10 x 10

the 10th Annual Bedlam Community 10 Minute Play Festival

See art. Feel art. BE art.

PROJECT development WORKSHOPs (March 16-31) – Schedule TBD: A series of sessions designed to refine and develop ideas, scripts and projects submitted to 10×10 Fest. By March 31 we select a final slate of 21 scripts/projects.

AUDITiONS: April 2nd, 1pm at Bedlam Community Design Center and April 6th, 6:30pm at the Capri Theater : Where you say, “yes, I want to be on stage in this Festival.” We all try out, we all get in: there is at least one part for everyone who auditions.

THE BIG SHOW, the Festival itself
5 days of 10 Minute Plays Wednesday-Sunday May 11th-15th, 2011 at the Capri Theater on Broadway, North Minneapolis, where the whole world will get to experience the art-magic we made (well, as many as the Capri legally fits).

The AFTERMATH
You’re life will probably never be quite the same again….
all because of what can happen in 10 MINUTES.

What the heck is this 10 Fest?

If YOU want to be on the Bedlam stage THIS IS YOUR IN!!!

If you want to sit back and enjoy a fantastically imaginative, energizing, inspiring collection of brand new short works, YOU’RE HERE.

The 10-Fest is Bedlam’s anchor program of community engagement and new work development. Every year the festival is a great mix of stand-alone pieces and the imaginative seeds of future projects, of professional artists stretching their wings and first-time performers giving it a try.

Bedlam Theatre began the Ten Minute Community Play Festival in 2002, as a response to overwhelming community demand: “when do WE get to make THEATER at Bedlam!?!?!” Over the years of 10-Fest, we have found many people share this sentiment.

There are often few opportunities for quality creative involvement of anyone who has not chosen to follow a professional artistic path. We believe that the desire and need to create exists in everyone and this is your chance to be a part of the show. So… we cast everyone who auditions. Really? Really.

So its just a free-for-all?

Nope. The festival process is an intricate mix of wide open access and creative curation to make sure what you’re getting on stage looks and feels like Bedlam. We curate for quality & promise, for diversity of style, process and content.

A core team of artists is hired/commissioned in the winter to see the festival from idea to action. Together they host “Ideathons” through the early part of 2011, workshops open to anyone to plum the dreams and visions of future plays to be. The SUBMISSION DEADLINE accepts both Scripts and Collaborative Project proposals as well as Director and Project Leader resumes. Submissions are reviewed by the core artists and final selections made by the festival director.

Open auditions are held in which all who audition are cast. After a subsequent number of weeks of rehearsal, the plays will run over the weekend of May 11th-15th.

If YOU want to be involved in TEN FEST but NOT as a performer, there will be volunteer opportunities in the front-of-the-house and behind the scenes, email interest to . To make a FINANCIAL INVESTMENT in the 10th Annual Festival, click this link for GIVEMN.

With your support we Make it. We look forward to seeing you there.

Bedlam Theatre is a fiscal year 2011 recipient of an Arts Access grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. 10×10 Fest is funded, in part, by the Minnesota arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the Legacy Amendment vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

Bedlam Theatre is a participant in the New Generations Program, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation /The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for American theatre. Bedlam Theatre receives general operating support from the McKnight Foundation, a Minnesota-based family foundation that seeks to improve the quality of life for present and future generations. Funds for this activity are provided by the COMPAS Community Art Program through a grant from the McKnight Foundation.