By Suzan-Lori Parks
November 13, 2006 - November 12, 2007

ZACH Serves as The Austin Hub for a National Theatre Festival. All Central Texas Theatres & Production Groups are Invited to Participate!

Sponsored by:

In November 2002, Pulitzer prize-winner Suzan-Lori Parks sat down and committed to writing a play a day for the next 365 days. The world premiere of this play cycle, 365 Days/365 Plays, will be performed as a yearlong national festival simultaneously in major cities and communities around the country. From November 13, 2006 to November 12, 2007, over 600 theaters in Austin, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Chicago, Minneapolis, the Carolinas, Mississippi River towns, and university campuses will create the largest theater collaboration in U.S. History.

Suzan-Lori Parks said: "A few years ago I got this notion -- I'd write a play a day for a whole year. 'I'm going to write a play a day for a whole year! I'll call it 365 Days/365 Plays!' I told my husband Paul. 'Yeah, baby, that sounds cool,' Paul said, and so I started writing. It was 13 November. I thought about waiting until 1 January to begin but, I wanted to keep it real, so I started right where I was. Every day for the next year I would wake up and ask myself "ok, so what's the play?" and I wrote down what came. Sometimes a famous person had just died, so they got their own play, we were going to war, so war got a lot of plays, smaller every day things too would catch my eye and I'd create plays out of them. For me, the act of writing a play a day was great fun. It was also like a puja, or an extended daily prayer, and kind of like walking a pilgrimage on my knees. It was wild and necessary and arduous and delicious. After I'd finished the last play (and there are a few more than 365 because on some days 2 plays came) I put the whole thing in a drawer. I'd done it. And there it sat, for a few years, in a drawer. A couple of theatres suggested productions, but I didn't feel the production models spoke to the spirit of the plays. Then one day Bonnie Metzgar asked me 'what's up with those 365 Plays?' 'I've done them,' I said. 'Yeah, but now you've got to do them,' Bonnie said. And she told me of her production idea: a simultaneous world premiere shared by least 52 theatres in each of a least 7 cities. Bonnie's production concept spoke to the spirit of my plays. And so we started getting the word out."

In each of the participating cities or regions, networks of 52 (the number of weeks in the year) theater companies are in formation. Each theater company produces one week of the festival. Then, they pass the baton to another company in their area. The plays will be performed every week, simultaneously in each of city or region (i.e. each network produces an entire year).

Each company will produce their week in their own style, creating a testament not only to the daily artistic process, but also to the incredible diversity of the American Theater.

ELIGIBILITY AND GROUND RULES
FOR PARTICIPATION

Individual companies each produce one week (7 days) of the festival. Each play corresponds with a day (ex: there is a Valentine's Day play on Feb. 14th). To participate, you are required to produce all of the plays for your week; however you do not have to perform a play every day. You could perform Monday's play on Monday, nothing on Tuesday, nothing on Wednesday, and then Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday's play on Thursday. Or, you could perform all 7 plays in a row on Friday. YOU choose how to produce the plays, both the schedule of the performances and the level of production. Some companies will do readings in theaters, some full productions with costumes, some will perform outdoors - YOU decide.

MONEY

The national festival has set the ground rules for admission, and promotes two models.
(1) All performances of the piece are free to the public.
(2) Theaters may take up "Suggested Donations" or have "Pay What You Can" performances. ALL production expenses are yours and likewise, any money collected is yours to keep.

ELIGIBILITY

Applicants from throughout the Central Texas area may apply, if they are from one of the following groups:

• Producing organizations
• Presenting organizations
• Theater companies
• Independent artists with a track record of self-producing

Beyond that, applications are welcome from everyone, from community theaters to the largest Equity houses; from dance companies to churches; from children's theaters to museums. As long as you have a track record of producing work, can deliver on your proposal, and can open it up to the public, you can apply. Organizations are encouraged to partner if they wish.

NOT JUST THEATERS

You do not have to be a "theater" to produce a week of plays. The most necessary quality is reliability. Every week must be performed in every network. Some weeks will be performed by nursing homes, children's groups, libraries and other community groups.

To apply for participation contact:
Shannon Richey, 365 Days/Plays Project Coordinator
Michele Fowler or (512) 297-5711

Special Thanks to:

• InterContinental Stephen F. Austin Hotel
• The County Line Bar-B-Q
• Whip In
• Ruby's B-B-Q