New short plays wanted for fourth Claremorris Fringe Festival of Drama

The Claremorris, Co. Mayo, Drama Festival Committee is looking for scripts for the 2016 Fringe Festival which will be held in March of 2016. The scripts must be fifteen minutes long and must be new original work and be previously unpublished and unperformed.

The Fringe commenced in 2013 when Ken Armstrong from Castlebar won first prize for his play, ‘The Doubles Partner’. In 2014, The Fringe ran alongside the Confined Section of The All-Ireland Amateur Drama Finals, and was won by US playwright and screenwriter Bob Canning with his play ‘What Would Tippi Hedren Do, Hypothetically Speaking of Course?’ Bob Canning was back in 2015 with another winning entry ‘Neustra Dama de las Vinas’.

“As in previous years we’re looking for contemporary work,” said John Corless, Director of the Fringe. “The Fringe serves to showcase new writing and new writers. With that in mind, we’re looking for fresh ideas – fresh approaches. Ideally writers will challenge established thinking and practice. Playwrights should be brave; their work should be entertaining and relevant.”

The 2016 Fringe Festival will be held on Thursday March 10th to Sunday March 13th and on Friday March 18th and Saturday March 19th in Claremorris Town Hall Studio. Two plays will be performed each night – that’s a total of twelve new plays. The plays will be fifteen minutes duration (plus or minus two minutes) and will be independently judged. There will be a first prize of €500 for the writer of the best play with the runner-up getting €250.

Local drama groups will perform the plays and there will be numerous prizes for performance and production. If a writer whose play makes the shortlist wishes to have a drama group to which he or she is attached perform the play, that’s fine too.

Entries must be made here on the Fringe Festival Website. The entry fee for submitting a script is €5.  (There is no admission charge to see the plays during the Fringe.)  The closing date for the receipt of entries is midnight Monday November 30th.

Links: Enter the Fringe Festival 2016 | View the submission guidelines