Out of the Wings Festival 2024 – Call for Script Submissions 

Out of the Wings Festival 2024

Omnibus Theatre Clapham Tuesday 16 to Saturday 20 July 2024

Call for Script Submissions 

Update 17 February 2024: This call is now closed, but OOTW is active all year round and we welcome proposals for our monthly table-read. More information at our FAQs.

Update 10 January 2024: we are aware of an issue with the info@outofthewings.org email address. While we resolve this, please use catherine.boyle@kcl.ac.uk to submit your translation instead. 

Out of the Wings (OOTW) is a collective whose mission is to explore and promote theatre in translation from the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking worlds.  A flagship event in our activities is our annual festival, which in 2024 will celebrate its eighth edition.

Taking place at Omnibus Theatre, Clapham, from 16 to 20 July 2024, the festival will feature a script-in-hand reading of a new English translation of a play every evening.  The readings will be presented as part of a wider festival which will include daytime workshops, talks and discussions, the OOTW ‘Worldmaking on Stage’ Forum, and networking events. As in previous years, we seek to present five plays from five different countries, although double bills may be possible if time allows.

As well as targeting the general public, academia and the Hispanic and Lusophone communities, we will also aim to attract the theatre industry, namely individuals and organisations within theatre who may have an interest in taking the presented plays forward for further work or, ideally, a full production.  

In 2023, our fourth time at Omnibus, we built on our already growing audiences, and we are delighted to be returning to Omnibus in 2024.  A selection of translations from previous festivals have gone on to be published as part of OOTW’s partnership with publisher Inti Press.

Submission and Selection Process

Plays translated into English from Spanish, Portuguese or any other language commonly spoken in what are generally known as the Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking worlds, will be eligible. Multi-authored and co-translated plays will also be accepted. There is no overarching theme, and the plays may be from any period.  

Plays should be submitted in their English translation, in their rehearsal-ready draft and format. Your submission should be accompanied by our play submission form (download here). The translation should not have been performed or published before in the UK.

Before submitting a translation for consideration, the person submitting should ensure they have the permission of the writer/s, the translator/s, their estate/s or their representatives as appropriate and that all parties are fully aware of the terms of this call-out. Please confirm and provide evidence of this permission when submitting. Complete submissions should be sent to catherine.boyle@kcl.ac.uk.

Timeline

The deadline for submissions is 16 February 2024. The plays will be selected by the Out of the Wings team. The selection will be announced by early May, when publicity for the Festival will begin in earnest.  Casting, promotion and other pre-production work will continue throughout the spring and into summer.  

Production

The plays will be performed by professional actors, and directed by professional directors. All actors and directors will receive a fee. The plays will be performed as readings, rather than as scratch or semi-staged productions.  While additional elements such as lighting and design are not ruled out, this is expected to be very limited, with a focus on the text.  Additional funding for such elements will not be available.  Rehearsals will take place over two days, including the day of the reading.

Promotion

Out of the Wings will use its collective resources to publicise the event and ensure as high a number of attendees as possible.  The main method of advertising will be online.  As well as targeting individuals and organisations through email, a website will be created for the event, along with a social media presence.  We will also receive marketing support from the venue.  

Since 2021 our marketing has also included TV and radio appearances, and a mail-out to literary managers and artistic directors of all major London theatres and some further afield.  As OOTW is a collective endeavour, translators and writers will also be asked to take part in efforts to promote the festival, through optional contributions such as blogs or short video or audio pieces.

Fees and Complimentary Tickets

Translators and playwrights will each receive a fee of £75 (split in the case of multi-authored works) and will be invited free of charge to all of the festival readings. We will explore the option to fund expenses for writers or translators wanting to attend from overseas, but this cannot be guaranteed.

In addition to their own complimentary entry to their reading, writers and translators will be offered one additional complimentary ticket each to their own reading to offer to a guest of their choosing.

Year-Round OOTW Activities

OOTW is active throughout the year, hosting monthly meetings and ad-hoc theatre and translation events online and in person in London. Translators and other theatre colleagues are always welcome to join our events and to take part in our activities and discussions. For more information, connect with us via our socials or mailing list. https://ootwfestival.com/contact-us/ 

Translators who are working on a translation that is in a more preliminary state are welcome in particular at our monthly ‘table-read’, which offers informal peer-to-peer support to translators who have a work in progress. For more information on this, see https://ootwfestival.com/faq/. 

Out of the Wings Collective, December 2023