Playwrights: It’s Showtime for One-Acts

Hollywood often shops for material and talent in L.A.’s theaters, and occasionally a studio or network will invest in an individual stage production. But Showtime, the cable channel, is going one step further.

It’s sponsoring an international search for one-act plays and plans to present the results of that search in a festival next spring at the Met Theatre in Hollywood.

“We’re calling everyone we know and telling them ‘If you don’t have a one-act play, write one,’ ” said Risa Bramon Garcia, who’s co-producing the project along with Jerry Levine’s production company Act One.

The definition of “everyone we know” is rather far-flung. The producers claim to have contacted 118 theater companies, 165 literary agencies and university theater departments in 30 states, as they search for plays.

Garcia expects between 10 and 14 plays to be presented in a six- or seven-week festival next spring.

One-act festivals aren’t uncommon in Hollywood, but “industry” backing is. Garcia, who has previously produced one-act festivals at Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York, said she couldn’t disclose how much money Showtime is providing, but “none of us is getting rich.” She has kept her regular job, running a casting company.

A Showtime spokesman said he didn’t know of a firm price tag that Showtime has committed to the project. The spokesman and Garcia both emphasized that there is no guarantee that the selected plays will be transformed into TV projects for Showtime. “Whether they become films isn’t important now,” Garcia said.

Still, the Showtime label is apparently enough to send a number of writers into a lather. Though the project has been going only a month, Garcia said she’s receiving 40 scripts a day. A volunteer advisory committee of 20 people “whose taste we trust” is helping sift through the entries.

The deadline is Jan. 15. The recommended running time of an entry is between 7 and 40 minutes. Writers should call (213) 469-0696 for an application and advice before submitting a script.

Won’t the Showtime sponsorship cause writers to submit faux -TV scripts, embryonic TV movies, instead of real plays? Garcia hopes not. “We want to do hard-hitting theater. We want material that’s unusual for television. And we want a mix of different voices. We don’t just want groovy New York and L.A. plays.”

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MORE MID-SIZED: In last week’s Stage Watch report on the dearth of mid-sized productions, a phrase about the Mayfair Theatre being dark referred only to the lack of plays at the venue, which formerly presented plays often, before it was converted into a cabaret configuration. The Mayfair is still used for TV and film shoots, stand-up comedy, concerts, readings and private parties. Also, not far from the Mayfair, a mid-sized show, “Shear Madness,” is in operation at the Improv. But it, too, is set up in a cabaret format, and as long as “Madness” is there, producers of other plays aren’t likely to consider it as a possible venue.*