Short and Sweet Sydney
Photo Source: Short & Sweet International
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| Country and Region | Australia — New South Wales |
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| Type of Festival | Drama |
| Location of Festival | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Festival Address Information | Mailing address: |
| Festival Description | It’s the biggest little play festival in the world, and it’s back next month… with brilliant, all-new work! If you’re interested in politics, Stanislavsky, balloons, meerkats, Iraq, Harold Bloom, Juanita Nielson or sex, you’ll be at the Seymour Centre and Newtown Theatres this summer, as the 2008 Short+Sweet play festival explodes into creative life with these—and scores more—thrilling themes. After months of agonising assessment by industry professionals, over 1500 entries from all over the world have been honed down to a final program of the “Top 90” plus a series of 40 more one-off “Wild Card” performances. Australian playwrights include Mary Rachel Brown, Vanessa Bates, Robert Reid, Glyn Roberts, Tom Holloway, Jonathan Gavin (author of the upcoming Tiger Country at the Griffin), Ben Ellis, Noelle Janacewska, Ross Mueller (author of Belvoir’s Construction of the Human Heart), Suzie Miller, Nick Parsons, Linda Aronson, Drew Fairley (Bangers and Mash), Ron Elisha, Emma Vuletic and Benito Di Fonzo. International playwrights of note include the USA’s Corey Hinkle, Anna Ziegler, Lisa Dillman and Carson Kreitzer. The British heavies are Glyn Cannon, Adam Brace and Ben Ockrent. Directors include James Beach, Brendan McDonnell, Natalie Lopes, Aaron Beach, Louise Fischer, James Balian, Victor Kline, Jenelle Pearce, John Sheedy, Augusta Supple, Ruth Bell, Alex Byron, Henry Jennings, Beejan Olfat, Luke Finch, Anthony Hunt and Lucinda Gleeson. Shopfront Youth Theatre is one of many independent companies presenting – their project is entitled “Bishop and the Actresses”. Short+Sweet also boasts a new partnership with the Australian Film Commission; selected AFC directors are Dean Francis, Naomi Ross-Deutscher, Richard James Allen, Michelle Bleiher & Andrew Graham. There’s a charged selection of political plays this year—many plays about the War on Terror and the occupation of Iraq. There are also spoofs of Australian bush ballads, noir send-ups, risque comedies and a zoological smorgasbord of meerkats, bears, squid, dolphins, dragons, swinging ape-men and even a giant chicken. There are plays about Bob Dylan, Rene Descartes, Eva Braun and Rachel Corrie. There are funny plays, sad plays, plays about sex including a most unusual use for balloons. There are plays about the nature of plays themselves, even plays without characters! |
| Festival Dates | January 9 – February 19, 2009 |
| Festival Links |
Festival Story:
Short and Sweet has launched the careers of scores of writers, actors and directors and regularly attracts more than 1500 entries worldwide. Its various forms including Short Sweet and Song, Short, Sweet and Dance, Shorter and Sweeter, and Fast and Fresh (high school version) have been a showcase for thousands of local artists in Sydney, Melbourne, regional centres and international satellite festivals too. Organisers of the popular 10 minute play festival are calling for writers to submit plays, directors to direct the 140 plays selected… and actors to star in them! For more information about all the Short and Sweet events visit http://www.shortandsweet.org/
Practical Info:
Venues:
- Sydney’s Seymour Centre
http://www.seymour.usyd.edu.au/ - Newtown Theatre
http://www.newtowntheatre.com.au/
Participant’s information 2008/2009:
- Script Entries are now open for Short+Sweet Melbourne 2008, Short+Sweet Sydney 2009 and Short+Sweet Brisbane 2009 are now open! The largest ten-minute play festival in the world — Short+Sweet — is good news for playwrights if they enter before the deadline of August 4, 2008. Enter three festivals for the price of one. By entering before the deadline plays will automatically be considered for Short+Sweet Melbourne 2008, Short+Sweet Sydney 2009 and Short+Sweet Brisbane 2009! All for the one entry fee of just AUS$15.
- To enter a play writers simply go to
http://assets.theartscentre.net.au/shortandsweet/index.htm
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