Tangent Theatre 2014 NEWvember New Plays Festival Seeks Submissions; Deadline 6/30

Tangent Theatre Company, in association with AboutFACE Ireland, announces their 4th NEWvember New Plays Festival - a showcase of original plays by promising playwrights to be held at the Carpenter Shop Theater, their 50-seat performance space in center of Tivoli village. The NEWvember Festival will showcase these works over a four-day weekend, presented via rehearsed readings and featuring established actors and directors bringing these works to life.

Following their highly successful five-week run of Hamish Linklater's The Vandal (March 6 - April 6, 2014), Tangent now looks to their new works festival planning. The spirit of NEWvember is to provide a dynamic, interactive and comfortable place where writers can hear their plays read by seasoned actors and discuss their work and creative process. With the intimacy of the Carpenter Shop Theater, audiences will get a first look at fresh, original plays presented by local and regional talent - and beyond. The call for submissions is open to writers from any area, with most submissions anticipated from the Hudson Valley and New York City. Last year's call garnered over 300 plays, from all over the world - which were then whittled down to the selected eight (a combination of six full lengths and two one-acts).

Tangent and AboutFACE Ireland will be presenting the festival November 6- 9, 2014; submissions are now being accepted from May 1st through June 30th (submission guidelines at newvemberfestival.com). The final outstanding plays will be selected based on originality, range, production potential, storytelling quality and emotional resonance, and will be announced early-October.

For the second year in a row, the NEWvember festival was awarded a project grant from Arts Mid Hudson (formerly the Dutchess County Arts Council) to further spotlight this artists-driven event. The festivals have boosted visitors and business to Tivoli's historic village and has seen writers whose works have gone on to further development and acclaim. Of note, John Cariani's Love/Sick, which closed out the festival in 2012, and has been widely produced since.

NEWvember co-producer Paul Nugent recalls the wide variety of stories selected: "Last year's festival gave us runaways, musical ghosts, assassination, duels and a girl in a gym bag, in locations ranging from the Old West and rural Wales, to a military academy to a cargo plane. I can't wait to see what stories we will get to share this year."

Tangent believes in bringing compelling works to the stage and, while many of Tangent's productions center on established plays, it is the promise of new works and the discovering of new voices that gets Tangent energized. According to Tangent's Artistic Director, Michael Rhodes, "Last year we had record turnout for NEWvember, which shows that we're not the only ones hungry for new works. Audience support like this allows us the artistic freedom to produce lesser known plays overall, like The Vandal and The Good Father."

Founded in New York City in 2000 by Dutchess County natives Andrea and Michael Rhodes and Keith Teller, the company re-located to Tivoli in 2009. In addition to The Vandal, Tangent is known for their production of the award winning Sight Unseen by Donald Margulies, the American premiere of The Good Father, along with such plays as Doubt by John Patrick Shanley and The Zoo Story by Edward Albee - along with their popular pub readings. New York City-based Tangent ensemble members and AboutFACE co-founders Anna and Paul Nugent are also co-creators and co-producers of the festival.

The NEWvember New Plays Festival @ The Carpenter Shop Theater (60 Broadway, Tivoli), November 6-9, 2014; schedule forthcoming; tickets $15, on sale mid Oct. For more info, visit newvemberfestival.com or tangent-arts.org.

Pictured: Paul Nugent, Michael Rhodes, Amie Tedesco, Brendan Burke and Ben Fundis. Photo by A. Rhodes/Tangent.