What a difference a continent makes!

Not long after I was contacted by Normal in Illinois, USA (see previous blog) about being one of their winners, I was then contacted by a gentleman who was going to direct my play. He was emailing me to introduce himself; to say that he'd been one of the judges of the competition and how he had chosen to do my play amongst all of the others. He said that he felt that he had to share with me  his background and  even how he ended up in Bloomington, Illinois which is down the road (in American terms) from Normal - and:
I am now an adjunct professor teaching a freshman writing course on Bob Dylan as well as Introduction to Dramatic Literature for the School of Theatre Arts.
And so on - telling me that he was about to audition for the play and that he hoped that he might contact me during the rehearsal period to ask any questions etc.
I was touched by this approach and also that my play would be seen for 16 performances at the Heartland Theatre. 16! wow - that is a lot of performances for an evening of ten minute plays - but then I've just been informed by Fusion Theatre in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that of their sixteen performances in June of their ten minute play winners - four performances have already sold out and they haven't even announced the winners yet, because of the number of entries!
It's a whole different ball game over there - and you have to realise that we are talking amateur theatre. This is not professionals doing this, but the same kind of volunteers, as in this country, running a theatre group, choosing plays, choosing directors, actors etc - building scenery, collecting props and selling tickets etc.
But compare this with my recent experience in this country.
I was the winner of a recent ten minute play competition over here and was invited to attend the ONE performance of the winners plays - on a Saturday afternoon.
When I got there in the morning (we had been invited to attend a morning rehearsal), we were told that they hadn't advertised the event, because they didn't know what the quality was going to be like.
There were no directors allocated to the plays - and cast members were in several plays. There had been no time allocated in the theatre space until that morning -  and my cast told me that they'd rehearsed in their kitchen!
Although the winners and the runners up had been invited to attend the rehearsals and for a buffet lunch, it seemed to come as a surprise to the organisers that we had all turned up!
It seemed to me - but possibly I was beginning to be jaundiced by the whole affair by this time - that they had scurried around at the last minute to come up with something to do with us.
The runners up were given a workshop(?) and the winners were given a talk by a professional - which seemed to have little to do with writing ten minute plays, or so it seemed to me - I may have missed something in translation.
We have been promised ( and still waiting for) a recording of the event and were given complimentary programmes on the day. But the actual treatment of the winners  - seemed to say, "we don't know what to do with you - because you're writer and we don't normally have to deal with writers, we just get on with putting plays on."
So yes, I am comparing like with like in that everyone involved in these competitions both sides of the pond were amateurs - but there seems to be a world of difference in treatment of us, writers!
I have to say in defence of British amateurs that this is not the case all of the time.
I had a wonderful experience last November, when I was invited to attend the performance of my one act play in Cornwall. But then of course they were on their own ground - their own theatre - and very enthusiastic about their competition which was judged in part by a professional actor.
We can get it right in this country, when we apply ourselves.
But that was a half hour play - not a ten minute one. And I think therein lies part of the problem.
We are only just coming around to  a phenomena of playwriting which has been growing in America for the past thirty five years!! The ten minute play.
In America alone there are dozens of these competitions - I enter one almost weekly - and now the phenomena has spread to Australasia and the Indian Sub-continent, where  Short and Sweet plays have  been expanding their influence for the past ten years! They hold thirteen competitions a year.
In this country we are virgins in this area - because groups are not convinced that audiences will go out to see an evening of ten minute plays - just as there is a reluctance to put on one act plays - except for the festivals of course. But then of course that is groups contributing and attending. You are virtually guaranteed a full house.
So where am I in this ramble?
Well, I suppose I should like to say that if there are any groups out there contemplating running a competition, then please think about the winners and what you are going to offer them by way of performance and respect. Remember that they will have spent a lot of time, effort and creativity in writing that play - and perhaps a ten minute play doesn't deserve a prize or cheque, but it does deserve something! It deserves time and energy in rehearsing and production, it deserves having a decent run of performances to test the piece more vigorously, and it does deserve the playwright being involved in some way. The Internet brings us all closer together and allows me the chance to submit plays to Alaska and  New Delhi, as well as in the British Isles.
If you don't think you can provide this, then please - please don't do it!