What is DSL?

Downstage Left (or DSL) is Stage Left's new play development program. The idea is to assist playwrights in breaking the development loop by shepherding plays from the conceptual stage toward production. Projects can start with as little as an idea and a proposal, and progress through a series of steps towards an eventual production at Stage Left or another theatre from Chicago or around the country interested in compelling, thought-provoking and topical new plays. All DSL projects must further Stage Left's aritstic mission: to raise debate and challenge perspectives on political and social issues.

There are three main areas of development in DSL:

The Toolbox Series
This is the entry point for most DSL projects. Artists can customize their approach by using one of the following tools DSL offers.
View the current Toolbox Series projects here.

• Public Staged Reading
  • Explore your piece on its feet and put it in front of an audience
  • Intended for full-length pieces
• Public "Music Stand" Reading
  • Focus on the text by keeping the staging to a minimum
  • Intended for full-length pieces
• Private Staging
  • Maximize your risk-level with a 45-minute private staging
  • Intended for early-stage projects
• Private Workshop Series
  • Focus on specific aspects of your piece, or on the play as a whole with a series of rehearsals in a safe environment that encourages risk
• Dramaturgical Review
  • Receive a written analysis, based on questions and criteria you submit, from a Stage Left ensemble member

The Developmental Residency
The Stage Left ensemble will select outstanding projects from the Toolbox Series to be awarded developmental residencies, for which writers will receive eight months of uninterrupted development, culminating in a slot in LeapFest.
View the current Developmental Residency project here.

LeapFest
Stage Left's annual festival of new, socially-charged plays. The festival is an opportunity for playwrights, actors, directors and dramaturgs to actively engage in a three to four week workshop intensive. The experience is capped by publicly staged performances and a concerted marketing effort to let other theatres know about the work.

Neither Toolbox Series nor Residency are required for LeapFest participants.
To submit a script for LeapFest, please see our submission guidelines.

Get Involved

Calling playwrights, directors, actors and dramaturgs!
Join us as we craft stories about today's world.

DSL is open to artists - not only playwrights - who have ideas for theatre that supports Stage Left's mission, to raise debate on political and social issues.

Tips for applying - The key to our mission is the phrase "raise debate." We're not interested in simply beating the drum or presenting fully formed opinions. Ask yourself if your play would spark debate between reasonable audience members. The more challenging (and relevant) the central question of your play, the better.

New Plays in Development (Feb. 2008 - May 2008)
All readings take place at Stage Left - 3408 N. Sheffield, Chicago
All DSL readings and events are FREE to subscribers.
The general public is asked for a $5 donation.
Reservations are not required or accepted.

If you are a producer and think any of the following plays may be of interest to your theatre, please contact our literary staff.

Developmental Residency

Here Where It's Safe
by ensemble member M.E.H. Lewis
To be featured in LeapFest 5 in June 2008
There are no public readings of Here Where It's Safe scheduled at this time.

The Toolbox Series

Public Readings:

Faith
by James McLindon
directed by Chris Riter
Sunday, March 9 at 7:00pm
All that Simon wants for Christmas is the stigmata. And to be God’s prophet. And if prayer and sacrifice have anything to do with it, Simon is well on his way. Theresa, his mother, prefers that he go to the mall and let Walmart tell him what he wants for Christmas. Simon does visit the mall, or more exactly, the Walmart parking lot, as it is the closest approximation to a desert that he can find in his snowswept, upstate New York home. And it came to pass that there, in the parking lot, Simon saw the Harbinger, a visitor to him from the heavens and, no doubt, God’s emissary to him and earth, hovering just above the halogen glow of the parking lot lights. His prayers have been answered. Or have they?

Foundations
by Kurt Schneiderman
Sunday, March 16 at 7:00pm
A crew of everyday construction workers are erecting what they believe to be a much needed shopping center in the impoverished Black ghetto of an unnamed urban area. Tensions erupt when the crew is informed that, far from building a shopping center, they are building the city’s newest police station. One Black worker, whose son recently died in police custody, brings the entire project to a halt and different members of the crew turn against each other, quickly dividing along racial lines. As the construction workers struggle to resolve this work stoppage, they are forced to confront their own prejudices and find serious answers to many of the crucial questions that working people have faced throughout the centuries.

Private Workshops:

There are no private workshops scheduled for this round.

Literary Staff

John Sanders
Director of New Play Development
(Downstage Left & LeapFest)
john@stagelefttheatre.com

Kevin Heckman
Producing Artistic Director
(Subscription Season & General Submissions)
kevin@stagelefttheatre.com

Laura Blegen
Literary Assistant

773-883-8830
3408 N. Sheffield Ave.
Chicago, IL 60657