Opening Submissions for Olympians 2016!
SAN FRANCISCO OLYMPIANS FESTIVAL VII: HARVEST OF MYSTERIES
Want to write for the Olympians Festival?
Well, now is your chance!
We are now accepting submissions for the 2016 San Francisco Olympians Festival, a multi-discipline, nationally and internationally recognized new works theater festival based at the EXIT Theatre in San Francisco!
Proposals due by midnight on September 30th, with the line-up for next year’s festival to be announced 11/1/2015. Our first meeting will be on December 13 of 2015.
The festival will take place in October of 2016, from October 5-October 22, Wedesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8 PM, at the EXIT Theatre in San Francisco.
Each night of the festival will consist of the staged reading of either a full-length play or a series of shorts, inspired by the mythical gods and heroes of Ancient Greece. The subjects, and the lengths of the plays we’re looking for, are specified below.
There are no submission fees. The Olympians Festival is non-exclusive and does not retain ownership of any play created for it, beyond the initial staged reading. Participating writers should be local (San Francisco and the greater Bay Area), and will be expected to help promote the festival and contribute a raffle prize of their choice to be raffled off to the audience on the night their play is read. Writers are also expected to attend 4-6 meetings over the course of the year, and our auditions, which happen in August/September.
Writers are encouraged to submit as many proposals as they want for as many topics as they like. Applications for a topic can be submitted by individuals or writers can work in pairs, or teams of three or more. Writers may be picked for more than one project, and should note that they’d like to be considered for more than one (or not). Each proposal should be 500 words or less and answer three questions:
1) Why you?
2) Why this figure?
3) What is your idea?
All proposals should be submitted electronically to Stuart at [email protected].
We are an equal opportunity festival and all Bay Area writers are encouraged to apply.
2016′s subjects are as follows. Only one is currently claimed and submissions are encouraged for all of the rest:
SF OLYMPIANS VII: HARVEST OF MYSTERIES (10/5-10/22)
Week One: THE GRAVE (10/5-10/8)
Wednesday, October 5: The Door
FULL LENGTH: Demeter (CLAIMED), goddess of the harvest and agriculture, mother of Persephone, and the central figure of the Eleusinian Mysteries, she taught humankind how to farm and harvest, and was mistress of the four seasons.
Thursday, October 6: The Hall
ONE-ACT: Dionysus, god of wine, theater, madness and resurrection.
ONE-ACT: Hermes Chthonius, guide of the newly dead to the kingdom of Hades and god of mathematics and spellcasting.
Friday, October 7: The Chamber
ONE-ACT: Hades, King of the dead, god of wealth and secrets, devoted husband of Persephone who he seduced or abducted, depending on your reading, and made his queen.
ONE-ACT: Hecate, the New Moon, goddess of birth and death, ritual magic, women, crossroads, ghosts, handmaiden to Persephone.
Saturday, October 8: The Window
FULL LENGTH: Persephone, Queen of the dead, goddess of change and transformation, cycles, sorrow and joy, the other central figure of the Eleusinian Mysteries, said to be able to trap beauty in a box that if opened would cast the opener into eternal sleep.
Week Two: KINGDOM OF SHADOWS (10/12-10/15)
Wednesday, October 12: The Guardians
ONE-ACT: Acheron, the river of pain.
ONE-ACT: Lethe, the river of forgetfulness.
ONE-ACT: Styx, the river of hate.
Thursday, October 13: The Judges
ONE-ACT: Aeacus, “The Keyholder”, judge of the people of Europe, lord of Asphodel, caster of the first vote on the fate of the newly departed
ONE-ACT: Rhadamanthys, “The Soul Reader” judge of the people of Asia, lord of Elysium, caster of the second vote on the fate of the newly departed
ONE-ACT: Minos, “The Stone Caster”, judge of the people of Africa, lord of Tartarus, caster of the deciding vote on the fate of the newly departed
Friday, October 14: The Servants
ONE-ACT: Ascalaphus, the attendant of the orchards of the dead, he gave Persephone the pomegranate that sealed her ascension as Queen of the Dead
ONE-ACT: Charon, boatman of the dead who ferried new souls into Hades over the richer Acheron for the price of one obal each
ONE-ACT: Macaria, daughter of Hades and Persephone, goddess of the blessed dead, princess of the Isles of the Blessed
Saturday, October 15: The Princes
ONE-ACT: Hypnos, the white-winged god of sleep, brother of Morpheus and Thanatos
ONE-ACT: Morpheus, the gray-winged god of dreams, brother of Hypnos and Thanatos
ONE-ACT: Thanatus, the black-winged god of death, brother of Morpheus and Hypnos
Week Three: THE CRADLE (10/19-10/22)
Wednesday, October 19: The Midwife
FULL LENGTH: Anubis, the jackal-headed god of embalming and the gate-keeper of the underworld, servant to Ra and son of Nephthys, secret son of Osiris
Thursday, October 20: The Mother
ONE-ACT: Isis, the rainbow-winged goddess of magic, birth, power, dreams, healing and joy, wife of Osiris, she brings him back to life after he is murdered by his brother Set and conceives his child, the hawk-headed god, Horus
ONE-ACT: Nephthys, the sister of Isis, mother of Anubis by Osiris, though wife to Set, the goddess of devotion, sorrow, service, loyalty, she aids her sister in the resurrection of Osiris so he will protect her son, Anubis, in the Underworld.
Friday, October 21: The Father
ONE-ACT: Osiris, the mummified god of resurrection, hope and kindness, and the judge of the dead, husband of Isis, father of Anubis, brother of Set, who murders him
ONE-ACT: Set, the hyena-headed god of death and evil, darkness and lies, husband of Nephthys and brother of Osiris, who he murders
Saturday, October 22: The Baby
FULL LENGTH: Ra, the falcon-headed god of the Sun, the all-seeing eye, father of everything, creator of the Earth and the Sky, the Sea and the Underworld. He was born every morning and died every night only to be reborn again.
Length Guidelines:
One-Act (night of 2): 45-70 minutes long
One-Act (night of 3): 30-45 minutes long
Full-Length: 55+ minutes
Find out more about the festival at www.sfolympians.com or visit us on Facebook and Twitter.