Off the Page
Off the Page is an ongoing series of readings of new, unpublished, unproduced plays or adaptations of non-theatre material for the stage by Bay Area playwrights. Readings are held at 7 p.m. on the second Sunday of every Main Stage production or five per year. The readings are done seated with no sets, costumes, or props, and utilize whatever lighting is being used for the mainstage production that is going on at the time.
Next Up:
On April 7, 2013, at 7 p.m., Off the Page, the Masquers Playhouse ongoing series of readings of new plays by Bay Area playwrights, will present Touched/Struck by Alison Lutermann, directed by Dan Saski, with casting by Simone Olsen-Varela. The play will feature Cameron Clark, Laura Domingo, Suzan Lorraine, Simone Olsen-Varela, Catherine Petru, and Michael Scott Wells.
Touched/Struck tells the story of two sisters, Brenda and Stephanie, who rush to the side of a third sister, Iris, who has been struck by lightning while standing on an aluminum ladder picking pears. Iris is fine, except that she suddenly has the power to heal others, first her husband’s broken arm, then several others. Word gets out. Papparazzi invade. The family’s reaction is mixed. Iris and her husband worry about the effects of all the media scrutiny on their autistic teenage son. Then Joan of Arc shows up, and each family member is forced to reassess his or her own life path in light of mysteries they can neither control nor explain.
Off the Page productions are free to Masquers Season Ticket Holders and Masquers Members. General admission is $5.00. There is no need to make reservations.
Off the Page accepts submissions of unpublished, unproduced plays or adaptations of non-theatre material for the stage. We do not accept screenplays.
You must be a resident of the greater Bay Area (Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Marin, Santa Clara, Solano, or Sonoma counties).
Submissions may be of any length and be on any topic or subject matter.
Submissions are read and considered by the members of the Off the Page Committee, and majority rules in the determination of which scripts we decide to produce.
In the event that the Committee accepts your submission for production, you will be given the option of directing the reading yourself or selecting your own director. If you wish, Off the Page can locate a director for you. The same is true for actors to perform the reading: you may either select the cast yourself or Off the Page can help locate actors from the Membership of the Masquers Playhouse to perform your work.
If your submission is accepted for production, the Committee asks that you not change the work in any way other than to correct minor punctuation or grammatical errors. Please do not add or cut significant sections to the work. Please do not change the title.
If your work is accepted, you will have the option of having one rehearsal in the theater the day before the actual performance, that is, the Saturday before the Sunday night reading.
Submissions may be sent electronically via offthepage@masquers.org or mailed to Masquers Playhouse, ATTN: Off the Page Submissions, P.O. Box 71037, Richmond, 94807
For those submitting works via mail, please include three copies of the script so that they may be passed amongst the Committee Members.