JOOKMS Announces Call for Submissions For SPOTLIGHT SUMMER PERFORMANCE SERIES

JOOKMS announces a call for submissions to the inaugural Spotlight Summer Performance Series. The Unframed at New Stage Theatre Series and JOOKMS will provide a platform for Mississippi-made LGBTQ+ writers and performers. The reading series will run July 20th - 26th and will feature LGBTQ+ one-act and full-length plays. The deadline for submissions is June 1st, 2020.

Submissions are open to all Mississippi-made playwrights and performers. Writers interested in submitting plays should send scripts to spotlightsummerseries@gmail.com with "Spotlight Submission 2020" and the play's title in the subject line. Included in the e-mail should be the playwright's name, contact information, and a two-sentence synopsis of the play. There is no submission fee.

The purpose of the Spotlight Summer Performance Series is to nurture new plays and playwrights by working with Mississippi-made writers to showcase their works for audiences in our community. Selected plays will be presented as staged readings on The Warehouse Theatre stage in Jackson, MS. These readings will have a director and cast assigned from Mississippi's professional and amateur theater community. JOOKMS will also use the series to find and develop works for possible future productions. Authors whose manuscripts are selected will receive an honorarium, a written critique from a professional dramaturge, a video recording of the staged reading, and feedback from post-show audience discussions.

The Spotlight Summer Series will also feature benefit readings of The Boys in the Band and Entertaining Lesbians by Mississippi playwrights Mart Crowley and Topher Payne.

Anyone interested in directing, designing, or volunteering for the Spotlight Series, please contact Drew Stark at New Stage Theatre. More information will be available soon on the JOOKMS Facebook page or by joining the JOOKMS Creative Collective Facebook group.

JOOKMS is a professional theatre project committed to devising, developing, and presenting locally sourced theatre, music, and film. Programming includes collaborative workshops, readings of new works, audience outreach and development, community engagement, and arts education programs for students, teachers, and parents. Offering innovative new stage works that entertain, inspire, and challenge audiences through the performing arts, JOOKMS celebrates Mississippi's diverse stories and dynamic culture, traditions, and history.

New Stage Theatre provides professional theatre of the highest quality for the people of Mississippi and the Southeast. New Stage is committed to producing important contemporary works and classics, selected for their artistic merit and their power to illuminate the human condition. Challenging new works in development are included through the Eudora Welty New Play Series named for the distinguished writer and the Mississippi Plays Series. The theatre is dedicated to cultivating and educating a culturally diverse audience by gathering the finest available resources including playwrights, actors, directors, designers, technicians, administrators, trainees, and board members.

Randy Redd (Producing Artistic Director, JOOKMS) Credits include PARADE, RING OF FIRE, MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET, Terrence McNally's SOME MEN (Second Stage), THE BURNT PART BOYS (Playwrights Horizons), Randy Newman's FAUST, PUMP BOYS & DINETTES, Alain Boublil's MANHATTAN PARISIENNE, Andrew Lloyd Webber's BY JEEVES (Kennedy Center), ALLEGRO directed by John Doyle (Classic Stage), and Max Vernon's THE VIEW UPSTAIRS. Film/TV: Beautiful Creatures, The Last Five Years, After the Storm, Kinsey, and From Broadway with Love (PBS). Directing credits include SWING WINGS, SWEET POTATO QUEENS, EXTRAORDINARY JOE, MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET, SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN, THE WHO'S TOMMY, and FICTION IN PHOTOGRAPHS. His first play, MISSISSIPPI SUGAR, was developed and produced at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Other original work: AWFUL/GOOD, TOUCHÉ (NYMF), WHAT'S THAT SMELL (Atlantic Theatre Company), ELKIN DAB, and SONS OF LEVI (New Stage Theatre).

NOTE: The Spotlight Summer Performance Series is not a grant or funding opportunity. New Stage Theatre and JOOKMS will provide rehearsal and performance space, refreshments, feedback, and will secure directors and performers for the presentations but at this time we are unable to provide additional funds for exploration or stipends for accepted writers.

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