The Bake-Off was created partly to provide a generative/creative event to the conference, and partly to honor the conference's keynote guest, Paula Vogel. Philadelphia playwrights had from Thursday, January 12th until Sunday, January 15th to bake a totally new play (of any length), using the following ingredients (offered by Bob Jude Ferrante, Seth Rozin, and Dan Student) :
1. A zombie must, in some way, appear.
2. A chicken salad sandwich must be involved, preferably in a sexual, fetishistic or politically compromising situation. The sandwich can have capers on it, but they are optional.
3. He/she was abused, as a child, by a trusted neighbor.
The event yielded almost TWENTY new plays (including mine, Zombie Heart Salad Sandwich), and we had an incredibly fun time reading as many of them as possible that Sunday afternoon.
Three of the plays were selected for inclusion in Plays & Players's upcoming Mmmmm Brains New Play Festival (March 20 & 27), and it is my hope that the other plays created that weekend will all live on as well (because they were all so good!). It was a really encouraging, fun event, full of discovery, surprises, and many new friendships.
Fuck yeah, new plays.
Rock on,
ROMERO
