Polar Twilight is now officially published through Playscripts, Inc! You can now read a preview, purchase scripts, teaching/directing binders, and rights to perform it all on the show page here. You can grab a copy and start setting up a production of the show right now if you want. It was officially published on July 17th which is fun because that’s my parent’s wedding anniversary.
And, frankly, I’m astonished at how fast this all happened. To give you a little insight to what happened behind the scenes over here, when I sold The Love of Three Oranges to Playscripts, they made a point of telling me that it normally takes a year or more for a play be published in their catalog because of the volume of plays they publish, their distribution schedule and just the usual editorial delays of getting something to print. This timetable wasn’t surprising, it’s actually pretty fast for a traditional publisher, but they promised me that they’d rush Three Oranges out much faster than was normal to ensure there was little to no disruption in the distribution. See, there were already many licensed productions in the pipeline at the moment the rights transferred so they made me the promise that they’d rush because of this unusual circumstance. And, of course, they had it officially published within about 4 months of when the contract was finalized which was extremely impressive.
When I sent Polar Twilight around to publishers in late February, I had Playscripts’ previous words in mind. As this play was brand new, wasn’t in any kind of unusual circumstance like Three Oranges was and most publishers have a similar publishing lead time, I was certain it was impossible that the play would be out in time for the 2012 holiday season no matter where it ended up. Since I hated to miss a season, I set up a premiere of the show for this December, details of which I’ll post once everything is completely finalized. I never got even an estimated publication date from Playscripts when they acquired the show but I wasn’t concerned as I figured I’d get one after I turned in my final approvals (which I pretty much just did).
So no one was more surprised than me when I got the notice that the show was already available for sale! I am completely floored by how fast they got this show out there and the only reason I can think of for this uncharacteristic rush was that they really needed another new holiday show for their 2012 catalog and my show just fit the bill so they made it a top priority. It’s wonderful news, of course, as our inaugural season will be a full year earlier than I planned but it’s also left me in sort of an awkward position.
I’m not ready! Remember how, when Three Oranges launched, I had a lovely website, Facebook page, Twitter account and marketing materials ready to go? Because I was operating under the assumption that the first time I’d need to do some marketing for Polar Twilight was the premiere in December, I haven’t finished setting up anything related to this show. There isn’t even a proper page for it on my site yet! (Luckily, I already started on the show website and bought the domain long ago, though it’s still far from finished.)
Not to mention that I promised you the story of how this show came about before it was available and, here it is, out before I even got to tell you about it. I was already having a rather chaotic summer and this has just thrown me for another loop. But, in the end, it’s a good loop because the more time the show is out there, the more time theatre groups have to find it and set up productions. So, while it may take me a few more weeks to get the rest of my act together, I ask you to bear with me as I play catch-up with this show. Believe me when I tell you, I really didn’t expect this show to be out this year, let alone this month!
You can’t imagine the pressure I feel now to have a play to release in 2013 to complete the three-peat! 😉
Hillary DePiano is a playwright, fiction and non-fiction writer who loves writing of all kinds except for writing bios like this.
