GSPW 2017: Plays and Playwrights Announced!

Thank you to everyone who submitted!  Our readers were given the top five plays to read without the playwrights identifying information attached and were asked to rank the plays 1 through 5, with one being their top choice and five being their last choice for the reading.  They were asked to consider following when creating their rankings:

1. The strength of the story itself and strength of the characters built.  Does the story make sense?  Are the characters well rounded? etc.
2.  How do you think the story would play out as a reading?  -The play will not be shared in the traditional sense of seeing the play entirely on its feet with sets, costumes, and complete staging.  Would the story still be entertaining without those elements?
3.  Do you believe the playwright would benefit from the workshop experience?  Remember that these plays are still a work in progress and we expect some work to be done as the workshop progresses.  That being said, is there too much work that needs to be done that the playwright cannot expect to have addressed the issues in a short rehearsal period?

From there, we assigned points to each ranking and added the points up.  The two plays with the most points will receive the workshop and performance January 5th-7th, 2018 at the Hatbox Theatre in Concord, NH.

Without further ado, the plays selected are (drum roll…)

Awful People Pray by Leila Teitelman

–Awful People Pray follows the lives of three camp counselors at a summer camp in Maine. Jade, a new counselor, befriends Lena and Keith, two seasoned and careless counselors who grew up in the town. Jade is a trans woman and, though a strict rule follower, is weary of the negative reactions this could garner from parents and campers alike.

The Trophy Wife by James C. Ferguson

-After the unexpected and untimely death of her husband, Amanda Thorpe and her daughter Talia try to determine what should be done with her husband’s store, a trophy shop called – appropriately – The Trophy Wife. When the duo are joined by a real life trophy wife, things get complicated as secrets are revealed, destinies are intertwined and questions abound while answers remain … elusive.

We are so excited to be producing these shows!  We also would like to take a moment to identify the two plays that were also in our top four as well as two honorable mentions.

Thank you again to all who submitted plays to us and we can’t wait to put together this workshop weekend!

Amanda and Jackie