Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival Reveals Finalists & Judges; James Ijames Honorary Playwright

Presented by Concord Theatricals, The Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival (OOB), the nation's premier short play competition, has announced that James Ijames (Fat Ham) is this year's honorary Festival playwright.

The distinguished lineup of judges will include playwrights Christina Anderson, Hilary Bettis, Eleanor Burgess, Steph Del Rosso, Skylar Fox and Gracie Gardner, along with Artistic Producing Associate of Vineyard Theatre Jason Aguirre, Artistic Director of Ars Nova Jason Eagan, Artistic Director of City Theatre Miami Margaret Ledford, Producing Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company Jill Rafson, Artistic Director of Keen Company Jonathan Silverstein and Co-Executive Director of the Dramatists Guild Emmanuel Wilson.

This year's top 30 playwrights were chosen from 850 submissions. They will present their plays during a week-long festival August 8-12 at The Vineyard's Dimson Theatre in New York (108 East 15th Street). These plays will be narrowed down to 10-12 finalists, from which six will be selected by Concord Theatricals to be licensed for future productions and published under the Samuel French imprint in the 48th edition of the Off Off Broadway Festival Plays series, an anthology of short plays.

The Festival offers 10 sessions, each presenting 3-6 short plays. Presale tickets are available for $20/session online, while tickets at the venue are $25/session. The Festival also offers a $90 Festival Pass (a 55% discount), which gives access to all 10 sessions, plus the Saturday night closing party.For tickets and a complete performance calendar, click here.

 

 

The 48th Annual Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival Finalists 

• Natalie Wood Was Not Puerto Rican by Matt Barbot
• Landis and the Bear by Cate Berg
• Space Laser, In Space! by Jillian Blevins
• 18 by Darius M. Buckley
• He's The First by Phillip Gregory Burke
• Camouflage by Peter Chansky
• Jung by Matthew Chong
• Eight One Eight Two by Rishi Chowdhary
• A Sprinkle of Grace by Eric Craft
• The Velociraptor's Very Good Day by Shane Dittmar and Sarah “Sair” Kaufman
• Loretta's Crematorium Hour by P.S. Drake
• What We Talk About When We Talk About The Homeless by Adi Eshman
• Black Like Who? by Craig Ester
• The Heaviest Burden by Kailee Goldberg
• Horror Play by Justin Aaron Halle
• Trudy Tries to Say I Love You But Runs Out of Breath by Emma Joy Hill
• Where I'm From by Howard Ho
• Nub City, USA! by Nicholas Hulstine
• Just Right by Megan Lohne
• God Gives Ryan a Very Important Job by Dylan MarcAurele
• Kill The Beast by D.A. Mindell
• Dugout Daisies by Julissa Mishay Norment
• Bonefruit by Leah Plante-Wiener
• my barricade by Roni Ragone
• Mood Board by Nia Akilah Robinson
• The Tipping Point by Lia Romeo
• Halloween by Lauren Smerkanich
• Billionaire Mindset by Patrick Vermillion
• DRAWBRIDGE by Mallory Jane Weiss
• Freestyle Hand Entry by Elise Wien

  

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 and was nominated for the 2023 Tony Award for Best Play. 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. 

  

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