What is the Variations Project?
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The Variations Project is Baltimore's original ten-minute play festival. Each year since 2005, the event has created a diverse collection of world premiere plays based on an audience-chosen theme amid an inclusive and participatory process.
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Want to get involved? It all starts with the Variations Party...
How to Participate
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1. Come to the Variations Party (Saturday, January 18, 2025, 2–5pm, Strand Theater, 5426 Harford Road, Baltimore, MD 21214). If you miss it, don't worry—source material from the party will be posted here. This is the event where, each year, we explore the theme and generate sparks of ideas—the beginnings of stories. Then...
2. Go write a 10-minute play! (See Guidelines below.) Deadline for submission is 11:59pm on February 28, 2025.
3. Readings of submissions will occur during March with the authors available for discussion and to receive feedback, after which point writers will have the opportunity to make revisions before final selections are made.
4. Shortly after the readings, we will announce the group of roughly 7 to 12 plays which will be produced on stage—and start rehearsals!
5. The stage production, directed by Lauren Davis, will take place July 5–27, 2025 at Strand Theater.
If you'd like to participate or have a question, please drop us a line using the "Contact Us" link or email VariationsProject@gmail.com.
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Guidelines
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A. Your submission should be a newly written piece for the purpose of this project and not something you dust off and repurpose to fit the theme. The writing is the most important part of the process!
B. No more than one submission per author.
C. We want playwrights to join us in the process of creating and developing their work, so please be from the DelMarVa area so you can participate in person.
D. A ten-minute play runs about 1500 words. If your submission is over 2000 we will ask you to shorten it before its reading. Our production will be performed by an ensemble cast of about 6-8 actors so please be open to nontraditional casting and avoid writing something requiring many actors.
E. As with casting, be open-minded about production design. Remember, all of the plays we select to produce will share a stage. We'll have obvious limitations in scenery and other design elements which will give us wonderfully theatrical opportunities to attack problems unconventionally and non-literally.
F. Submissions should be emailed to VariationsProject@gmail.com in .doc or .docx (Word) format no later than 11:59 p.m. on the deadline date.
