Abingdon Theatre Company Announces FALL FESTIVAL OF SHORT PLAYS

Abingdon Theatre Company has announced a "Fall Festival of Short Plays," a two-week virtual festival shedding light on stories by people of color. Submission period begins Monday, July 13, 2020 and will continue through Monday, August 17, 2020. The selection of six new short plays will be announced Monday, September 28, 2020. The "Virtual Festival of Short Plays" is set to take place October 19 - 30, 2020. For additional information, please contact Beatriz Cavalieri, Abingdon's New Works Associate Director, at bcavalieri@abingdontheatre.org.

Abingdon Theatre Company continues its mission in creating opportunities for all voices to be heard. With this in mind, the company will produce a Fall Festival of Short Plays, a two-week virtual festival shedding light on stories by people of color. A diverse panel of judges, theatre professionals who are Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), will select 6 new short pieces created and performed by people of color. At the conclusion of the Festival, the panel will select a winner who will receive a stipend to be used to support further exploration of their piece and will be invited to become an "Artist-in-Residence." The Abingdon Theatre Company has committed to producing the winning piece as part of their "Around the Table" free reading series. Through the outreach, online readings, and finally the staged reading of the winning piece, the hope is to engage around 1,500 people of color and to create a more diverse environment at the Abingdon.

"Abingdon has long maintained the mission to shed light on emerging artists," says Artistic Director Chad Austin. "At this time, I feel we must do more, and this festival is a small step, but a step in the right direction. It is my hope that we will be able to learn from this difficult time and continue to grow as a community. I pledge to do better and to do my part as the leader of this great company."

"FALL FESTIVAL OF SHORT PLAYS"

Schedule of Events:

Submissions Open July 13
Submissions Close August 17
Selection Process August 17 - September 27
Selections Announced September 28
Casting/Rehearsal September 28 - October 18

Festival Reading Schedule

Monday, October 19 at 7:00PM
Wednesday, October 21 at 7:00PM
Friday, October 23 at 7:00PM
Monday, October 26 at 7:00PM
Wednesday, October 28 at 7:00PM
Friday, October 30 at 7:00PM

Winner Announced Thursday, November 5

The Abingdon Theatre Company is dedicated to developing and producing brave, new American work by emerging and established artists. The company provides a safe home where playwrights, directors and actors can collaborate within a supportive and nurturing environment. We search for stories about the human experience that reflect our social, political, historical and cultural diversity. We are acutely aware of the theatre's power to unite disparate population groups through stories about common human interests, and we strive to shed light on a variety of perspectives. In January 1993, a group of five professional theatre artists eager for ongoing collaboration and greater control over their creative lives gathered in a brownstone near New York City's Abingdon Square Park for a series of bi-weekly readings of new plays. After a few months of informal meetings, enthusiasm swelled and the artists pooled their theatrical experience to establish an open-door home where they could collaborate, invite their colleagues to join the process, and develop new plays. Twenty-two years later, Abingdon has collaborated with more than 200 playwrights, produced 85 New York and World Premiere plays, presented more than 700 readings, staged 175 ten-minute plays, and commissioned 6 one-act plays.

www.abingdontheatre.org