Hello Boston Area Women Playwrights!

I’m thrilled to announce that the Our Voices annual festival of Boston area women playwrights is now in its 10^th (!!!) year. Our daylong event of workshop readings of new works includes an evening of staged readings, and will take place on a Saturday, September 17, 2016 at the Ruth Nagel Jones Theatre, Wellesley College from 10:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. The deadline for short play or monologue submissions is July 28, 2016 (please see below for guidelines).

The Our Voices Festival is free for participants and the evening readings are free and open to the public, thanks to the generosity of The Wellesley College Ruth Nagel Jones Theatre. Over the past TEN years, Our Voices has presented the work of over 100 Boston area women playwrights and poets!

Our Voices Mission:

Our Voices aims to nourish Boston area women playwrights by providing a supportive, inspirational setting for developing our unique voices and sharing our vision by presenting plays and monologues in process with talented actors and directors in front of each other, and in front of an audience. What began as an evening of staged readings became a daylong event six years ago. Our Voices now includes:

(1)  a morning discussion group for playwrights to present new short works in progress in a supportive setting;

(2)  an afternoon writing workshop for playwrights and theatre artists – to engage our creativity, get to know each other better, and navigate artistic challenges;

(3)  an audience reception in the lobby of the theatre prior to the evening of staged readings, encouraging a warm, inviting atmosphere of inspirational theatre;

(4)  an evening of staged readings of new plays & monologues presented to the public with post-play audience participation – (new!)

Our Voices X will be produced by festival founder, Kelly DuMar and hosted by the Ruth Nagel Jones Theatre at Wellesley College.

Submission Guidelines for Boston area Women Playwrights

Playwrights, when making your submission, please select to be considered for:

• (1)  Sat. morning developmental readings & discussion session;
• OR
• (2)  Sat. evening of staged readings presented to public.

Your writing will be considered for only morning OR evening, and you can only submit ONE monologue OR ONE short play or excerpt.

For DAYTIME you may submit:

One short play (10 mins or less) OR one monologue. Monologues should run five minutes or less.

For EVENING you may submit:

ONE short play (no more than 10 minutes), OR a 10-minute excerpt from a longer play, OR one monologue (5 mins or less).

Please read and follow these guidelines carefully!

• ·    E-mail submissions only. Playwrights should submit only the selected portion if the piece is from a longer work.  As always, we strive to include as many playwrights as possible! Limit one submission per playwright.
• ·      Submissions are open to writers from Massachusetts, particularly those who live in the Greater Boston area.
• ·    The spirit of this festival is reciprocal support of each other’s vision and voice, giving and receiving encouragement by attending to each other’s writing and process, as listeners, commenters and mentors. Selected playwrights MUST be available and willing to participate in THE ENTIRE FESTIVAL including morning discussion, afternoon workshop, tech rehearsal, reception & evening of readings. Yes, it’s a long, invigorating day! But we strive to be more than your typical play festival - as one playwright recently put it, “Our Voices nourishes my soul.”
• ·    On your submission, include your contact info, title of your piece, and development history. Please name your document file with your name
• ·      Please include a BRIEF STATEMENT (no more than a paragraph – two lines is fine) about why you hope to participate in Our Voices this year.
• ·    No published scripts.
• ·      Selected playwrights (both morning and evening) agree to be responsible for presenting their play by arranging for a director (optional) & actor(s) and for conducting any prior rehearsals you deem desirable in your own rehearsal space.

·    Minimal set items (chairs and small tables) will be provided; minimal tech requirements; lights up, lights down.  We’ll have a designated volunteer to read any and all stage directions.

• ·    THEME: This year, the theme is “Theatre art as a medium of social change.” It’s open to interpretation. Think about theatre’s potential for changing personal and social ideas, values and behavior – and how your writing might influence or inspire individuals or groups to change – what is the change you hope to support or create in individuals or the world?
• ·    There is no budget at all to pay playwrights, actors or directors!  This is an all volunteer festival. Nobody is charged and no one is paid and everybody leaves with a rewarding experience.
• ·    Submission Deadline:  Please send your play/monologue in MS word or pdf to kellydumar@gmail.com no later than midnight, July 28, 2016. Selected playwrights will be notified by e-mail by August 20, 2015 and a required pre-production meeting will soon follow (via group conference call).

Questions? For more information, contact Kelly DuMar (KellyDuMar@gmail.com)

(508) 647-0596

Please “Like” the Our Voices FACEBOOK page.

And Follow Kelly on Twitter @kellydumar