Come As You Are 2019 – Call For Submissions

Come As You Are 2019 – Call For Submissions

We are looking for adventurous performances addressing attitudes towards and understanding of gender. We’re on the lookout for local & South West artists to commission new work for the Come As You Are scratch night (Sun 17 Nov 2019), and also to perform fully formed pieces of work as part of the main festival programme (Sat 16 & Sun 17 Nov 2019).

Get ready to celebrate and interrogate issues regarding gender, from cis to trans, binary to beyond as Come As You Are Festival returns to Exeter Phoenix this November.

After the success of last year’s festival, Come As You Are returns to Exeter for a festival of trans, non-binary and gender queer theatre. With the dizzying pace at which our understanding of gender is developing, expect a weekend of performances, workshops and discussions from gender anarchists with more questions than answers.

 The festival is presented in collaboration with Camden Peoples Theatre who have been celebrating gender diversity with Come As You Are since 2017.

Successful applicants for the Scratch Night will be commissioned £150 and prior to the festival will be invited to share their ideas and any excerpts of what they might be performing for the Come As You Are scratch night, at an LGBTQ+ open mic night hosted by Natalie McGrath (Playwright, Creative Project Lead, & Co-Director of Dreadnought South West) at Exeter Phoenix on Sun 1 Sep.

They will also receive a mentoring session and be offered a workshop about digital presence & Social Media Marketing using Facebook Live. This opportunity is funded by Arts Council England South West as part of Natalie’s ongoing current work as an LGBTQ+ identifying artist to develop more LGBTQ+ focused work in the city of Exeter. This includes Queering RAMM with Dr Jana Funke from the Re-Thinking Sexology Project at Exeter University and an ongoing collaboration with Exeter Phoenix.    

All performances (scratch or developed) should fit with the themes of the festival. We particularly encourage applicants from trans, non-binary and gender-queer artists, but we’re interested in hearing from anyone.

We are looking for performances exploring themes directly relevant to the festival, under either category (please specify on the online form what development stage you’re in):

SCRATCH PERFORMANCES

• In-development or short performances
• Extracts of longer shows still in development

(All performances/sharings should be no more than 20 minutes long.)

FULL LENGTH PERFORMANCES

• We are looking to programme fully developed shows from South West artists, but are open to receiving applications from further afield.

Please note the festival is primarily concerned with gender, not sexuality.

HOW TO APPLY

Apply here: https://forms.gle/ameDGcofGuH8uDSv6

Deadline for submission is: Mon 5 Aug.