Another Successful Year

Thank you, San Diego, for another successful year.

We know that the best way to learn is by doing. Trial and error. We learned a lot in our first year and made many, many improvements which made our second year SO much easier and more productive. We thank everyone who stopped us to let us know what a great job we were doing and that our improvements were noticed and appreciated.

We also tried some new things in our second year and we'll take the lessons learned from those attempts into our future endeavors. But what fun would it have been -- and how could we have learned -- if we hadn't tried?

All in all, we presented 24 short plays -- most of them pretty darned good -- on a shoestring budget with a host of talent. Eight shows a night for $10 -15. Even with a few clunkers, we know you got your money's worth.

We look forward to our next adventure, with all the improvements and missteps to come!

In the meantime, check out what some of our participants are up to next:

• Playwright David Wiener's Feeding Time at the Human House will be published in the next Smith & Kraus Best 10-Minute Plays of the year series, after winning Best Play accolades in the New York 10-Minute Play Festival and Best of Fest honors right here in our festival. This Best of Fest winner will see another showing at the University Heights Arts Open on September 20 with actors Jonathan Sturch and Dawn Williams reprising their roles on the Swedenborg Hall stage.

• Playwright Jacqueline Goldfinger's His Last Fight will also be published in the next Smith & Kraus Best 10-Minute Plays of the year series, based on the recommendation of the New Perspective Festival. Director Brendon Slater and actors Sara Moneymaker, Terence J. Burke, and Reed Willard will be credited.

• If you didn't know, Playwright Paola Hornbuckle's The Perfect Red was published in the 2008: The Best Ten-Minute Plays 3 0r More Actors. Though another theatre company got the production credit for an earlier mounting of the show (under the name Adam's Apple), the production which qualified it for publication was, you guessed it, the June 2008 production in the New Perspective Festival.

• Playwright Kevin Six's The Cake Women was published in the same series, 2007. We had nothing to do with that, but we've produced a lot of Kevin's work and we wanted to throw him some props. We won't be surprised to see more of his work in print.

Progress Rehearsals

With just 19 days to go before the Festival opens to the public, New Perspective got a look at most of the shows in their pre-tech stages this Saturday at a scheduled Progress Rehearsal at Swedenborg Hall. Some shows are closer to opening than others, but all of them showed the hard work and dedication of the actors and directors who are working to bring the scripts to life.

Shown here are Sean Sedgewick, Anne Law, and Lee Hall as they will be seen in He's Not "Him," a fun short script by Craig Abernethy, directed by Walter Cameron.

There's plenty of good news within this cast in particular.

As well as being an actor, Sean Sedgewick is a screenwriter -- and after four years' work on a screenplay, he's got an exciting opportunity to have his work produced. We don't want to jinx him here by revealing too much, but we certainly wish him well and want to put our hope for his success out to the Universe. We've noticed that it's listening lately.

Lee Hall auditioned for the festival with news that he's expecting a baby daughter during the run. He's exceptionally talented and will be seen in two shows of the festival -- this one as well as Break a Leg, directed by Sally Stockton -- unless his baby makes her debut at the same time. Understudies are at the ready and we congratulate the soon-to-be daddy!

There are many more stories to be told and talent to be seen at the New Perspective Festival this year. Tickets are on sale now at PerspectiveFest.com.


He's Not "Him" is a part of Program Three, shown June 21 and 26.

Casting and Marketing

April has been a busy month for the festival. On the 18th and 19th, auditions were held at Swedenborg Hall, where the majority of our directors watched as 50 local actors took the stage for cold readings from selected scripts. Many of those actors will be seen performing again on that stage in June. Headshots and bios are being collected now for our online Program.

Soon after auditions, our postcards arrived. We love the smell of marketing in the morning! Actor, playwright, and all-around talented guy Michael Thomas Tower did a lovely job creating our festival logo and materials this year; you'll be seeing those all over town soon.

Finally, our online box office in now ready for launch. Check out our website at PerspectiveFest.com to purchase tickets for any program in the festival. Advance tickets range from $10 - 12 and all tickets at the door will be sold for $15. Buy early and save!

Directors

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it's good to be in Year Two.

In 2008, New Perspective contacted playwrights with the announcement that one or more of their plays would be produced on March 10. By the same date in 2009, that announcement was not only a month old, but we'd already found directors for more than half of the pieces chosen.

The ides of March found us way ahead of the game.

Now, as we celebrate Saint Patrick's day,we're buckling down to find the last few directors.

Today we feature three plays still available to interested directors, written by Kevin Six. In 2008, Kevin was a member of the New Perspective Marketing Team. Soon after the festival, Kevin was named Playwright in Residence at Swedenborg Hall.

Kevin has written a play in three "Galleries" with the series titled LOVE, UNREQUITED. The first gallery -- MORNING (AMERICAN MASTERS) -- won first place in the 2008 Script Tease of Short Plays Competition. AFTERNOON (ASIAN GALLERY) also took an Honorable Mention in that competition.

If the title LOVE, UNREQUITED sounds familiar to you, it may be that you've recently seen or heard about the production of Kevin's full-length play LOVE, NEGOTIATED which premiered this February at Swedenborg Hall, featuring a number of faces familiar to the New Perspective Festival. LOVE, NEGOTIATED took second place in the Heller Theatre Playwriting Contest for 2008, with submissions accepted from across the country.

Kevin's short play THE CAKE WOMEN was published by Smith & Kraus in The Best Ten-Minute Plays for 3 or More Actors (2007), and his fast-paced short NO PROBLEM was a hit in New Perspective's inaugural festival.

If you'd like to direct one of Kevin's pieces in this year's festival, drop a line to perspectivefest@gmail.com.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Play Selections Announced

Congratulations to all the playwrights whose work was chosen for production at the Swedenborg Hall in June!

Program One: Friday June 19 and Saturday June 27 at 8pm

BREAK A LEG by Gary Seger
A TRIANGULAR EFFECT by Jeanne Becijos
BARBED WIRE MINUTE by Krista Knight
SORE TO THE TOUCH by Michael Thomas Tower; directed by Josh Hyatt

Intermission

TWISTING THE CAT by Alan Kilpatrick
LOVE UNREQUITED, GALLERY ONE by Kevin Six
LOVELY by Craig Abernethy
A BRAND NEW IMAGE by Jack Dyville


Program Two: Saturday, June 20 at 8pm and Sunday, June 28 at 7pm

SWELL by Craig Abernethy
AMUSE BOUCHE by Michael Clark
HIS LAST FIGHT by Jacqueline Goldfinger
FEEDING TIME AT THE HUMAN HOUSE by David Wiener

Intermission

THE AVERAGE JOE by Jack Dyville
LOVE UNREQUITED, GALLERY TWO by Kevin Six
CELL SHOCK by Steve Koppman
TEED OFF by Kathleen McLaughlin


Program Three: Sunday, June 21 at 7pm and Friday, June 26 at 8pm

DON'T PLAY GAMES WITH ME by Matt Thompson
TEACHER TEACHER by Paola Hornbuckle
THE EARNEST IMPORTANCE OF BEING by Gary Seger
THE FLING THING by Peter Mitsopoulos

Intermission

CUE TO EXIT by Michael Thomas Tower; directed by Michael Thomas Tower
LOVE UNREQUITED, GALLERY THREE by Kevin Six
FINE CAN BE FINE by Lizzie Silverman
HE'S NOT HIM by Craig Abernethy

Year Two

What a difference a year makes!

In the fall of 2007, when we put out our first call for short play submissions by local authors, no one had heard of us. We were new and unknown. But by the end of the year, submissions were trickling in and we were taking queries about extending the deadline. We did.

By the time we finished our selections last year, we were still struggling to find a venue. We'd made proposals to cultural centers and colleges, but in the end, our home was to be found in a church. Not until March were we able to announce the selected playwrights and solicit directors for auditions at the church in April.

This year... it's another ball game.

When we put out our call for short play submissions this fall, the scripts poured in. By the end of the year, there was no need to extend the deadline; we had plenty to choose from.

Our readers worked quickly this year to finalize our selections, and this time, there is no struggle to find a venue: we've made our home in the Swedenborgian Church.

It's good to be in Year Two!

Based on our experience last year, we expected to announce our selections in March. But now... well, we suspect we'll be contacting playwrights just a little bit earlier this year.

So our call for directors comes sooner as well!

If you are interested in directing in PerspectiveFest 2009, drop us a line. If you didn't work with us last year, please include a directorial resume. If you did, skip the resume. We'll be happy to see you again!

Perspectivefest@gmail.com

Deadline

With the new year, the deadline for submissions has come. We received roughly 50 scripts from San Diego authors this year and have begun reading. There are some really great scripts in the mix and we're looking forward to reading them all... but in the end, we can only produce about half of them. Given what we've read so far, this should be a great summer of plays!

Our favorite title so far: "Amuse Bouche." What a perfect name for a tasty, bite-sized piece!

We'll be announcing the selected pieces in March. Stay tuned!