Ubu Roi Bake-off Twin Cities

From Paula Vogel:

Dear friends -

I am calling for a national UBU ROI Bake-Off to be performed on Presidents Day, Feb 19, 2018. Across the U.S. and around the world, artists, theaters, and collectives will be writing in response to Alfred Jarry’s text and performing it live on Presidents Day in response to our global crisis.

What’s a Bake-Off?

A Bake-Off is a quickly-written exercise on an assigned theme, with assigned elements, that folks then write within a 48-hour period of time. Usually, Bake-Offs have a group participating, and when the 48 hours is up, the group gathers and reads the plays. Bakeoffs can be songs, poems, dada, puppetry – anything! I usually offer a play and articles or films on the Bake-Off topic online, which I encourage you all to do for yourselves as well.

For example, with military veterans at the Wilma, we did a four-hour Bake-Off on Joan of Arc. Everyone in the workshop wrote a Bake-Off with: A girl in a field. A visitation. Convincing higher authority. A philosophical defense of cross-dressing.

Here’s how it will work:

I posted the Bake-Off Ingredients on my webpage paulavogelplaywright.com/ubu-bake-off and am asking all of you to help disseminate the information so that anyone who wants to participate in the writing of a play, can.

How do you participate in the Twin Cities UBU ROI Bake-Off?

  1. If you want to participate in writing a play and having it read on February 19 at the Playwrights’ Center, please sign up here. Sign up by 2 p.m. on February 14. THERE WILL BE 50 SLOTS AVAILABLE FOR PLAYS TO BE READ THAT NIGHT. There will also be a handful of stand-by slots in case all 50 plays don’t arrive in time.
     
  2. Again, you can now peruse the ingredients at: paulavogelplaywright.com/ubu-bake-off.
     
  3. On February 17 at NOON, begin the 48-hour process of writing the play – in the true spirit of Bake-Off: don’t start writing until that day!
     
  4. In order to accommodate performing 50 plays that evening, all plays must not be longer than 5 minutes long. If your play is longer, you can send us a 5-minute segment from the play that you’d like read.
     
  5. On February 19 BY NOON, please email your finished Bake-Off play to: bakeoff@pwcenter.org. Any plays not received BY NOON will likely not be able to be read at the Playwrights’ Center that night, as we’ll need time to print them out and give them to the actors to QUICKLY look through. Also, if you finish your play before the deadline, please send it in then!
     
  6. There will be a diverse cast of EIGHT brilliant Twin Cities actors available to read your play that night and there are no guarantees about which actors will be reading which roles. The readings will be at music stands. Part of the great fun and spontaneity of the event will be NO REHEARSAL and ALL INSTINCT – inspired by the immediacy of writing these plays. So get ready to write that play and turn it over to the spirit of the night!
     
  7. If you are interested in being in the audience to hear the plays, meet new artists, and cheer on your colleagues – reserve a maximum of two seats here.

A few reminders:

  • You do NOT have to be a professional playwright to participate in writing a play. This is a great opportunity to take your experience, leadership and gut instinct as an artist in this community…and make your voice heard!
     
  • In the Bake-Off section of my website, you’ll find a link to the scripts of both UBU ROI and MACBETH, as well as a few articles. For delicious inspiration.
     
  • A reminder to share this event on email, on social media, on your 10-minute break at rehearsal, at auditions, with your students, etc. The greater the diversity of voices, the more exciting and visceral the night will be. The landing page for all things UBU Twin Cities will be: pwcenter.org/ubu, and as we get closer to the event, there will be updates posted on social media at: facebook.com/pwcenter and twitter.com/pwcenter. Hashtags: #UbuBakeoff #UbuBakeoffTwinCities
     
  • Because there’s already such momentum around this event in the Twin Cities, we anticipate a large response to those wanting to write plays. If there ends up being more plays than available slots…write the play anyway! Host a gathering in your living room! Take over a coffee shop or knitting circle or dorm lounge! Just make your voice heard!

I welcome your ideas.

Offer applause! 

And do Bake-Offs. No bakeoff is given criticism.

It is better than stewing at home. 
The motto is: Fight Shit with Merdre.

Yours,
Paula