Buffalo Carp Flash Fiction Contest

BUFFALO CARP
Quad City Arts’ Literary Magazine

*GUIDELINES for Buffalo Carp’s FLASH FICTION CONTEST*

-Prize is $250 USD, plus five copies of Buffalo Carp, Volume 6. All entries will be considered for publication.

-Send no more than three (3) flash fiction stories, each one being no longer than 600 words. ONLY unpublished flash fiction stories may be submitted.

-Entry fee is $10 for each submission of up to three (3) flash fiction stories; please make checks payable to “QUAD CITY ARTS”. All entrants will receive Buffalo Carp, Volume 6 (winning story will be published in Volume 6) with paid entry fee.

-Email submissions are accepted, but will NOT be processed until the $10 entry fee is received.

-Please include a SASE for notification and cover sheet with all contact information (name, address, phone #, and email), title of all stories submitted, and a brief bio. Name and contact information should NOT appear on the stories themselves.

-Judging will be done by the editorial staff of Buffalo Carp.

-Simultaneous submissions are accepted, as long as you notify Buffalo Carp immediately should your work be accepted elsewhere.

-Deadline for submissions is January 16, 2009. Winners will be announced February 2009.

Please send entries to:

Flash Fiction Contest
Buffalo Carp
Quad City Arts
1715 Second Avenue
Rock Island, IL 61201

OR email submissions to: buffalocarp@gmail.com

If you have questions, please contact Ryan Collins: (309) 793-1213 ext. 107, or email: rcollins@quadcityarts.com

Camp Shakespeare

This may seem like an advertisement, like I'm being paid to say such glowing things. But I assure you I've got nothing at stake here. This is pure love!

I've just returned from a week-long, ultra-intensive and very fun week of Camp Shakespeare at the Tony Award winning Utah Shakespearean Festival, and words, words, words can hardly describe the experience. I feel like I've just woken up form a strange dream--a dream that an Elizabethan English playhouse had been magically transported to the red sandstone mountains of Southern Utah, that Shakespeare fans and students of all ages were now traveling to Utah in droves to see stellar performances of the bard's plays, that actors and audience members alike were partying after hours in cabarets, that world renowned scholars and directors and stage designers were drawn inexplicably to Cedar City to create some of the best Shakespearean theater in the world ...

(Slide show photos by Gary Enns, Gary Graupman, and Michael Flachmann)

If you have never been to the Utah Shakespearean Festival, then you are in for a shock. There is not much that seems regional about this regional theater. For forty-six years, Fred Adams and USF supporters have been building this festival into something spectacular. The festival grounds now boast three stages, indoor and outdoor lecture spaces, concessions, and a center with bookstore and gift shop. The USF produces nine--yes, nine--plays per year. Needless to say, Southern Utah is now a magnet for professional actors, directors, and other drama professionals. For its excellence, in 2000, The USF achieved international attention when it won a Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater of the Year.

The Adams Memorial Theatre is the crown jewel at the USF. An open-air theater designed in the spirit of Shakespeare's Globe, it's the space of choice for traditional period productions of the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. For musicals, contemporary plays, and non-traditional productions of Shakespeare, the USF utilizes the beautifully gilded indoor Randall L. Jones Theatre.

For anyone even remotely curious about the Shakespeare and the theater, Camp Shakespeare is a fantastic introduction. In five intense days, you see six plays (three of Shakespeare's and three by other playwrights and/or composers), attend seminars and classes and workshops on all things theater, and eat extremely well in SUU's beautiful and elegant Great Hall. Lodging and all meals are included. World renowned Shakespeare scholar and official festival dramaturg Michael Flachmann heads up the camp, wearing several hats--host, teacher, party coordinator, and general fun guy. And if you are a student, valuable university undergraduate and graduate credit is available through SUU and CSUB.

The 2008 Summer season that I just attended includes The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, Moliere's The School for Wives, and Bock, Harnick, and Stein's popular musical Fiddler on the Roof. The highlight for me was Rostand's play directed by David Ivers. The chemistry between leads Brian Vaughn and Melinda Pfunstein was first rate and brought great pathos to this melodramatic play.

For more information on Camp Shakespeare options (including Mini CS and CS for Seniors), visit Camp Shakespeare Online. Hopefully I'll see you in Utah for Summer 2009!