Quinnipiac University Theater

• Submit a cover letter (in PDF format) via email to: Kevin.Daly@qu.edu
  See guidelines below
• The first line of your cover letter should specifically state the position(s) for which you are applying (i.e. director and/or stage manager).
• Within the cover letter please describe what you think the role of a director or stage manager is when working on a new play.
• Please also include the following within your cover letter:
  • Brief Bio
  • Contact information
  • Prior experience
  • Related coursework
  • Confirmation that you will be available for all required New Play Lab dates (see schedule below).
  • Acknowledgement that you are interested in participating in the full development process in collaboration with the playwright and mentors.

How to Submit

• Email your cover letter to Kevin.Daly@qu.edu
• Write in the subject line: NEW PLAY LAB DIRECTING- YOUR NAME
  • Replace directing with stage managing if you are applying as a stage manager.
  • If applying as both, write both in the subject.
• Expect a confirmation email within 48 hours. If you don’t get one, follow up

Submission Deadline

January 15, 2022, 11:59 p.m.

• If you are selected, you will be required to engage in a rigorous development process with your playwright, professional mentors, and fellow student collaborators.
• You must be available to attend rehearsals, tech, and all performances (see full schedule below).
• There is no expectation of prior experience. All students are encouraged to submit!
• We are aiming for workshop productions of 6-8 student written plays. However, the primary goal of the lab is to rigorously develop the work. This might mean that some of the plays are presented as script in hand readings where others are presented as more fully staged pieces. Directing and stage management applicants should be enthusiastic for the development process.

• Submissions
  Call for ten-minute plays (Fall Semester)
  Submissions and applications due January 15, 2022
• Selection process
  The team of four mentors will review the submitted scripts and applications and select 6-8 plays for inclusion, as well as directors and SMs.
  Script Selections will be announced by January 29, 2022
  Directors and SMs will be announced later in the process (see below)
• Play Development
  January 29- March 7
  6 week intensive script development between student playwrights and their professional mentors.
• Student directors and stage managers assigned to plays
  More information on student directing to follow. To express interest, please email Kevin.Daly@qu.edu
  Student stage managers and directors will be matched prior to March 7.
• Auditions
  Week of March 7
• Rehearsal Process
  March 7- April 17
• Tech
  Evenings, April 18-21
  Each show gets 1.5 hours in the theater.
• Dress Rehearsals
  Evenings, April 20-22
  As many full runs as can be scheduled between tech and opening night without exhausting the teams.
  Participants are expected to attend all dress rehearsals.
• Workshop Productions for Live Audiences
  April 22-24
  Friday night (invited dress), Saturday Evening (opening), Sunday Matinee (closing).
  Participants are expected to attend all performances.
• Strike
  Saturday following performances
  All students are expected to participate in strike.
• Reflection & Closure
  April 24
  A reflection & closure session hosted by the mentors
  All participating students are expected to attend

A workshop production is focused on the development of the script and is less concerned with the bells and whistles of a full production.

A workshop production is raw, and unpolished. Minimalist production values give way to a stronger focus on the acting and the story. As such, there is an exciting energy around workshop productions, they feel fresh and new. There is nothing about them that feels over-done, over rehearsed, or stale.

There is an understanding between the audience and the performers that experimentation is still happening. The script is evolving in real time and the actors are throwing themselves into the changes head first. As such, there is an electric energy to workshop productions — they have the
energy of a rock concert.

Workshop productions take big risks and make changes from performance to performance. The audience is encouraged to be lively — to respond enthusiastically to the work — there is nothing safe or reserved about a workshop production. This is where theater artists take big swings and revel in the process rather than the product.

Audiences will be informed that what they are seeing is a work-in-progress. The work will be presented in whatever form it’s in by April 21. For example, some performances might be memorized, where others are script in hand. But by no mea s is this just a reading. A workshop production is meant to be bold, experimental, and full of ambition.

Those of us who love the theater know this is where the truly exciting work happens.

Submit the following as a PDF in your application:

[Date]
[Name and title of the person you are applying to]

Dear [person's name]

With your permission, I would like to submit my application to direct for your 2022 New Play Laboratory.

[Your thoughts on the role of the position for which you are applying within NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT]

[A brief bio of your prior experience]

[Related coursework]

[Confirmation and acknowledgment of your availability and willingness to engage in development]

Respectfully submitted,
[Your contact information]

Take I-91 North or South to Exit 10.
Take Route 40 to the end and turn right onto Whitney Avenue.
Proceed 1.3 miles, turn left onto Sherman Ave.
Proceed .5 miles, Quinnipiac Theater Arts Center is on the right.

Take I-95 to I-91 North.
Get off at Exit 10.
Take Route 40 to the end and turn right onto Whitney Avenue.
Proceed 1.3 miles, turn left onto Sherman Ave.
Proceed .5 miles, Quinnipiac Theater Arts Center is on the right.