Showing posts with label Writefest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writefest. Show all posts

Wednesday, 15 October 2014

An abundance of scripts - 9th Annual Writefest

Our 9th annual Writefest starts tonight (15th October) and runs until Saturday 18th you can now buy tickets on-line using our new booking system here.

As you can imagine with seven separate plays on one night there is a lot for the backstage team to keep track of and they have to be very organised.  In this photo stage manager Emma is making a list of all the bits and pieces that have to be in a cardboard box on stage for The Deep Blue. Razor blades and pills were top of the list of essentials.




On the list of props to be set for The Flood is 'Liz Carroll'. Liz recently broke her ankle but in the true spirit of theatre "the show must go on". In The Flood she plays a hairdressing client so once the play starts she doesn't have to move about. She is now wheeled into position by the stage management team as part of the set up of the play. 




As all plays in Writefest are new unpublished works they are liable to change between being submitted and the first night. Some of these changes come from the writers and some are suggested by the directors and actors as they see what works and what doesn't during rehearsals. This is a common process and is why published scripts usually credit the director and cast of the first run. Of course at some point the changes have to stop and everyone needs to be working from the same script. Lighting designer Richard got some blank looks from the cast of Yawn when he read out what he thought were the cue lines for lighting changes, apparently they had been cut in a later version. After some quick checking and reprinting we are now confident that everyone has the same version of the scripts and everyone knows exactly what they are doing.

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Progress Youth Theatre,  by Jez Butterworth, 7.45  

Sunday, 13 October 2013

The 8th Annual WriteFest starts this Wednesday and runs until Saturday, although tickets for Friday and Saturday are already sold out.

This is tech weekend when all the lighting, sound and stage management is put into place. With eight different plays to sort out this makes for a long weekend. It started on Friday night with one of the plays, three on Saturday and four on Sunday followed by a full dress rehearsal of the whole production.

For the technical crew there has been quite a lot of waiting around. Each play is allocated a two hour slot for their tech to give time for any problems to be ironed out but of course if things run smoothly and are not too complex they might finish in less than half that time. On the plus side it means the technical team have time to make tea, get something to eat or chat to passing bloggers.

All the plays have to share the same lighting set so to a certain extent directors  have to use a generic positioning of lights but there is enough capacity to include the odd special effect for an individual play. With a very simple set lighting can be a good way to create an atmosphere of time and place.

The other thing that has to be sorted out at the tech rehearsal is moving smoothly from one play to the next. When I was there they were looking at The Invisible Guest and director Stuart Merrall was explaining that the play starts with a pile of pink card (cherry blossoms) in a pile and lightly scattered at the front of the stage. Needless to say the blossom doesn't stay in a neat pile so at the end of the play stage managers Emma Walsh and Rebecca Gibbs have to come on a sweep them all off-stage.



The set for The Invisible Guest, the director was deciding which balloon to go with

Compere for the evening is Jon Speed, who is directing Our Father and was last seen as Captain Carrot, the 6'2" dwarf in The Fifth Elephant. It will be Jon's job to keep the audience informed and entertained during the scene changes. Let's hope for his sake it doesn't take too long to sweep up those blossoms.

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The 8th Annual WriteFest Thursday 17th - Saturday 19th October 2013, Progress Theatre

Auditions for Bold Girls,  Sunday 20th October at 7pm or Tuesday 22nd October at 7.30pm, Progress Theatre. There is also a pre-audition accent workshop Monday 14th October at Park United Reformed Church

Auditions for Trainspotting by Harry Gibson, adapted from the book by Irvine Welsh, Wednesday 6th November at 7.30pm or Sunday 10th November 2013 at 2.30pm, Progress Theatre

Moonlight and Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson Monday 11th – Saturday 16th November 2013, Progress Theatre
 
Details of all our productions and auditions can be found on our website.

Tuesday, 24 September 2013

WriteFest and the improved auditorium

Preparations for the 8th annual WriteFest are well underway so I arranged to meet with producer Matt Drury to discuss this year's production. One of the roles that Matt and co-producer Emily Goode  take on is acting as key holders. They people in who need to rehearse and stay on the premises to lock up at the end, so he had plenty of time to chat to me while Three Small Words were rehearsing.

There were about 65 plays submitted to WriteFest this year and this was whittled down to eight by the producers and Play Production Committee (an elected group of Progress members who organise the season of plays). The plays are chosen with the authors name removed and it is not revealed until all the plays for the evening have been picked. Submissions are open to anyone in he UK and Ireland. The geographical limit was introduced a couple of years ago after the call for plays ended up on an American website leading to more entries than we could cope with.

I wanted to sit in for a bit of the Three Small Words rehearsal partly to have a peek at the refurbished auditorium and partly because I'd been told it contained face licking. I didn't get to see any face licking but I did get to try out the new, more evenly spaced seats.

WriteFest co-producer Matt trying out the reinstalled seats.

An important part of the Writefest evening is the compere who introduces each play and entertains the audience during changes between plays. The producers are still looking for a confident person to full this role. It doesn't necessarily need to be someone who can deliver gags but they should be engaging and able to give a polished performance. If you think you fit the bill and would like to have a go then contact Matt and Emily on writefest@progresstheatre.co.uk.

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Auditions for The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Tuesday 24th September 2013 at 7.30pm or Sunday 29th September 2013 at 10am, Progress Theatre

Jazz at Progress, Neal Meets Steele, Friday 27th September 2013 7.30, Progress Theatre

The 8th Annual WriteFest Thursday 17th - Saturday 19th October 2013, Progress Theatre

Auditions for Bold Girls,  Sunday 20th October at 7pm or Tuesday 22nd October at 7.30pm, Progress Theatre. There is also a pre-audition accent workshop Monday 14th October at Park United Reformed Church
 
Details of all our productions and auditions can be found on our website.

Tuesday, 13 November 2012

WriteFest - a Writer's View

In last week's post I described the process of choosing the plays to be perforned and I thought  this week it would be interesting to talk to one of the writers.

I contacted Owen Goode as I'd heard that his play Skimming Stones had been the most popular choice among the potential directors. I was therefore surprised to learn that it was the first play he's written. It features a man who returns to his family home for a funeral after a prolonged absence and is about the different ways people deal with loss, and the subtle way relationships change. A lot to pack into a short piece and that was Owen's original challenge to himself in writing the play, to see if he could squeeze a complete drama with a lot of backstory into ten minutes.

Although this is the first play he has written Owen has had plenty of experience in performing other people's work. At Progress he played Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps and was the Angel Islington in Neverwhere. He also appeared in a play called My Voices(s) which was originally performed at the very first WriteFest in 2006 and then went to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2007.


Owen as Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps (although he claims this is how he always dresses to write)
 
So how does it feel to be on the other side of the fence? Some writers find it very difficult to let go and allow a director and cast a free rein with their work. Owen did admitt that it can be difficult to put your trust in other people to handle something you've made but, while willing to rewrite or clarify if requested, he was able to keep in the background. He has now seen a run through at the technical rehearsal and is very happy with the end result. He can see another layer of creativity spread thickly on top of  his script and even  some very nice moments coming out that he's sure he didn't put there.

He doesn't think first night nerves will compare to going on stage as an actor - after all it is out of his control now - but there may still be a slight jitter in the background wondering what the audiences will think...

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7th Annual WriteFest 14th - 17th November 2012, Progress Theatre

Auditions for Little Shop of Horrors by Howard Ashman. Saturday 17 November 2 to 5pm or
Wednesday 21st November 7.30 to 10.30 pm plus Saturday 24 November 2 to 5pm (Main characters and call-backs)

Auditions for New Directors' Double Bill Wednesday 5th December, 7.30pm or Sunday 9th December 2pm, Progress Theatre

Progress Youth Theatre presents For the Love of a Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker 10th -15th December 2012, Progress Theatre

The Fifth Elephant by Stephen Briggs based on the book by Terry Pratchett 17th - 26th January 2013, Progress Theatre

Details of all our productions and auditions can be found on our website.



Tuesday, 6 November 2012

7th Annual WriteFest

I couldnt resist this photo of WriteFest director Stuart Merrall painting some stage urinals for his play Toilet. I should start a new series 'Things you never thought you'd find yourself doing'.
 
 

There were other directors busy making props - reupholstering chairs with sheets, installing a lifebuoy and creating a gameshow host's podium from a dream. As you can see quite a varied range of plays at this years WriteFest and co-producer Matt Drury explained to me the process of whittling down the 74 submitted plays to the final 7 chosen for performance.

Submissions are sent to Matt who skim reads them all to check they meet the entry requirements particularly that they shouldn't be longer than 20 minutes in performance. He also runs some Internet searches on key phrases to check the plays are all original work. He then removes the author's name from the scripts and sends them to Progress Play Production Committee for assessment.

Everyone on the committee reads every play and gives them a ranking based on 'gut feeling' and also ones on more specific technical aspects like the strength of the opening, characters and plot. These individual rankings are then fed into the WriteFest Web System created by Progress member Chris Hoult which gives each play an overall score. The top 12 plays are then considered as a shortlist and from this plays are chosen to create a balanced evening's entertainment finishing between 10 and 10.15pm.

Once the plays are chosen anyone who has expressed an interest in directing for WriteFest is sent all the scripts and asked to submit a proposal outlining their ideas for up to three of the plays. Matt and his co-producer Emily Goode make the final decision about who will direct what. Then the fun starts trying to co-ordinate rehearsal space, props and set designs.


If you are interested in what goes on at Progress Theatre then sign up to this blog. Enter your email in the box under ‘about us’ and click on subscribe. New postings are made weekly so you won’t be swamped with emails.

7th Annual WriteFest 14th - 17th November 2012, Progress Theatre

Auditions for Little Shop of Horrors by Howard Ashman. Saturday 17 November 2 to 5pm or
Wednesday 21st November 7.30 to 10.30 pm plus Saturday 24 November 2 to 5pm (Main characters and call-backs)

Auditions for New Directors' Double Bill Wednesday 5th December, 7.30pm or Sunday 9th December 2pm, Progress Theatre

Progress Youth Theatre presents For the Love of a Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker 10th -15th December 2012, Progress Theatre

The Fifth Elephant by Stephen Briggs based on the book by Terry Pratchett 17th - 26th January 2013, Progress Theatre

Details of all our productions and auditions can be found on our website.

Tuesday, 6 December 2011

WriteFest Tech and Cataloguing Costumes

Last Sunday was technical rehearsal day for WriteFest. With eight sets of sound and lighting requirements, making sure everyone has the right settings and props in the right place at the right time this was a long day for the technicians and stage management.

Also going on in the foyer was the latest day of cataloguing the costumes. Progress has a huge collection of costumes, some of them valuable period pieces, many handmade beautiful costumes and some moth eaten and falling apart. The problem is that there are so many it is very hard to know what we have and where to find it.

Chris Moran has taken on the job of sorting through all the costumes, throwing away the rubbish and creating a database of every single piece. The idea is that it will then be much easier for productions to find what they need and we will be able to hire out costumes to earn some revenue for the theatre. Luckily Chris has lots of willing helpers for this mammoth task including the invaluable Barbara Bentley.

Barbara showing her costume 'bible'
(not that she ever needed to refer to it!)

Barbara was in charge of the wardrobe at Progress for many years and has a wealth of knowledge. She can tell at a glance what period a piece is as well as usually telling us what plays it has been used in, where it came from and who wore it. She made many of the costumes herself including seventeen togas and tunics for the Abbey Ruins production of Julius Caesar.







Cataloguing involves assigning each piece a unique number and a code to indicate what type of costume it is. A photo is then taken showing the number and code, details are entered into a database and a laminated label showing its number is pinned to the costume.


This is the third costume cataloguing Sunday and so far over 100 have been done. There are still many more to do and more days are being planned for the new year. If you would like to get involved then email Chris at cmoran@ntlworld.com



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Coming up -

6th Annual WriteFest 8th - 10th December 2011

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman,  Adapted by Robert Kauzlaric 19th - 28th Jan 2012
(There has been a lot of interest in this production from Neil Gaiman fans, tickets are now on sale and selling fast so if you want to be sure of one then book soon.)

See Progress Theatre website for details of all our productions and auditions.

Tuesday, 29 November 2011

WriteFest 2011

After the outstanding success of The 39 Steps we move on to our 6th annual WriteFest. This is an evening of short plays of between 5 and 20 minutes written by local writers. It is a popular evening and with eight plays there is bound to be something that appeals to you (and if one doesn't at least you know it won't last too long!)

With so many plays there is plenty of opportunities for actors, WriteFest often appeals to those who don't have the time to commit to a full length play with a longer run. It is also a good way for new members to get on the Progress stage and show everyone what they can do. I met two new members Libby and Shi at the set building session, busy making a giant wooden 'H'.




The 'H' is for the play Libby is in called The Letter H Girl which is set on the Hollywood sign. Shi is in two of the plays She's not there and Self-Service. Libby's Mum suggested that she audition for Writefest and Shi went along because she has recently moved back to Reading after being very involved in theatre groups at university and touring with a musical theatre production for schools.

Shi also has a part in Neverwhere where she plays a market trader proudly selling  "Rubbish! Junk! Debris! Nothing whole or undamaged!"

Coming up -

6th Annual WriteFest 8th - 10th December 2011

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman,  Adapted by Robert Kauzlaric 19th - 28th Jan 2012
(There has been a lot of interest in this production from Neil Gaiman fans, tickets are now on sale and selling fast so if you want to be sure of one then book soon.)

See Progress Theatre website for details of all our productions and auditions.

Monday, 1 November 2010

Fifth Writefest

The fifth Writefest starts on Thursday and last weekend was a busy one for all those involved. With seven separate plays the final technical weekend is more complicated than for a single production. When Progress Blog arrived on Sunday afternoon they were just finishing setting the lights for the final play. Stage managers Emma Walsh and Sian Davies were busy glueing felt to the bottom of two black boxes used in several of the plays. The boxes get moved around a lot and were scrapping the stage floor.

Sian is a new member and as well as helping back stage for Writefest she is playing one of the nasty (not ugly!) sisters in The Ash Girl. Her previous theatre experience has included producing Cinderella in Georgia. It was a production that started as a casual idea among friends "wouldn't it be fun to .." and ended with a budget of thousands, a 300+ seater theatre, two ambassadors in the cast and the Georgian defence minister in the audience.

Sian was in Georgia during the war with Russia in 2008. She became something of a media celebrity as her blog was seen as one of the few sources of reliable information to the outside world. I asked her if being in Reading was a bit dull after the excitement  of Georgia but she said she is enjoying herself at Progress and at least she doesn't have to worry about Russian tanks.

If you are interested in what goes on at Progress Theatre then sign up to this blog. Enter your email in the box under ‘about us’ and click on subscribe. New postings are made weekly so you won’t be swamped with emails.

Coming up...

Writefest 4th to 6th November 2010

Ajax by Sophocles 25th November to 4th December 2010

Auditions for for Teechers by John Godber Sun 12th December at 2.30pm &Tues 14th December at 7.30pm

The Ash Girl by Timberlake Wertenbaker 10th to 16th January 2011

See Progress Theatre website for details of all our productions and auditions.


Sunday, 24 October 2010

WriteFest - Mermaids and Bag Ladies

Fresh from a hip replacement operation Liz Carroll is still playing an active part in Writefest at Progress Theatre. She is directing a play called On the Rocks by Gerald Kells. The play starts with a girl on the beach egging on a boy to do something daring, the adventure starts when a mermaid gets involved. The cast includes two members of the Progress Youth Theatre and Liz's daughter Ali.


While we were talking Alison Hill, who is playing the part of Mary in  a play Liz has written for WriteFest called The Browning Papers, came up to ask Liz a detail about one of the lines in the play. Alison plays a "bag lady with a past". Liz was very relaxed and said that Alison should say whatever felt right for the character.

Liz has written another play in this year's WriteFest called Asylum. All she would tell me about it was that it is a very short thriller with two actors - she didn't want to give anything else away.

If you are interested in what goes on at Progress Theatre then sign up to this blog. Enter your email in the box under ‘about us’ and click on subscribe. New postings are made weekly so you won’t be swamped with emails.

Coming up...

Writefest 4th to 6th November 2010

Ajax by Sophocles 25th November to 4th December 2010

See Progress Theatre website for details of all our productions and auditions.

Sunday, 12 September 2010

Auditioning for Writefest

You obviously need creative people in a theatre but you also need people with organisational skills. Chris Moran, producer of this year's Writefest is creative - she writes, directs and acts and when she's not at the theatre is busy teaching quilting and making her own quilts. She also has great organisational skills that she put to good use in running yesterday's Writefest auditions. 

There are 7 plays in Writefest and there is one audition attended by all the directors and anyone who wants to be cast in any of the plays. There were 17 actors hoping to be cast and they were all given a form to record their contact details and any play preferences. They were also given a sticky label with their name and a number. Each director was also given a form to record the numbers of the actors they were interesting in casting.

The audition itself consisted of readings from each play, giving each actor a chance to try out appropriate parts. The format of auditions at Progress will vary from production to production they may include improvisation or physical exercises in addition to reading from the script if these skills are considered important for the particular play or because of the director's style. All our auditions are open to members and non-members and new comers are made very welcome. If you are cast in a production you will be asked to join Progress.

The part of the process I didn't get to see was the final part where the seven directors get together to fight over the available actors. Chris was there to mediate and I'm sure it was all agreed amicably! You can see the successful auditionees in action during Writefest 4th to 6th November 2010.

If you are interested in what goes on at Progress Theatre then sign up to this blog. Enter your email in the box under ‘about us’ and click on subscribe. New postings are made weekly so you won’t be swamped with emails.

Coming up...

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka 11th to 16th October 2010

Writefest 4th to 6th November 2010

Ajax by Sophocles 25th November to 4th December 2010

See Progress Theatre website for details of all our productions and auditions.

Monday, 26 January 2009

Third Annual Write Fest


Between Thursday 29th and Saturday 31st January, Progress Theatre presents the Third Annual Write Fest. Tickets cost just £7 and the show starts at 7.45pm.


On each night of the festival, nine short plays and sketches lasting from 5 to 20 minutes will be performed. Almost 100 scripts were submitted by writers from across the country and the final line-up includes drama, dance, comedy and horror.


Tickets can be bought on the door or booked in advance at the Hexagon or Reading Town Hall, by phone on 0118 9606060 or online at http://www.readingarts.com/.


Email writefest@progresstheatre.co.uk for more info.


Playlist:


"Bedtime Story" by Richard Stanley - A teenage girl dreads the thought of her grandmother reading her a bedtime story, but when the story becomes real and the dastardly Boogieman dances onto the stage, you won't know whether to laugh or cower in fear.


"But is it Art?" by Liz Carroll - Modern art. Nobody understands it, least of all three visitors to a gallery who each see something different in one very special painting.


"Family Business" by Progress Strobes Youth Group - Devised by the one of Progress' active youth groups and performed at the Maidenhead drama festival last year to fantastic acclaim, don't miss this opportunity to see what children think about their parents.


"Hirsuitor" by Gillian Shimwell - A nightmare vision of one man's descent into madness.


"Lisa and Leona" by Simon Josiffe - Two girls, a bag of crisps, and memories of old school days.


"Mermaids A Comin'" by Sandra Wathall - A young girl persuades an old woman to join in with her games on the beach. When the tide comes in and strands them on a rock, however, a miracle is needed.


"The Time of Year" by Graham Sellors - New Year, and two people find themselves alone. A timely power cut sends one of them searching for some light, and maybe a new chance at happiness.



"Where No Woman Has Gone Before…" by Chris Moran - A science fiction geek has found a real girl to distract him from fantasies about Princess Leia, but now he must clear the evidence of his unhealthy obsession from his flat before she arrives for a quiet night in.



"Who is Sylvia?" by Liz Carroll - A woman sits in her kitchen clutching a bloodied knife. Whose blood is it and where has Sylvia got to?

Friday, 4 January 2008

Second Write Fest tickets on sale now


Tickets for the Second Write Fest are now on sale at a bargain price of £8 (£7 for concessions).

Nine short plays by writers from around the country and all receiving their premieres. Whether you like comedy, drama or music, respect straight-talking hard men or prefer poetic souls you will find something to your taste at the event that is the Write Fest.

Showcases of new plays have been produced by Progress for almost ten years, giving writers, actors and directors an opportunity to experiment and hone their skills. Until the First Write Fest last year these events had been for members only.

The consistent quality and strength of the writing prompted Progress to open the event up for public viewing, inviting everyone to see cutting edge theatre at its best. My Voice(s), discussed elsewhere in this blog, premiered at the First Write Fest and was so well received that it transferred to the Edinburgh Fringe.

Be the first to see this brand new collection of exciting plays at Progress and keep an eye out for the "next big thing".

If you have any queries, please email writefest@progresstheatre.co.uk

Book now via Reading Arts

Thursday, 2 August 2007

Progress goes to Edinburgh

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival starts in just a few days and a play that began life as a small piece in the First Writefest last year has been expanded and is going to join the fun.

My Voice(s) started as a ten minute piece as part of an evening of new writing. Although Progress has produced similar evenings for the last 10 years, known as "Showcase", with the aim of giving new writers, actors and directors a chance to hone their skills, last February was the first time that the event was publicised to the general public.

Kerry Murdock (who you might have seen in Entertaining Mr Sloane last year) wrote a piece about a woman recovering from the break-up of a relationship and advised, sometimes helpfully, often not, by three of her own inner voices played by Alice Mulford (Good Woman of Setzuan), Emma Sterry (choreographer for Godspell) and Tonya Walton (The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband). As an intense piece of physical theatre, full of music and dance, it wowed the audiences and Kerry took it on herself to develop the piece and take it to Edinburgh with her own theatre company Friction Theatre (visit their blog).

Keeping the same cast, also including Owen Goode (Good Woman of Setzuan, Godspell) and Alana Ramsey (Good Woman of Setzuan), and director Steph Weller (Skylight) the new improved piece has been in preparation for months, received a preview performance at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham and the entire crowd arrived in Edinburgh last night ready for the first performance this evening. If you're in that part of the country, you can see them as the Rocket @ Demarco Roxy Art House at 10.45pm each evening. Alternatively, YouTube has a video of the show as seen at Progress.

If you're a writer and want more information about Progress' Writer's Group, please contact us at enquiries@progresstheatre.co.uk