"It was amazing how many of the writers were turning in their work at the absolute last minute, saying, 'I've been up for three weeks straight finishing this for you. And here it is and I hope it's good,' " said Tessa LaNeve, Primary Stages' literary manager and director of ESPA. "And you know what? They were."
ESPA has departments in acting, writing, and directing. ESPA Drills is a developmental program in which writers workshop their plays at the theater with help from the ESPA staff. Last year, 60 plays were submitted, with the four winning works appearing at Off-Broadway's 59E59 Theaters.
"It's about hearing the play, not necessarily seeing the play," LaNeve said.
Micheline Auger, whose play "The Feminism of a Soft Merlot (or How the Donkey Got Punched)" was chosen for this year's reading series, said she was honored to participate in a program in which she can share her work.
"It's something that a writer is always hoping for," she said. "A writer hopes to get into a place where they support your work and it gets to be in front of new people."
The other winners are "23.5" by Cary Crim, "Verano Place" by Katie Atcheson, and "Next Time on Spring Valley" by Louise Schwarz.
According to LaNeve, the program was started last year because many students wished to have fully staged readings of their plays but there wasn't enough time to work with each student individually. As a result, a competition-style program was born.
"Creating a new program that would enable everyone to do that seemed impossible," LaNeve said. "So I had to make this a competition. And once you create a competition, you sort of need to make the event big."
LaNeve said that she personally handles all the program's marketing, as well as casting actors and hiring directors for each staged reading.
"What makes this program really special is that the larger company, Primary Stages, as a whole works tirelessly to advocate for these writers, before, during, and afterward," she said. "So right now I'm in the process of reaching out to industry members, to agents, to future collaborators, to anybody that I think would benefit from hearing these voices."
Auger, who has been with Primary Stages since 2009, said the theater company gave her the opportunity to work in a professional environment.
"I've taken classes at other places where you feel like this is just a hobby for some people, and that's reflected in the work," she said. "Here it's very much a professional program and people work at that level. When you know that bar is set high and you're working with other professionals in the field, it just makes you operate at a higher level."
In a series of rounds, the plays submitted for ESPA Drills are eliminated until only four are left. In the first round, a panel of judges reads 10 to 12 pages of each work, and 16 plays are chosen. These semifinalists are then read by a new group of readers, which narrows the competition down to eight. From there, another group of readers chooses the four winners.
"I had a feeling something good was going to happen this summer, and I think this was my something good," said Auger. "I feel like each play has its own time, and I just feel like the time is right for this play."
The reading of Auger's "The Feminism of a Soft Merlot (or How the Donkey Got Punched)" will take place Thursday, Aug. 18, at noon. Carey Crim's "23.5" will follow that same day at 3 p.m. Katie Atcheson's "Verano Place" will be read on Thursday, Aug. 25, at noon, and Louise Schwarz's "Next Time on Spring Valley" will be read that day at 3 p.m. Go to www.primarystages.org for more details and ticketing information.
