The University of Sheffield Light Entertainment Society (USLES) have opened submissions for scripts to be portrayed in this year’s summer production, to be staged in May.
Following this semester’s Summoning Morphsuit Gary, the society are looking for scripts to follow in the footsteps of last year’s Chosen Ones, written by Martha Allison and staged in the now-closed Theatre Deli in taking the final production slot of the year.
This year’s summer show will, like Summoning Morphsuit Gary and The Shivers, be staged in Raynor Lounge, in Bar One.
In a social media post yesterday evening, the society opened submissions, clarifying the “deadline to submit a script is the 29th of January, and you can submit slightly unfinished scripts”.
The group also took the opportunity to wish their members a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, from the society committee.
Limited to a runtime of 120 minutes total, script submissions are expected to fall within the 60-80 page boundaries and can tell any story its writer wishes it to.
Submissions are also expected to contain a large suite of characters, with approximately twenty being the optimal suggestion, in order to allow USLES to continue its tradition of giving a role to anyone who chooses to audition, a departure from more competitive audition processes used in other theatre societies.
The University of Sheffield Light Entertainment Society is one of the university’s three primary theatrical groups, alongside the Sheffield University Performing Arts Society (SUPAS) and Sheffield University Theatre Company (SUTCo).
Focusing on light-hearted and more comedic themes, USLES prioritise involving as many people as possible in their shows, as well as platforming student-written scripts as often as possible, with all shows since winter 2023 at least being written by current University of Sheffield students.
Their most recent outing, Summoning Morphsuit Gary, which played earlier this month, told the origin story of the society’s most well-known character and 2023 Presidential candidate Morphsuit Gary, in a Christmas-themed comedy of friendship and family.
The summer performance will also mark the final for the incumbent society committee, with society elections expected in the spring.
Christmas may be upon us, but the Ghost of USLES Yet-to-Come has taken the lull in activity to rear its head, again calling for student script submissions as its members enjoy their time away from university.
With over one month until submissions close, there is ample time for budding playwrights to get their creative juices following and craft up USLES’ latest script for their final performance of 2024/25.
Open to writers of all experiences and none, now is a prime opportunity to see your script performed before the start of 2025/26.
USLES’ Summer Production script submissions are open until January 29th. More information is available here
