Concord Theatricals' 49th Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival Reveals Finalists and Judges

Presented by Concord Theatricals, The Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival (OOB), the nation's premier short play competition, has announced that 2010 OOB winner Jen Silverman is this year's Honorary Festival Playwright.

The distinguished lineup of judges for the 49th festival will include playwrights Liza Birkenmeier, Nathan A. Davis, Julia Izumi, Jiehae Park, Theresa Rebeck and Madhuri Shekar, along with Executive Director of National New Play Network Nan Barnett, Artistic Director of City Theatre Miami Margaret Ledford, Artistic Director of Page 73 Michael Walkup, Associate Artistic Director of Playwrights Realm Alexis Williams, Artistic Director of Fire This Time Festival Cezar Williams and co-Executive Director of the Dramatists Guild Emmanuel Wilson.

Jen Silverman returns to OOB as Honorary Playwright 15 years after their short play The Education Of Macoloco was selected as a Festival winner in 2009. Their plays, published and licensed by Concord Theatricals, include Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties, The Moors and The Roommate, which will premiere on Broadway this summer starring Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone.

This year's top 30 playwrights were chosen from 850 submissions. They will present their plays during the week-long Festival August 13-17 at The Vineyard's Dimson Theatre in New York (108 East 15th Street). These plays will be narrowed down to 10-12 finalists, from which 6 will be selected by Concord Theatricals to be licensed for future productions and published via its Samuel French imprint in the 49th edition of the Off Off Broadway Festival Plays series, an anthology of short plays.

The Festival offers 10 sessions, each presenting 3-6 short plays. Presale tickets are available for $20/session online, while tickets at the venue are $25/session. The Festival also offers a $90 Festival Pass (a 55% discount), which gives access to all 10 sessions, plus the Saturday night closing party. For tickets and a complete performance calendar, click here.

THE 49TH ANNUAL SAMUEL FRENCH OFF OFF BROADWAY SHORT PLAY FESTIVAL FINALISTS

A Neo-Vagina Monologue by Aster Aguilar

Pilloried by Jillian Blevins

A Mercy At Midnight Castle by Phillip Gregory Burke

The Issue by Jennifer Crittenden

stuffed by Claire Dettloff

Kaylee and Adelyn by Elizabeth Shannon Ellis

Data Queen by Adam Ashraf Elsayigh

Yom Kippur Abortion by Shira Gorelick

Tourist Trap by Elijah Guo

Sanctuary by Alyssa Haddad-Chin

Happy Havens Church of Higher Enlightenment by Paris Herbert-Taylor

Beethoven's Third by Howard Ho

Figment of Manifestation by Christine Hoang

Runaway Girl by Mo Holmes

Blood and Coal Dust by Arthur M. Jolly

Vape Lord by Manning Jordan

fire / fight by Drayla Kasheen

Southies by Jeffrey James Keyes

Are You My Last Stop by T.J. L

Modelland by Aidan La Poche

Louisiana Shoal by Mildred Inez Lewis

Bad Horses by Martin Murray

Do You Party? by Megan Rivkin

Shoptalk by TyLie Shider

sundays in the park with clay & cher by SMJ

A Definitive Ranking of My Closest Friends by Jay Stalder

Brave People by Allan Staples

mudder by Rachel Tookey

MOLTING by Michael Towers

Hutch by Charles White

The OOB Festival is one of Concord Theatricals' primary initiatives to introduce the next wave of emerging playwrights. These include Audrey Cefaly, whose full-length version of her 40th OOB Festival-winning play The Gulf won 2018's Lambda Literary Award in the category of LGBTQ Drama, and Martyna Majok, whose play The Cost of Living (originally produced as part of 39th OOB Festival as John, Who's Here from Cambridge) won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for the 2023 Tony Award for Best Play. Other notable past participants include Bekah Brunstetter, Gloria Calderón Kellett, Sheila Callaghan, khat knotahaiku, Gracie Gardner, Jeremy O. Harris, Shirley Lauro, Theresa Rebeck, Jen Silverman and Steve Yockey. 

  

To stay up to date with all Festival information, follow @OOBFestival on X, /oobfestival on Facebook and @concordshows on Instagram, as well as #OOBFestival on all social platforms. 

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