musical theatre writers' resource center NEWSLETTER

UPCOMING CONTEST DEADLINES

• Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab (March 31)
  https://sohorep.org/writer-director-lab/
• Arts & Letters Prize in Drama (March 31)
  http://artsandletters.gcsu.edu/submit/annual-prize-contest/
• Creative Capital Grants (April 1)
  http://creative-capital.org/apply
• Babes With Blades – Joining Sword and Pen (April 1)
  https://babeswithblades.org/jsp-how-to-submit/
• Baltimore Playrights Festival (April 30)
  https://www.baltplayfest.org/submit-a-play/
• Barter Theatre’s Appalachain Festival of Plays and Playwrights (May 1)
  https://bartertheatre.com/appalachian-festival-of-plays-and-playwrights/
• Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting (May 1)
  http://oscars.org/nicholl
• Cherry Lane Theatre Mentor Project (May 1)
  https://www.cherrylanetheatre.org/new-play-development-1
• Cintas Fellowship (May 1)
  http://www.cintasfoundation.org/index.php/fellowships/music-composition-fellowship
• Mountain Stage New Song Contest (May 16)
  https://www.newsong-music.com/contest/

*** Visit the RESOURCE CENTER to see the full listings ***

SAMPLE PUBLIC DOMAIN IDEAS

EXCERPT:

A Mind Reader made a wager that he would be buried alive and remain so for six months, then be dug up alive. In order to secure the grave against secret disturbance, it was sown with thistles.

COMMENTS:

Sardonic. Cynical. Fun.

EXCERPT:

Once on a time there was a king who had several sons–I don’t know how many there were–but the youngest had no rest at home, for nothing else would please him but to go out into the world and try his luck, and after a long time the king was forced to give him leave to go. Now, after he had travelled some days, he came one night to a Giant’s house, and there he got a place in the Giant’s service. In the morning the Giant went off to herd his goats, and as he left the yard, he told the Prince to clean out the stable; ‘and after you have done that, you needn’t do anything else to-day; for you must know it is an easy master you have come to. But what is set you to do you must do well, and you mustn’t think of going into any of the rooms which are beyond that in which you slept, for if you do, I’ll take your life.’

EXCERPT:

When the young king of Easaidh Ruadh came into his kingdom, the first thing he thought of was how he could amuse himself best. The sports that all his life had pleased him best suddenly seemed to have grown dull, and he wanted to do something he had never done before. At last his face brightened.

‘I know!’ he said. ‘I will go and play a game with the Gruagach.’ Now the Gruagach was a kind of wicked fairy, with long curly brown hair, and his house was not very far from the king’s house.

But though the king was young and eager, he was also prudent, and his father had told him on his deathbed to be very careful in his dealings with the ‘good people,’ as the fairies were called. Therefore before going to the Gruagach the king sought out a wise man of the countryside.

EXCERPT:

One of Shaw’s masterpieces. The story of the daughter of an ammunition merchant who tries to save men’s souls through the Salvation Army, but sees how many more souls her father affects through the politics and economics of war.

An excerpt:UNDERSHAFT. Never mind, my dear. He thinks I have made you unhappy. Have I?

BARBARA. Do you think I can be happy in this vulgar silly dress? I! who have worn the uniform. Do you understand what you have done to me? Yesterday I had a man’s soul in my hand. I set him in the way of life with his face to salvation. But when we took your money he turned back to drunkenness and derision. [With intense conviction] I will never forgive you that. If I had a child, and you destroyed its body with your explosives–if you murdered Dolly with your horrible guns–I could forgive you if my forgiveness would open the gates of heaven to you. But to take a human soul from me, and turn it into the soul of a wolf! that is worse than any murder.

UNDERSHAFT. Does my daughter despair so easily? Can you strike a man to the heart and leave no mark on him?

BARBARA [her face lighting up] Oh, you are right: he can never be lost now: where was my faith?

CUSINS. Oh, clever clever devil!

BARBARA. You may be a devil; but God speaks through you sometimes. [She takes her father’s hands and kisses them]. You have given me back my happiness: I feel it deep down now, though my spirit is troubled.

UNDERSHAFT. You have learnt something. That always feels at first as if you had lost something.

BARBARA. Well, take me to the factory of death, and let me learn something more. There must be some truth or other behind all this frightful irony. Come, Dolly. [She goes out].

CUSINS. My guardian angel!

COMMENTS:

Great material. Before you plunge in and start adapting, you should research whether there a musical out there based on this play already. Rather, is there a GOOD one…?

EXCERPT:

A Hare having ridiculed the slow movements of a Tortoise, was challenged by the latter to run a race, a Fox to go to the goal and be the judge. They got off well together, the hare at the top of her speed, the Tortoise, who had no other intention than making his antagonist exert herself, going very leisurely.

COMMENTS:

Sardonic. Cynical. Fun.

*** Visit the PUBLIC DOMAIN IDEAS to see the complete stories ***