City Lit Seeks Submissions To 'Art Of Adaptation' Festival

City Lit Theater will present THE ART OF ADAPTATION on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 22, 23 and 24 and is currently soliciting for pieces for the festival. The cash prize pool has been tripled to $1,500.00 for this year's festival.

City Lit staff will select six adaptations, each of which will be awarded $200.00. The selected adaptations will be given two performances over the course of the weekend with performances on Friday and Saturday night and a marathon of all pieces on Sunday. A panel of judges will view the Sunday performances and award an additional $300 cash prize to the adapter of the piece judged the best of the festival.

THE ART OF ADAPTATION takes place at City Lit Theater, in the historic Edgewater Presbyterian Church building at 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue. The performance schedule is Friday, June 22 and Saturday, June 23 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, June 24 at 3:00 pm.

How to submit

To submit a proposal for entry into the festival, send a .pdf copy of your adaptation script to Katy Nielsen at AofA@citylit.org.

Proposals must be submitted no later than May 8. Selections will be announced by May 10th.

THE RULES:

1. The piece must be 20 minutes or less. If it exceeds the 20-minute limit, it will not be eligible for the prize.

2. The piece must be an adaptation of non-dramatic material-a short story, an essay, a memoir, poetry, an excerpt from a novel, a video game, and so forth; but not material from a play.

3. The piece must be a world premiere adaptation.

4. The adapter is responsible for any royalties that are due for the piece, as well as for any rehearsal or production expenses. City Lit does not provide rehearsal space prior to tech rehearsal, and does not provide the services of a director or any actors.

5. The piece submitted must be the piece performed - no drastic changes can be made to the script after it is accepted.

6. Each piece selected will be performed on the same simple festival set with the same simple light plot. A stock of furniture will be provided. The adaptor is responsible for all scenic elements, furniture, costumes, etc.

7. City Lit has a stock of furniture, costumes and props that is available to adaptors. Adaptors must provide a $20 deposit for any stock used. The deposit will be returned in full when all items are properly returned.

8. City Lit will provide the performance space, festival stage lighting, backstage and front-of-house crew, publicity, programs, tickets and the cash prizes.

ABOUT CITY LIT

For 38 years, City Lit Theater has been "dedicated to the vitality and accessibility of the literary imagination. City Lit produces theatrical adaptations of literary material, scripted plays by language-oriented playwrights, and original material."

City Lit is located in the historic Edgewater Presbyterian Church building at 1020 West Bryn Mawr Avenue. We are two blocks east of both the Bryn Mawr Red Line stop and the #36 Broadway and the #84 Peterson buses. We are one block west of the #147 Sheridan and #151 Sheridan buses. Divvy bike stations are located at Bryn Mawr & Lakefront Trail, and at Broadway & Ridge at Bryn Mawr. The metered street parking pay boxes on Bryn Mawr have a three-hour maximum duration and are free on Sundays. $10 valet service is available at Francesca's Bryn Mawr at 1039 W Bryn Mawr diagonally across the street from us on the SW corner of Kenmore and Bryn Mawr and is available whether you are dining at the restaurant or not. There are additional details about parking and dining options at www.citylit.

City Lit is supported by the Alphawood Foundation, the MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Ivanhoe Theater Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council Agency and is sponsored, in part, by A.R.T. League.

Photo by Katy Nielsen.

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