It’s fun and easy to do and you will find a very warm welcome, just email membership@progresstheatre.co.uk

Becoming a Member of Progress Theatre gives you the opportunity to become fully active in Progress Theatre’s activities, including:

• Acting on-stage
• Helping back-stage
• Producing shows
• Operating lights, sound or special effects
• Designing the lighting
• Making costumes
• Helping out with Front of House
• Serving behind the bar
• Running the box office
• Designing a set
• Building a set

Progress Theatre is also a lively social environment.

Being a Member of Progress Theatre gives you:

• The opportunity to take part in Progress Theatre productions
• The opportunity to attend the Theatre’s members-only events
• The opportunity to join Progress Theatre’s Writers’ Group, for aspiring script-writers
• E-mail bulletins on Progress Theatre events and news
• A subscription to Curtain Up, Progress Theatre’s in-house magazine

Membership costs only £30 for a year’s membership.

Welcome to WriteFest!

If you would like to submit a piece of writing for entry into this year’s WriteFest, all of the information you need can be found below.

What is WriteFest?

WriteFest is Progress Theatre’s annual production showcasing new writing. The production consists of (usually around 6-8) short plays all of which are newly written and have not before been properly produced and performed anywhere else. It is an opportunity to have your writing seen by the paying public in its best light; well rehearsed and produced to a high standard.

But WriteFest isn’t all about the writing. It is an opportunity for everyone interested in theatre to have a go at something in which they’ve always had an interest, but never before had the opportunity to try, or about which they have limited experience. In short it is a learning opportunity for all.

Normally each piece selected to be a part of the WriteFest will be directed by an individual whom is new to directing and enthusiastic to do well, or by an individual whom is a novice keen to improve the skills they are already developing. Each director can be assigned an experience mentor to lead them through the process of creating a quality production.

The same ‘novice taught by experienced’ theme runs throughout every aspect of this production. From actors to stage managers, from sound and lighting to marketing; there’s learning to be gained in every role.

Submitting your Writing

If you have a piece of writing that you would like to see performed on the Progress Theatre stage, please ensure that it adheres to the rules and guidelines found at the link below and then send it to writefest@progresstheatre.co.uk  Please note that you will always be sent an email confirming receipt of your submission when we receive it. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt. Feedback on your submission can be given if time and resources allow.

The Judging Process

Each piece submitted to WriteFest is assessed by the Judging Panel which comprises the Progress Theatre PPC (Production Planning Committee) and the WriteFest Producer(s). Each piece is scored on many element including; originality, characters, dialogue, standard of writing etc. Each piece is then ranked according to its accrued score, a shortlist is drawn from the highest ranking pieces and then a final decision made on the composition of the year’s WriteFest at an internal selection meeting. Each year the Judging Panel ensures a good mix of genres to provide an evening of entertainment that offers something for everyone.

The WriteFest Judging Panel reserves the right to disqualify any submission not satisfying the terms and conditions of entry. The Judging Panel’s decision is final.

A PDF of the WriteFest Submission Guidelines, Selection Process and Terms & Conditions of Entry can be found here:

Writefest Process 2012[pdf]

If you have any questions regarding WriteFest, please e-mail the Producer(s) at writefest@progresstheatre.co.uk

This year’s Submission Deadline is 31st May 2012

Chris, 40s-60s
You want Chris at your party. She will talk to people she doesn’t know, find things to say to fill silences and generate laughter. Part of this is because Chris is at home in crowds, holding court, being the centre of attention. Without Chris in her life, Annie would be better behaved, her life less fun. The two of them are like naughty schoolgirls. Ideal car, who cares as long as it’s a cabriolet. Ideal holiday — Algarve.

Annie, 40s-60s
Annie will join in mischief but is at heart more conformist and less confrontational than Chris. After Chris has put a waiter’s back up in the restaurant, Annie will go in and pour calm. The mischievousness Chris elicits saves Annie from being a saint. She has enough edge to be interesting, and enough salt not to be too sweet. Ideal car — who cares, as long as it’s reliable. Ideal holiday — walking in the English countryside.
Together these two are greater than the sum of their parts. They would be lesser humans had they not met each other. Each is spiritual mustard to the other’s meat.

Cora, 30s-40s
Cora’s past is the most eclectic, her horizons broadened by having gone to college. This caused a tectonic shift with her more parochial parents. She came back to them pregnant and tail-between-legs, but Cora has too much native resilience to be downtrodden. She is the joker in the pack, but never plays the fool. Her wit is deadpan. It raises laughter in others, but rarely in herself. Her relationship with her daughter is more akin to that between Chris and Annie. Cora doesn’t need to sing like a diva but must be able to sing well enough to start the show with Jerusalem and sing the snatches of other songs required. The piano keyboard can be marked up to enable her to play basic chords should she not be a player. Ideal car — who cares, as long as the sound system is loud. Ideal holiday — New York.

Jessie, late 60s/70s
Get on the right side of Jessie as a teacher and she’ll be the teacher you remember for life. Get on the wrong side and you will regret every waking hour. A lover of life, Jessie doesn’t bother with cosmetics — her elixir of life is bravery. Jessie goes on rollercoasters. Her husband has been with her a long time and is rarely surprised by her actions. Jessie bothers about grammar and will correct stallholders regarding their abuse of the apostrophe “s”. Ideal car — strange-looking European thing which is no longer manufactured. Ideal holiday — walking in Switzerland or Angkor Wat.

Celia, age from 35-50
The fact that Celia is in the WI is the greatest justification of its existence. A woman more at home in a department store than a church hall, she may be slightly younger than Chris or the same age, but she always feels like she’s drifted in from another world. Which she has. She is particularly enamoured of Jessie, and despite the fact Jessie has very little time for most Celias of this world, there is a rebelliousness in Celia to which Jessie responds. It’s what sets Celia apart from the vapid materialism of her peer group and made her defect. Ideal car — Porsche, which she has. Ideal holiday — Maldives, where she often goes.

Ruth, mid 30s-late 40s
Ruth’s journey is from the false self-confidence of the emotionally abused to the genuine self- confidence of the woman happy in her own skin. Ruth is eager to please but not a rag doll, and despite being Marie’s right-hand woman she is desperate to be the cartilage in the spine of the WI and keep everyone happy. She has spine herself — if she was too wet, no-one would want her around. But they do, and they feel protective of her because they sense there is something better in Ruth than her life is letting out. They are proved right. Ideal car — at the start, whatever Eddie wants; at the end, whatever she wants. Ideal holiday — at the start wherever Eddie is; at the end wherever he isn’t.

Only the above 6 characters pose for the Calendar

Marie, 40s-60s
Marie has gradually built the current ‘Marie’ around herself over the years as a defence mechanism. She went to her Oz, Cheshire, and found Oz didn’t want her. She came back scorched. The WI is a trophy to her, which justifies her entire existence. There is a lingering part of Marie that would love to be on that calendar. Ideal car — something German and well-valeted. Ideal holiday — a quasi-academic tour of somewhere in Persia advertised in a Sunday Supplement which she could then interminably bang on about.

John, Annie’s husband, 40s-60s
John is a human sunflower. Not a saint. Not a hero. Just the kind of man you’d want in your car when crossing America. When he dies it feels like someone somewhere turned a light off.

Rod, Chris’s husband, 40s-60s
You have to be a certain kind of guy to stick with Chris and Rod loves it. He can give back what he gets, and has a deadpan humour which has always made Chris laugh. He drinks a lot but never so much as to have a problem. He would work every hour to make his shop a success. And John was his mate, even though the relationship was originally channelled through their wives.

Lawrence, 20s-30s
Hesitant without being nerdy, Lawrence is a shy young man with enough wit to make a joke and enough spirit to turn up at the WI hall in the first place. When he arranges the shots he is close to female nudity but sees only the photo.

Lady Cravenshire, 50s-70s
Lady Cravenshire really doesn’t mean to be so patronizing. But the WI girls seem from another world. The world of her estate workers. Dress: when she makes an entrance, she must make an entrance. Largely white or cream to outplay the others, with a bigger hat than Marie. She is not a tweed-wearer. She must glide in like a galleon.

Elaine, 20s
Elaine really doesn’t mean to be so patronizing. But Jessie seems from another world. The world of her gran. Dress: her clinical whites slice through like a knife. You feel you could cut yourself on that dress.

Liam, 20s-30s
Liam would like to be directing other things than photoshoots for washing powders. He’s not so unprofessional as to let it show, but we can sense a slight weariness at having to deal with these women. There’s a resigned patience to his actions and each smile he makes we feel is professional. For Liam, this photoshoot is a job. And not the job he wanted. Dress: Avoid wearing shades inside a building. If you’ve gone down that route, you’ve made the weary boy a wide boy.

Brenda Hulse, any age from 30s-70s
A small cameo comedy role. A visiting speaker to the WI who is less than inspiring on the subject of broccoli! She is a naive lady who knits her own clothes, votes for the Green Party & loves all country pursuits. Very gushing about a rival WI.