Indiana For Playwrights - And A Ray Bradbury Museum

 Thanks to MirrorIndy - a new independent news source out of Indianapolis -  for making the following known to me.

Starting tomorrow is New PlayFest Indy brings audiences into the writing process.

Running from Sept. 13-15, the free shows include no soundboards, props or light effects. Eight plays will be performed concert-style, with actors reading from podiums and someone offstage giving stage directions. Following the readings, audiences can share their thoughts on the scripts, which are still being tweaked.

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What: PlayFest Indy

When: Sept. 13-15

Where: Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center, Indiana Repertory Theatre and Fonseca Theatre

Cost: Free, but tickets are required

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Patel partnered with Summit Performance, a women-focused equity theater. Her script reading will take place at 5 p.m. Sept. 14 at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center. The play has already been heard by a California audience, which led Patel to cut the number of characters in the play from seven to five. Patel said she’s curious to see how Indianapolis audiences react.

“This is a crucial part to any play development process, and it’s really exciting for audiences to realize, ‘Oh, this is the first time a playwright is hearing it with professional actors … so it’s going to change after we hear it based on how we react to it,’” Patel said. “They’re instrumental in what stays and what goes and changes.”

Mirror Indy reporter Breanna Cooper covers arts and culture. Email her 

 Also in Indianapolis: Making History - A New Play Contest.

Purpose: To solicit for development and production new plays based on an historical event or person/people native to the state of Indiana. Preference will be given to plays highlighting history, the arts, philosophy, social change, or the economy in Indiana. Indigenous people, people of color, women, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized writers are encouraged to submit, and stories relating experiences of marginalized people are also encouraged. Read the rules below and then submit here. 

Info and rules:

1. To submit, you must be a current, permanent resident in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, or Kentucky.

2.  Submit a full-length script to Southbank Theatre via Google form no later than December 31, 2024 at 11:59 pm.

3. All scripts will be reviewed, and up to 4 scripts will be selected as finalists for development and a staged reading in Indianapolis directed by an experienced director. (We reserve the right to select fewer than 4 scripts.)

4. Your play must have no special effects other than lighting and sound. Simple sets preferred.

5. Please submit in PDF format.

6. We are looking for NEW plays. Please do not send us anything that has previously been produced. Plays that have had other readings are okay.

7. Your play must contain at least two (2) characters, but should need no more than 6 actors including doubling.

8.  Your play should consist mainly of dialogue, not monologues.

9. Submissions are judged blind, so do not include your name or other identifying information on the script itself or the file name. Please number your pages.

10. Those plays which receive staged readings will be videotaped for archival purposes, and writers will be awarded $100 when selected for the staged reading. Staged readings will take place in Indianapolis in summer 2025, exact date TBD depending on theatre availability.

11. Only one entry will be accepted from each playwright.

12. Your play must be written in English and should be full-length, around 70-90 pages, using standard playwriting format, like the one linked here. Only plays, not musicals, will be considered.

13. Southbank will select one of the finalists for a full production in season 5 (2025-26). Selection will be based on director/cast input, audience feedback, and relevance to Southbank’s mission to produce plays interested in history, literature, philosophy, politics, and social change.

14. In addition to a full production of their play in season 5, the overall winner will receive an additional $250 cash prize, as well as hotel accommodations for two nights when the play is produced, a reception with the director and cast, and a $100 meal allowance. Additionally, a $250 travel allowance will be provided to the winner to help allay cost of travel to see the production. (In the event that the winner is from Indianapolis and does not need accommodations or travel allowance, the prize will be converted to a cash prize of $1,000)

I have an idea for this, but do I have the time?

Ray Bradbury Museum a hidden gem at IU Indianapolis

Bradbury was born in the Midwest, but he wasn’t from Indiana. He lived in Los Angeles. He’s a world-famous author, but he didn’t go to college. So how did the collection make its way to a university in Indiana?

When Bradbury died in 2012, he left many of his books, manuscripts and materials to Donn Albright, an instructor at the Pratt Institute in New York who was born in Muncie. Albright passed on that collection to IU Indianapolis Professor Jonathan Eller, one of the nation’s premier Bradbury biographers who helped establish the Bradbury Center and served as its first director.

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