Virtual Scene Nights

We continue to conduct our Scene Nights on Zoom, as we look for a suitable location and rental partner for the "in-person" version of this popular program.

Scene Nights are invaluable in your writing and revision process. Bring pages in to be read by paid actors, hear your scene come to life, find out how well it's working or not working and get immediate feedback from peers. No submissions, no applications, no committees, no judgments.

Don't be shy; send us your work and get feedback that will help you make your work its best.

Member playwrights of all experience and style often find it useful to attend these readings because it gives them some of the benefits of a full production earlier in the writing process.

For those who haven't participated in a Scene Night before, playwrights sign up to have up to 10 minutes of your work read by volunteer actors. Each reading is followed by a short feedback session.

There are a few necessary procedural steps/changes for those who wish to attend and/or have pages read online.

You will need to sign up for each Virtual Scene Night at SignUpGenius. The link will change each scene night, so be sure to sign up for the PCSF newsletter and make sure your membership is up to date.

  • You will need to sign up in advance to get the Zoom login credentials as well as reserve a spot for your scene to be read.
  • Once all the slots are filled, others can sign up for the waitlist. People who are on the waitlist who don't get read for one scene night are first in line for the following scene night.
  • Scene selections must be no more than ten minutes.
      • The following typical page counts are based on Courier 12 font – if you use Times New Roman 12, you should assume 1-2 pages fewer – Times New Roman font is tighter and fits more on a page. Courier or Courier New is better for accurate timing.
      • In a properly formatted script, this is typically 8-10 pages where each line of dialogue is one to three sentences.
      • Scenes that include longer lines of dialogue, for example, characters speaking paragraphs to each other, would be seven or eight pages, sometimes less.
      • Monologues, or scenes with very long speeches are at most four to five pages.
      • Reading your own work out loud at home before bringing it to scene night is encouraged. This will let you know if your piece is likely to fit within the 10-minute limit as well as help you catch typos or difficult lines which can trip up actors and slow them down.
      • By adhering to these guidelines, playwrights will not only develop a better sense of their work's true runtime, this will allow all scene night attendees to have the best experience possible.
  • Unless otherwise announced, all Virtual Scene Nights occur at 7:00 p.m. on Zoom. Check the calendar for dates and locations.

If you are an actor interested in honing your cold reading skills while helping pcsf members develop new plays, please email us at volunteers@playwrightscentersf.org.

How it works during a pandemic (virtual scene night)

Until further notice, we will be conducting Scene Nights using Zoom. This way we can continue to provide members with an opportunity to get feedback on their work and hear each other's plays in progress from the safety of their own homes.

For those who haven't participated in a Scene Night before, playwrights sign up to have up to 10 pages read by volunteer actors. Each reading is followed by a short feedback session.

There are a few necessary procedural steps/changes for those who wish to attend and/or have pages read at a Virtual Scene Night:

1. If you want to be part of this Virtual Scene Night (VSN), either to have pages read or just as an attendee, you must sign up in advance using our Sign Up Genius event for the VSN. When signing up, make sure you choose a slot for whether you will have pages to be read. Members and guests can attend if they have don't have pages to be read, of course.

2. Reading slots for those who do have pages to read will be available on a first come, first served basis, until the Sign up Genius reading slots are filled.

3. If you don't get a reading slot the next upcoming VSN, we will be doing VSNs on 1st and 3rd Thursdays (per the regular scene night schedule) until it is safe to gather in-person again.

4. The deadline for VSN scripts is the Tuesday before at 9:00 p.m., PST. You need to email your script file (.doc or .pdf) to rod@playwrightscentersf.org so that we can arrange to get scripts to actors.

5. Everyone who signs up for the VSN will get a confirmation email, along with instructions on how to download Zoom and test it out (you should test it before 7:00 p.m. Thursday). It's pretty simple. Really.

6. Just prior to the starting time, an email invite to the Zoom Session will be sent out to attendees at around 6:50 p.m. The invite will include a link to click on to join the meeting. You should use this invite to connect by 7:00 pm (rather than the usual 7:30 start time). This is so we have time to check connections, and explain some of the nuances/quirks of having Scene Night on Zoom.

7. Lastly, you should set your expectations that this may not go perfectly smoothly now and then. But we want to give it a try, and we will no doubt improve on the experience with each VSN that we conduct. So that's it. If you want to "attend" these historic PCSF VSNs, with or without pages, go to our Sign up Genius link and sign up.

Updated 8/1/2023