READING OF NEW WRITING 2012

The fifth PANSA Festival of Reading of New Writing will be held in April, 2012, with the support of the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF)

The aims of the Festival are to generate original South African theatre works, to provide a platform for these works to reach the attention of theatre producers, and to work towards full-scale productions of the winning plays. As the busy festive season is upon us, the deadline for entries has been extended from the original in December 2011 to January 13, 2012.

The festivals have been a resounding success in previous years with most of the winning scripts (and numerous of those not winning as well) going on to fullscale productions at a variety of theatres and festivals, both locally and internationally. Winning plays include, Salaam Stories by Ashraf Johaardien, Bungi writing finals by Finuala Dowling, Guy Willoughby’s Church Full of Light, and Mike van Graan’s Green Man Flashing and Two to Tango. More recent winners - Kobus Moolman’s Stone Angel and Nicholas Spagnoletti’s London Road (Jury Runner up winner 2007) - are still currently enjoying runs on the local circuit.

The winning scripts in each region - Cape Town, Johannesburg , Durban - are re-read in the national final and are up for a Grand Prize of R30,000.

The scripts should be entered in one of the following categories: Comedy, Drama, or 1 / 2 Hander. A panel of judges will select the five best scripts for participation in each regional Festival. Each of the selected scripts will be given a basic subsidy to fund reading rehearsals and S&T as required. The Festival will be open to writers throughout South Africa.

All PANSA paid-up members may submit for free. Non-PANSA paid up members will incur a R200 entry fee.

The basic criteria for participation are as follows:

The work must be an original work and the play must not have been published or performed before.

PANSA would have first option on producing and publishing the play (selected works may be published in a collection).

Plays should be between 70 minutes and 90 minutes long to ensure the possibility of a full-scale professional production.

There should be a maximum of eight actors and English should be the primary language of the play. An important component of the Festival of Reading of New Writing will be the discussions to follow the reading of each work, to encourage constructive feedback, and the debate around theatre aesthetics, functions and forms. Scripts must be typed, loose-leaf and have all pages numbered. Please include a cover page with all contact details and title of the play.

Submissions must be sent to PANSA National Office at Postnet Suite 126, Private Bag X18, Rondebosch, 7701, Cape Town by January 13, 2012. Handwritten submissions and those that arrive after the submission date will not be accepted. Writers will be notified of the outcomes by the end of February, 2012.

All enquiries to 021 448 3513 or info@pansa.org.za