New Acts of The Year 2017 competition open for entries

The New Acts of The Year Comedy Showcase 2017 - aka The NATYS - is now open for entries.

The annual competition, which used to go under the name of The Hackney Empire New Act of the Year until it moved venues, has been running since 1987. Linda Smith, Stewart Lee, Ardal O'Hanlon, Henning Wehn, Joe Wilkinson and Abandoman are amongst the many notable winners across the years.

For the 2017 contest, over 100 'new acts' will be auditioned this autumn (2016) at East London's Rich Mix venue, from which a bill of 14 acts will receive a paid booking to perform at the NATYS 2017 Top of the Bill comedy showcase at the Leicester Square Theatre on the 29th January 2017. At this final, a panel of comedy industry VIPs will then select which performer is named the 'Top of The Bill Act' for 2017.

The organisers say: "Over 30 years, the annual NATYS has established itself as the country's most important spotlight for the comedy industry, providing an independent platform for emerging comedic artists from variety's wide spectrum of performance disciplines, from stand-up to speciality. It encourages professional development and supports the artists' transition from the invaluable and essential voluntary open mic and new act competition stages to the established fee-paying live comedy circuit."

This year the showcase has signed up a sponsor, Roberson Wines. The organisers say: "Roberson Wines, international fine wine merchants and pioneers of British urban winery, bring their years of experience launching award winning and popular cutting edge wines to support the NATYS to keep holding the stage door open for the live comedy's new wave of variety talent."

To enter visit newvarietylives.com

Entrants must have been performing for at least one year and have a 20 minute routine from which they can extract a tight 5 minute audition piece. To enter, you also need to have recommendations from two established promoters/agents/venues. Previous finalists do not qualify.

This article is provided for free as part of BCG Pro.

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