Specific shout-outs to Jaime Roberts’ performance as Virginia and Brian Stricklan’s fantastic set design.

Hardball wins a Footlight!

Live Girls! theater in Seattle Washington is seeking 10-minute plays by women for our 13th annual festival of shorts, Quickies. Plays submitted for Quickies may have had previous productions outside of Seattle but new works are encouraged.

The extended date for submissions is January 2nd, 2012 to be considered for Quickies Volume 13.

Live Girls! is a Seattle theater dedicated to producing and developing new work by women since 1999.  Quickies is Live Girls! trademark event and longest running program.  2012 will bring our 13th installation of this short play event which includes 7 short plays by women every year as well as up and coming local directors and actors. It all adds up to a fantastic, not to be missed event.  Quickies Volume 13 will be performed in association with Theater Off Jackson in June 2012.
We are working with the themes of  ”Transformation” & “Coming of Age,” for our 13th edition and plays that fit these themes are highly encouraged (though not required).

THE FINE PRINT! (Please read it all!)

*  Please send all submissions to submissions@lgtheater.org
* Themes for Quickies 13th edition are “Transformation” & “Coming of Age,” and plays that fit these themes are highly encouraged (though not required)
* In the body of your email please introduce yourself, we are always excited about meeting new playwrights! You should also include: any previous production history for plays submitted.  You may include a bio or resume if you like but that is not required.
* Playwrights may submit up to 3, short plays total.  They should be close to a 10 minute running time.
* Plays submitted should be sent as attachments  MS Word is preferable and PDF’s are also accepted.
* Keep in mind we are a small theater taking the risk to produce new works; and probably can’t accommodate very large casts or long lists of tech requirements.
* Extended deadline for submissions is January 2nd, 2012. Submissions will receive a reply no later than the middle of February 2012.

Buy SPARKLE tickets

December 4th at 7:00
Doors open at 6:30 for appetizers and preshow fun!
Theatre Off Jackson (upstairs space)
409 – 7th Avenue South | Seattle, WA 98104

Unable to attend this fundraising event? Donate now to support new works by women.

Things that sparkle: Glitter, Diamonds, Swarovski Crystals and You, when you attend Sparkle, Live Girls! Theater’s annual holiday cabaret and auction. We are lighting up the December darkness with the talent of our dazzling dames. Pull out your glittery frocks and shiny baubles and join us for a night of sparkly entertainment and holiday goodies.  Live auction includes dozens of irresistible items. Don’t miss the chance to do your Holiday shopping while supporting a great cause. Funds raised will go directly to support our mission to produce and develop new works by women.

Glitterific Entertainment:
Hosted by LG! favorite Amanda Lee Williams as Jeanette DelMonte

Featuring the luminescent talent of Diana Cardiff, Leeni, The LG! Ladies Choir, Angie Louise, Shawnmarie Stanton and Erin Stewart

Super Shiny Auction Goodies:
Special guest auctioneer Shawn Belyea!

Stuff your stockings with massages, salon services, clothing, theater tickets, river rafting and more!

Bid on goodies from Teatro Zinzanni, Orion River Rafting, Peachy Keene Skincare, Running Evolution and more!

Presented in association with Theatre Off Jackson.

Maggie Lee is the lead sketch writer, as well as a performer, producer, and panda wrangler for the Pork Filled Players, Seattle’s Asian American sketch comedy group. She has also designed lights, props, and puppets for Pratidhwani, SIS Productions, ReAct Theatre, GreenStage, Macha Monkey, Open Circle Theater, and Theater Schmeater. In 2006, she adapted H.P. Lovecraft’s The Thing on the Doorstep for OCT’s The Colour Out of Space, and collaborated on OCT’s original Lovecraft-inspired show Necronomicon in 2008. In 2010, she wrote for 14/48 and Balagan Theatre’s Greetings from Styx, and her play Kindred Spirits was produced by ReAct Theatre. This year, she wrote for Balagan’s new park show King Arthur and the Knights of the Playground, moderated a panel on Asian American Women & Comedy at the National Asian American Theater Conference in LA, and was featured in the REPRESENT! Local Playwrights’ Showcase at ACT. Next up is a staged reading of her new full-length play The Tumbleweed Zephyr at the Insatiable! Asian American Playwrights’ Festival in November. She has a BA in English and a minor in Lighting Design from UC Berkeley.
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Where did the idea for The Sunshower Bride come from?When I was growing up, whenever there was sun and rain at the same time, we always said, “The foxes are getting married.” But no one really knew what it meant, there wasn’t a particular story or myth behind it. I was totally into mythology as a kid, so for my birthday, my sister wrote me an awesome short fable explaining it (the story was much different than this play – there were giants involved). Anyhow, with the all the rainy/sunny fall weather we have been having lately, I started thinking about that saying again and this play is a result.

What is your favorite moment in the play?The mystical fight scene. I am a total sucker for a mystical fight scene.

Who is your current playwright talent crush? Conor McPherson. His plays have such an honest, emotional center, and I love how he weaves the fantastical into his stories in an incredibly beautiful way.

What advice would you give to aspiring playwrights?Don’t lock yourself in a room and write. You need to go out and see plays. Even better, go out and help make plays happen. Experiencing the energy of live theater from backstage is the best kind of inspiration.

What kind of theater do you love?I like theater that is fun to watch, with a story that’s not afraid to be sincere. It seems there is a bit of a trend now where a good play is supposed to make you feel cynical and awful about pretty much everything, and that’s just not really my thing. It’s also great when a play takes full advantage of being a live performance, giving the audience a totally unique experience that they couldn’t get from a book or film.

What are you currently working on?I’m finishing a new play called The Tumbleweed Zephyr, which will have a reading at the Insatiable! Asian American Playwrights’ Festival in November. It’s a sci fi Old West adventure about two brothers on a train, set in an alternate steampunk dimension.

Outside of theater, what are you really into right now?I am a big fan of science fiction and horror films and books. I love animation and graphic novels, especially anime and manga, and also playing video games. Basically, I have the interests of a 15 year old boy.

Do you have a favorite and least favorite word?One of my least favorite words would be “obligation”. But one of my favorites would definitely be “pie”!

Is there a question you would like to see posed to playwrights featured in future spotlights?What is your favorite kind of pie?

Mackenzie Jahnke graduated from Cornish College of the Arts this past May.  She originally went to Cornish for acting, and only realized her passion for writing two years ago, when on a whim she applied for their Original Works program.  She’s been crazy about writing ever since.  Right after graduation she travelled to New York to work as the Admissions Intern at New Dramatists, an organization dedicated to supporting amazing playwrights and helping them develop their plays.  She has just returned to Seattle and is overjoyed and incredibly grateful to be making her writing debut with Live Girls!
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Where did the idea for The Last Dance come from?
I actually have no idea. I was outside one night talking to my partner and all of a sudden I felt a huge desire to write and when I did, this came out. So I suppose I could probably credit my partner as my inspiration.

What is your favorite moment in the play?
My favorite moment in the play is the last few seconds before the lights go out. I like the tranquil feeling that I believe is both a mixture of happiness and sadness.

Who is your current playwright crush?
I currently have two playwright crushes one is on Sarah Hammond and the other is on Sibyl Kempson. I find I am constantly thinking about their plays, wondering how I can make my own more like theirs. Sarah’s plays have this haunting beauty to them, a warm sentimentality that is addictive. Sibyl’s plays are out of this world; she knows no boundaries and is absolutely fearless as a writer. If you haven’t read their work, I highly recommend it.

What advice would you give to aspiring playwrights?
I am an aspiring playwright, please give me your advice!!!

What kind of theater do you love?
I love theater that is unpredictable, that keeps me guessing, completely un-formulaic. I always crave plays that speak to current issues without making me feel like I’m being preached too. I think it is amazing when plays can be written about social issues while remaining universal and timeless. I know however this is an incredibly difficult task and something I constantly struggle with myself.

What are you currently working on?
I’m working on two plays right now one about our current political climate (well see if it ever gets finished) and one about the stigma that surrounds suicide in our society.

Outside of theater, what are you really into?
I’m enjoying being out of school more than I can possibly say. I’m about to start the prison outreach program with Freehold Theater where we aid inmates with writing and producing their own play. I love gardening, hiking, and am very excited for the arrival of my nephew in November!

Do you have a least and favorite word?
I grew up being hard of hearing so I could never hear the “s” sound after the consonants t, p, and k. Now that I can I love words like Ghosts, Tasks, etc. My favorite one of these words would be the word “Masks” I love how the “m” sound melts into the sharp “k” sound and ends with the sizzling “s”. I can’t think of a word I hate right now, but I don’t enjoy the word “twice” as I always feel it sounds weird coming out of my mouth… does anyone else feel this way?

Is there a question you would like to see posed to other playwrights?
As we all know writing is a very solitary art, I would like to know how other playwrights manage their writing schedules. Tricks they’ve learned to make sure they are getting enough writing in.

Andrea Nelson is a Seattle based actor, playwright and sometimes director. As an actor she has performed with Book-It, Ghostlight Theatricals, Live Girls!, Pork Filled Players and Bellevue Civic, among others. She recently directed The Hole Story for Live Girls! Theater’s Quckies Volume 12. Her one woman show, Going Home, in which she plays a 91 year old woman in tribute to her grandmother, recently debuted as a part of 12 Minutes Max at On the Boards.  She is also the author of Woombies, a one-woman show about her experience growing up as an identical twin. She is a company member of Live Girls! Theater, currently serving as the Director of Communications. When Andrea exits stage left, she can be found teaching at Youth Theatre Northwest, freelancing as a Sign Language interpreter and cuddling with her fabulous husband (Brad) and their two sweet cats (Franny and Zooey).

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Where did the idea for La Lune come from?
If I’m going to be really specific, the idea traces back to a picture I took in New Orleans when I was 16. It is of a busker in the French Quarter. He was in a wedding dress, with white clown cake makeup, a wig and lipstick, but with hairy armpits and stubble under his makeup. He wasn’t performing so much as just standing on a milk crate. For some reason, there was something about the photo that just stuck with me. His appearance was so odd and the expression in his eyes was so sad. The next year in school we had a poetry section and one of the assignments was to write a poem inspired by a photo. I used this photo to write a poem called The Sad Clown. It started me on a bit of an obsession with the circus.

The idea for this script actually began as a one person show. The concept was that the clown would be in his dressing room, putting on makeup. The forth wall would be his mirror and by the end of the play he would be fully made-up and ready to make his entrance. I was thinking about everything behind the scenes in circus life that is hidden to the audience. All the makeup and costumes that hide the people underneath. I love the initial, free-writing stages of creating a script because of the way ideas seem to come not from my head, but emerge on the page. When I put my pen to paper, the main character came out as a trapeze artists and a series of other characters made themselves known as well. They clearly told me it was not meant to be a one-person show.

What is your favorite moment in the play?
When Rusty and Jean are trying to pick shapes out of imaginary clouds indoors. Really, almost every moment between Rusty and Jean are my favorites.

Who is your current playwright talent crush?
I saw 3 Tall Women at Seattle Rep last Fall and I was mesmerized. It made me want to see everything I can from Edward Albee. I saw a fantastic production of The Skriker directed by Beth Raas-Bergquist that made me rethink my feelings for Caryl Churchill. It’s either that I love her plays on stage but not the page, or I just have a crush on Beth’s directing.

What advice would you give to aspiring playwrights?
Don’t ever edit an idea by telling yourself, “that would never happen”. Truth is stranger than fiction.

What kind of theater do you love?
I love when playwrights recognize that even in the midst of tragedy there is comedy. In real life, humans often cope with humor. I appreciate writers who remember that.

What are you currently working on?
La Lune is in a relatively early stage, so after this reading I plan to rewrite and expand. It is currently a one-act, but I see it becoming a full length script. My one-woman show, Going Home, does not feel like it has seen the last light of day yet, either. I wrote this version based on my own stories and knowledge of my grandmother. Next, I will interview my mother and aunt and do some family research to continue on the journey of that piece. It’s a very emotional piece for me, though, so I have to pace myself. My husband and I want to do something together with film. There is a short bit tentatively titled The Adventures of Bertie Bigfoot, centered around a 10 foot tall wooden Sasquatch my brother-in-law carved with a chainsaw, that is currently in an early germination stage. Bertie competes in a B-list beauty pageant.

Outside of theater, what are you really into right now?
Yoga. My family. My tiny, tiny garden. Vegetarian cooking. My mother and I recently canned tomatoes. For awhile I’ve been really into figuring out what products I would normally purchase that I can make for myself: granola, deodorant, hair gel, cleaning products. I have a fantasy of being an urban homesteader.

Do you have a favorite and least favorite word?
I make most of my living as a Sign Language interpreter, so I become enamored with a rotating slew of signs. With words, I  love ones that taste delicious to say. I don’t think I have a least favorite word. Even awful words have their place when used in the right context. It’s all about conveying the accurate meaning.

Is there a question you would like to see posed to playwrights featured in future spotlights?
What is the most challenging aspect of playwrighting for you?

Pamela Hobart Carter grew up in Montreal and studied geology at Bryn Mawr College and Indiana University. For over twenty-five years she has been teaching everything from preschool to science pedagogy, mostly in Seattle. She lives with her husband and daughter and misses her college student son. She decided to write plays after attending a ten-minute play festival at U.W. a few years ago.  Live Girls! selected her first full-length script, Rondo, to read in their new works festival in 2008. In 2009, North Seattle Community College produced It’s not in the P-I, a play Carter co-wrote with five other locals. In 2010 Live Girls! produced The Ventriloquist for Quickies. Her play Unhinged had a couple of readings locally. Carter also writes poems (in Barrow Street, Broken Circles, The Seattle Times and Sunday Ink,) stories, (in Quick Fiction,) and essays (in Teaching Young Children and Recovering the Self).

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Where did the idea for this show come from?
I’ve known the characters Marcella and Rook for some time. This is their first play together. Bits of old story combined with new and mixed with a childhood memory.

What is your favorite moment in the play?
When Marcella figures out what to do about her upcoming violations hearing.

Who is your current playwright talent crush?
T.S. Eliott.

What advice would you give to aspiring playwrights?
Go way out there. Why not? Theater is the medium for changes of state and mind.

What kind of theater do you love?
Adventurous, intense. With good stories.

What are you currently working on?
Food Poetry Readings as fundraisers for food banks, a play about how we decide, and a how-to for children.

Outside of theater, what are you really into right now?
My classroom, watching my daughter’s soccer games, climbing plastic at the gym.

Do you have a favorite and least favorite word?
Acceptance and rejection.

Is there a question you would like to see posed to playwrights featured in future spotlights?
Pen, typewriter, computer or speech recognition?

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Where did the idea for The Banyan Tree Trilogy come from?
The really short version of this story is that last fall Agastya Kohli of Pratidhwani asked me if I wanted to write a one act play for his consideration and writing one led to writing three because I had so much fun with it. Plus, it was like free therapy for getting out some of my Indian-American angst! I say that in jest…mostly.

What is your favorite moment in the play?
One moment I’m fond of is when Anupama refuses Niyati’s money in The Palm Reader.

Who is your current playwright talent crush?
Martin McDonagh. I have a special place in my heart for dark comedies and he does them so fantastically well.

What advice would you give to aspiring playwrights?
Fall in love with the characters you create.

What kind of theater do you love?
Theater that evokes in me the beauty of being human.

What are you currently working on?
A full length play.

Outside of theater, what are you really into right now?
A few things I’m into at the moment: Chakras, tomatoes from my garden, making soups from scratch, yoga.

Do you have a favorite and least favorite word?
In the terse style of a stereotypical software person my answer to this is simply…No

Is there a question you would like to see posed to playwrights featured in future spotlights?
What’s a play you love and why?

Check out more Playwright Spotlights!