In order to propose a play for consideration, please complete this form and submit it - with two copies of the play. Please note that the plays will not be returned.
All submissions should be placed in the box labeled "Season Selection" located in the Reception/Front Desk Office. The deadline is Wednesday, September 19 at noon.
The Season Selection Committee seeks plays that examine our theme of Illusion2 (please see the explanation below) Simplicity is something we are very interested in for the 2008-09 season. The Committee will consider any period, style, or genre. As you think about appropriate plays, please remember our commitment to diversity and the reality of our casting pool.
Basic Information (please print)
Submitted by:
_____ I would direct _____ Submitted for general consideration
Play Submitted:
Author(s):
Translator/Adaptation:
Production Space
_____ Kay Theatre (650-seat proscenium)
_____ Kogod Theatre (150-seat flexible space)
_____ Either (explain)
In the space below, briefly explain how this play is related to this Season's theme:
Please discuss any relevant concepts/approach you would take in staging this play:
Casting Requirements
| Total Cast Size: | _____ including chorus and/or crowds |
| Gender Breakdown: | _____ Women's speaking roles _____ Men's speaking roles |
___________________________________________________________________________
Thank you to everyone who submitted a theme idea for the 2008-09 season. Simply put: we got a ton of them.
There were two that basically suggested the same idea: Fooling the Eye by Ivania Stack, and Robert Thompson's ILLUSION2. We are combining both suggestions under the title of ILLUSION2. Both proposals are pasted below. Simplicity is something we are very interested in for the 2008-09 season.
Faculty directors should be planning on submitting three titles again as they did this year.
Mitchell Hˇbert
Chair, 2008-09 Season Selection Committee
ILLUSION2
This is a pretty simple idea, but hopefully interesting in its simplicity. Theatre is illusion squared. That is to say, an illusion of an illusion. The idea rests on the notion set down perhaps most famously by the Buddha. Reality is an illusion. Theatre is then an illusion of an illusion or an illusion squared. Plays selected under this theme can either point out the illusory nature of theatre (i.e. Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author) or the illusory nature of reality (i.e. Calderon's Life is a Dream). The focus on illusion gives this theme a certain specificity without pushing the point so far as to be too limiting. The theme basically excludes strict naturalism and realism, but it is open to all sorts of expressionism, symbolism, surrealism, and postmodern work. Names like Camus, Giraudoux, Mayakovsky, Ionesco, and Churchill come to my mind immediately, but the list of playwrights who have directly or indirectly dealt with this theme is practically endless. --Robert Thompson
Trompe L 'oeil: Fooling the Eye
This theme would address the idea of illusion in theatre. Each play would challenge the perception of the viewer, causing them to question what they actually saw. It could encompass many plays, including works with surprising
endings, and characters who are not who they seem. It would also be an opportunity to include plays of different genres, including tragicomedy, and dark comedy. This theme would allow for both comedic and tragic plays, as well as contemporary and period pieces. It would challenge actors to perform layered, complex characters. It would also give designers an opportunity to work on sophisticated, nuanced concepts. This theme also speaks to verisimilitude versus theatricality as different schools of thought in theatre. --IvaniaStack