About Playwrights @ Work (P@W)
Playwrights @ Work is a unique group within Village Players that promotes playwriting among its members. The group meets monthly to provide support, feedback, encouragement, and direction to fellow playwrights. Throughout the year, P@W presents staged readings during our Spring and Fall Shorts & Sweets presentations. Annually, the group selects and premieres four original one-act plays by its members and presents them in a Festival every July. If you are a budding playwright interested in joining P@W or wish to help read and give feedback on our scripts, please email playwrights@birminghamvillageplayers.com today and someone will reach out to you.
SUMMER ONE-ACT FESTIVAL
Each summer four original one-act plays written by local authors are presented during the Playwrights @ Work One Act Festival. Every play is unique and presents a slice of life that can make you laugh and often makes you think. The selected plays and audition announcements will be posted in late May or early June. Details about the production will be available on the audition and/or ticketing pages of this website.
Performances will be held on Friday – Saturday at 7:30 P.M. plus a 2:00 P.M. matinee on Sunday. Each play will be performed at every Festival performance. Tickets will be available at the door, on the BVP website or by calling the box office. The doors will open a half hour before the Festival begins and the seating is general admission.
FALL SHORTS & SWEETS
The P@W Fall Shorts & Sweets typically presents six short ten-minute plays that are performed as staged readings (script in hand with basic blocking and minimal sets or costumes). The playwrights receive direct feedback from the audience through interactive questions after each play or anonymously through paper or digital surveys. The event takes place one night only, usually a Saturday night at 7:30 P.M. in October, and is free.
SPRING SHORTS & SWEETS
Like the P@W Fall Shorts & Sweets, the Spring presentation also features six short ten-minute staged readings. The playwrights receive direct feedback from the audience through interactive questions after each play or anonymously through paper or digital surveys. The event takes place one night only, usually a Saturday night at 7:30 P.M. in April, and is free.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF P@W
Playwrights @ Work was founded in 2002 by Thomas Astin, John Reddy, Myron Stein, and Barbara Schmitt. According to the Playwrights Handbook, P@W is a playwriting critique group whose mission is to foster the writing, development and production of professional quality plays of its members. The group meets regularly to read works in progress and give each other feedback on how to improve their scripts and make them production-worthy.
In 2004 P@W started producing staged readings and in 2005 they put on their first production (off-book) of One Acts. They performed one or two nights of staged readings a year and held their first Shorts & Sweets in October of 2010. In September of 2020, due to the pandemic, they held their first Playwrights In The Park event (thanks to their friends at Nativity Episcopal Church). They returned to producing at Village Players the following spring to a crowd of 200 patrons.