Goes live at Blackpool’s The Old Electric Theatre
The Playwriting Competition is part of The Old Electric’s innovative POWER PLAYS Festival, which supports new writing for the stage and is running until July from Blackpool’s newest theatre. This thrilling new literary competition officially launches on Friday 17 May and is inviting writers to submit original scripts that showcase themes which have resonance to Blackpool, while also exploring positive new perspectives on the region.
A judging panel of illustrious theatre creatives comprising The Old Electric Artistic Director Melanie Whitehead; celebrated playwright Nick Wood (Warrior Square, A Girl With A Book); renowned literary manager, critic and dramaturg Dr Frank Peschier; award-winning writer Iskandar Sharazuddin and POWER PLAYS Festival Writer in Residence Martha Pailing, will read the scripts and choose the winning writer and up to four runners up.
The lucky winning writer will then see their work being workshopped and cast before coming to life in a fully rehearsed production which will be performed to public audiences and invited industry professionals on Saturday 27 July 2024. The runner up plays will be workshopped to a seated/scratch/script-in-hand read through, which will be open to public audiences and invited industry professionals in July with dates to be confirmed.
All submitted plays should be original pieces that have not previously been performed and must be thematically linked to Blackpool and actively connect with the current experience of living in, growing up in, or regularly visiting Blackpool. Each literary work needs to be between 45-75 minutes in length and suitable to be performed by 4 actors or less, Submissions will be accepted from 12 noon on Friday 17 May 2024 until 12 noon on Friday 31 May 2024 and all winners will be notified by 12noon on Monday 17 June 2024.
Fellow judge and playwright Nick Wood said: “I’m very pleased and excited to be a part of POWER PLAYS. I think it’s great that this festival will give new, fresh, vital, regional voices a chance to be heard. At a time when it’s so difficult to make the breakthrough that gets your work off the page and onto the stage, this is an opportunity not to be missed. And as someone who was born on the coast, with the sea on the doorstep, why wouldn’t I grab the chance to revisit Blackpool!”
Play a part in the positive creative revolution.
Further Information: Power Plays - The Old Electric