40th Annual Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival to be Held in August

The Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, the nation's premier short play competition, announces the 30 finalists for its 40th Anniversary of the Festival. Chosen from over 1,500 submissions (a record breaking number) from the U.S. and abroad, these 30 plays will be presented during a week-long festival August 6th-9th. All performances will take place at the East 13th Street Theater (Classic Stage Company).

The Sunday, August 9th presentation is the culmination of a week-long festival, beginning August 3, at which the finalist short plays (running 10-30 minutes in length) are presented on stage at the East 13th Street Theater. (For a complete list of this year's 30 finalists, see the list at the end of this release.) Throughout the week, a distinguished panel of judges representing all aspects of the theatre industry, will narrow the finalists down before the winning six will be selected by the Samuel French staff. The winning plays will be presented together on August 9, and published in an anthology of short plays that will become the 40th edition of the Off Off Broadway Festival Plays series.

Originating in 1975, the OOB Festival is one of Samuel French's primary initiatives to work with the next wave of emerging playwrights. In the 40 years of the OOB Festival, over 500 theatre companies and schools have participated. Applicants included companies from coast to coast as well as from Canada, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. The Festival has served as a doorway to future success for many aspiring playwrights, and has helped launched the work of such notables as Theresa Rebeck, Shirley Lauro, Sheila Callaghan, Bekah Brunstetter, Steve Yockey, Saviana Stanescu, David Johnston, and Daniel Pearle. In many cases, Festival participation has sparked agent contracts for Festival finalists. Many past Festival playwrights have gone on to win major playwriting awards and honors, as well as to have major theatrical productions of their works staged with the support of such theatres as The Public Theater, The Royal Court, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Flea Theatre, The Living Theatre, and Naked Angels, and with the backing of prestigious university playwriting programs such as The New School for Drama, Columbia University, University of Iowa, and Tisch School of the Arts' Dramatic Writing Program.

Tickets for all performances are $18. For tickets and a complete performance calendar, visit http://oob.samuelfrench.com. Be sure to connect with us on Twitter and Facebook, using #OOBFestival.

THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY SAMUEL FRENCH
OFF OFF BROADWAY SHORT PLAY FESTIVAL FINALISTS

At the Finish by Nick Gandiello
Bermuda Blue by Ross Dunsmore
A Brief History of America by Dipika Guha
Billy Bitchass by Ira Gamerman
Blind by Gloria Calderon Kellett
The Brighter the Star by Katharine Henner
The Checker Game by Steven Warren
The Crocodile's Bite by Vanessa Garcia
Eight Seconds by Sean Harris Oliver
Evelyn Shaffer and the Chance of a Lifetime by Greg Edwards and Andy Robinson
Gay for Pay by Benjamin Scuglia
Ginny by Anna Fox
Glamping by Carey Crim
The Gulf by Audrey Cefaly
Happy Anniversary by Charly Evon Simpson
Lucky Numbers by Gwendolyn Rice
Make John Patrick Shanley Go Home by Holli Harms
The Maltese Walter by John Minigan
Narrators by Simon Henriques
Naturalistic Commercials by Ben Vigus
The Offer by Bella Poynton
Salt by Peter Turo
The Salty Part of the Animal by Erin Mallon
Seabird is in a Happy Place by James Gordon King
So You're Her by Arnold Shelby
Tastes Like Teen Spirit! by Sara Israel
That Noise by Dominic Finocchiaro
Throws of Love by Amy Staats
Two Pigeons Exactly the Same by Emily Feldman
The White Castle by Anderson John Heinz

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