"Pass the Salt, Please" Shortlisted for Short & Sweet/Sydney

My award-winning short, "Pass the Salt, Please." has made the shortlist - 317 out of 1550 - for Short + Sweet/Sydney.

How does "shortlist" sound on a resume? Hmmm...let's call it, "semi-finalist", eh? This is a record number of entries for this competition, dubbed as the world's largest 10-minute play festival, with entries from every state and territory in Australia, as well as from Canada, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, the USA and the UK. The largest percentage of the 317 are from Australia - with 45 from the U.S., 13 Singapore, 9 UK, 3 New Zealand and Ireland, Croatia and France rounding out the rest. And me! Its parent competition - Short + Sweet/Melbourne - maybe that one's the largest. Anyway, neither of my plays were selected for Melbourne but the kind folks there forwarded my entries to Sydney, free of any fees (standard for Melbourne entrants). The festival runs over five week-long blocks from Jan 16, 2008 until February 23, 2008.

The Short+Sweet Sydney 2008 adjudication team was comprised of 60 theater professionals - writers, dramaturges, directors, producers, actors, designers and literary managers. All plays were read and assessed anonymously. If the play scored high with the first two judges, two more read it. If the play scored high again, you made the shortlist of 317.

What happens now? From the 317 shortlisted entries, 130 will be chosen to form the production season for the festival in January-February, 2008. There are the “Top 90” plays that will run in a weeklong season of 10 plays at the Seymour Centre and Newtown Theatre venues, plus an extra 40 “Wildcards” that are shown in programs of 10 for an industry-focused one-off matinee performance, also at the Seymour Centre and Newtown Theatre.

A little re-cap. "Pass the Salt, Please." won BEST OF SHOW in the inaugural juried show, UNcover: An Art Exhibition with An Erotic Vibe, which was this past March in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It also had its LA premiere at the grand re-opening of Drake's Erotica Emporium on Melrose in West Hollywood this past August. Big success. For a synopsis on this 'dirty little play' (as my friend, Justyna refers to it), to my play blog at http://playsofjeffreyjamesircink.blogspot.com/2007/07/pass-salt-please_27.html
I normally wouldn't mention even this honor, as the final list will be ready next week. But when you're a writer - well, you have to enjoy the little victories as I may not make the final cut list. Wish me luck!