Silver Spring Stage
Call for Directors for the 2013-2014 Season

Deadline:  Sunday, March 24, 2013

Our Mission

Silver Spring Stage presents the best in contemporary plays by some of the freshest, most exciting playwrights working today. We have chosen a dazzling variety of compelling, intellectual, progressive works. It’s “downtown theater” at an affordable price. We are looking for directors with strong skills and strong vision to bring these works to life. This season is packedwith wonderful opportunities for actors, designers and directors. The Stage presents a season of seven full productions, plus a summer one-act festival and a family holiday production. Currently, we are seeking directors for the five regular season shows listed below. Director applications for the one-act festival and the holiday production will be handled< separately.

We are seeking directors for:

The Baltimore Waltz

by Paula Vogel

Performance Dates: Sept. 20-Oct. 12, 2013

Winner of the Obie Award. A giddy, fleet fantasy based on the love and adventures of a brother and sister, one of whom has a fatal disease. In the opening scene, the brother is wearing pajamas, but it is his schoolteacher sister who’s diagnosed with a deadly virus that sends the two of them spinning off to Europe to find romance and a cure before the final crashing scenes where reality sets in.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)*

by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield

Performance Dates: Jan. 10-Feb. 1, 2014

(Comedy) This good-natured parody has all the plays of William Shakespeare performed (in shortened form — Hamlet clocks in at only 43 seconds) by just three actors. Typically, the fourth wall is nonexistent, with the actors speaking directly to the audience during much of the play, and sometimes including audience participation. This is a dizzying tour-de-force of comic acting and improvisation.

Superior Donuts

by Tracy Letts

Performance Dates: Feb. 21-Mar. 15, 2014

(Comedy-Drama) Arthur Przybyszewski owns a decrepit donut shop in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago. Franco Wicks, a black teenager who is his only employee, wants to change the shop for the better, but keeping up with the times is not one of Arthur›s priorities in life. This comedy-drama explores the challenges of embracing the past and the redemptive power of friendship.

Other Desert Cities*

by Jon Robin Baitz

Performance Dates: April 4-27, 2014 (no performance Easter Sunday)

(Drama) Brooke Wyeth returns home to Palm Springs after a six-year absence to celebrate Christmas with her parents, her brother, and her aunt. Brooke announces that she is about to publish a memoir dredging up a pivotal and tragic event in the family›s history — a wound they don't want reopened. In effect, she draws a line in the sand and dares them all to cross it.

Good People*

by David Lindsay-Abaire

Performance Dates: June 27-July 20, 2014 (no performance July 4)

(Comedy-Drama) Welcome to Southie a Boston neighborhood where a night on the town means a few rounds of bingo, where this month’s paycheck covers last month›s bills, and where Margie Walsh >has just been let go from yet another job. Facing eviction and scrambling to catch a break, Margie thinks an old fling who›s made it out of Southie might be her ticket to a fresh new start. But is this apparently self-made man secure enough to face his humble beginnings? Margie is about to risk what little she has left to find out. With his signature humorous glow, Lindsay-Abaire explores the struggles, shifting loyalties and unshakeable hopes that come with having next to nothing in America.

*pending rights availability

Submission Requirements

In your submissions to the Stage we request the following:

1. A resume of your directorial and other theatrical experience.
2. A proposal that features:
   • Themes you believe important or relevant in the play.
   • Your concept/vision for a production; e.g., period, style, etc.
   • Ideas on production elements; i.e., set, costumes, lighting, sound or other special effects (we do not require actual set drawings or lighting plots).
   • Any other items, including how you might address any particular challenges you see in staging the piece in our unique space.
3. If you are new to directing at Silver Spring Stage, we also request three references.
4. Please submit both resume and proposal in either Word or PDF format, and ensure that your name and the title of the play appear in either the header or footer of each page.

Director interviews will be scheduled following the submission deadline.

Please send either a Microsoft Word document or Adobe PDF by email to the attention of Andrea Spitz at directorsubmissions@ssstage.org. You may submit proposals for more than one show.

Deadline: Sunday, March 24, 2013

For Your Information

Silver Spring Stage offers an intimate, flexible and unique performance space. The stage dimensions are 23 feet x 22 feet for a total playing area of 506 square feet. If you have not seen the stage, we recommend you make a visit to help yourself to visualize a production. Physically, it is laid out in a diamond shape, with the two lower sides of the diamond facing the audience featuring a support pole at the tip. The upper sides of the diamond have backstage areas behind them. Silver Spring Stage presents 7 full stage productions, a holiday show and an annual one-act festival. The house seats 120. A distinct advantage at Silver Spring Stage is we have our own rehearsal studio with a space that matches in dimension the actual performance stage. Also, we have our own set construction area, storage, costumes, props and other set pieces.

Please note that Silver Spring Stage is an all-volunteer organization.

For information or questions, please contact Andrea Spitz by e-mail at directorsubmissions@ssstage.org. You can also view a list of frequently asked questions at https://sites.google.com/a/ssstage.org/directorfaq/.