Brand New Year, Brand New Plays

"We need to get serious about devising that new play!"..."I don't know, maybe we should put it off some more."

There are a million ways to create brand new theatre but with a world of possibilities available to you, it can be difficult to pick one approach, stick with it and make your ideas a reality. If you want to be a part of developing brand new theatre in 2012, get started on the right foot by participating in one of the Brand New Theatre Co.’s theatre devising workshops this January.

Here’s how the BNTC Brand New Year, Brand New Plays Project works:

• One playwright will be teamed with two to six actors.
• Each team will attend a four session workshop.
• The sessions, which are three hours in length, will take place either over the span of one work week (Mon-Thurs 6:30pm to 9:30pm) or over one intensive weekend (Fri 6:30pm to 9:30pm and Sat 9am to 8pm) during the month of January.
• Each participant will work directly with BNTC staff to book the session in January that works best for his/her schedule.
• BNTC’s Artistic Director will guide each team through a series of devising exercises designed to kick start the creative process while giving depth and structure to ideas about Plot, Character, Setting and Conflict.
• At the end of the four sessions writers will have a framework for a one-act play. They will then have until the end of January to produce a working script.
• Teams will come back together for one more session between Feb. 1 and Feb. 8 during which they will read the script, have the opportunity to make minor adjustments and come up with a presentation plan (note: most presentations will consist of a simple script reading).
• On the weekend of Feb 10-12 (specific date TBA) the works-in-progress will be showcased at a BNTC fundraiser. The audience will have the opportunity to donate to BNTC by purchasing as many votes as they would like. They will then vote on the work-in-progress that they feel has the most potential to become a successful completed theatre piece. The winning team will take home a portion of the audience’s donations as their prize.

Important Notes On the BNY, BNP Project:

• The entry fee for participating in the project is $75/person. (This is half BNTC’s normal workshop fee because the BNY, BNP Project is still in the pilot phase.)
• Because this is a pilot project, BNTC cannot make any guarantees about the outcome of each workshop. BNTC will support writers in the development of their works-in-progress but participants must be prepared for the possibility that their work may not be presentation ready in February. BNTC will make every attempt to ensure that each group has a presentation to offer but we cannot give refunds to groups that are unable to produce suitable scripts in time for the presentation event.