At this point in my life, NEW VOICES has been a deciding factor to what I plan on doing the rest of my life.– Max Kessler, high school playwright, NEW VOICES 2005

New Voices for the Theatre is made possible, in part, through the generosity of The Michael S. Engl Family Foundation and Ali Long and Keith Davis of the Springcreek Foundation.

Click here to open and download the New Voices Application as a pdf

new voices application

I would like to see a large, living, functioning community of young artists that will eventually become self-sufficient and become a progressive art movement in our own generation.

- Sheldon Hart, NEW VOICES Playwright 2006

WHAT IS new voices for the theatre?

· It is a chance to have your written voice heard, on stage at the Liberty Theatre, acted out by actors.

· It is for middle school and high school students, grades 7 through 12 who are invited to submit their original writing to Company of Fools for selection consideration.

· Those selected will work with Company of Fools' artists on creating original pieces to be shared at the Liberty. The program runs from June 4 through June 23rd, monday - friday, and if you are selected it is FREE to you.

· Those participating will have the opportunity to work with professional playwrights and theatre artists.

GUIDELINES:

· Please submit an application form (ask for one from your English teacher or contact Company of Fools at 788.6520), a two-page scene between two to four people AND a piece of writing of your choice (it can be a short story, poetry, monologue, etc).

· DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS May 1, 2007.

· Submissions must be mailed to Company of Fools, Post Office Box 329, Hailey, ID 83333, emailed to denise@companyoffools.org or dropped off at our
offices located at the Liberty Theatre at 110 North Main Street in Hailey.

· All material submitted will be read by COF core artists and a national panel of theatre practitioners.

· Written assessments will be sent to every participant.

· Winners will be announced May 18, 2007.

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE CALL DENISE AT COMPANY OF FOOLS 788.6520 or email denise@companyoffools.org


Company of Fools brings a mission founded upon the core element of pursuing education on all levels and the continual exploration of the creative process. It is from this position that Company of Fools is undertaking year three of its dynamic project entitled NEW VOICES FOR THE THEATRE, June 4 through June 23rd. NEW VOICES is a project that nurtures middle and high school writers in the art of playwrighting and culminates in the presentation of their work at the Liberty Theatre June 22nd & 23rd at 7PM. Writers range from 7th through 12th grade.

The writers meet for two weeks and participate in an intensive workshop environment with Company of Fools’ Core Company Artists as well as selected mentors. These writers will also have the opportunity to work with practicing and produced playwright and storyteller, Clay McLeod Chapman, for the first week of this writing intensive. Clay has seen his short fiction transposed to the stage for over the last ten years- produced in such various venues as Romania, Scotland, Ireland and here in the United States. Originator of the rigorous story-performance group, Pumpkin Pie Show, Chapman has taken his writing to the 1997 Sibiu International Festival of Theatre, the New York International Fringe Festival (1997 and 1999), the 1998 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and Coney Island Fun Park. His first book of stories, rest area, was published by Hyperion in February 2002; and his first novel, miss corpus, was published in 2003. Educated at North Carolina School of the Arts for Drama, the Burren College of Art, and Sarah Lawrence College, he now divides his time between Richmond, Virginia, and Brooklyn, New York. If Chapman keeps up with the oddball characters, well-crafted stories, and critical plaudits, that Faulkner guy better watch out. - Alexis Soloski, The Village Voice

After the two-week period of writing, improv classes and a hands-on theatrical experience the writers will be teamed up with directors and actors to bring their work to life through staged readings on the Liberty Stage.

www.companyoffools.org