Photo Flash: Riant Theatre's 2017 Strawberry One-Act Festival Hosts Cocktail Reception

The AUDELCO Award-winning Riant Theatre held a cocktail reception to celebrate NYC's upcoming Strawberry One-Act Festival. Proceeds from the event went to benefit The Riant Theatre's Youth Empowerment Scholarship Awards, which provides valuable hands-on internships for teenagers and college students in the arts. Scroll down for photos!

The 30th Season of The Strawberry One-Act Festival will be presented at the Theatre at St. Clement's (423 West 46th Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues, NYC) Thursday, July 13th through Sunday, July 30th, 2017. This summer's festival marks the 30th Season of The Riant Theatre's renowned short play competition, and also will feature the premieres of three full-length one-act plays.

The Strawberry One-Act Festival features a playoff-style competition of plays received through submissions from across the country. Audience members vote for their favorite play among those presented each evening. The writers of chosen plays get to work with an industry coach to help prepare them for the Finals, which are judged by a jury of industry experts. In addition to the opportunity for finalists to be selected for publication in print in the festival's anthology The Best Plays From The Strawberry One-Act Festival, awards are presented for Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Costumes in addition to Best Play, which comes with a $4,000 prize and a development deal for a full-length play produced by the Riant Theatre.

Since 1995, The Riant Theatre has been producing and presenting The Strawberry One-Act Festival, which reflects the diversity written into the mission of its presenter. Over 1,500 one-act plays have been produced to date.

Tickets for all performances during The Strawberry One-Act Festival are priced as follows: General admission - $25 advance/$27 at the box office, Premium seating - $30 advance/$35 at the box office. Tickets are on sale now through www.therianttheatre.com or by calling 646-623-3488. Festival Pass discount packages are also available upon request.

All one-act works in the competition will be presented live as well as streamed on-demand through The Strawberry One-Act Festival's Vimeo Channel vimeo.com/ondemand/strawberryoneactfestival. For $25 per performance (the cost of an advance general admission ticket), those unable to attend in-person can view the plays and participate in voting.

Photo Credit: Jolynn Carpenter