IATI Theater continues its commitment to developing new works by presenting its twentieth season of Cimientos, a play development program that has given hundreds of playwrights the foundations to explore their vanguardia through developmental workshop-panels and staged readings.
The reading series will be held April 14 – 19, 2020. Spotlighting a curation of national and cross-continental contemporary writers, IATI Theater will present a selection of 10 play readings that fuel the genesis of theater: the playwright. The selected texts showcase an eclectic array of dramaturgy that spans several themes and styles, that are all unique in bending traditional playwriting conventions.
Play readings will include a talkback with the playwright, director, actors and guests that focuses on audience reaction and constructive feedback–bringing the new work closer to a fully realized production.
Playwrights featured in Cimientos 2020 include Andrés López-Alicea, DC Cathro, Hal Borden, Harold Ellis Clark, Itziar Pascual, Robert Monaco, Tom Block, Tony Manzo, Txemi Parra, and William Ivor Fowkes.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
There is no submission fee for Cimientos.
Submissions lacking any of the following guidelines will not be considered.
- Submission will only be accepted through the online form. See link below (only active in month of June.)
- Submissions must be the author's own work. The piece shall be free from copyright restrictions and the author agrees to hold IATI Theater and directors free and harmless from all copyright claims.
- The playwright must commit to be present on the staged reading performance of his/her work.
- The playwright must commit to be present on the PPP (Pal Playwrights Panel) assigned to his/her work.
- This program is open to authors from anywhere in the world with original works in English or Spanish who are interested in a New York audience feedback. However, because of the PPP (Pal Playwrights Panel), every playwright must be present to take part in the monthly meetings or commit to presenting feedback electronically or in written form on the dates of the PPP's and with no delay.
- Only one play may be submitted per playwright, per season.
- Submissions must not exceed 90 minutes in length.
- The play must require 5 actors or less. Plays that have more than 5 actors and do not provide a clear and stageable doubling explanation will not be reviewed. If doubling is possible, it must be expressed clearly on the online form.
- The submission must be a completed full-length play that has not previously been produced in any setting. If the play has undergone a workshop, staged reading or development of any kind, the playwright must inform IATI Theater of the specifics on the online form.
- The author’s name(s) should be nowhere within the script, any authorship information must not be visible in the play document. Scripts will be read ‘blind’.
- Submissions for the 2021 Season will only be accepted from June 1 to June 30, 2020.
- Please use a standard playwriting format.
*The 2021 Cimientos will consists of two main components:
*PPP (Pal Playwrights Panel): Playwrights accepted to the program, IATI Theater’s artistic staff and other specially invited theater professionals will converge in workshop meetings to discuss the new works that make up the particular season. Every meeting will be dedicated to a single playwright in the program, the focus being in further advancing the text before it is presented in front of a live audience.
*SRP (Staged Reading Presentation): Each playwright in the program will be given the opportunity to present his/her play in a directed, professionally acted staged reading. Thus, the piece will be exposed to a receptive audience that further develops the featured script through a post-reading talkback.
