New York Stage and Film Spends their Summer at Vassar
If you are a local in the area you’ve heard of Vassar, and if you’re a theater kid living in the area you’ve definitely heard of the Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College. But were you aware of the New York Stage and Film has a partnership with the college?
New York Stage and Film, based out of NYC, has been in operation since 1985. NYC is where they operate during the academic year, but they spend their summers at Vassar.
“We produce exclusively new work and focus our attention of sharing unheard voices and hidden stories. Overall we work to foster an experience for playwrights, directors, and actors to dissect a piece and allow it to unfold into its next stages of writing. Nothing we produce technically ‘opens’ and therefore we operate as a company in support of writers, but have a slightly different agenda than traditional non-profit theater companies.”
Searching through the Powerhouse website I came across the submissions program that they offer for those that wish to submit pieces for review, and that’s where New York Stage and Film comes in.
I was able to find out more about how the program operates from Aliyah Nissim, one of the current Production Interns at New York Stage and Film. The submission program receives over a hundred solicited pieces a year, and twenty-five unsolicited a month. When asked about what they search for Ms. Nissim was able to shed some light, “New York Stage and Film produces exclusively new work and tries to incubate experience for both new and established playwrights to get plays up on their feet in order to allow the play to breath and be taken to the next stage of the production process. We try to produce the work of unheard voices and socially relevant themes in society today.”
Where the program does not open a show they do give it its first life. At Vassar they operate on a summer stock schedule, “On any given night we can have up to five performances going on at once.” Nissim said.
New York Stage and Film has additional information on their website regarding programs they offer at Vassar as well as in the New York office.
Might as well see what you’ve got and submit your piece, you might get lucky and get your first breath, or even some useful feedback to make your play better.
