Samuel French Announces Final 30 Works for 2014 Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, Running 8/4-10

The Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, the nation's premiere short play competition, is excited to announce the Final 30 playwrights whose plays will be presented during the 2014 Festival Week, occurring August 4th-10th at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre.

The 2014 Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival Final 30 are:

- Attila by Ben Samuels

- The Basket Weaver by Blaire Baron Larsen

- Bench by Ann Gillespie

- Buddy Holly at the Armory by Zac Kline

- Debridement by Megan Dieterle

- Endnote by Meridith Friedman

- et·y·mol·o·gy by Jennifer Jasper

- Everybody Hurts (Sometimes) by Emily Dendinger

- Forest for the Trees by Susan Merson

- Furball by Susan Soon He Stanton

- The Idyllic Life: A Bavarian Fairy Tale by Jay Koepke

- It Looked Like Rain by Donna Noval

- John, who's here from Cambridge by Martyna Majok

- Lavinia by Jon Lachlan Stewart

- Life of the Party by Matthew Widman

- The Logic by Will Arbery

- MANDATE by Kelly Younger

- The Matthew Portraits by Colette Mazunik

- No Stranger There by Luke Wise

- Oh, How He Loved Baklava by Trish Harnetiaux

- Outside Sitka by John Billig

- Park Slope Minstrel Show by Eleanor Burgess

- Prom Queen by David Simpatico

- Red and Purple by Conor Eifler

- Ruby's Play by Ariel Rosen-Brown

- Shrew Man vs. Shrewman by C.J. Ehrlich

- Taisetsu Na Hito by Leah Nanako Winkler

- Unkempt by Rebecca Schlossberg

- A Wake for David's Fucked-Up Face by Skylar Fox

- Xander Xyst, Dragon: Part 1 by Jeremy O. Harris

Originating in 1975, the Festival is New York's most established short play festival and has attracted the attention of applicants from not only the U.S., but international dramatists as well (Canada, Singapore, the United Kingdom, etc.). The OOB Festival is unique in that it requires applicants to collaborate with a producing organizing or to self-produce their work. Additionally, the winning plays are published in Samuel French's acclaimed OFF OFF BROADWAY FESTIVAL PLAYS series and licensed to theatre producers around the world.

This year's Final 30 were chosen from nearly 1,400 submissions. "Selecting 30 plays from 1,400 was probably the most tasking challenge we've faced in the Festival's 39 years," says Amy Rose Marsh, the Festival's Artistic Coordinator. "However, it's incredibly moving to see such enthusiasm for playwriting and the short play form, and we are very eager to see our selected 30 onstage. There's a huge variety from play to play and an exceptionally adventurous sensibility among our playwrights. It's going to be an amazing year."

The Festival Week (August 4-10) consists of eight performance sessions in which three or four scripts are presented in front of a judging panel comprised of the theatre industry's most-celebrated professionals, including artistic directors and major playwrights. At the end of each session, the judges deliberate and one or two plays are selected to move on to the Festival Finals.

Finals take place on the Saturday of the Festival Week. During the Finals, the Festival staff watches the final plays and selects six authors to be a published in the OFF OFF BROADWAY FESTIVAL PLAYS series. The Sunday of Festival Week acts as a showcase of all winners, and Samuel French invites many industry professional to attend.

The 39th Annual Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival will run from August 4-10 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Playwrights Horizons (416 West 42nd Street). For more information about the 2014 OOB Festival, including tickets, schedule, and playwright profiles and interviews, visit oob.samuelfrench.com.