MCCC PlayFest 2017 Deadline Extended Into January

As part of its yearlong 50th anniversary celebration, Mercer County Community College (MCCC) is hosting "PlayFest 2017" in March. While PlayFest organizers have received a number of scripts, they have decided to extend the deadline to Friday, Jan. 6, 2017 to give more playwrights an opportunity to get their work reviewed at their home county colleges and submitted to Mercer.

A first, of its kind, the competition is open to all student playwrights and actors from the state's 19 community colleges. Community college alumni are also invited to participate.

Submission categories include full-length and one-act plays, as well as musicals and plays with musical accompaniment. The winning productions will be presented on stage at MCCC's Kelsey Theatre the week of March 7 to 12, 2017.

According to PlayFest Coordinator LouJ Stalsworth, Mercer has spent time reaching out to the other colleges and many have expressed excitement about the project. Playwrights should contact the appropriate department - either English or Theater - at their college to determine the contact person for PlayFest. Each school may select one full-length play and up to two one-acts for submission. Scripts will be judged by a panel of theater professionals, with the winning scripts to be announced in January.

The productions themselves will be presented bare bones, using a fringe festival model. "Our focus will be on the written word, not production values. Load-in and load-out times will be limited, allowing for a maximum number of plays to be seen on stage," he said.

For further details, visit www.mccc.edu/playfest2017. Questions may be addressed to playfest2017@mccc.edu.