“No other Central Ohio theater company takes the chances that Available Light does. And no other company makes chances pay off as spectacularly.” – Jay Weitz in Columbus Alive

“Available Light refuses to play it safe.” – Richard Ades in The Other Paper

THE NEXT STAGE INITIATIVE will be a two-weekend festival of six new plays and premieres, presented in a low-fi, scripts-in-hand format. Columbus audiences will be participate in the growth & cultivating of some soon-to-be great plays as Available Light celebrates playwrights with exciting viewpoints and local roots. This project goes right to the heart of Available Light’s mission to find and create new plays that are fresh, sexy, provocative, challenging, surprising, and risky conversation starters.

THE NEXT STAGE INITIATIVE includes these plays-in-progress . . .
– A Decent Stretch by Mark Snyder
– Southern Cross the Dog by Camille Bullock
– Patience Worth by Jennifer Schlueter
– Leaving the Atocha Station by Matt Slaybaugh (from the book by Ben Lerner)
– and more . . .

THE NEXT STAGE INITIATIVE will invest in these new works by giving four visiting playwrights what they need most.
– protected time (in rehearsal) and space (in a well-equipped theater) for intensive exploration
– resources when they’re most valuable – before the play is “finished.”
– skilled directors and actors who make the play their creative priority
– an intellectually curious audience to respond to the work in a constructive environment

THE NEXT STAGE INITIATIVE will help these playwrights discover the heart of their own work by putting Available Light’s platform in the Columbus community at their service. At the end of the festival, audiences will have heard six cutting-edge works and our visiting playwrights will go home with scripts that have been nourished by the process and are ready to move on to fully-staged productions, at Available Light or elsewhere.

THE PRODUCERS
THE NEXT STAGE INITIATIVE will be produced by Matt Slaybaugh (Artistic Director of Available Light Theatre) and Jenn Schlueter (Asst. Professor in The Ohio State University Theatre Dept. and joint Artistic Director at the for/word company.) The Initiative will also host a regional meeting of the Dramatists Guild (the national, professional association of playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists) focusing on hopes and dreams for new play development in the region.

PAY WHAT YOU WANT
All of this, by the way, will be offered to audiences for the low, low price of Pay What You Want, an AVLT innovation in operation since 2008, because we are committed to making theatre accessible to everyone.

So how will your money be used? Let’s break it down…
– Pay to artists: $2850
– Rent: $2400
– Production costs: $1750
– Marketing: $1100
– Travel: $900
– Power2give admin fee: $1000

ABOUT AVAILABLE LIGHT
Available Light is a Columbus, Ohio theatre company devoted to staging and creating bold, new theater. Our commitment to new plays, adaptations, and company-driven creation has been lauded by American Theatre magazine, the National New Play Network, New York Press, Philadelphia’s Barrymore Awards, the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards, NYTheatre dot com, the Central Ohio Theatre Critics Circle, and the Greater Columbus Arts Council’s Artistic Excellence Awards.