Midtown International Theater Festival Expands to Theatre Row For 2010 Season

The Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival (MITF) expands to The Beckett and The Clurman Theatres, Theatre Row, 410 W. 42nd Street, NYC, in addition to current theatres on 36th Street, for its eleventh season, to run from July 12 - August 1, 2010. Script submissions will be accepted beginning August 7. Applications will be available online beginning August 7 at www.midtownfestival.org.

"We love our existing theatres," said MITF executive producer John Chatterton, "but booking Theatre Row for next year gives a cachet to the Festival that our 36th Street location just doesn't provide. We hope up-and-coming commercial shows will consider The Beckett and The Clurman to be ideal places to strut their stuff."

The Festival accepts submissions in all genres - any sort of stage play, musical or otherwise, new or classic, mainstream or specifically focused on an ethnic or cultural niche. To be eligible, each show must have a producer and production team attached to the project.

Mr. Chatterton created the MITF in 2000, a Midtown alternative to other theatre festivals, as a way to present the finest off-off Broadway talent in convenience, comfort, and safety. Last year, the Festival added two 99-seat theatres and inaugurated the Commercial Division for upwardly mobile shows with commercial ambitions. All theatres are located near the MITF offices at 347 W. 36th Street (home of Mr. Chatterton's Where Eagles Dare rehearsal studios and theatre). The MITF's artistic emphasis is on the script itself and therefore the Festival requests minimal production values.

Application forms for the 2010 Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival will be available online at www.midtownfestival.org beginning August 7, 2009. Completed applications, scripts, production materials and a non-refundable reading fee of $30 must be mailed to: The Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival, 347 W. 36th Street, 13th Floor, New York, New York 10018. There will be an early discount for applications submitted before September 14, 2009.

The 2010 Festival will also take place at the June Havoc Theatre, 312 W. 36th Street, 1st floor; the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre, 312 W. 36th Street, 1st floor; the MainStage Theater, 312 W. 36th Street, 4th floor; the Jewel Box Theater, 312 W. 36th Street, 4th floor; and Where Eagles Dare Studio Blackbird, 347 W. 36th Street, 13th floor, NYC.

For more information, visit www.midtownfestival.org.