April 1, that is… So mark your calendars, ‘cause we’re not kidding when we say one of the most popular kamikaze events in Atlanta theatre history is returning. It’s the 24 Hour Plays 2012, Baby! Just in time after all the March Madness!

Presented by Working Title Playwrights, with producing partner Onstage Atlanta, come Sunday, April 1, 2012, at 8pm, about 100 brave artists will convene at Onstage Atlanta and perform eight short plays, written, rehearsed, and performed in the span of 24 hours.

It’s bold. It’s risky. The mantra of the 24-Hour Plays has always been: This ain’t theatre for crybabies.

See, this is how it works: On Saturday, March 31, 2012, 16 writers will meet at 10pm at Onstage Atlanta. Paired randomly, they will have until dawn to come up with eight 12-minute scripts. Eight directors will arrive at 9am, be randomly assigned a script, and sent to cast their plays from sixty headshots submitted by our brave thespians. Insert actors <here> and then it’s a marathon day of rehearsing, staging, costuming, and setting tech for an 8pm curtain on Sunday, April 1st. The show will end at 10pm, exactly 24 hours after the writers first convened.

Got it? Get it? Good! So at a minimum, all you have to do is join us with $15 in hand for the price of admission on that Sunday night at Onstage Atlanta in Suburban Plaza, 2597 North Decatur Road, Decatur (next to Big Lots).

But if you’re just crazy enough to want to go deeper with the experience, well, here’s

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE 24 HOUR PLAYS 2012:

DIRECTORS: To be eligible, you must have two (2) collegiate, community, or professional credits as a director. Staged readings are allowed. We don’t require a huge background, but we wanna make sure you’ve got the basic skills to make your show happen. Must be available Sunday, April 1st from 8am-8pm. Will receive a free ticket to attend the show, but not guaranteed a seat if the event sells out. We will randomly select (literally drawing names from a hat) eight directors and four alternates.

To submit: E-mail resume and contact information to 24hrdirector@gmail.com. Lottery will close at 5pm on Thursday, March 8th, and notifications will be sent the following day.

ACTORS: To be eligible, you must have four (4) collegiate, community, or professional credits as an actor. Again, a wealth of experience is not necessary, but this isn’t the best situation for directors to be explaining where Stage Left is. Must be available Sunday, April 1st from 10am-10pm. Please keep in mind: Actors are asked to memorize and perform a 12-minute play with roughly six hours of rehearsal. This ain’t easy. We will randomly select (again with drawing names from a hat) sixty actors- 30 male, and 30 female, and sixteen alternates.

To submit: E-mail resume (which includes a physical description of height, weight, etc.), a recent headshot, and reliable contact phone number for the day of the show to 24hractor@gmail.com. Actors who do not include photos WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. If you do not have a digital version of your headshot, a recent photo will suffice. Lottery will close at 5pm on Thursday, March 22nd, and notifications will be sent that evening.

WRITERS: Current members of Working Title Playwrights will be given first priority in the sixteen slots for the Writer Lottery. An alternate list will be made of non-member writers if slots are available.

WTP Members: Simply e-mail a request to be included in the lottery to 24hrwriter@gmail.com.

Non-WTP members should include a resume with your submission to 24hrwriter@gmail.com. Writers must be available on Saturday, March 31st, from 10pm-6am. You will be randomly paired with another writer, and are welcome to leave before 6am if your team has completed your play. The writer lottery will close at 5pm on Thursday, March 8th, and notifications will be sent out the following day.

So you can play or you can pay. Either way, in some way, shape or form, you need to grab some friends and get with us heroes at Onstage Atlanta in Suburban Plaza, 2597 North Decatur Road, Decatur (next to Big Lots)- and see what we’ve cooked up. The show starts– ready or not–at 8pm on Sunday, April 1st. Again, tickets are $15.

We pity the fool who doesn’t show up for this party of a play event!

AFFLICTIONS OF A QUIET WINTER by Essential Theatre’s 2011 Playwriting Award Winner Theroun D’arcy Patterson.
A controversial interview sets off a firestorm of events. A former child soldier rises to power in Uganda. A reluctant son defies his fate while his wife embraces her fierce ambitions. An activist shrinks from life while a reporter uncovers an American corruption. Destinies collide, snow beckons a ghost from the past, and a Jackal pulls the strings. Everything in life is a battle for something. What’s  your affliction?

With Daniel Burnley, Eric Mendenhall, Stacy Melich, Olubajo Sonubi, Ko Sonubi, Cynthia Barker, Winslow Thomas, Naima Carter Russell and Amanda Cucher.  Directed by Suehyla El-Attar.

WHERE: Academy Theatre, 119 Center St., Avondale Estates, Ga
WHEN: Monday, Dec. 12, 2011
TIME: 7:30pm
TICKETS: $5 donation at door. WTP members free.

Don’t miss your opportunity to be a vital part of this play’s development. Your participation in the talkback with the playwright, director and cast immediately following the reading is greatly appreciated.

Working Title Playwrights (WTP) is proud to present this new play as part of its signature series, The Ethel Woolson Lab (TEWL). In TEWL, WTP member playwrights are given the opportunity to develop their competitively selected scripts with a team of professional actors, director and dramaturg over the course of a week culminating in a staged reading for the public. Audience participation in an engaging talkback session with the playwright after the reading is a vital component of the development process.

WHERE: Academy Theatre, 119 Center St., Avondale Estates, Ga.

TIME:  7:30 p.m.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.academytheatre.org&usd=2&usg=AFQjCNHfzILQbv20dQ_HYtbn2Z0ORP4ccw

TICKETS: $10 at door or online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/208910

For more information on this and all WTP programming, contact Jill Patrick at managing@workingtitleplaywrights.com.

Working Title Playwrights’ acclaimed playwriting workshop returns with THE 2012 KICK-ASS SERIES: ACT ONE, First Installment of a Gonzo Playwriting Workshop in Four Parts. Saturdays in October, 15, 22 and Nov. 5 and 12, 11am – 2pm at Ben Franklin Academy-Emory.

And we’re not putting just anyone in the role of ‘Teacher’, Friend. You will fearlessly be led by Dr. Pamela Turner, Regional Rep for the Dramatists Guild and Artistic Director of multiShades.atlanta.

Pamela will introduce a series of tools that you’ll be able to use to jump-start your writing in a significant and meaningful way. The four sessions of this series are designed to motivate you to write kick-ass plays and to find your own unique voice and style along the way. It will start with some basics you didn’t know you needed and then throw in some novel concepts that will kick you towards becoming the writer you were meant to be. Move to the front of the class with:

Part I: DRAIN YOUR BRAIN — Getting Started

Part II: BUILD THE PLAY — Creating Structure

Part III: TRIM THE HEDGE — Developing Story

Part IV: FEED YOUR MUSE — Finding Voice

Each session will include writing, reading, sharing, discussion, and critique. All we ask is that you sign up for the whole four-part series and provide your own writing materials. Space is limited – shine up your apple and reserve your seat today!

FEE: $175 Public / $150 WTP Affiliates

RESERVATIONS: Managing<at>WorkingTitlePlaywrights.com or call Jill Patrick at  404.585.7695

Want to know more about Pamela Turner? Glad you asked!

PAMELA TURNER is a playwright and director with credits in the United States, Europe, and the Pacific. She is the SE regional Rep for the Dramatists Guild and the Contributing Editor of ShowGuide magazine.  Her most recent plays include Male Man (2007 Chester Horn Play Festival, TheatreRats, NYC – Best of Fest), Voices Deux (2007 New Plays Festival, Theatre Decatur, Atlanta); Cosmeticos, (2006 XPT Adult Series, Center for Puppetry Arts, Atlanta); Funny Valentine (2004, Seven Stages Theatre, Atlanta; 2004 Spoleto Festival USA); The Lady and the Poet (2003 Spoleto Festival USA; 2003 and 1994, Theatre Gael, Atlanta); Valentines Day (2001, Pulse Theatre Ensemble, NYC). Current projects include The Mother/Monster Project (2008, Re-Verb, Atlanta-Los Angeles); Frijoles on the Side (2006, commission, Fly-By Theatre, Atlanta); Burning Man (2006, Stage 3 Theatre Company’s Festival of New Plays, Sonora, California). Burning Man was also a semi-finalist for the 2006 PlayLabs at The Playwrights Center, Minneapolis, and for the 2006 SheWRITES competition at Synchronicity Theatre, Atlanta. Male Man was a finalist for the 2004 Humana Festival Heideman Award. Turner is the Founding Artistic Director of multiShades•atlanta and the Producer of PlayWorks 2000, a national program of new work for the Association of Theatre in Higher Education.

Now, that being said, get to registering! The stage awaits you.

Source: Jobs_friends

Working Title Playwrights Presents BEING ALIVE by Doug Graham, a WTP On-Demand Reading, Tuesday, August 23, 2011, 7:30 p.m., Academy Theatre, 119 Center St., Avondale Estates, GA. Free for WTP members. All others, $5 donation at door or purchase online.

The Hand family has suffered tragedy after tragedy for the past several years. To make things worse Jim, the father, is given knowledge of the events before they occur. Though he tries to avoid them, no matter what, the events always come to pass. As the play unfolds and Jim’s life seems to be crumbling around him, he struggles desperately to hold his family together. Inspired by the story of Job, Being Alive is a play about the importance of family and the difficulties that we face that force us to realize how special and fragile life really is.

With Diany Rodriguez, Doug Graham, Jessica Hunt, Jacob York and Lowrey Brown. A talkback with the playwright will immediately follow the reading. Your participation is greatly appreciated.So to recap:

WHEN: Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Academy Theatre, 119 Center St., Avondale Estates, GA
TICKETS: $5 donation at door or purchase online

Working Title Playwrights Presents THE 2011 KICK-ASS SERIES: ACT THREE, Third Installment of a Gonzo Playwriting Workshop in Four Parts

August 27-September 17

With Dr. Pamela Turner, Regional Rep for the Dramatists Guild and Artistic Director of multiShades.atlanta

THINK ABOUT IT:

• Christopher Durang says writing can’t be taught
• Paula Vogel says we are all born writers
• Doug Wright says writers mostly learn by writing

BUT THEN THEY ALL SAY:

Talent Aside, Playwriting is About the Craft

THAT’S WHAT “KICK-ASS THREE” IS ABOUT:

• The craft requires an understanding of theatre
• The craft requires structure, rhythm, and arc
• The craft requires writing, hearing, critiquing, and revising

Participants will complete a one-act play starting with an idea they bring to the first class and honed through writing exercises, group critique, and limited dramaturgy. Instruction will focus on the story arc, the influence of setting, and the play of dialogue within the unique “rules” for a one-act play. Students will be encouraged to send their finished script to a pre-selected play competition. **Participants are asked to read the one-act play Bus Riley’s Back in Town by William Inge and to bring a copy to the first class.**

Time: 11 am – 2 pm

Location:  Ben Franklin Academy-Emory

Fee: $175 /WTP Members $150

Registration Deadline: ASAP! See, it starts this Saturday and space is limited, so…

To reserve your space RSVP to Jill Patrick at managing<at>workingtitleplaywrights.com or call (404) 585-7695.

Artwork by David Crowe

WORKING TITLE PLAYWRIGHTS presents Neeley Gossett’s BREATH LIKE A BANDAGE as the second staged reading of our signature program series, The Ethel Woolson Lab—now in its 2011 run. Join us on Tuesday, August 16, 2010, 7:30 p.m., at Academy Theatre.

Bitsy is a society woman who appears to have everything she could want—except a child. During a hot Alabama summer filled with carnivals and bottle-rockets, her life collides with Tess, a fourteen-year-old girl bouncing around foster homes and selling fireworks on the state border. Bitsy offers her a stable alternative to her chaotic lifestyle, but Bitsy’s absentee husband, who cares more about golf than his wife, challenges the idea of a non-traditional family. Meanwhile, Randy, Tess’ persistent co-worker, tries to keep her in his world by enlisting her in credit card fraud and other schemes.

In order to allow the teenager in her life, Bitsy must stake Tess against her country club comforts and marriage. Presented with this new opportunity, Tess must navigate different social climates, decide which life fits her best, and weather events outside of her control. Breath Like a Bandage is an often humorous investigation into the definition of family and what it means to be wanted.

With Laura Carson as Bitsy, John Benzinger as Tom, Ashleigh Hoppe as Tess and Brian Webber as Randy. Directed by Melissa Foulger with dramaturgy by Addae Moon, both in residence for the 2011 TEWL.

There will be a talkback with the playwright immediately following the reading. The Ethel Woolson Lab continues the WTP tradition of providing a unique opportunity to experience the process of making new plays happen in Atlanta.

TICKETS: $10 donation at door or secure online here. Questions? Email rsvp<at>workingtitleplaywrights.com.

IN THE GARDEN, an adaptation of The Song of Songs, follows Shelly in her attempt to keep her brother Benjimin from selling the family garden. But Shelly gets distracted by a mysterious man who lands in the garden one night and, unbeknownst to her, falls in love with the garden’s buyer. IN THE GARDEN is in development and will be produced at Lenoir-Rhyne University in October 2011.

With Enisha Brewster, Jeffrey Zwartjes, Geoffrey Williams and Portia Cue.

WHEN: Monday, July 25, 2011
WHERE: Academy Theatre, 119 Center St., Avondale Estates, GA
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
TICKETS: $5 donation at door (WTP members free)
No RSVP required

His play, A THOUSAND CIRCLETS, is a part of this summer’s Essential Theatre Play Festival, opening on June 30th. We are delighted that this fine work has its humble beginnings rooted in WTP’s Monday Night Critique Sessions and our On Demand Reading Series (ahem, mentioned way back in January 2010 right here in this very blog, as some of you may recall). You can catch its premiere performance on July 15th.

So here’s your takeaway: 1) Go see Theroun’s A THOUSAND CIRCLETS and 2) when you think about developing playwrights, think Working Title Playwrights. Our support can have a ripple effect.

With Willa Bost*, Theresa Cunningham, Marguerite Hannah*, Enoch King*, Eric J. Little*, E. Roger Mitchell*, Amber Moorer*, Margo Moorer*, Eugene H. Russell IV*.

Journey along on Monday, May 9, 2010, 7:30 p.m. at the Alliance Theatre 3^rd Floor Black Box,1280 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30309. $10 tickets cash at the door. (404) 949-7160 or email to rsvp<at>workingtitleplaywrights.com.

Book by Valetta Anderson. Lyrics and Directed by Thomas W. Jones II. Music Director: William Knowles.

TRAVELING THOMAS is a fictionalized account of the early Blues career of Thomas Andrew Dorsey, now known as the Father of Gospel Music. Set in Prohibition Era Chicago, TRAVELING THOMAS explores the two worlds he attempted to straddle and ultimately merged into a new, sacred music genre as his music traveled from Gertrude “Ma” Rainey to Mahalia Jackson. As “Georgia Tom,” “Barrelhouse Tom” and “Smokehouse Charlie!” he had steady income working with Ma Rainey, Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, Monnette Moore, King Oliver, and others, topped by royalties from both Paramount and Gennett Records. His possible inspirations to transform raunchy, Devil Music’s vulgarity into music for worship that brought African-American music into the heart of America’s religious experience are the actions of this play.

Bring Mama, a mama you know or, shucks, anyone born to a mama, for an extended Mother’s Day celebration! There will be a talkback with the playwright immediately following the reading.

*These actors appear courtesy of Actors Equity Association.