Pegasus PlayLab Finalist

My play Apprenticeship has been chosen as a finalist for the Pegasus PlayLab program at the University of Central Florida.

UCF hosts the Pegasus PlayLab every summer, rehearsing new scripts for two weeks in collaboration with playwrights and subsequently presenting the work to the public.

Last year, the program offered three workshops and a full production in a blackbox theatre. Past playwrights have included Aniello Fontano, Skye Robinson Hillis, and Eliana Pipes.

Apprenticeship tells the story of Matt, who lands his dream job working for a man who is a legend in the publishing industry. As he learns what it takes to succeed, however, Matt starts to question who his role models should really be.

The play has had readings over Zoom, but has yet to be fully produced. Earlier this year, it was announced as a finalist for Amphibian Stage's SparkFest in Fort Worth, Texas.

Alpine Fellowship Finalist

Earlier this month, I announced that my play Apprenticeship was a finalist for Amphibian Stage's SparkFest 2023. Today, I'm pleased to say a proposed play of mine has been shortlisted for the Alpine Fellowship Theatre Prize 2023.

This year, there were more than 220 entries, which the Alpine Fellowship has narrowed down to 20. Each entry consisted of a 500-word synopsis of a proposed play (to be no more than 45 minutes). Applicants also had to provide a 250-word summary of their previous theatre experience and a sample of previous work.

Jacob Burda and Alan Lawson founded the Alpine Fellowship ten years ago. Each year the organization holds a symposium bringing together artists, philosophers, writers and academics to share expertise and knowledge with people from a diverse array of normally disconnected fields and to support new talent in a variety of art forms.

The 2023 symposium will be held in Fjallnas, Sweden. The theme for this year's symposium is Flourishing. I proposed a short play called The Lear Girls Go Clubbing about three sisters named Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia as they get ready to go out to their favorite dance club in Londinium.

Readers of this blog will know I have an enduring interest in the play King Lear, so it would be great to travel to Fjallnas for a staged reading of the work, which is what the winning piece receives, along with a cash prize.

The other shortlisted writers are Jeanette Cronin, Fintan Dineen, Roxanna Francombe, Lee Lauren, Amy Lever, Kirsty McEachran, Irina Muneanu, Ben Peel, Georgina Periam, Flo Petrie, Erin Quinlan, Kate Roche, Thomas Ryalls, Eleanor Shaw, Hugo Timbrell, Rachel Tookey, Esohe Uwadiae, Isabella Waldron, and Guy Woods.

Amphibian Finalist

My play Apprenticeship is a finalist for Amphibian Stage's SparkFest 2023. If the piece is accepted, it will receive a 20-hour developmental workshop and staged reading at Amphibian Stage in June.

Amphibian received 200 submissions and has now narrowed down its choices to 36 finalists.  Of those, three will receive staged readings in Fort Worth, Texas. In the past, Amphibian has developed plays by writers including Steven Dietz, Chris Cragen Day, and Charles Jackson, Jr.

Apprenticeship tells the story of a young man who lands his dream job working for a legend in the publishing industry. As he learns what it takes to succeed, however, he starts to question who his role models should really be. The piece had a reading last summer over Zoom, but has yet to be produced.

Interestingly enough, the talented actress Jessica Vera, who was in that Zoom reading, has worked with Amphibian a couple of times in the past, most recently starring in Egress by Melissa Crespo and Sarah Saltwick in 2021.

Amphibian will announce the three plays it plans to develop no later than April 5th. Hopefully, Apprenticeship will be one of them!