musical theatre writers' resource center NEWSLETTER

UPCOMING CONTEST DEADLINES

• Samuel French Inc, Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival (December 24)
  http://www.oobfestival.com/
• Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award (December 31)
  http://web.kennedy-center.org/Education/KCACTF/awards/Playwriting/JKSmith
• Theatre in the Raw Play Writing Contest (December 31)
  http://www.theatreintheraw.ca/contest.html
• National Student Playwriting Award (December 31)
  http://web.kennedy-center.org/Education/KCACTF/awards/Playwriting
• New Works of Merit (December 31)
  https://www.newworksofmeritplaywritingcontest.com/dates--award--eligible-script--ineligible-script.html
• Ungar German Translation Award (December 31)
  https://www.atanet.org/aboutus/honorsandawards_ungar.php
• John Lennon Songwriting Contest (December 31)
  http://jlsc.com/
• American Antiquarian Society Fellowships (December 31)
  https://www.americanantiquarian.org/artistfellowships
• The David Mark Cohen Playwriting Award (December 31)
  http://web.kennedy-center.org/Education/KCACTF/awards/Playwriting/DMCohen#main_content
• Pipeline Awards for New Musical Theatre (December 31)
  https://pipelinearts.org/

*** Visit the RESOURCE CENTER to see the full listings ***

SAMPLE PUBLIC DOMAIN IDEAS

EXCERPT:

He wouldn’t commit suicide. Not if he knew it. He would stick on and laugh at them. And if he did have an occasional pain inside, what of that? Napoleon had them, and look at him. He would be blowed if he committed suicide.

With the fire of a new resolve lighting up his eyes, he turned to seize the six letters and rifle them of their contents.

They were gone.

It took Mr Meggs perhaps thirty seconds to recollect where they had gone to, and then it all came back to him.

COMMENTS:

A man has decided his illness is too much for him and he’s going to kill himself. But before doing so, he wants to avoid the expense and troubles which attorneys would cost his beneficiaries, so he cashes his entire estate (which isn’t all that grant), and addresses six envelopes filled with cash. But during the ensuing feud with the woman that he trusts to mail the envelopes, he thinks better of his decision to kill himself, and wants those envelopes back. This is a slight story but a lot of fun. It would make a charming one act.

EXCERPT:

The story of “Billee Taylor” is based upon an old English marine ballad of the same name. The first act opens at the inn of the Royal George in Southampton, where the villagers have gathered to celebrate the wedding of Billee Taylor and Phoebe Farleigh, a charity girl. The heiress, Arabella Lane, is also in love with Billee, and has offered him her hand, which he has rejected. Her father, Sir Mincing Lane, is going to give the villagers a feast upon the occasion of Billee’s wedding, and invites his friend, Captain Flapper, to attend. The captain accepts, falls in love with Phoebe at sight, and vows Billee shall not marry her. Crab, the tutor, is also in love with Phoebe. In Captain Flapper’s crew is Bill Barnacle, who went to sea “on account of Eliza,” who had been unfaithful to him, and he is ordered by the press gang to carry Billee away, which he does during the wedding festivities.

COMMENTS:

Lots of pairs of star-crossed lovers and an opportunity for an entire troupe of women to pass themselves off as men (would you cast men or women in these roles?; interesting casting consequences either way).  There’s also some heavier action, such as a shooting and a near execution, which could be treated either comically or darkly.  Unsatisfying denouement.  But there’s some potential in this obscure piece.  You might succeed wildly with a vigorous resurrection of it.

A word of caution:  This plot summary was written by 19th-century literary critic George Upton, who often mixes personal opinion with summation.  You would be advised to consult the original source material, if the general plot appeals to you.

EXCERPT:

Successive Congresses having greatly impoverished the People, they were discouraged and wept copiously.

“Why do you weep?” inquired an Angel who had perched upon a fence near by.

COMMENTS:

Sardonic. Cynical. Fun.

EXCERPT:

A weasel through a hole contrived to squeeze,
(She was recovering from disease,)
Which led her to a farmer’s hoard.
There lodged, her wasted form she cherish’d;
Heaven knows the lard and victuals stored
That by her gnawing perish’d!
Of which the consequence
Was sudden corpulence.

COMMENTS:

The translation is in verse; a head-start on lyrics.

EXCERPT:

When Sabot entered the inn at Martinville it was a signal for laughter. What a rogue he was, this Sabot! There was a man who did not like priests, for instance! Oh, no, oh, no! He did not spare them, the scamp.

Sabot (Theodule), a master carpenter, represented liberal thought in Martinville. He was a tall, thin, than, with gray, cunning eyes, and thin lips, and wore his hair plastered down on his temples. When he said: “Our holy father, the pope” in a certain manner, everyone laughed. He made a point of working on Sunday during the hour of mass. He killed his pig each year on Monday in Holy Week in order to have enough black pudding to last till Easter, and when the priest passed by, he always said by way of a joke: “There goes one who has just swallowed his God off a salver.”

*** Visit the PUBLIC DOMAIN IDEAS to see the complete stories ***