ALL ACCESS READING SERIES
ALL ACCESS: A READING SERIES OF NEW PLAYS
All Access is an ongoing reading series that began in 2015 with a grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Its purpose is to promote new plays that bring to prominence narratives that are underrepresented in our culture's storytelling: to wit, plays that feature characters who are femme, BIPOC, LGBTQIA, and/or PWD. The readings are rehearsed with an experienced director and performed by an all-Equity cast.
Equity Library Theatre-Chicago holds annual, open submissions; to date, we have read hundreds of scripts from across the country as well as England, Ireland, and Canada. To ensure that we have a continual rotation of viewpoints, each year at least half of our readers are new to the series, and our finalist readers select the winner through a blind read. Every playwright who submits receives our greatest admiration; the winning playwright also receives a $300 prize.
2022 All Access Winner
Come Again
by Chicago playwright Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend
Miami hospice nurse, Marina Johnson, wakes one day to find a stranger in
her apartment, telling her she has been tapped to be God's climate
change prophet. A comedy for a species on the brink of self-destruction.
Please join us in congratulating Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend on the selection of this provocative, powerful play.
2022 All Access Finalists
We are pleased to announce the All Access Reading Series 2022 Finalists.
The Madonna of Logan Square by Katie Coleman
Come Again by Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend
Los Pobladores by Sophie Brion Neely
The Odyssey of Tyrell James by LaDarrion Williams
Congratulations and thank you to the over 100 playwrights who submitted work.
2022 Submission Guidelines
Equity Library Theatre Chicago is seeking submissions of new, full-length plays. One script will be selected and produced as a staged reading with an experienced director and an all-Equity cast; the playwright will also be awarded $300.*
Because this reading will be part of our ongoing All Access Series, in addition to overall excellence, we will give preference to plays with protagonists who are femme, BIPOC, people with disabilities, and/or LGBTQIA+.
Plays previously selected and performed as part of All Access are IN THE END, by Sharai Bohannon; HE DID IT, by Rachel Lynett; HAZARDOUS MATERIALS, by Beth Kander; THE NAMES, by Paul Lewis; FLYING, by Sheila Cowley; THE UDMURTS, by David Zellnik; and COME BACK, by Neil Haven.
You may submit a script via email, as a PDF or Word document, with the play’s title in the subject line, to ELTChicago@gmail.com January 5th - February 5th, 2022.
Please include a brief synopsis, character breakdown, development history, and contact information. We will accept scripts that have been submitted in past years. No submission fee.
*ELTC aims to produce the winning play's staged reading in 2022, but Covid precautions must be taken into consideration. The staged reading may occur in a variety of different ways - an outdoor venue in the summer of 2022, an indoor venue in the fall of 2022 if the state of affairs allows, or as part of a festival to be paired with the 2023 winner and performed in the summer or fall of that year. As it stands now, we are committed to the winning play receiving a live, in-person performance, and not a digital presentation, so we hope to be able to present it as soon as it is safe to do so. PLEASE NOTE: The $300 is attached to the selection of the play and not the performance.
PAST WINNERS
In the End by Sharai Bohannon
Directed by Tomica S. Jenkins
Cast:
Rashada Dawan
Gabrielle Garza
Brian Keys
Hannah Ruwe
Leslie Ann Sheppard
He Did It by Rachel Lynett
Directed by Carrie Lee Patterson
Cast:
Leah Brenner
Kayla Carter
Jeff Kurysz
Sarah Razmann
Camille Robinson
Hazardous Materials by Beth Kander
Directed by Jill Harper
Cast:
Caren Blackmore
Keven Kaddi
Saren Nofs-Snyder
Stephenie Park
The Names by Paul Lewis
Directed by Bob Behr
Cast:
Diana Boos
Aaron Davidson
Alexander Pannullo
Christopher Prentice
Laurie Carter Rose
Grace Smith
Flying by Sheila Crowley
Directed by Molly Burns
Cast:
Terry Bozeman
Emily Glick
Joe Lehman
Julie Proudfoot
Thomasin Savaiano
The Udmurts by David Zellnik
Directed by Barbara Zahora
Cast:
Bill Bannon
Nicholas Harazin
Nathan Gardner
Keewa Nurullah
Kate Young
Come Back by Neil Haven
Directed by Carrie Lee Patterson
Cast:
Kristie Berger
Diana Boos
Wendye Clarendon
Lucinda Johnston
Elaine Rivkin
Laurie Carter Rose
UPCOMING EVENTS:
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