6 Playwrights Advance Finals of 35th Annual Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival

At the half-way mark of their 35th annual Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, Samuel French, Inc. announces the first six plays that have moved on to the Finals to be held on Sunday, July 18th in four sessions beginning at 1:00 pm in the Lion Theatre at Theatre Row:
- FLOOD by Kirby Fields (Schubert Fellowship in Dramatic Writing);
- DANCE LESSONS by Josh Koenigsberg (Al's Business Card [NY Times
Critic's Pick, Top 10 Off Off Broadway Play-nytheatre.com]);
- WHITE EMBERS by Saviana Stanescu (Aliens with Extraordinary Skills;
Waxing West [2007 New York Innovative Theatre Award]);
- SKIN DEEP by Mary Lynn Dobson (Two on the Aisle, Three in a Van
[FringeNY--Summer Theatre Citation for Outstanding New Play]);
- FAN-BOY by Megan Sass (Extra Pulp Ensemble);
- PIGSKIN by Gabriel Dean (James A. Michener Playwriting Fellow).

With first round performances remaining on Friday and Saturday, additional plays will be advanced to the Finals where the Samuel French Editorial staff will select six for publication and representation.

Attending the Finals and making the announcement of the winning six plays of the 2010 Festival will be the winners of the 2009 Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival - playwrights who include members of The Public Theatre's Emerging Writer's Group, Drama Desk Award nominees, Princess Grace Award Finalists, and winners of the NJACT Perry Awards: Christina Gorman, Scott Elmegreen, Kitt Lavoie, Pete Barry, J. Michael DeAngelis and Matt Hoverman.

As of Friday morning, the schedule for the Finals on Sunday, July 18th is as follows (please note the order within the sessions is subject to change as more plays move on to the finals):
1:00 PigSkin, Skin Deep, TBA
2:30 White Embers, TBA, TBA
4:00 Flood, TBA, TBA
5:30 Fan-Boy, Dance Lessons, TBA

The remaining plays in the festival will be presented in daily multi-sessions as per the following schedule:
- Fri. July 16 (7:30) A Different Kind of Animal, Wipe Away, Climb the
Smallest Mountain (9:00) Antipasto, Perfect Weather, The Magician and The Memory, What Dies Within Us While We Live
- Sat. July 17 (3:00) The Peacekeeper; The Incident Report; The Mud is Thicker in Mississippi (4:30) Mind Control; The Complicated; Gun Metal Blue Bar; Europeans Kiss on Three Cheeks (7:30) Play #4; The Accidental Tragic Death of Emily Brown; the pen is mightier (than the word) (9:00) Ugly Couples in Los Angeles; A Map of Our Country; Laid Plans; The Bear (a Tragedy)

The Off Off Broadway Festival started in 1975 and is Manhattan's oldest continuous short play festival. Hundreds of theatre companies and schools have participated in the Festival's first thirty-four years, including companies from coast to coast as well as abroad from Canada and England. This festival has served as a doorway to future success for many aspiring writers. Since its inception, 181 plays from the Festival have been published, and many of the participants have become established, award-winning playwrights including Theresa Rebeck, Shirley Lauro, Bekah Brunstetter, Steve Yockey, David Johnston and Sheila Callaghan.

All tickets are $18. For more information and ticket call Ticket Central (212) 279 -4200 or log onto www.ticketcentral.com. The 35th Annual Off Off Broadway Original Short Play Festival will run July
13th - July 18th at the Lion Theatre, Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street).

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