Joshua Harmon Announced as Honorary Festival Playwright of Samuel French's Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival

Samuel French's Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival has announced that Joshua Harmon (Prayer for the French Republic) is this year's honorary festival playwright.

The distinguished lineup of judges will include playwrights Dennis A. Allen II, Eboni Booth, Karen Hartman and Bryna Turner, along with Executive Director of National New Play Network Nan Barnett, dramaturg Ken Cerniglia, Artistic Director of New Dramatists Emily Morse, Artistic Director of City Theatre Miami Margaret M. Ledford, Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company Jill Rafson, Associate Artistic Director at Playwrights' Realm Alexis Williams, and Associate Artistic Director at Playwrights Horizons Natasha Sinha.

This year's top 30 playwrights were chosen from over 650 submissions around the world. They will present their plays during a week-long festival August 16-20 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater in New York City (416 W 42nd St, 4th Floor). These will be narrowed down to 10-12 finalists, from which six will be selected to be licensed for future productions and published in an anthology of short plays that will become the 47th edition of the Off Off Broadway Festival Plays series.

Presale tickets are available through Sunday, August 14 at $20. Tickets will be available Monday, August 15 through Saturday, August 20 online and at the door for $25. The Festival will also be offering a $90 Festival Pass. This pass gains the holder access to the first four nights of the Festival, allowing them to see all 30 productions at a 55% discount. For tickets and a complete performance calendar, click here.

THE 47TH SAMUEL FRENCH OFF OFF BROADWAY SHORT PLAY FESTIVAL FINALISTS

Thank You, Porcupine by Aurora Behlke
The Very Furious Kugel by Clare Fuyuko Bierman
Duckass by Dan Caffrey
SYZYGY by Rachael Carnes
American Made by Christin Eve Cato
Big Red Button by Jay Eddy
Too Much Lesbian Drama: One Star by Jessie Field
How My Grandparents Fell in Love by Cary Gitter
Chemistry by Ben Holbrook
Georgia Rose by Onyekachi Iwu
Domestic Help by Julianne Jigour
Blocked by Jay Koepke
We Jump Broom by Mildred Inez Lewis
f by Ignacio Lopez
Validation by Daphne Macy
Toxic Norse-culinity by Matthew McLachlan
Leaf Hunters by Megan Chan Meinero
Bugs by Alex Moon
The Pros and Cons of Implosion by R. D. Murphy
Shark Week by Erika Phoebus
if all that You take from this is courage, then I've no regrets by Nicholas Pilapil
Railroad Homes by Jackson Pounds
We're All Girls Here by Roni Ragone
Big Happy Days by Anya Richkind
Wookiees in the Wilderness by Marcus Scott
Beautiful People in a Living Room Doing Nothing by Alec Seymour
You Will Neva Enter Our High Holy Land of Blackness-HIYA! by Cece Suazo
Scary faces happy faces by Danny Tejera
The Vagina Read by Amy Tofte
The Black & White Minstrel Show by Wind Dell Woods

Originating in 1975, the OOB Festival is one of Samuel French/Concord Theatricals' primary initiatives to introduce the next wave of emerging playwrights. These include Audrey Cefaly, whose full-length version of her 40th OOB Festival-winning play The Gulf won 2018's Lambda Literary Award in the category of LGBTQ Drama, and Martyna Majok, whose play The Cost of Living (originally produced as part of 39th OOB Festival as John, Who's Here from Cambridge) won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Other notable past participants include Bekah Brunstetter, Gloria Calderón Kellett, Sheila Callaghan, khat knotahaiku, Gracie Gardner, Jeremy O. Harris, Shirley Lauro, Theresa Rebeck, Jen Silverman and Steve Yockey.

To stay up to date with all Festival information, follow @OOBFestival on Twitter, facebook.com/oobfestival, and #OOBFestival on all social platforms.

BIOGRAPHIES

SAMUEL FRENCH is proud to have served as a leader in theatrical publishing and licensing for over 180 years. Its catalog features some of the most acclaimed work ever written for the stage and titles by writers at the forefront of contemporary drama. In December 2018, Samuel French became part of Concord Theatricals. With a growing staff of unparalleled experts, Concord Theatricals continues to support and expand Samuel French's ethos of championing playwrights, innovating in the industry, and celebrating all those who create theatre around the world.

Concord Theatricals is the world's most significant theatrical company, comprising the catalogs of R&H Theatricals, Samuel French, Tams-Witmark and The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, plus dozens of new signings each year. Our unparalleled roster includes the work of Irving Berlin, Agatha Christie, George & Ira Gershwin, Marvin Hamlisch, Lorraine Hansberry, Kander & Ebb, Ken Ludwig, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Dominique Morisseau, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Thornton Wilder and August Wilson. We are the only firm providing truly comprehensive services to the creators and producers of plays and musicals, including theatrical licensing, music publishing, script publishing, cast recording and first-class production. concordtheatricals.com

Joshua Harmon's plays include Bad Jews, Significant Other, Admissions, Skintight, and Prayer for the French Republic. His plays have been produced on Broadway and the West End; Off-Broadway at Roundabout Theatre Company, Lincoln Center Theater and Manhattan Theater Club; across the country at Geffen Playhouse, Speakeasy, Studio Theatre, Theater Wit, About Face, Actor's Express, and The Magic, among others; and internationally in a dozen countries. He is a two-time MacDowell fellow and an Associate Artist at Roundabout. Graduate of Juilliard.

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