Dancing Not Dead -- Auditions in Berlin

Casting has begun for the Internationalists "Dancing, Not Dead" in Berlin. It has been a fascinating new experience to create work in a new culture (coming from New York, things definitely work a bit differently here). Trying to make a piece in the summer turns out to be a bit more challenging than originally expected -- the whole town, it seems, has gone on vacation. But overall, things are coming together quite nicely.

Initially, I was worried by the lack of responses one receives immediately. In New York, seconds after posting something in Backstage, Playbill etc., your inbox is generally flooded with emails of headshots, resumes, introduction letters, and sometimes promises of a first born baby, should you choose them to cast. Here in Berlin, it's a bit more laid-back, and after that initial worry, I was pleasantly surprised by the applicants. People approached the auditions in a professional and interested matter, and it gives me great hope for what is to come with this project.

The auditions went very well, and I'm pleased to say that the cast is formulating now (a few more meetings and introductions to come) and all should be set!

Please check back in regularly for updates about our Playwright competition, as well as director blogs about the process!

Playwriting Contest FAQs

Is my play eligible if it has been produced before?

The short answer is ‘no.’ We are looking for new plays that are in earlier stages of development, that have not had design elements or a paying audience. It should be at a point where the writer is done writing and wants to 'hear' it. The long answer is 'there is some flexibility’. We are not excluding things that have been previously developed in a reading or workshop or university, but are primarily looking for something that The Internationalists and the winning writer can develop further together.

Why was my submission returned?

In addition to the script, we ask that you respond to the specified guidelines and questions listed on the contest form. You can find all this information on our website, on facebook and on our blog. We have a lot of submissions, so please read the information carefully. It only helps us distribute plays faster.

What do you mean by 'presentation'?

The Internationalists are committed to producing public staged readings of the winning play. As the term 'reading' has different connotations in different cultures, we decided to use the term presentation. Depending on specific circumstances in select locations, there may be a higher level of production value, but this is not a condition of the award.

If I win, will I receive compensation?

There is no monetary prize for this contest. The award includes a minimum of five public presentations of your play, and in specific circumstances, may also result in the translation of your play into another language.

If I win, will I be invited to the readings?

You will be more than welcome at any and all of the public presentations, and The Internationalists will do everything in our power to assist in securing travel funds and housing accommodations for you. Additionally, we have retained flexibility in the locations of the readings so that if feasible, we can present one in or near your home.

What is the time frame of the readings?

It is the goal of The Internationalists to produce 5 public presentations within 2011. If we have more than five presentations, they may continue into the beginning of 2012.

What about copyright?

‪The text of the play will remain at all times the property/copyright of the playwright. The Internationalists will require 1) listing in future publications and programs, 2) that no other productions take place between our first and last reading, and 3) right of first refusal for a full production within a reasonable amount of time following the final reading. ‪Details to be negotiated in good faith upon winning.

What will be expected of the winning playwright?

Though we are happy to receive all eligible scripts, we are looking for someone who is also interested in accompanying The Internationalists on this journey. We look forward to developing a relationship with both the play and the playwright. We are eager to share a fantastic new play to as broad a global audience as possible.

The Internationalists Playwriting Contest

The Internationalists is excited to announce a new global playwriting contest. The winner’s play will receive public presentations in at least five locations around the world including New York, Berlin, Buchrest and Sydney.

Contest Mission

This contest is for a groundbreaking play that explores the theme of Boundaries. Though the characters can be few and the location specific, we are looking for big ideas and challenging questions. The Boundaries we wish to explore can be physical, emotional, psychological, cultural, political, spiritual or all of the above, as long as it is expressing an individual perspective on something humankind can intimately connect to. This is not only an opportunity to have a text exposed to different audiences, but a chance to engage in a cross-cultural exchange that fosters a collaboration with multiple directors around the world who will each have a personal vision of the play. It should offer each director and cast in the various locations a unique opportunity to work on the development of a provocative and engaging text through the lenses of audiences around the world. This play should speak both on a personal and universal level. It should be ambitious and stretch the boundaries of what is theatrical.

Submission Guidelines

1. Playwright may only submit one full-length script.

2. The play submission must be in English (either original or translation)

3. The play must not have had a fully mounted production

4. The playwright must include in his/her submission:

a. Name, address, phone number, email address and how you heard about the contest

b. Cover letter introducing yourself and explaining how your play addresses the mission of the contest. (500 word limit)

c. Bio (300 word limit)

d. Synopsis and Character Breakdown (300 word limit)

e. Electronic form (Word or PDF) copy of full script

Deadline

The deadline for submissions is Midnight EST on Friday, February 11^th.

Finalists will be notified by March 27^th.

The final round of selection will include a telephone, video, or in-person interview.

Contact

Submissions should be sent to: submissions@theinternationalists.org

You will receive a confirmation of receipt.

For more information visit our website at www.theinternationalists.org

What is Mystery?

Our core collective is currently hard at work developing a festival to be presented in New York this July inspired by Homer’s Odusseia, and we humbly ask for your inspiration and input.

Over the coming weeks, we will be posing a series of questions that we encourage you to help us answer. We have generated these questions to further our dramaturgical research in relation to the text, our collective, contemporary theatre and our current generation. Our intention is to use these questions as ‘connectors’ between our current project, our mission as a collective, and international theatre as a whole.

We would like to solicit your contributions to facilitate a larger understanding and appreciation of what these propositions mean for theatre today. In addition to the productions our directors are creating for the festival, we will be creating a collection of short works entitled ‘Instant Theatre’ that will be created the day of performance and premiered that evening based on your offerings and assistance.

In an attempt to answer these questions, we request that you submit the source material for these ‘instant’ projects. They can be in the form of a photograph, a poem, a short dialogue, a list of props, a brief prose paragraph, a piece of music etc. Each participating director will use the offered source material as the basis for their original piece, so that anything you supply will likely be utilized in the generation of the performance.

We want to make sure that, in addition to the rehearsed productions, we include the insights and musings of our fellow international theatre artists around the world. Any and all submissions are graciously accepted, and we look forward to including your contributions in our upcoming festival.

The first question we ask you to play a part in answering is: What is mystery?

Modern Commedia Workshop & Performance

The Internationalists is proud to welcome Teatro Punto (Carlos Garcia Estevez and Katrien van Beurden) to New York to host a Modern Commedia dell’ Arte workshop and performance on August 5^th and 6^th, 2009.

Contemporary Commedia Workshop

Dates: August 5^th, 2009 from 3:30-9:30pm; August 6^th, 2009 from 3:30-6:30pm

Fee: $150 (includes the ‘Solo dell’Arte’ performance on August 6^th at 8pm)

Experience Level: Appropriate for all levels

Location: LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, 31-10 Thompson Ave, LIC (7,E,V,R,G trains nearby)

Tickets for the workshop may be purchased through Brown Paper Tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/71880 or 1-800-838-3006.

Teatro Punto makes theater where the actor is the author of the story. As the actor on stage is stripped of supports such as extended settings and a fixed script, he can become the author of a tragicomic show. He does this through movement, text, techniques and imagination. Carlos and Katrien’s main source of inspiration is Commedia dell'Arte. Employing their training, imagination, intellect and a great deal of hard work and experimentation they have taken Commedia to new heights. Their storytelling takes the masks into new territory. They have discovered ways to make the life within each mask not only amuse and engage the audience, but take them to the dark side. A theater form full of acting possibilities; it is precise and vulnerable, yet above all else it is alive. Previous U.S. workshops have been given at: Brown University, NYU, Wagner College, Sarah Lawrence, UMass, Trinity College, Tufts, and Williams & Mary.

The Workshop consists of:

• Movement analysis
• Physical transformation/metamorphoses
• From Tragedy to Comedy
• Musicality and timing
• Mask and archetypical characters
• Improvisation and scene composition - Canovaccio
• Study of interaction between actor and audience

‘Solo dell’Arte’ Performance

Date: August 6^th, 2009 at 8:00pm

Admission: $15

‘Solo dell’Arte’ is an introduction to the audience of one of the most ancient types of theatre, Commedia dell’Arte, and the presence of this Art into our days. In this show/conference there is only an empty space, masks, an actor without costumes and the audience. Carlos Garcia Estevez will perform a collection of stories under the theme of love (tragic love, infidel love, casual love). He will be aided by his own techniques, movements, gestures, texts, imagination and the spirit of performing for and with an audience. During the performance, the actor will present the historical and contemporary context of this type of theatre and he will explain to the audience some of the mechanisms of how this theatre is made (the metamorphosis of the actor, the use of the mask and the grommellot).

For more information, visit www.theinternationalists.org/commedia or email info@theinternationalists.org

New Year's Eve(ry) Hour

Around the World in 24 Hours Schedule

Saturday, November 15

5pm: Opening Festivities
'Live from Newcastle, It's Saturday Night'
Streaming with Pia Furtado in the U.K.

6pm: Real Andromaca by Ximena Escalante (Mexico);
directed by Tamilla Woodard; translated by Andrea Thome

8pm: Herjólfur has stopped loving by Sigtryggur Magnason (Iceland);
directed by Jeremy Lydic; translated by Gunnlaug Guomundsdottir

9pm: Panel Discussion with International Artists:
Sigtryggur Magnason, Catherine Coray, Randy Gener,
Caridad Svich, Sergei Grabbe and Ana Mărgineanu

10pm: Cocktail Reception & Recorded Performance of Music Man (in Portuguese) written, performed and directed by Michel Melamed (Brazil)

11:30pm: You Don't Know What Love Is by Michael Baran (Finland);
directed by Jake Witlen; translated by Eva Buchwald

Sunday, November 16

2am: Miriam by Lenka Lagronová (Czech Republic);
directed by Ashley Kelly-Tata; translated by Petr Onufer and Mike Baugh

3:30am: Live Streamed Performance of Never Heard of Her (in Japanese)
directed by Yuko Takeda

4am: Recorded Performance of Regurgitography (in English)
written, performed and directed by Michel Melamed (Brazil)

5am: Recorded Performance of Free Money (in Portuguese)
written, performed and directed by Michel Melamed (Brazil)

6:45am: Recorded performance of Colombo Calling (in English)directed by Cristina Bejan (Romania)

7:30am: Recorded Performance of Buy Me With a Coffee (in Romanian) directed by Ana Mărgineanu (Romania)

8am: Live Streamed Performance of Brunch in Berlin – Truth or Lies
an adaption of "Quizoola!" by Tim Etchells with Katja Fillmann and Christine Rollar

9am: Recorded Performance of An Insider-Pre-Pre-View of NEXT:STOP
a Swiss-German Project by Theater Topoï:log

10am: Hkleelee-Tell Me & Flight 123 by Leila Buck (Lebanon);
directed by Lauren Keating

11am: Women of War by Jawad Al-Assadi (Iraq);
directed by Esther Neff; translated by Hania Jurdak

1pm: Mwena by Nick Nanna Hadikwa Mwaluko (Tanzania);
directed by Ana Mărgineanu

2pm: The Kings by Julio Cortázar (Argentina);
directed by Doug Howe; translated by Caridad Svich

3pm: Panel Discussion and Excerpts in Spanish from Mexican Playwrights: Luis Ayhllón, Jose Alfonso Carcamo, Cutberto López Reyes and Ernesto Anaya;
in association with the Lark Play Development Center
Andrea Thome – U.S. / Mexico Playwright Exchange Program Director