The 2012 Festival of Independent Theatres Will See You Now

Cast of The Love Song of the Albanian Sous Chef

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You have 35 days to get that great play you've been writing finished and entered in the next Festival of Independent Theatres.

FITfest, as it's redundantly known, is the quirky-wonderful midsummer showcase of new plays and small theater companies, many of which don't have their own home spaces to perform in.

Every summer during the four-week event at the Bath House Cultural Center, there are a couple of shows that get major audience and critical buzz. Last summer it was Dallas playwright Eric Steele's play Bob Birdnow's Remarkable Tale of Human Survival and the Transcendence of Self, a gripping 45-minute monologue produced by Second Thought Theatre and performed by actor Barry Nash; and Rite of Passage's production of sweet comedy The Love Song of the Albanian Sous Chef by Robert Askins.

FIT also features an exhibit of visual art themed to chosen shows. Live music is performed in the FIT Underground, the open-air space beneath the Bath House facing White Rock Lake. There's a bar there, too, and food trucks often stop by to feed the troops.

Adrian Churchill in last summer's FIT hit

​Now it's your turn to shine as a playwright or budding avant-garde theater maker. March 2 is the deadline for submissions to this summer's 14th annual FIT. The festival opens July 13 and runs through August 4. Plays must be one-acts that run under 60 minutes. There are no subject limitations. With new works, the stranger the better. Revivals or re-imaginings of rarely done classic plays also fit right into what FIT is all about. Budgets are tiny for all the shows, so don't submit anything that requires massive scenery or full orchestras. Think a couple of chairs and a kazoo. And judging from last summer's trend, really long play titles are good.

For more information and to download the official guidelines, visit the website of the Festival of Independent Theatres.