Samuel French Seeks Submissions for 2015 OOB Festival; Deadline Valentine's Day

The Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival (OOB) is now accepting submissions for its 40th annual season, taking place this summer in New York City. The OOB Festival is New York's oldest, continuous short play festival, featuring emerging playwrights from across the United States, Canada, and abroad. 30 plays will be selected for the weeklong festival, and six plays will be published in the 40th edition of the Off Off Broadway Festival Plays anthology series.

Begun in 1975, the OOB Festival is one of Samuel French's primary initiatives to work with the next wave of emerging playwrights. Past festivals have introduced the work of playwrights such as Theresa Rebeck, Shelia Callaghan, David Johnston, and Daniel Pearle. OOB Festival participants have gone on to win notable playwriting awards and honors. Many have had major productions of their work produced at The Public Theater, The Royal Court, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and The Flea, among others.

Playwrights may submit up to three unpublished plays running 10 to 30 minutes in length. Submissions are reviewed by the festival literary staff, and 30 semi-finalists scripts will be selected for production in the weeklong festival. Semi-finalists will be notified and publicly announced in May.

The Festival week consists of four nights of performances in which seven or eight short plays are performed in front of a general audience and panel of judges representing all aspects of the theatre industry. Three to four plays from each evening are selected to move on to the final round on Saturday. Six of the finalists will be chosen for inclusion in the Off Off Broadway Festival Plays anthology series and offered licensing agreement for future production by Samuel French. A showcase of the six winning plays will be presented on the last day of the festival for invited industry professionals.

To mark the OOB Festival's 40th anniversary, new events, special publications and celebrations will happen throughout 2015.

The 40th Annual Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival runs August 4-9, 2015 at the East 13th Street Theater (home of Classic Stage Company, 136 East 13th Street). The script submission deadline is 11:59 PM on Saturday, February 14th. Plays must be submitted via the application form at oob.samuelfrench.com.

ABOUT SAMUEL FRENCH - Established in 1830, Samuel French is the dramatic literature resource for the English-speaking theatrical community and champion of emerging playwrights. The company's catalogue includes some of the most acclaimed plays and musicals ever written for the stage, as well as work by writers at the forefront of contemporary drama. Samuel French is proud to celebrate all those who make theatre happen.