Funky Little Shorts

by Caroline Ross

Do you have a story to tell? Can you picture a scene?

Runnymede Drama Group is looking to produce a festival of short plays this October at the Cecil Hepworth Playhouse in Walton-on-Thames. This will not be a competition, but rather a celebration of local writing talent. So, we are calling on interested writers to submit their work for selection.

Plays should be: • Previously unpublished • Low tech, minimal set & simple props, easy to stage • Small cast, any age, easy to rehearse at home • Between 10 mins and 30 mins in length • Monologues accepted • Newly adapted works accepted

The focus is on the word, brought to life on stage.

So, if you would like to submit your work, please send new play submissions to: funkylittleshorts@gmail.com. Please include your full name, email address and phone number and make the Subject line of the email Funky Little Shorts to ensure no submissions get inadvertently filtered to spam. Each writer can submit up to two plays only. The deadline for submission is 30 June 2025 and we would aim to choose our programme of plays by 31 July 2025.

Plays will be selected on an anonymous basis by a Panel of experienced RDG Directors. We will not be able to produce all plays submitted so not being chosen is not a reflection on the quality of the writing but may be a question of what is needed to produce a balanced and varied programme that works as a whole. We will not be able to return scripts so please do not send your only copy!

Once we have the final list of plays, we will host a readthrough at the RDG Studio of the selected plays, which will be open to anyone to come to, and will provide an opportunity for potential directors and company to get a feel for the different plays and for our writers to hear their pieces read out and to make any final edits they wish to make before rehearsals start.

If your play is selected, you will then be allocated a Director from RDG to bring your piece to the stage. Casting will be done on an open basis and we are happy to welcome new actors and directors to the company (though anyone not a member of RDG will be asked to join if chosen). The plan will be to have a general audition session, taking each actor through two or three different roles to get a feel for each actor’s capabilities, and directability, but we would be looking for actors to audition on the basis that they are happy to play as cast. There may be an opportunity to play roles in more than one play, but we will take into account each person’s availability.

We invite writers to meet with the director and to attend some rehearsals, as they wish, but ultimately the final creative word for this production will be with the director. The groups will also have artistic oversight, if wanted, from myself and Mark Humble to support the director and cast, with technical backstage support for all groups led by Lin Mardell. The presumption is that these short plays can be rehearsed in the home but groups will be able to book the Studio to rehearse when it is free by liaising with Lin. We will want to schedule a run through of all the plays in the studio nearer performance time so that our technical team can get a feel for the requirements of each play and also so that we can agree on a running order.

Each group will have access to RDG’s store of set furniture, props and costumes but anything not available from this store should be sourced and paid for by members of the group themselves. We are assuming that no music or media heard on stage by the characters in a play will need to have rights paid for and will therefore either be original or freely available.

Royalties will not be paid to writers but, if selected, you will get the opportunity to see your work staged in front of a live audience. Each writer will be invited to join cast and crew at a private after-show party to celebrate their work.

So, whether you are an established writer or writing your first piece, set your imagination free and we look forward to seeing your Funky Little Shorts!

Caroline Ross Producer, Funky Little Shorts Email: caltaj@icloud.com