Edinburgh 10-Minuters Project looking for writers

‘Ever wanted to write a play? Seems a bit much? How about if it’s only 10 minutes?’

These are the questions asked by a new theatre project based in Edinburgh. Edinburgh 10 Minuters, coordinated by Alex Clark, has a very clear vision set out on its website:

‘The Edinburgh 10 Minuters aims to bring together theatre enthusiasts from different youth theatre groups across Edinburgh to collaborate on short plays, with the aim of showcasing their work and talents to their peers and theatre professionals. Edinburgh 10 Minuters will be based around ten minute plays – written by young writers, directed by young directors, and acted by young actors, with the support of student technicians – which bring together different institutions; a writer from one theatre group, a director from another, actors from both. Edinburgh 10 Minuters hopes to create links between different student and youth theatre enthusiasts, and bridge the gap between student, youth and professional theatre networks in Edinburgh.’

Alex has been visiting different drama outlets, meeting hundreds of potential writers, actors and directors. I asked him about what inspired him to set up such an ambitious scheme and what response he has received so far.

“I started attending the Traverse Theatre Young Writers Group last year”, said Clark. “The initial introductions were a bit of an eye opener when I realised I was the only person in the group who went to Edinburgh Uni – I was only barely aware QMU existed, let alone that it had a wealth of theatre talent. Since that point I wanted to put together a project that could connect different universities, particularly theatre groups, and serve as a jumping point for showcasing collaborative work. That’s pretty much where the 10 Minuters was born.

“The response has been consistently fantastic. It’s brilliant working with young people and university students because they have a shed-load of enthusiasm and energy for new ideas, and I’m constantly surprised by the new ways people want to help out – it has meant that the entire project is being run by people like myself and the participants; young folk looking to collaborate on theatre work.”

Alex continued: “This is a great opportunity to collaborate with some new people and get your work out in the open. We’re locking down professional interest from NTS and Traverse who’ll be in attendance at the show, which is going to be running from the 22nd-24th of March, at The Counting House. This is the most exciting project I’ve ever been on, and that feeling is starting to get pretty infectious – we’d love to hear from anyone who’s interested in getting involved.”

The closing date for script submissions is February 7th 2012. For more information, email 10minuters@gmail.com.