02/27/2006: "Playwrights and Playwriting Workshop"

Writers of any age or level of experience are encouraged to submit monologues or one-act plays for consideration for the 2006 Islands Playwrights Festival at San Juan Community Theatre. This year's Festival will be staged in the Gubelman Theatre, and only scripts that use minimal staging will be accepted.

For authors who wish to receive professional critique in the process of preparing their material, a two-day workshop for playwrights will be offered Saturday and Sunday, April 8-9 from 10-4 at the Theatre. Participants must submit a completed script that will be distributed to and read by the instructor and all participants in advance of the workshop. Registration forms may be picked up at the Theatre's box office, and must be returned with a $60 workshop fee by March 8. Only eight participants can be accepted.

All entries for the 2006 Festival are due at the Theatre by 4:00 p.m. May 1, and are limited to one submission per category, one-act or monologue. Material will be juried by off-island theater professionals, and selected works will be produced in the Festival in September. Monologues may be up to five minutes in length. One-act plays may be up to 25 minutes long. Application forms are available at the Theatre Box Office. There is a submission fee of $30 for one-acts and $15 for monologues.

The workshop will be lead by Bryan Willis, a playwriting instructor at Western Washington University. Willis studied in London and New York, earning an MFA in playwriting from NYU. He has worked in the literary departments of many theaters, including residencies at Lincoln Center and Seattle Public Theater. His plays have been produced by more than 1,000 venues across the U.S. and U.K. An established member of the Northwest Playwrights Alliance, Willis has received a Theater Fellowship from Artists Trust, and the Kennedy Center Gold Medallion for his work with the American College Theater Festival.