Almost a year of She Writes!

We have been running She Writes nights for almost a year now, in fact with our September show it will be a year, so here's a little summary of what we have achieved with the showcase.

She Writes showcase nights are a fun, relaxed way to spend an evening and watch some work by women writers. They are held in the informal setting of the Horsebridge Centre’s bar-cafe. They are held on a roughly 2-monthly schedule.

Since the showcase started in October 2011, we have showcased an incredible 34 short plays from 26 different writers. We were also invited to take She Writes to Lounge on the Farm, so took a show written by some of our Kent writers to this festival. UK-based women writers are invited to submit plays on a loose theme to each event and we have showcased a real range of styles and topics.

The next show at The Horsebridge Centre is on 12 September, and is part of Whitstable’s Biennale Satellite. The topic we asked for submissions on was ‘What is art?’ and we have a really good selection of answers to this. Come along and celebrate as we take the total of plays by women that we’ve showcased to over 40!

Photos from She Writes, 20 June

Karen Neville, Nigel Banks, Sue Blakesley in 'Not at the Allotment' by Alice Gregg

Sue Blakesley in 'Crumble' by Elinor Perry-Smith

Karen Neville, Sam Pearson in 'Life after life' by Sue Donaldson

Sue Blakesley and Nigel Banks in 'Lost property' by Claire Booker

Amy Flight, Nigel Banks, Sadie Hurley in 'Risk Assessment' by Sarah Davies

Nigel Banks in 'Fish n chips' by Katharine Markwick

Amy Flight in 'Sexbomb' (extract) by Lucy Kaufman

Sadie Hurley in 'Taste' by Helen Shay

Line-up for 20 June 2012

The show on 20 June will feature 8 plays, including;
Claire Booker - Lost Property / Sue Donaldson - Life after life / Alice Gregg - Not the allotment / Lucy Kaufman - Sexbomb (extract) / Elinor Perry-Smith - Crumble / Helen Shay – Taste.

They are a really lovely selection of plays - so do come along if you are Kent-based!

Plays selected for 12 October

We had a terrific response to our callout for plays on the topic of a meal, and have now selected the first batch for the show on 12 October.

If you haven't been selected, don't be downhearted, we are hoping this will become a more regular evening so you will have further opportunities to submit work to us. If you haven't been selected we would love you to submit more work to us, everything was of a very high standard, and we would love to see your development.

The plays selected for our first evening are:

Starter - by Tracy Harris
Enjoy - by Maggie Drury

Chef's special - by Lynne Taylor

Harriet is hungry - by Claire Booker

The Fridge - by Lucy Lucy

There will be a few more plays to be confirmed depending on timing and casting, (playwrights have been advised of this.)

Hope to see you there!

Poets - your chance to show us what you've got

As part of the new She Writes night, we will be holding a short open mic slot for local poets. There may be a prize of some sort determined by an audience vote - we'll see how it goes. It may be food related!

Poets don't need to contact us in advance, just come along with a maximum of 3 poems, on the topic of 'Coffee and/or Cheese'. When you get to the venue, we will ask you for your name so we can schedule you in. You also will get a pound off entry if you are performing in the open mic.

Looking forward to finishing our meal with you!

Seeking new short plays by women for our nights

17Percent is an organisation to support and promote female playwrights.

We are starting a new showcase night for female playwrights which will be held on a 2-monthly basis at the Horsebridge Arts and Community Centre in Whitstable.

We will be looking for micro-plays written by female playwrights - complete plays of up to 6 minutes with a maximum of 4 actors required - on a rolling schedule. The plays will receive a rehearsed reading with some blocking, and will be filmed for the 17Percent Youtube channel.

The first two evenings  to be held this year will be themed around a menu and we are looking for plays that fit into one of the categories of 'Starter', 'Main' or 'Dessert'.

We are also interested in plays that have roles for older actresses as they are also under-represented in the theatre.

Please email your submission to 17percentevents@gmail.com, in Word or Adobe PDF format, stating where in the menu your meal fits!

We cannot currently offer a fee, but you will receive a free ticket to the show, if you can attend.

The deadlines are below:
12 October: please send us your play by 16 September
7 December: please send us your play by 11 November

Introducing 'She Writes': a showcase of plays by women

17percent are pleased to announce the launch of our new 'She Writes' night of live new writing.

She Writes is a showcase night of short plays by women including a poetry open mic slot (open to male and female poets), launching at the Horsebridge Centre in Whitstable, Kent on 12 October, and returning on 7 December.

Only 17 percent of performed UK plays are currently written by women and we aim to improve on that by presenting a regular night of short plays written exclusively by women.

The first two nights in the series are themed around a meal. Up to 10 short new plays will be showcased in a rehearsed reading, and we are looking for submissions featuring no more than 4 actors of up to 6 minutes long. The plays should fit into one of the categories of 'Starter', 'Main', or 'Dessert'.

We are also looking for local poets to round off our literary meal, in an open mic slot with up to 3 poems on the theme of 'Coffee and Cheese'.

Come and join us for a convivial evening where our domestic goddesses bite back!

Tickets: £5 / 4 concs (and open mic performers) available on the door
Time: Doors 7.15pm, show starts 7.30pm. Finish time: 9.30pm
Where: Chives cafe, Horsebridge Centre, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 1AF.
When: 12 October + 7 December 2011

17Percent is an organisation to support and promote UK based female playwrights.
To find out more about 17Percent - please visit http://17percent.wordpress.com

We are grateful to the Horsebridge Centre for supporting this new writing initiative.