Theater festival seeking drama

All over the world, big cities host fringe festivals, where shoestring theater companies showcase their works, and agents farm for talented actors and playwrights. San José isn’t a fringe festival town, but each year the National Theater Company (CNT) hosts the next best thing: Escena Viva 2014, its annual revue of original Spanish-language plays.

CNT is now seeking proposals for scripts in several categories: Costa Rican Playwrights, American Drama, Spanish Drama, and Universal Drama. Submissions can be made to both the adult and children’s categories. Instead of individual playwrights working alone, dramatists are expected to be a member of a theatrical troupe, which will produce the show. Seven selected plays will be staged at Theater 1887 in Barrio Carmen, and the CNT will provide financial and logistical support.

“This initiative represents a great opportunity to build a strategic partnership between the National Theater Company and the independent theater movement [in Costa Rica],” said CNT Artistic Director Gladys Alzate. “This generates increased production and greater coverage for the public.”

CNT will receive submissions at their San José office until Jan. 31, and results will be announced at the end of February. The Escena Viva festival will take place between May and September of 2014. For more information, visit the official rules website.