Judges Announced For Samuel French OOB Festival

The Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, the nation's premier short play competition, takes place August 21-25 at The Vineyard's Dimson 15th Street Theatre. Chosen from over 850 submissions from the U.S. and abroad, 30 finalist plays and musicals, each running 10-30 minutes in length, will be presented. The Saturday, August 25th presentation is the culmination of the week-long festival at which the Samuel French staff will choose the winning six pieces for licensing and publication in an anthology.

This year's honorary Festival playwright is the Kesselring Prize winner Lauren Yee (The King of the Yees, The Great Leap, The Hatmaker's Wife). Ms. Yee will kick off the Festival at a private event with the 30 finalist playwrights. Samuel French has assembled a distinguished judging panel including playwrights Kirsten Childs, David Greenspan, Hansol Jung and Max Vernon; and industry professionals John M. Baker (SPACE on Ryder Farm), Nan Barnett (NNPN), Ken Cerniglia (Disney Theatrical Group), B.J. Evans (BRIC), Chris Giordano (Theatre Now New York/SOUND BITES), Adam Greenfield (Playwrights Horizons), Lisa Rothe (freelance director) and Susan Westfall (City Theatre, Miami).

Tickets for all performances are $18. Festival Passes are also available at 60% discount. For tickets and a complete performance calendar, visit www.oobfestival.com.

Tuesday, August 21 at 7:00PM:

BAKED GOODS Book by Charlie Cohen, Lyrics by Christyn Budzyna, Music by Helen Park, Orchestrations by Collin Martin
RABIOSA by Nelson Diaz-Marcano
PRECIPICE by Alex Dremann
LACRIMOSA by Christopher Marshall

Tuesday, August 21 at 8:30PM:

IT'S NOT A BLACK THING by Tessa Borbridge
HEAVY by Sofya Levitsky-Weitz
PLOVER by Ryan Fogarty
POSTSCRIPT by Janet Thielke

Wednesday, August 22 at 7:00PM:

KOI STORY by Timothy Huang
STALLED by Sharon E. Cooper
THE FERBERIZING OF CORAL by Patrick Flynn

Wednesday, August 22 at 8:30PM:

SEX FRIENDS by Serena Berman
CLICK! (A TRAVEL MOTIF) by Jared Eberlein
TIGER BARB by Jordan W. Morille
RE: OBLIVION by Seamus Sullivan

Thursday, August 23 at 7:00PM:

LA NEGROPHILIE: A STORY BASED ON THE LIFE OF Josephine Baker by Zakiya Iman Markland
BETTER by Vince Gatton
CHOOSING LOVE by Chisa Hutchinson

Thursday, August 23 at 8:30PM:

THE LAST FIRST DATE by Reed Arnold
BALLGIRL by Gracie Gardner
AQUAMARINE by Bixby Elliot
JUST DESSERTS by David MacGregor

Friday, August 24 at 7:00PM:

BLUE SKIES by Rae Binstock
THE MOST INTERESTING MAN IN DAVE'S MIND by Amanda R. Martinez
THE FORGOTTEN PLACE by Jeff Locker
BAD CHINESE by Ruth Tang

Friday, August 24 at 8:30PM:

SO BEAUTIFUL by Barbara Lhota
SOMEONE GETS SHOT by Jake Martin
BURIED by Audrey Webb
PAPER WEDDING RING by Matthew Andrade

Saturday, August 25 at 2:00PM:

First set of Finalists (TBD)

Saturday, August 25 at 4:30PM:

Second set of Finalists (TBD)

Originating in 1975, the OOB Festival is one of Samuel French's primary initiatives to introduce the next wave of emerging playwrights. In the 43 years of the OOB Festival, over 550 theatre companies and schools have participated. Applicants have 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. Recently, Audrey Cefaly whose full-length version of her 40th OOB Festival winning play, The Gulf, won this year's Lambda Literary Award in the category of LGBTQ Drama. Martyna Mayok's 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. Other notable past participants include Theresa Rebeck, Shirley Lauro, Sheila Callaghan, Bekah Brunstetter, Steve Yockey, Gloria Calderon Kellett and Korde Arlington Tuttle.

Samuel French is the world's leading publisher and licensor of plays and musicals. The company's catalog features some of the most acclaimed work ever written for the stage and titles by writers at the forefront of contemporary drama. Samuel French is proud to have served as a leader in theatrical publishing and licensing for over 180 years and is committed to the future by championing for playwrights, innovating the industry, and celebrating all those who make theatre around the world.

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