WHAT IS THE BAKE-OFF?
Created by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel, the Bake-Off is a community playwriting event in which participants are given a list of “ingredients” surrounding a theme to incorporate into their play (for example: a kitchen sink, a front porch, and a withheld secret) to inspire creativity.
The theme for our 2020 Spring/Summer Bake-Off is “Mahicantuck, The River that Flows Both Ways.”
2020 SELECTED PLAYS
Dead Man’s Hat
by Vernon Hamilton
Eb & Flo – A Wife’s Tale
by Rory Roche
The Writing on the Wall
by Jared Tamarkin
Devil Heads (or, The Temptation of Ann)
by Gwynne Watkins
What a Week
by Alana Jacoby
The Juicy Middle
by Meghan Malone
Michelle Beck*
Michael Early*
Jessica Frey*
Kurt Rhoads*
Corinna Schulenburg
Shaun Taylor Corbett*
Jude Tibeau*
Nance Williamson*
DIGITAL PROGRAM
2020 BAKE-OFF INGREDIENTS:
(Please incorporate at least THREE of these in your play)
- Floating patches of ice
- Factories
- A painter from the Hudson school
- Canoe
- Bannerman Island
- Dead body
- Mahicantuck
- Indian Point Nuclear
- Sailboat
- Tugboat
- The River Styx
PROPOSED STRUCTURE:
Write a play with five short scenes. In between scenes, the river changes direction and time also changes direction. See this diagram for two of the many possibilities. Please note that this structure is a suggestion, not a requirement. You may also choose to use it selectively and deviate from it as you see fit, use it as inspiration, or forgo it entirely.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Our local historian, Sarah Johnson, has put together research on the Hudson River in history and culture. Playwrights are welcome to use this for inspiration but are not required to incorporate this research into their writing. Research available here.
DEADLINE:
The deadline for submissions to the 2020 Bake-Off has passed. Selected participants will be notified by Friday, July 3.
PERFORMANCE:
Selected plays will be read by professional actors online Saturday, July 18. A total of 5-7 plays will be selected to be included in the final presentation.