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JAW: A Playwrights Festival
July 16-30, 2012
JAW is Portland Center Stage’s developmental festival of new work for the stage. For two crazy weeks in July, JAW: A Playwrights Festival takes over the Armory, inside and out. And as always, we’ll present spanking new works in progress that will explode your expectations of what live performance can do.
Since launching in 1999, JAW's principal focus continues to be the playwright and the creative process. For two weeks, four-to-six playwrights (chosen from over 200 submissions nationwide) collaborate with directors, dramaturgs, actors, and other theater professionals from across the U.S. to read, revise, and sometimes completely re-write their scripts, discovering through the process what does or does not work in the transition from page to stage. Joining them are “Promising Playwrights,” 4-to-6 high school students selected from PCS’s Visions & Voices program, who write and develop their own short plays, working alongside the professionals. All of the playwrights’ works are then presented in staged readings for the public.
Since 2007, JAW: A Playwrights Festival has been entirely free to the public, offering a wide range of events that celebrate creativity and community.
Click on the links below to jump to each section.
JAW 2012 PLAYS & SCHEDULE
MADE IN OREGON
DEVISE & CONQUER
COMMUNITY ARTIST LABS
JAW PROMISING PLAYWRIGHTS
JAW SCRIPT SUBMISSION
JAW HISTORY
jaw 2012 schedule
The JAW Festival culminates with FREE Public Readings on the Main Stage. No reservations required--it's ALL FREE.
Announcing the 2012 JAW Titles...
Friday, July 27Bo-Nita by Elizabeth Heffron
4pm
Life's not easy for Bo-Nita. It never is for a 13-year-old, but especially one who winds up with a dead, semi-ex-stepfather on her bedroom floor. With humor, pathos, and a dash of midwest magic realism, BO-NITA follows one mother and daughter's journey through a working-class America of dwindling resources, and the lengths they must go to to stay together and keep their beat alive.
Broken Stones by Fin Kennedy
8pm
In an anonymous suburban hotel, two men meet. One is a former US Marine, seeking to tell an extraordinary tale from the darkest days of the Iraq War: the looting of priceless relics from the Baghdad Museum. The other is his ghost writer, there to help him set his story down. But as they talk, memory becomes suffused with mythology, and reality with naked ambition. As the ground shifts beneath them and visions begin to fill the room, the soldier is forced to question who his ghost writer really is, and to whom he has sold his soul.From 9/11, to Baghdad, to Hollywood, via the illicit trade in antiquities; Broken Stones takes an alleged conspiracy surrounding the oldest relics in the world, and weaves a tale that calls into question the very nature of reality itself. Inspired by real events after the fall of Baghdad in 2003, Broken Stones is a disturbing existential thriller about truth, myth, nationhood – and the responsibility of any writer to their subject.Saturday, July 28The Bachelors by Caroline V. McGraw
4pm
Inside a house, a house in a series on fraternity row, a house in which DVDs serve as coasters and drool stains the sofa, live three roommates far past their college days. A thousand girlfriends come and gone, a thousand parties attended, a thousand drinks downed—every night the same, until now. Tonight is pledge night on fraternity row, but it is not the blaring music that makes sleep impossible. Tonight, these bachelors will understand what their relationships have really gotten them.
San Diego by Adam Bock
8pm
Iris questions whether she can be a mother, particularly as her baby carriage keeps disappearing only to reappear like a fever dream. Harvey thinks Sad Mary has cursed him and goes on a quest to rid the curse. Brenda and Mark hastily get married and are forced to discover each other as they discover themselves. In San Diego, everyone is looking for something to save them, and fear is a force to be reckoned with. Ultimately, though, all must sit inside the fear…maybe even burn from it…and maybe even love from it. And in the end, if all goes well, there is bittersweet hope that we can all find peace with our flaws.Sunday, July 29The People’s Republic of Portland by Lauren Weedman
4pm
Portland is gathering lots of attention lately – for our sustainability leadership; for our food scene; for being, well, weird. And now we’ve caught the attention of Lauren Weedman, actor/writer of last season’s BUST. In the few months she spent here in the spring of 2011, Lauren’s imagination was also captured by all things Portland, and so we’ve asked her to write a play. About Portland. How will this former Daily Show faux-spondent treat us? What does Portland look like through Weedman’s unique lens? Are we brave enough to find out?The People’s Republic of Portland will receive its world premiere in our 2012-13 season.The Few by Sam Hunter
8pm
Four years ago Bryan abandoned his labor of love, a newspaper for truckers. Now he’s returned—with no word of where he’s been—and things have changed. His former lover is filled with rage, his new coworker is filled with incessant adoration, and his paper is filled with personal ads. As he considers giving up for good, Bryan searches for what he couldn’t find on the road: a way to keep faith in humanity.Promising Playwright (short plays written by select high school writers) performances will take place before selected readings. Devise and Conquer performances will take place in various locations of the Armory throughout the festival weekend.
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made in oregon
The JAW: Made in Oregon series showcases the strong pool of local writers in our home state.
8pm
Made In Oregon, JAW Kick-Off Event & Opening Party
On the Main Stage--FREE ADMISSION!
Enjoy this recap of MIO 2011:
devise and conquer
Performance pieces spill out of the Armory and into its environs, with new pieces adapted or created especially for JAW and the Gerding theater at the Armory by local performance troupes.
2012 Devise & Conquer pieces will be posted soon. Stay Tuned!
Polaris Dance Theatre performs during JAW 2010
community artist labs
Artists from across the nation conduct Labs for our local community. Topics range from playwriting, directing, and the biz. Admission is FREE, but in order to maintain a high level of quality, attendance for each Lab is very limited and is determined by random lottery.
2012 Artist Labs will be posted in soon. Stay Tuned!
promising playwrights
New scripts from Portland-area high school playwrights serve as curtain raisers preceding the workshop readings during the Big Weekend. Our Promising Playwrights are selected from our Visions & Voices Program, a month-long residency offered to six Portland high schools.
2012 Promising Playwrights will be announced at the Visions & Voices Spring Showcase on June 4 at 7pm. CLICK HERE for more info.
Check out this video on last year's Promising Playwrights:
jaw script submission
We will accept scripts for JAW 2013: November 1, 2012 - February 1, 2013. Notification will begin after May 1, 2013.
- Unsolicited scripts are accepted only from Oregon residents
- The submitted script must be full-length
- Musicals are accepted
- The submission may have had a previous reading, but not a full production
Send contact information and a digital version of your script to jaw@pcs.org.
Or send an unbound single sided copy of the script to:
JAW: A Playwrights Festival
c/o Portland Center Stage
Gerding Theater at the Armory
128 NW Eleventh Ave.
Portland, OR 97209
Please note: we will be unable to return any scripts.
For further information, contact us at jaw@pcs.org.
Thank you for your interest in JAW. We look forward to reading your work.
