60-plus volunteer readers whittle 350 script submissions to a handful of finalists; this year’s four winning plays will be presented Oct. 16-20

By Jim Flint for Ashland.news

When Jackie Apodaca announces Ashland New Plays Festival’s four winning plays each year, she is likely to hear both cheers and boos from the reader pool.

And that’s just fine with Apodaca, ANPF’s artistic director. After all, volunteers spend countless hours over several months reading and discussing up to 350 scripts submitted to the festival each year, eventually paring them down to 12 finalists. They have a real stake in which ones make the final four.

“It’s a little scary to go out there, knowing I will both please and disappoint people in the crowd,” she said.

While the final reveal can be a little nerve-wracking, Apodaca says it’s also beautiful in a way.

Passionate play readers

“Readers are true fans of the plays they love,” she said. “They will champion their favorites, come what may.”

ANPF is unique in its selection process, utilizing a community-based corps of volunteer readers to screen submissions from around the country and beyond.

The reading committee is organized and trained in the fall. From January to June, members read anonymized scripts during a series of group discussions, employing a numerical scoring system.

Readers this year reduced the number of submitted scripts to around 35. Further discussions resulted in 12 plays being selected as the top contenders for four slots in the fall festival.

Those 12 plays were handed off to artistic director Apodaca, who led a collaborative process to choose the winners.

“With such a difficult decision to make, I am fortunate to be able to rely on world-class theater makers for input and support,” Apodaca said.

Advising her throughout the year and assisting her in this season’s final selection process were associate artists Lisa Loomer, Octavio Solis and Kyle Haden. Festival host playwrights Clarence Coo and E.M. Lewis also offered support, reading the finalists and giving input.

The final decision is Apodaca’s alone, but she relies on her team’s collective input as she wrestles with what she says is always a tough decision.

The ANPF glue

Group leaders are the glue that keeps the readers working productively together for several months during the initial review process. Carole Florian, ANPF editor and reader committee chair, has been involved with the festival since 2009, the year she and husband David Florian moved to Ashland. Both volunteered as readers that year.

“The prospect of getting to read new, unpublished plays and discuss them with other theater enthusiasts just felt as though it had our names on it,” she said.

In fact, they volunteered to be group co-leaders that first year. Today she is one of eight group leaders and he has continued as a reader.

Carole Florian was an English major in college and has been a passionate theatergoer most of her life. In addition to leading a group, she also is responsible for placing readers in groups and supervising group activities.

“We have some readers who are local and want to meet in person,” she said. “And there are others who prefer Zoom meetings.”

Not only local readers

ANPF started using Zoom more during the pandemic. It has allowed the festival to accept a few readers from out of the area. Sometimes way out of the area.

“A couple years ago I had a Cornell grad student in my group,” Florian said. “I assumed she would be Zooming in from Ithaca, New York. As it turned out, because of the pandemic, she had gone home to her family in Novosibirsk, Siberia!”

Florian had considerable experience leading meetings during her professional career.

“I think the most important thing is making sure everyone’s voice is heard,” she said. “We always begin with the agreement that everyone’s opinion is valid.”

More than 60 readers

Those interested in becoming readers are invited to fill out a questionnaire on the ANPF website.

This year more than 60 readers were divided among the eight groups, with each reader assigned 16 to 18 plays to read in the first round.

Each group sends its best three plays forward for Round 2, when all the readers read and score the plays, paring down the field to 12.

Barbara Bobes has been a reader for 12 years, persuaded to get involved by a friend who had become a reader the year before.

She says the best part about being a reader is the group discussion.

“It is fascinating to hear the various opinions and ideas generated by each play,” Bobes said.

Scoring a play is not just a matter of rating a script as a good or bad read, she said. Other factors are also important.

“Does it have a good structure for the stage? Are the characters clearly defined? Is there escalating tension, surprises or unexpected twists? Does the story feel authentic and resolved in some way?” she said.

She brings no professional background or theater experience to the job.

“That said, I enjoy theater and plays very much, and Ashland is the perfect place to experience it,” she said.

Lucy Moore will start her sixth year as a reader for ANPF this winter. She was inspired to be a reader after attending several play readings at one of the October festivals.

“I was new to Ashland and looking for opportunities to volunteer in the community,” she said. “My love of theater drew me to move here after I retired, so ANPF seemed like the perfect fit.”

A rewarding experience

Moore says being a reader has been a rich and rewarding experience.

“It has far exceeded my expectations,” she said. “In addition, we have been given wonderful opportunities to attend workshops to refine our skills as readers.”

She says her biggest challenge was her initial tendency to read a script as she would a novel.

“Reading for ANPF has expanded my ability to look at plays as an art form very different from a short story or novel,” she said.

The art of listening

She’s learned to listen to her fellow readers and hearing their perspectives. Sometimes it has led her to reevaluate a play with a different lens.

This year’s winners were announced in July. They are Shanna Allman of Seattle for “Sync,” Minita Gandhi of Los Angeles for “Nerve,” Keiko Green of Los Angeles for “You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World,” and Novid Parsi of St. Louis for “The Life You Gave Me.”

The four plays will be presented as dramatic readings by actors at the SOU Main Stage, 491 S. Mountain Ave. in Ashland. The audience will be invited to engage in a talk-back with the artists after each presentation.

There will be two readings of each play Oct. 16-20 with matinee and evening performances.

Playwriting workshops

Playwriting workshops are scheduled for 10 a.m. to 12 noon Oct. 19 and 20. The venue will be announced on the ANPF website.

Play and workshop tickets are $25 each, with festival passes available at a discount. For those who cannot afford a $25 ticket, a limited number of discount coupons will be available.

For more information about the festival and to purchase tickets, go to ashlandnewplays.org.

Freelance writer Jim Flint is a retired newspaper publisher and editor. Email him at jimflint.ashland@yahoo.com.

Sept. 30: Corrected to say readings are not strictly by local actors.