Patron: John Dunmore, C.N.Z.M., DLit. President: Colin Beardon [email protected] Vice-President: Angie Farrow [email protected] Membership Secretary & Treasurer: Richard Bull [email protected]
https://newzealandplaywrights.wordpress.com
PLAYWRIGHTS NEWS
June 2018 Vol 27 Issue 3
This year's One Act Play Competition closed on 30th April and attracted 25 entries. All the scripts are now with the adjudicator and the results are due to be announced in July. Angie Farrow is busy organising a weekend workshop and rehearsed reading of the top three plays to be held in Palmerston North in November.
Meanwhile our second competition of the year, the 10-Minute Play Competition, will open on 1st July, closing on 31st August. A great opportunity to put those long winter evenings to good use and to devise some sizzling plots to warm us up!
This is the first time, at least in recent history, that PANZ has held two competitions in the same year and while it has been extra work it is a healthy sign that PANZ is alive and well. Special thanks to all those who have made it happen: Christine, Kerrie, Rex, Richard and our adjudicators.
We are now just over a month away from the first ever New Zealand Theatre Month in September. This isn’t just a celebration of New Zealand theatres (as important as they are) but at least equally it is a celebration of New Zealand play writing. The focus should, where possible, be on staging plays by New Zealand writers, and that means people like you.
During September we can expect national and, in some cases, local media coverage. I hope you have been able to persuade your local drama group to put on a New Zealand play or at least mark the event in some way. I especially hope that you have persuaded them put on one of yours, but if they won’t then don’t forget you can always put it on yourself. Probably too late for this year but as NZTM will become an annual event there will be more opportunities in the future.
Colin Beardon President of PANZ
Playwrights Association of New Zealand Newsletter – June 2018 1
PLAYWRIGHTS ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND 10-MINUTE PLAY COMPETITION 2018
Adjudicator: Richard Harris
Enquiries and submissions to: [email protected]
Website: newzealandplaywrights.wordpress.com
RULES: 1. Only members of PANZ may enter the competition. Membership is open to any person who is a long-term resident of New Zealand or is residing here for the whole of 2018. The annual membership fee is $25. To join see: newzealandplaywrights.wordpress.com or email [email protected]. 2. There is no additional entry fee for the competition; your membership subscription is your entry fee. 3. A member may submit one play. 4. Scripts must be suitable for performing on stage. 5. Plays must have a playing time of between 7 and 10 minutes. 6. Scripts should contain the title, a list of characters and the setting but no synopsis. The dialogue should be clearly laid out and easily distinguishable from stage directions. 7. The name of the author(s) and/or their contact details must not appear anywhere on the script. 8. The script must not be an adaptation of anyone else’s previously published or performed work. We advise that you check copyright if quoting previously published work. 9. The play must not have been performed before a paying audience before 1 September 2018. 10. Entries open 1 July 2018 and close 31 August 2018. 11. Entries must be submitted by email to [email protected] attaching a completed Entry Form and the script as a Word file. 12. Results will be announced in November 2018. 13. The Adjudicator will select a First Place (cash prize of $100), a Second Place and a Third Place. 14. All three place winners will be invited to a workshop later in 2018 organised by Playmarket where a professional script advisor, director and professional actors will help develop their winning plays. This will be held in Wellington or Auckland. 15. All rights of each play will remain with the author. ______
The competition registrar is Kerrie Anne Spicer.
Playwrights Association of New Zealand Newsletter – June 2018 2
10-MINUTE PLAY COMPETITION ADJUDICATOR’S CRITERIA
The 10-minute play competition has opened for entries and no doubt many of you will be putting pen to paper. As the adjudicator, I will be matching each entry to set criteria. This enables a flat playing field for assessing all the plays.
As you are no doubt aware the plays will be anonymous and will be judged purely on their merit.
The criteria are as follows:
• Eligibility
Does the play meet the rules of the competition? No marking is given for this. Failure to adhere to the rules will mean it is not judged and you will not be informed of such.
In a competition of a short or full-length play this can be tricky. I know of a play that was once read aloud by the author, who timed it at 40 minutes. At a subsequent workshop reading it ran for 55 minutes. It’s a bummer when you believe you’ve submitted a masterpiece and you hear no more, because, unknowingly, it has been rejected by judges who disagreed with your timing estimate. 10-minute plays are easier and there’ll be a degree of latitude. But don’t push it….
The following criteria are a guide only. After all, this is simply a 10-minute sketch. It has to catch the imagination immediately and have a ‘wrap up’ ending.
• Plot: Creativity. Development and originality.
• Characterisation: Differentiation of characters and credibility.
• Dialogue: Economy of language. Flow and relevance to plot.
• Audience Appeal: Entertaining. Is not didactic.
• Production: Fit for the stage. Simple set. Feasible casting. Reasonable FX, sound and lighting demands.
Of all these criteria, the most important to keep in mind is audience appeal. Would I pay to see this play? After all, getting from page to stage is what theatre is about.
Profanities are fine. And in fact can be powerful if relevant. As is political incorrectness, and blasphemy if in context.
Good luck to all entrants.
I’m looking forward to reading your material.
Richard Harris
Playwrights Association of New Zealand Newsletter – June 2018 3
MEMBERS' NEWS
REX McGREGOR
Rex McGregor’s short comedy Ebook Meets Treebook won the AUDIENCE FAVORITE AWARD at Stage It! Center for Performing Arts, Bonita Springs, Florida, 28-29 April, directed by Laura Schueneman. The script is published in Stage It! 2 : Thirty 10-Minute Plays.
Luis Pages (Guy) and Kathryn Huffer (Gal) in Ebook Meets Treebook, Bonita Springs, Florida
Safe Trip had a reading at the Pittsburgh New Works Festival Original Play Readings, Higher Voice Studio, Carnegie, Pennsylvania, 7 May.
Kaitlin Cliber (Narrator), Lonnie Jantsch (Shirelle), Joel Ambrose (Nick) & Lindsay Goranson (Taz) reading Safe Trip
Playwrights Association of New Zealand Newsletter – June 2018 4
Flight of the Cows was a nominee for Best Play at Take Ten Festival 2018, Between Us Productions, Jewel Box Theater, New York, NY, 16-20 May, directed by Susane Lee.
Daniela Kaplun (Lucille), George K. Wells (Tiger), Lisa LaGrande (Clover) in Flight of the Cows, New York
Her Daughter's Doll had a staged reading at Nouveau Nights: 20 Year Anniversary of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Nouveau Riché, CLF Art Cafe, London, 14 June, directed by Abigail Sewell.
Playwrights Association of New Zealand Newsletter – June 2018 5
FRANCES EDMOND
Frances Edmond has been selected as the third New Zealand writer to join the Shanghai Writers’ Association’s International Writing Program. Frances is a Waiheke Island based writer and reviewer who works across disciplines in film, theatre and literature.
Her project for the residency is to complete a new draft of a screenplay for a film about Kathleen Hall; an unsung heroine. During the Japanese invasion of China in the 1930s, this unassuming New Zealand missionary nurse risked her life to smuggle supplies through enemy lines in aid of Canadian doctor, Norman Bethune who was appointed by Mao Zedong as Medical Advisor to the Communist Army. Kathleen’s story is that of a remarkable New Zealander waiting to be told. Ironically Kathleen is much better known in China than she is in her native New Zealand.
This opportunity is available through a partnership between the Michael King Writers’ Centre, the New Zealand China Friendship Society, the Shanghai Writers’ Association and the Shanghai People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.
Frances says: “I am both honoured and thrilled. The film project about Kathleen Hall is very close to my heart and I think it is such an important New Zealand story and being able to work on a new draft in China is an amazing opportunity”.
Frances will join writers from Argentina, Spain, Israel, Russia, USA, and Poland for two months in Shanghai in September and October this year. The writers receive free accommodation in an inner-city apartment, a small stipend for living expenses and air travel.
More details in the full media release. ______
STEFAN ALDERSON
Stefan Alderson’s play Don’t Date Androids is on at BATS, Wellington, 21-30 June, directed by Devon Nuku, featuring James Bayliss and Jamie Fenton.
Playwrights Association of New Zealand Newsletter – June 2018 6
APRIL PHILLIPS
April Phillips’ comedies SNiP and Bonking James Bond were produced by Taieri Dramatic Society, Fire Station Theatre, Mosgiel, 10-19 May, directed by David Thomson.
Keith Richardson, Alison Cowan and Rob Monzari in Bonking James Bond, Mosgiel
Swingers will be produced by Cas ‘n’ Ova Productions at the Performing Arts Centre, Heaton Intermediate School, Christchurch, 12-21 July, directed by Craig Hutchison.
Hilary Norris, Lloyd Scott, April Phillips, Steven Ray, Michael Morrissey, Colleen Cleary, Eddie Campbell and Jane Waddell at a Playmarket clinic for Swingers.
Playwrights Association of New Zealand Newsletter – June 2018 7
Blind Eye was produced by Cambridge Repertory Society, 9-23 June, directed by Mike Williams.
Dave Stearns, Joanna Bishop, Clive Lamdin and Karen Carroll in Blind Eye, Cambridge
April Phillips (fourth from the left) with director Mike Williams and cast and crew of Blind Eye
Playwrights Association of New Zealand Newsletter – June 2018 8
B E TURNER
B E Turner has had another podcast by Panglossian Productions in Williamsburg, Virginia. This time the play was Bridezilla. Link to the recording here: https://boapp.podbean.com/e/episode-33-bridezilla/
Brian’s one act play Bad Night at the Mex was produced at the Bergen County Academies One-Act Play Festival in early June, directed by high school seniors Tara Maier and Claire Kwon. Bergen County Academies is a prestigious high school in Hackensack, New Jersey. In this play the protagonist experiences schizophrenic hallucinations while two of her friends discuss the nature of the illness and problems with clinical care. Brian writes: “I had some email correspondence with the crew and a couple of Skype sessions which enabled me to rewrite the section concerning care to reflect the situation in America, which is much worse.” Link to video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ee4SlsZlfVA
Bad Night at the Mex, Hackensack, NJ
Playwrights Association of New Zealand Newsletter – June 2018 9
JENNIE TURNER
The Tairua Troubadours show this year is The Family Tree (Branches, Leaves & Roots), 23-30 June.
Where did you come from, and who do you think you are? With so much advertising and promotion around ancestry, Jennie Turner thought it would be fun to retell some of the amazing family stories she has uncovered from hers and trees of her friends.
Jennie writes: “For a while there I became little obsessive with genealogy. I discovered it wasn’t so much the names and dates I was interested in, but the stories behind decisions that changed lives. Often sad and desperate, but always thought-provoking, leaving the person looking, with a feeling of belonging and a sense of purpose. Every family has a story to tell. Some stories raise more than one eyebrow!”
Playwrights Association of New Zealand Newsletter – June 2018 10
COLIN BEARDON
Colin Beardon’s Open Home will be produced at Ostend Memorial Hall, Ostend, Waiheke Island, 31 August to 8 September.
This play is a sequel to Sleep Out (2015). Ade has recovered from his trauma while a soldier and still living in a sleep out in Rocky Bay. He has made his peace with the world and is celebrating his 40th birthday with friends when a newcomer arrives and makes an offer he cannot refuse. Or can he? The play explores "the scars within", as well as contemporary community and environmental issues.
The Grand Hotel in Auckland, which had a serious fire in 1901—the subject of Incendiary 1901
CHRISTINE BEARDON
Christine Beardon’s Incendiary 1901 will be performed at two venues in August.
This new play brings to life a forgotten mystery in early Auckland history. It is a fictionalised reconstruction of events surrounding a devastating fire at the Grand Hotel in Princes Street in 1901. The fire took place on the eve of the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, who were due to stay at the hotel to begin their Royal Tour of New Zealand. See and hear a dramatised reading in period costume.
Performances: Sat 29 Aug 7:30 - Artworks Theatre, Oneroa, Waiheke Island. Sun 30 Aug 4:00 - Ellen Melville Centre, Freyberg Place, Central Auckland.
The Auckland City performance is sponsored by Civic Trust, Auckland, as part of the Auckland Heritage Festival.
Tickets: $10 adults. Reservations & queries: [email protected]
Playwrights Association of New Zealand Newsletter – June 2018 11
CORNUCOPIA OF 6 NZ SHORT PLAYS
Warkworth Theatre Group will be putting on a Cornucopia of 6 NZ Short Plays for NZ Theatre month in September.
The production will run from Thursday 30 August to Sunday 2 September and includes the following.
The Willing Horse by Isobel Andrews, directed by Robyn Kellian
Frozen by Pam Ellender, directed John Burton
Speed Dating by Richard Prevett, directed by Rosie Hutchinson
Crosswords by Tim Hambleton, directed by Robin Brown
The Letter, written and directed by Susan Howard
Lost Soul by Dennis Lewis, produced by Joanna Jayne St John
______
SUSAN BATTYE
Year 11 Drama at Riccarton High School, Christchurch is staging the premiere production of Susan Battye's full length play, A Colonial Devotion, which is about Jane Deans of Riccarton, in the school Drama Room on 2 July (6.30pm) and 3 July (3.30pm and 6.30pm) Director: Paddy Scott.
Susan writes, "I am hoping that this modest production can lead to a major School Production and / or community theatre production."
For a brief on the play go to Eventbrite which is handling the bookings in the 50-seat theatre. Open seating - tickets are $5. https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/a-colonial-devotion-rhs-drama-production-tickets-47138820481
Reading copies of the play can be obtained from Playmarket. ______
RICHARD PREVETT AND DOLLY VARDEN-CHAMBERS
Richard Prevett and Dolly Varden-Chambers wrote some material for The Great Matamata Radio Show, Little Theatre, Matamata, 14-17 June.
Playwrights Association of New Zealand Newsletter – June 2018 12
NEW ZEALAND THEATRE MONTH POSTER COMPETITION
In conjunction with New Zealand Theatre Month, the organisers are running a poster competition sponsored by the Roger Hall Theatre Trust (administered by Arts Foundation of NZ) and judged by Peter Biggs CNZO, CEO Assignment Group; Chair of the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency.
There are two categories:
• Best Poster of a New Zealand Work from a Professional Theatre company.
o $1,000 prize to the winner, $100 each to the four runners-up.
• Best Poster of a New Zealand Work from a Community Theatre, Tertiary Institution or Secondary School.
o $1,000 prize to the winner, $100 each to the four runners-up.
Five posters will be selected in each category and announced on the weekend of 4/5 August.
The winning poster from each category will be announced at the official launch of New Zealand Theatre Month on Monday 3 September in the Grand Hall, Parliament hosted by the Hon Grant Robertson Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage.
Any poster of a New Zealand work performed from 1 January 2017 to 30 June 2018 can be entered.
Entries close on Sunday 15 July.
Posters are to be A4 in a digital format, not hard copy, emailed through to the New Zealand Theatre Month Coordinator
The purpose of the competition is to focus attention on what is a good poster, i.e. most likely to attract an audience’s attention to go and see the show.
The competition will also help to raise awareness of NZ works throughout the country by having the finalists displayed in as many places as possible.
Please complete the NZTM Poster Competition Entry Form and email with a digital image of the poster/s to Ewen Coleman, New Zealand Theatre Month Coordinator –– [email protected] by Sunday 15 July.
And remember, if you are having a production or an event associated with New Zealand Theatre Month in September and have as yet to let us know so it can be publicised with all the other activities going on that month, then please do so with a return email to this email with all your details.
Ewen Coleman, New Zealand Theatre Month Coordinator 027 428 8491
Playwrights Association of New Zealand Newsletter – June 2018 13
WRITE ON by Donna Banicevich Gera
Creative Playwriting Survey
In order to instigate change in our playwriting we need to be constantly rethinking our process, revisiting our thinking, and resetting our current behaviour. Try filling in the following questionnaire about your own creative playwriting process:
My creative process is a…1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Five years ago my creative process was a…1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
I love trying new writing exercises…1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Five years ago I loved trying new writing exercises…1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
I stopped because…
I love reading new play scripts…1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Five years ago I loved reading new play scripts…1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
I stopped because…
I like writing with pen & paper YES/NO
I like writing with computers or technology YES/NO
I write every day YES/NO
I keep a journal YES/NO
I blog YES/NO
I read every day YES/NO
I read…
I watch…
I go to the theatre to see live performance frequently…1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Five years ago I went to the theatre to see live performance frequently…1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
My last play writing project I finished was…
I consider it a SUCCESS/FAILURE
Why?
What changes do I think I need to make?
Write on…
Donna Banicevich Gera
Playwrights Association of New Zealand Newsletter – June 2018 14