ plays! Finally, after a very intense week, we were able to determine which twenty plays would be sent out to the panelists—who will be determining the finalists and the XYZ Festival of New Works participants.
It has been an extremely interesting and exciting process so far, from which we have learned a lot. Not only have we come to understand how to manage a festival with one hundred and eighty-seven submissions, but we have also had the opportunity to engage with each other in a full and meaningful way on the significance of new work at About Face Theatre and also, on the greater American stage.
