Fringe Update. Two news items.

The scripts have now been submitted to the script judge. Playwrights and Producers will know that a play is often tweaked in the magical journey between page and stage. We wanted to give the writers the most time possible, to make any adjustments.

The second item is that there is a slight change to the programme. Two plays have swapped places for logistical reasons and organisers of events will be well familiar with that term. It is a catch-all for basically anything that can go wrong or hadn’t previously been worked out.

All we need now is a decent audience. Please spread the word!

As part of our first Fringe Festival we’re looking for ten new fifteen-minute plays to be performed on the weekend of Friday March 8th to Monday March 11, 2013. Two plays will be performed each of the four nights (after the main play in the Town Hall,) and there will be two additional performances on the Sunday afternoon. The venue is the Dalton Inn Hotel in the centre of the town.

Ten plays will be shortlisted from the entries and the writers of these plays will be invited to have their play performed at the Fringe Festival.

The plays will be a maximum of fifteen minutes in duration and while there will be no performance fee, two prizes will be awarded – a first prize of €500 and a runner’s up prize of €250. Each shortlisted play will be performed once and adjudicator(s) will decide the winner and runner-up.

Each play must be new original work – previously unpublished and unperformed and writers will be required to sign a declaration to this effect with their entry. It will be the responsibility of the playwright to organise the staging of the play and details of how they propose to do so will form part of the application process. To assist in the staging, we will provide a list of available local actors and directors with contact details and a brief biographical note, to any playwright seeking such information. It will be the sole responsibility of the playwright to contact and make whatever arrangements, with these actors and directors. A PA system, some limited lighting, stage hands and a sound engineer will be available free of charge to the playwrights. Rehearsal apace and access to the performance area in advance of the performance will also be available. We recognise the difficulty and expense of putting on a production – especially where the playwright lives a long distance from Claremorris and we will endeavour to assist each playwright in any and every reasonable way we can, to ensure the best performance of their play.

This is a competition for plays, and the judging will reflect this. That said, each play must be performed to have a chance of winning.

The dates again are:

Friday March 8th 2013 – 2 Plays in Dalton Inn Hotel, after the main play in Town Hall.
Saturday March 9th – 2 Plays in Dalton Inn Hotel, after the main play in Town Hall.
Sunday March 11th – 2 Plays in the afternoon in Dalton Inn Hotel, and 2 Plays in Dalton Inn Hotel, after the main play in Town Hall.
Monday March 12th – 2 Plays in Dalton Inn Hotel, after the main play in Town Hall.

That’s a total of ten plays.

Anyone interested in submitting an entry is asked to contact the organiser John Corless on email claremorris2013@johncorless.net or by telephone/text message on 087 9843900