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five30five®

from $2,400.00

A licensable play-festival format for discovering new work and new voices

five30five® is a repeatable, community-led play festival.

The name five30five® refers to the structure of the event:
short performances (around thrirty minutes), a live audience, and a tight festival-style format designed to showcase new work quickly and clearly.

Each event brings together emerging writers, performers, and local producers in a shared, time-bound container — creating momentum, discovery, and conversation without the overhead of full-length production cycles.

Its core purpose is simple:
to discover new plays, tell new stories, and create the conditions for live, analogue performance to matter again — in real rooms, with real people.

Everything else flows from that.

Designed as a fast, festival-style platform, five30five® enables communities to host short, high-turnover showcases of new theatrical work without relying on touring companies, competitive gatekeeping, or extractive cultural models.

It is designed to be licensed, not commissioned — giving organisations a robust framework they can activate independently, ethically, and repeatedly.

Why five30five® exists

Live theatre has always been one of the most powerful engines of cultural renewal.
It’s where new ideas are tested, voices are heard, and communities see themselves reflected back — not through screens, but through shared presence.

five30five® exists to:

  • lower the barrier to presenting new plays

  • prioritise live, analogue experimentation in a digital-heavy world

  • support early-stage writers and performers to begin, not “finish”

  • generate cultural momentum through repetition, not one-off events

Short, punchy performances create energy, urgency, and conversation.
The focus isn’t perfection — it’s discovery.

Equally at home in places under political pressure or in well-resourced suburbs looking to support fresh voices, five30five® adapts to its context while retaining its core logic.

Winners don’t end here.
They enter a development pathway.

What five30five® is (and isn’t)

five30five® is:

  • a play festival format

  • a community activation tool

  • a cultural development pipeline

five30five® is not:

  • a touring show

  • a competition spectacle

  • a content-extraction exercise

The value sits in the process, not just the outcome.

five30five® Core Licence

(Base licence)

The Core Licence provides everything an organisation needs to self-deliver a five30five® play festival.

Includes (downloadable):

  • five30five® Format Bible

  • Producer & Organiser Guidelines

  • Participant-facing copy

  • Operational and delivery checklists

  • Adaptation notes (scale, repetition, localisation)

  • Standard licence terms & attribution rules

  • Entrant Rules & Conditions

Use case:
For organisations that want to deliver the festival independently, on their own terms, within a proven framework.

Optional services — including facilitation, localisation, and post-activation evaluation — are available by consultation and quoted separately.

Licences Scope:
Delivery Mode:
Context Type:

A licensable play-festival format for discovering new work and new voices

five30five® is a repeatable, community-led play festival.

The name five30five® refers to the structure of the event:
short performances (around thrirty minutes), a live audience, and a tight festival-style format designed to showcase new work quickly and clearly.

Each event brings together emerging writers, performers, and local producers in a shared, time-bound container — creating momentum, discovery, and conversation without the overhead of full-length production cycles.

Its core purpose is simple:
to discover new plays, tell new stories, and create the conditions for live, analogue performance to matter again — in real rooms, with real people.

Everything else flows from that.

Designed as a fast, festival-style platform, five30five® enables communities to host short, high-turnover showcases of new theatrical work without relying on touring companies, competitive gatekeeping, or extractive cultural models.

It is designed to be licensed, not commissioned — giving organisations a robust framework they can activate independently, ethically, and repeatedly.

Why five30five® exists

Live theatre has always been one of the most powerful engines of cultural renewal.
It’s where new ideas are tested, voices are heard, and communities see themselves reflected back — not through screens, but through shared presence.

five30five® exists to:

  • lower the barrier to presenting new plays

  • prioritise live, analogue experimentation in a digital-heavy world

  • support early-stage writers and performers to begin, not “finish”

  • generate cultural momentum through repetition, not one-off events

Short, punchy performances create energy, urgency, and conversation.
The focus isn’t perfection — it’s discovery.

Equally at home in places under political pressure or in well-resourced suburbs looking to support fresh voices, five30five® adapts to its context while retaining its core logic.

Winners don’t end here.
They enter a development pathway.

What five30five® is (and isn’t)

five30five® is:

  • a play festival format

  • a community activation tool

  • a cultural development pipeline

five30five® is not:

  • a touring show

  • a competition spectacle

  • a content-extraction exercise

The value sits in the process, not just the outcome.

five30five® Core Licence

(Base licence)

The Core Licence provides everything an organisation needs to self-deliver a five30five® play festival.

Includes (downloadable):

  • five30five® Format Bible

  • Producer & Organiser Guidelines

  • Participant-facing copy

  • Operational and delivery checklists

  • Adaptation notes (scale, repetition, localisation)

  • Standard licence terms & attribution rules

  • Entrant Rules & Conditions

Use case:
For organisations that want to deliver the festival independently, on their own terms, within a proven framework.

Optional services — including facilitation, localisation, and post-activation evaluation — are available by consultation and quoted separately.

What is five30five?

A portable, festival-style new-writing format with two awards—People’s Choice (audience ballot) and Critics’ Choice(expert panel). Built for discovery, audience energy, and development pathways for winners.

Core format (Festival Pulse)

  • 5·30·5 + 5 buffer: 5 minutes to set, 30 to perform, 5 to strike, +5 house buffer between entrants.

  • Quick-fire, open-mic energy with professional integrity: published results within 24 hours and an Integrity Note.

Who it’s for

  • Theatres, festivals, universities, councils, community arts orgs, producing collectives.

  • Works in major cities, regional towns, campuses, and low-connectivity contexts.

What you get (licence bundle)

  • Format Bible + Ops Manual Addendum (Festival Pulse, roles, penalties, buffers)

  • Master Licence & Order Form (editable)

  • Entrant Rules & Terms (template)

  • Ballot Toolkit + Returning Officer checklist (digital / hybrid / offline)

  • Judge Pack (NDA, COI, rubric)

  • Creator Performance Licence (showcase)

  • Policy pack (Ethical Participation, Complaints & Conduct, Accessibility statement)

  • Marketing kit (sales deck script, one-pager, landing-page copy, Canva plug-and-play)

  • Reporting kit (KPI template, Integrity Note)

What you provide (presenter responsibilities)

  • Venue, staffing (including Show Caller/Stage Manager, FOH, RO), insurance, ticketing, marketing execution, and Presenter-Delivered Prize logistics.

  • Local accessibility plan, cultural safety settings, and press list.

Adaptable elements (you choose)

  • Participation model: PWYC / Sponsored / Refundable Deposit / Ticket bundle / Skills-exchange / In-kind local value

  • Ballot mode: Digital QR + tokens / Hybrid paper / Offline chips

  • Prize form: season/showcase, cash/in-kind development grant, residency/mentorship, industry meeting

  • Language(s), venue type/scale, youth or micro variants (e.g., 3·20·3 or 10·40·10)

Ethical Participation (anti-gatekeeping)

No fixed cash fee is required. Access-first models with waivers. Affordability Test baked in.

Ballot integrity & transparency

  • Unique tokens/numbered stubs; observed count; Returning Officer on the night.

  • Tie-break rules published; Integrity Note posted within 24 hours.

Data & privacy

Privacy-first by design; ballot records retained ≤30 days for audit then deleted. Marketing opt-ins run through your own systems. DPA template available if needed.

Accessibility & cultural safety

Companion tickets; relaxed-performance options where possible; step-free info published. Local Advisory Trio model for community guidance.

Prizes (development pathways)

Winners receive a Presenter-Delivered Prize to propel the work forward (e.g., presenter-produced showcase/season, development grant, residency, industry opportunity).
Disclosure: Prizes are designed, funded, and delivered by the local presenter/partners (not by five30five). five30five does not underwrite or guarantee prizes and accepts no liability for prize delivery, timing, or quality.

Roles you’ll name

  • Show Caller (SM/Event Producer) — runs clocks, cues, penalties, buffers

  • Returning Officer — ballot custody & count integrity

  • Safety Lead — complaints pathway & incident response

  • FOH Lead, Tech Op, Panel Coordinator, optional Scrutineers

Tech & space requirements (typical)

  • Festival-style rig (basic wash + 2 mics + playback)

  • Visible timers (DSM + wing), blue warn light, end-cue macro

  • Clear strike pathways; secure ballot station(s)

Licence snapshot

  • Type: non-exclusive, territory-bound, time-limited format licence

  • Brand: credit line required; Brand Standards provided

  • Packages: Flat / Royalty / Education (with support hours)

  • Reporting: KPI template due within 14 days post-event

Implementation contexts

  • Urban theatres (digital ballots via e-tickets)

  • Regional / low-power (hybrid or offline ballots, daytime shows)

  • Civic/NGO partners (access-first models; in-kind local value)

  • Campus/Youth (3·20·3 variant; child-safety addendum available)

Optional add-ons

  • Sponsor prospectus (2-pager)

  • Crisis comms micro-playbook

  • Budget & cashflow templates

  • Presenter Prize Agreement for third-party partners

  • Photographer/AV release pack

Mini-FAQ

Isn’t an audience vote a popularity contest? We balance it with a published Critics’ rubric and ballot integrity.
Do creators keep their rights? Yes—showcase performance licence only; creators retain IP.
Can this run without smartphones? Yes—hybrid/offline ballot modes are included.
How strict is 5·30·5? The Festival Pulse is 5·30·5 plus a 5-minute buffer between entrants; youth/guest variants can be announced in advance.