Submissions Now Being Accepted For GAYFEST NYC Fourth Annual Festival

Bruce RoBert Harris and Jack W. Batman, producers of GAYFEST NYC, are now accepting submissions for the Fourth Annual Festival of New Plays and Musicals to be presented in New York City in Spring 2010.

Three to five new works (plays or musicals) will be selected for fully-produced Main Stage productions with Actors' Equity Association casts and professional directors and staff personnel. Additional new works will be chosen for presentation in the Festival's Studio Reading series if one is scheduled, or for readings throughout the year. Each Main Stage production will receive between 6-15 performances.

Young and emerging writers, as well as experienced and professional playwrights and composers, are encouraged to submit their work. It is not necessary to be Gay or Lesbian to submit a play, but the work submitted should deal with LGBT characters or issues in some literal or metaphorical way.

The goal of GAYFEST NYC, a not-for-profit arts organization, is threefold: to develop new plays and musicals that will have a life outside the festival, on other stages and in other media worldwide; to expose a large and diverse audience to fresh, exciting new theatre works; to develop new voices who will be valuable storytellers about LGBT issues, thereby adding to the already diverse texture of the theatrical landscape.

Since its inception, over 300 plays and musicals have been submitted for consideration, coming from as far away as Australia and New Zealand. To date, GAYFEST NYC has produced seven plays and one musical as Main Stage productions and four plays in the Reading Series.

GAYFEST NYC is committed to sharing its gifts with the next generation of LGBT Americans and monies raised through ticket sales and other specialized fundraising efforts are used to provide scholarships for students of The Harvey Milk High School, a fully-accredited New York City public high school focusing on the educational needs of students who are in crisis or at risk of physical violence and/or emotional harm in a traditional educational environment. Since 2007 GAYFEST NYC has presented twenty-three scholarships to graduating seniors and has initiated and financed elective programs, including this year's professionally-taught Playwriting class that became one of the most popular elective programs at the school. HMHS students also work for school credit as Interns in the Festival.

For more information and Submission Guidelines, log onto GAYFESTNYC.com.

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