April 15, 2010 - Update - Competition Winner Announcement
The Irish Classical Theatre Company is pleased to announce the winning script of the Mr. and Mrs. Frank J. McGuire International Playwriting Competition:
The Cant by Shay Linehan
The Play:
The Cant is a raucous and truly original comedy-drama that weaves
together the stories of family members separated by the cruel hand of
fate: a father exiled to America; two hapless and hilarious brothers
and their newly inherited Irish pub; and a tortured mother protecting
her family’s precious history in the tradition of Ireland’s legendary
“traveling people.”
The Playwright:
Originally from Dun Laoghaire in Co. Dublin, prize-winning playwright
Shay Linehan has written and produced plays that have toured Southern Africa and the United Kingdom. Until recently, Linehan was based in Zambia for 20 years, where he worked as a teacher in various
government secondary schools. In 2002, Linehan’s Zambian-based play, Footers, toured the United Kingdom with the support of The British Council, and was featured in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as a UK Arts International production the following year.
In 2006, RTÉ, Ireland’s National Radio and Television Broadcaster,
awarded Linehan with the prestigious PJ O’Connor Radio Drama Award for his play, Kerry Plates. RTÉ’s production of Kerry Plates, directed by
Aidan Matthews, was also a Radio Drama Nominee in 2007 at the Prix
Europa Awards, a multi-platform media festival that selects the best
in European television radio and internet productions. Linehan’s The
Lottery was the second place recipient of the RTÉ P.J. O’Connor Radio
Drama Award 2008 and also a 2009 Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters’ Guild Zebbie Award Best Radio Script nominee.
Linehan is currently the director of Deilg Inis Living History Theatre
Company, a professional theatre company based in Dalkey, Ireland and engaged at Dalkey Castle and Heritage Center.
The world premiere production of Shay Linehan’s The Cant will open the Irish Classical Theatre Company’s 2010-2011 20th Anniversary Season on stage September 9 – October 3, 2010
March 29, 2010 - Update - Message to participating Playwrights
Dear Playwright,
First, a sincere thank you to all the playwrights who submitted scripts
to the Mr. and Mrs. Frank J. McGuire International Playwriting Competition. The overall standard of submissions was exceptionally high and posed a real challenge for the eleven evaluators on both sides of the Atlantic to narrow down the number of scripts for the final round and to choose an eventual winner. Having said that, the evaluators were almost unanimous in their selection of the winning script. The winning playwright has been contacted, his/her citizenship verified and it has been determined the script is original work. The winning script and playwright will be presented at Irish Classical Theatre Company’s 20th Anniversary Season Announcement Party in Buffalo on April 12th. At this time the winning script will also be
announced on our website www.irishclassicaltheatre.com the week of April 12th. We hope to have a similar playwriting competition in three years time and we will contact you all directly as soon as details are in place. It has been a real pleasure to re-discover the true depth of playwriting and talent in the 32 counties of Ireland.
With sincere thanks,
Vincent O’Neill
Artistic Director
Irish Classical Theatre Company
January 26, 2010
Update - McGuire International Playwriting Competition
The following are the qualifying scripts for Round Three of the McGuire
International Playwriting Competition. We are aiming to declare the final
winner in February 2010. The generally high standard of the scripts has made it a very challenging process to narrow the list down to the final eight.
Evaluations of the final eight scripts are already in process; they are:
The Big Fellahs
Business As Usual
The Cant
Deliverance
Fish Out Of Water
Ministry of Deliverance
Miss Delicious
The Scattering
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:
From more than 100 plays, the following are the qualifying scripts for Round
Two of the McGuire International Playwriting Competition. The 27 plays are
currently being evaluated by five additional readers/adjudicators for Round
Two. The Third and final Round qualifying scripts will be announced in the
near future.
After The National
The Bell
The Big Fellahs
Business As Usual
The Cant
Capturing Otherness
Chicane
Christmas
The Cliff Walk
Dayshift (Bedlam)
Deliverance
Excesses Of Rousseau
Fish Out Of Water
Fishers Of Men
For The Trumpet Shall Sound
Griswold
In The Dark
In The Mean Time
Ministry of Deliverance
Miss Delicious
Mountain
Perry Como's Leaving Town
The Scattering
Song For Us
Spoiled
The Widening Gyre
The Windows Of Heaven
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Overview
The Irish Classical Theatre Company of Buffalo, New York, is proud to announce the prestigious Mr. & Mrs. Frank J. McGuire International Playwriting Competition, which is open to citizens and residents of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The competition is open to first-time playwrights as well as experienced and established playwrights.
The winning playwright will receive prize money of $20,000 and will enjoy a world premiere professional production of his or her play by the renowned Irish Classical Theatre Company in Western New York, as part of the company’s 20th Anniversary Season in 2010-2011.
Runners-up in the McGuire Playwriting Competition may be considered for a full professional production by the Irish Classical Theatre Company as part of its annual season of plays in subsequent years to their 20th Anniversary Season.
The competition is co-sponsored by the Buffalo Sabres Foundation, and by Mr. and Mrs.
Frank J. McGuire. The Irish Classical Theatre Company would like to extend its gratitude to Larry Quinn of the Buffalo Sabres Foundation and to the McGuire family for their generous support.
Submission Dates & Announcement of Winner
Scripts will be accepted for submission from March 2009 through September 1st 2009, with the winning play announced at a reception and press conference in Buffalo in January 2010, with a concurrent press release to the Irish and Northern Irish media.
Selection Process
All scripts will be assessed by a team of experienced professional and artistic directors on both sides of the Atlantic, in Ireland and in Western New York.
Members of the adjudication panel and the selection process itself will remain anonymous until the winner has been announced.
Additional Benefits to Winning Playwright
In addition to the $20,000 in prize money, the winning playwright will have the option of being a part of the entire five-week rehearsal process in Buffalo, with return flights to USA, accommodation and per diem covered by the Irish Classical Theatre Company and by our sponsors.
The winning playwright will also be invited to the awards ceremony in Buffalo, New York, with international travel and all expenses covered by the Irish Classical Theatre, the Buffalo Sabres Foundation, and by the McGuire Group.
In addition, the playwright will receive full royalties on the world premiere production,
(8% of gross box-office receipts) for a performance schedule of no less than four weeks.
Information about the Irish Classical Theatre Company
The Irish Classical Theatre Company, founded in 1990, and with more than 120 productions to their credit, is the preeminent theatre company in the Buffalo Niagara region. Western New York boasts no less that twenty professional and semi-professional theatre companies, and is a nationally recognized as a vital arts and cultural scene.
Vincent O’Neill, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Irish Classical Theatre Company, will coordinate the McGuire International Playwriting Competition, both in Ireland and in Western New York.
Mr. O’Neill trained as an actor at the Abbey Theatre School in Dublin, and as a mime artist at the Marcel Marceau Academy in Paris. He subsequently became a member of the Abbey Theatre Company for a five-year period, before moving to the USA where he co-founded the Irish Classical Theatre Company.
