Download File - The Aeneid Theatre Company

ATC Fall 2017
Season Pitch
ATC Mission Statement:
The Aeneid Theatre Company strives to enrich the USC community through
the collaboration of student talents from all walks of campus life. ATC will
independently produce straight (non-musical) plays of a relevant and
thought-provoking nature each year, one from each of three categories:
classical, contemporary, and alternative theatre. ATC strives to provide
support, structure, and funding for these productions while offering
opportunities for students to apply the knowledge they receive in class in the
production and advertising of projects for subsequent seasons. We further
endeavor to develop the presence of great theatre on campus through
educational and artistic workshops and theatrical social events. Ultimately,
ATC exists to encourage students to take initiative in their own artistic
endeavors and make theatre at USC accessible to a diverse population.
Production Pitch Guidelines:
1. The show will be an ATC production and must be advertised as such. The
ATC Executive Board will play an active role in financing and promoting the
show, as well as checking in periodically throughout the rehearsal and
technical process for updates and progress checks. ATC will also provide a
date in the theatre space for the production; if the applicant has secured their
own space, negotiations may take place.
2. There must be at least ONE producer on the show who is an ATC Executive
Board member. A single outside producer may be enlisted for a maximum of
TWO producers.
3. An individual may pitch one show per “category” or performance slot. For
example, someone may pitch one classical show and one contemporary show
at one time, but cannot pitch two classical shows or two experimental shows.
See final page for guidelines of categorization.
4. It is HIGHLY recommended that the individual pitching the show intend to be
the director of the show; however, this is not a fixed requirement. Pitches
will be considered for shows in which an individual wishes to play a large
role on the production team (stage manager, producer, designer, etc.) or for
shows the applicant thinks should really be done at USC; keep in mind that if
the applicant does not intend to direct, the show may be assigned a director
who has a radically different artistic interpretation of the play.
Production Category:
Classical
Contemporary
Experimental
Title and Author of Show:
Artistic Vision:
How many actors will be cast in the production?
Please provide an idea of the intended budget of the production (can be
attached as a separate Excel or Word file):
Please indicate the intended performance space of the production.
How will this particular production be beneficial to the USC theatre
community and help fulfill the ATC mission statement? In other words, why
here and why now?
Please describe the relevance of the play and production concept as a whole:
Please list any potential collaborators you have in mind to serve on the
production team and their roles, if any:
If intending to serve as director of the show, please list any experience in
playwriting/directing, including any classes taken at USC. If intending to serve
in some other capacity, please list relevant experience:
Please attach a digital copy of the text of the play for us to review. This may
entail scanning a PDF on a printer. Other arrangements can be made to allow
us to read the play, such as delivering physical copies. However, the fewer
number of copies we will be able to access, the more reduced our ability to
read the play will be.
Send the completed application to [email protected] with
the subject line “Fall 2017 Season Pitches” by Monday, March 27th at 11:59 PM.
Also email us with any further questions!
Please be prepared to be called in for an interview sometime during the week
of April 3rd-7th.
Categorization Guidelines:
Classical—The general cutoff for what would be considered a “classical” play is if it
was written by a playwright who worked before the 20th century. As a general rule,
any playwright who had a production of a play in the nineteenth century will be
considered, for our purposes, “classical,” even if they worked into the 20th century.
This adds an “Early Modern” element to our definition of “Classical” theatre—
playwrights such as George Bernard Shaw, Chekhov, Ibsen, or Strindberg would
thus be pitched to our “Classical” category. If contemporizing an older play, the
deciding factor will come from when the text was written. For example, a zombie
Romeo and Juliet would be considered a classical production as long as the written
dialogue of Shakespeare was preserved (please don’t pitch zombie Romeo and
Juliet), while a production of Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice would not be considered
classical (as it is a modern rewriting of an older story). Please view the
“Experimental” definition to clarify the distinction between the Classical and
Experimental slot.
Contemporary—A contemporary show is one written by a playwright who
produced work exclusively in the 20th or 21st centuries. Please view the
“Experimental” definition to clarify the distinction between the Contemporary and
Experimental slot.
Experimental—Also sometimes called our “Alternative Theatre” slot, our
Experimental show is a play that is highly experimental in its writing, an
experimental presentation of a more “standard” play, or one that breaks the
boundaries of how plays are usually presented at USC (Ex: not in a standard theatre
space like the Massman). It may be one or all of these things; a standard
interpretation of a play performed in an unusual setting would likely be considered
“experimental.” However, such decisions are not set in stone. Original work and
musicals will be considered under this category provided that they meet one or
more of the previous guidelines. Original work without a completed draft of the
script will not be considered, and a play pitched for the Experimental slot need not
be from any particular time period.
Any questions regarding the categorization of your pitch should be directed to the
Artistic Director in an email to [email protected].