Samuel French Short Play Festival Announces Semi-Finalists, Presented 6/13-18

The Samuel French, Inc. Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival announces the 40 semi-finalists for its 35th annual season. Chosen from hundreds of submissions by playwriting workshops, university theatre programs, and professional companies both in the U.S. and abroad, these 40 plays will be presented July 13th - 18th at the Lion Theatre in Theatre Row (410 W. 42nd Street). Out of these plays, six finalists will be chosen by the Samuel French, Inc. editorial staff to receive publication and licensing contracts.

This week-long SAMUEL FRENCH INC. OFF OFF BROADWAY SHORT PLAY FESTIVAL features a full program of selected plays performed for audiences and a panel of judges comprised of established playwrights, literary agents and artistic directors who nominate one or more of each evening's plays as finalists. The "Final Forty" (with its corresponding producer/producing organization in parentheses) are:
• #4 by Harley Adams (Harley Adams);
• A Map Of Our Country by Andrew Kramer (Andrew Kramer);
• The Tragic Death Of Emily Brown by Mohammad Yousuf (NYU Department of Dramatic Writing);
• Antipasto by Bryan Harnetiaux (Morning Line);
• The Bear (A Tragedy) by E. J. C. Calvert (The New School for Drama);
• Black Meat by Trey Tatum (Trey Tatum);
• Caution by Lauren Yee (UCSD);
• Christians Having Sex In Silence by Paul David Young (Horse Trade Theater Group);
• Climb The Smallest Mountain by Michael Gordon Shapiro (Michael Gordon Shapiro);
• The Complicated by Jessica LaFrance and Andrew L. Smith (Complicated Theatre);
• The Concrete Wall by J.C. Svec (Tribe Productions);
• Dance Lessons by Josh Koenigsberg (At Play Productions);
• The Delphinium Mansion by Libby Leonard (Columbia University);
• A Different Kind Of Animal by Thomas Higgins (D.A.C Productions, LLC);
• Europeans Kiss On Three Cheeks by Tom Grady (Culture Park Theatre);
• Facing The Window by Tom Matthew Wolfe (Blue Roses Productions);
• Fan-Boy by Megan Sass (Extra Pulp Ensemble);
• Flood by Kirby Fields (61A);
• For The Winter by Michael Ross Albert (Jejune Productions);
• Gun Metal Blue Bar by K. Frithjof Peterson (Fusion Theatre Company);
• A History Of Kites by Josh Beerman (The New School for Drama);
• The Incident Report by EM Lewis (EM Lewis);
• Knuckleheads by James McLindon (James McLindon);
• Laid Plans by Josh Sohn (Boomslang);
• The Magician And The Memory by Michael Vukadinovich (Red Tie Productions/Fusion Theatre Company);
• Mind Control by Debbie Lamedman (The All Original Playwright Workshop);
• The More-Than One by Rebecca Lynne Fullan (Uncut Pages Theater Company);
• The Mud Is Thicker In Mississippi by Dennis A. Allen II (Three Monos Ensemble);
• The Peacekeeper by Edward Pomerantz (ZAN Productions);
• The Pen Is Mightier by Joshua Cole (Coleavens Industries);
• Perfect Weather by Eric Fallen (Naked Angels);
• PigSkin by Gabriel Dean (Michener Center For Writers);
• Schwarz! (Hansel und Gretel) by J. Julian Christopher (The Public Theater);
• Skin Deep by Mary Lynn Dobson (Mary Lynn Dobson);
• Smart Phone by Nick Jones (Terrible Baby Theatre Company);
• Ugly Couples In Los Angeles by Cameron Michael Porsandeh (UCLA);
• What Dies Inside Us While We Live by Jessica Hinds (The New School for Drama);
• White Embers by Saviana Stanescu (Yale School of Drama);
• Wipe Away by Mark Snyder (The Claque);
• Ya Heard Me by Daniella Shoshan (Creative Infantry)

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.

Samuel French Inc. was founded in 1830 with offices in New York City, Los Angeles and London, and retail bookstores in Hollywood and Studio City making it the oldest and largest publisher and licensor of plays in the world.

For more info, visit www.samuelfrench.com/oobfestival.