Submission 129 / Day 129

BENEATH SHELTON LAUREL to the Delaware Theatre Company.

DTC is a LORT theatre which, under the leadership of Anne Marie Cammarato, has instituted a welcome policy of producing at least one world premiere each season. Plus, the prevailing aesthetic there apparently includes a taste for the "historio-literary" (current season includes PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE and COPENHAGEN), which should run in my favor. In fact, I'm sorely tempted to submit POUND, my play about the poet Ezra Pound, who happens to have grown up in the nearby Philadelphia suburbs (another mark in its favor).

However, with a half dozen productions already, POUND would not be anything close to a world premiere and, I can't help but also note that DTC's productions of what I termed the "historio-literary" happen to be plays written by exceedingly well known playwrights . . . which I am not. There's also the problem that DTC's web site contains no "submissions policy", which suggests they may not be particularly receptive to unsolicited submissions. That being the case, I'm going with BENEATH SHELTON LAUREL this time on the grounds that it:

• Should appeal strongly to audiences (and, God willing, artistic directors) with historio-literary sensibilities.
• Is not a world premiere candidate, but it's close with only one prior production and a highly successful one, suggesting that BSL is a strong candidate to move to a more prominent stage.
• Is highly orginal creatively and structurally (whereas POUND is more conventional), which I think will make it a noteworthy production for the theatre that takes BSL on and that I hope will allow it to trigger curiousity in Ms. Cammarato.

Finally, I can always submit POUND the next time. Notes: Not sending a full script this time . . . just a query letter, bio, and brief including dialogue samples. Too expensive and, more importantly, too presumptuous to send a full manuscript to a theatre without a published submission policy.

One other thing unrelated to DTC and this submission. Someone recently suggested that I must be "grimly determined" to keep this up. Well, I am determined, but not at all grim. I think I have more of the "happy warrior" aspect, which thankfully makes me appreciative rather than resentful of the absurdities that accompany my quest. For instance, what do you make of a theatre that for many months fails to acknowledge in any way a carefully prepared submission, but which uses the submission to harvest my email address for its fund raising list?

For the record, I do contribute annually to a number of theatres, and I understand the need for fundraising, but yeesh!