I got the idea to start a festival of “new voices” in the theatre at WPI in 1982. Back then, many segments of the campus culture considered the notion that engineering, science, and mathematics students could write plays at all, let alone very fine plays, to be absurd. I believe that two decades of festivals have changed that attitude a bit. “In the old days,” I had to urge -- nay beg -- people to write for the festival. These days I have to encourage the many playwrights whose work does not get selected for the festival to keep at it, and to remind them of the subjective nature of any selection process. What writer of note doesn’t have a heavy file of rejection slips? Fine plays proliferate in the annual batch of submitted works for which the result is “not this year.” The WPI university community has always had the talent to produce original works for the theatre, and only needed someone to say, “flourish” in 1982.
The first original, student play which I helped to reach anything near a performance, William Howe’s The Clock and the Girl, had a very informal staged reading—no lights, no sound, no Virtual Reality, not much of an audience—in the Higgins House Great Hall in the winter of 1982. We had to beg people to read the parts, we typed a program on a typewriter, and mimeographed copies. We waited twenty minutes to start the reading in hopes that more people would show up to hear us. The Clock and the Girl had a cast of three students and a staff of two: William and myself. For New Voices 22, more dramaturgs worked to select the festival than we had total cast and crew for the first new voice. Each year, 200 people work on New Voices and around 2000 audience members enjoy the experience. Think of all the talent we encouraged flourishing in 22 years and all the great theatre New Voices has produced on the campus!
The early years of New Voices involved many variations on the theme of “new voices,” including “new” directors staging established plays [no: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead did not originate in New Voices, much as we wish it had; a new director debuted in New Voices 2 with that script as his production]. As the number of unpublished and previously un-produced scripts offered to New Voices grew, the festival evolved to producing only original works by members of the WPI community. Most of the early playwrights were undergraduate students and the dramaturgs were always undergraduates. Eventually, the festival expanded to include undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, faculty, and community members in all aspects of the production of New Voices.
The works produced in New Voices range from short monologues and one act plays to full-length epics. We have produced as many as thirty and a few as five original works during a festival. New Voices is staged on a unit set. A poster advertising the festival is professionally printed. The festival takes place over four days in April and each work is performed twice.
In 1999, for New Voices 17, the Scenic Design competition began. The
job of the Dramaturgs expanded to include selection of a set for
the festival.
Shakespeare produced a few good plays on the one set at the Globe, and
New Voices proved to be equally adept at staging all the plays for
the festival
on the scenic design chosen by the dramaturgs. The scenic design has so
far been chosen for its artistic merits and qualities for a festival.
Directors
are challenged to work with the design and have found many creative ways
to stage plays on the predetermined set.
In 2003, for New Voices 21, the Poster Design competition began. Submissions
arrived and a poster was selected. The Poster Design will continue. Check
out the first New Voices poster winner on our web page!!!
Currently, New Voices plays and the scenic design are selected by a group of Dramaturgs. The Dramaturgs do not know the identity of the playwright or the scenic designer. Only the Executive Dramaturg and the Associate Executive Dramaturg know who submitted each entry. The New Voices poster design, which must be selected earlier than the other works, is chosen by the Associate Executive Dramaturg and the Executive Producer of New Voices. Again, those who select do not know the identity of the designer. Only the Executive Dramaturg knows the identity of the submitting poster designer. New Voices believes that this process preserves fairness. New Voices usually produces less than 20% of the plays, posters, and scenic designs submitted.
New Voices produces original work, evaluated and selected by the dramaturgy staff. All scripts, scenic designs, and poster designs must be original works. Adaptations of public domain material (or material for which the author has acquired the rights) are acceptable provided the title page clearly states that the work is an adaptation.
Work that is not chosen for the festival is returned to the playwright or the designer. New Voices does not offer critiques of any work submitted. New Voices selects a festival. Artistic works by their very nature are subjective, and plays and designs elicit subjective responses. What one group of Dramaturgs selects will be unique to that group. Many plays have been produced in New Voices that were turned down in previous years. The same script! A critique could dilute this possibility by causing a playwright to “wright” to criticisms of one year’s dramaturgs. Critiques are subjective, time consuming, and may or may not encourage the playwright or designer. Again, New Voices produces a festival not a critique of individual entries.
New Voices offers a terrific opportunity for new artists to create and see their finished product in action—be it a play, scenic design, or poster design.
NEW VOICES 25
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
Performances April 11-14, 2007, The Little Theatre
Selection of plays and
scenic design announced Friday, February 9, 2007, 5 p.m., The Little Theatre
Plays and scenic designs
submissions due Friday, Jan. 26, 2007 5 p.m., H&A area, Salisbury Labs
New Voices welcomes you to submit a poster design, scenic design, or play for the 25th Festival, and to join our enthusiastic audiences. See you at the show.
Susan Vick
Founder and Executive Dramaturg
New Voices