Four Submission Opportunities for Playwrights

August 18, 2017 by James Hutchison |

The New American Theatre

Opportunity: Festival of New American One Act Plays
Location: Culver City, California, USA
Current Deadline: Extended Deadline: August 31, 2017 (11:59 pm)
Submission Fee: $10.00 per entry
Type of Contest: Short Plays no longer than 15 minutes
Restrictions: Must not have been produced in Los Angelas, California and not under option or scheduled for a professional production or publication at the time of submission.
Award: A selection of 8-12 semi-finalists will be performed in a Fall Marathon of One Act Plays. 5 to 8 of the semi-finalists will be selected to be presented in the Spring 2018 Festival. Finalists will be invited to be members of the New American Theatre Playwrights Circle.

For complete submission details check out The New American Theatre Web Site.

Toowoomba Repertory Theatre Society

Opportunity: Carnival of Flowers Toowomba Repertory Theatre Playing Writing Competition
Location: Toowomba, Queensland, Australia
Current Deadline: Entries must be received by September 30th, 2017
Submission Fee: $40.00 Australian
Type of Contest: One Acts running between 50 and 75 minutes
Restrictions: Australian Playwrights

Must be unpublished and never performed or workshopped.
Preference will be given to plays with a small cast size that can be simply staged on a small proscenium stage.

Award: Best Play $4,000 Australian. Second Best Play $2,000 Australian. Two winning plays will undergo a six month review process led by a professional dramaturge in order to provide input to the playwrights and assist in the further development of the scripts. Winning plays will be performed during the 2018 Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers for a ten night run.

For complete submission details check out the Toowoomba Repertory Theatre Society Web Page.

Därkhorse Drämatists

Opportunity: Write to the Heart – Love Themed Play Festival
Location: Binghamton, New York, USA
Current Deadline: December 6, 2017
Submission Fee: None listed
Type of Contest: One Acts 25 page maximum/10 page minimum. No minimum page count for 1 person shorts or monologues.
Restrictions: No exceedingly violent or pornographic material. Adult language allowed within reason. Maximum 3-4 characters in a limited setting with minimal props. Two submission per playwright. Plays may have had previous productions but must be unpublished.
Award: Plays will be mediated in a forum comprised of local playwrights, directors and actors to determine which will be produced.

For complete submission details check out the Därkhorse Drämatists Write to the Heart Web Site.

PlayFest Santa Barbara

Opportunity: Playwriting Competition
Location: Santa Barbara, California, USA
Current Deadline: October 1, 2017
Submission Fee: $25.00 per entry
Type of Contest: Full-length plays, musicals, translation and adaptations, and works for young audiences.
Restrictions: Must not have received a professional production. Plays must be written in English. Playwrights, composers and librettists may submit only one manuscript per festival year.
Award: Selected plays participate in the New Play Festival which is a celebration of new plays, including readings of plays by playwrights from Santa Barbara and beyond.

For complete submission and festival details check out the PlayFest Santa Barbara web site.

QUOTA gets London Production

March 29, 2017 by James Hutchison |

“All societies are based on codes of behaviour and when someone deviates from that code there has to be a way to handle the situation otherwise chaos would reign supreme, and we don’t want that now do we. We want everything nice and tidy. All the socks in the sock drawer and all the undies in the undie drawer.”

That’s a line from my play QUOTA. It’s what Dave Dixon gets told by Kathie, the Civic Census taker, after he gets flagged for corrective action.

I wrote QUOTA while I was doing a little research for another play about the internment camps that the Canadian government ran during World War One and World War Two.* It’s always bothered me that we were fighting dictatorships that put people in camps while we were doing the same thing. Of course our camps weren’t concentration camps but once you have a different set of laws and rules applied to one group in your society – how do you keep it from going to the extreme? [Read more…]

WordWave 2016 or Death at Lake Tahoe

October 17, 2016 by James Hutchison |

So, why do we tell stories? Is it to entertain? To pass on wisdom? To contemplate life? I think it’s all those things. Stories help us to understand our place in the Universe. Stories give us context. They help us navigate life. If you don’t think story is important try and imagine a world without story. It doesn’t exist.

And so, I’m excited to announce that one of my stories, Death and the Psychiatrist, is going to be part of the 2016 WordWave Festival.

You can download a free copy of Death and the Psychiatrist by clicking on this link: Death and the Psychiatrist

[Read more…]

Five Playwriting Opportunities & Pumpkins

October 6, 2016 by James Hutchison |

You know I don’t get why playwriting festivals ask for blind submissions when they don’t accept braille as a submission format.

Bad joke? Yes. Of course that doesn’t mean I don’t have a few thoughts about festivals and their submission requirements.

But before I get to those here is the list of the playwriting festivals and opportunities I have included in this week’s blog:

Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum: Botanicum Seedlings – A Development Series for Playwrights
Tree City Playhouse: 10-Minute Play Competition
Sanguine Theatre Company: Project Playwright Festival
id Theater: Seven Devils Playwrights Conference
Ruby Slippers Theatre, the Vancouver Fringe Festival and Equity in Theatre present: Advance Theatre: New Works by Diverse Women

Further details and links to each festival can be found by scrolling down. In the meantime here are some of my thoughts about entry fees and having to submit never produced work.

The 2016 Port Elgin Pumpkin Fest Giant Vegetable Weigh-Off Competition!

[Read more…]

Moments, Dialogue and the North Park Playwrights Festival

September 29, 2016 by James Hutchison |

14th Annual North Park Playwrights Festival

My short comedy, Never Give Up, is one of 24 plays being presented at this year’s 14th Annual North Park Playwrights Festival in San Diego, California. The production is being directed by Dave Fremland and stars Gunnar Ramstrum as Nigel Davenport and Sam Goldstein as Todd Sparks. [Read more…]

Blog Lists – Opportunities – Sage Advice – HowlRound

July 10, 2016 by James Hutchison |

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

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Have you read blogging advice that says you should write lists because lists get shared and generate traffic?

I think a lot of bloggers have because I’ve seen an explosion of lists over the last couple of years about everything from how to determine if your spouse is an alien to the top five things you should do in order to cook the perfect Christmas turkey.

I have no problem with lists. For the right topic lists are a great way to present information. Just ask Rick Perry.

And if you want to write a list – great – do it! David Letterman and his writers did it for years.

But if it’s not your style: don’t do it.

A list is a particular way of presenting information and if that’s not the way you write don’t do it. We come to your blog to hear your voice.

If you write 2000 word rants without punctuation or paragraph breaks because that’s how you see the world and that’s how you convey your information and it’s just how you think and you think that’s the best way to say what you have to say and that’s your style: don’t do a list.

Stay true to your voice.

Whether you’re writing a blog, a play, a novel, a short story, a song, a poem – stay true to your voice. You see the world in a particular way. That’s your unique vision. If you like to write comedy – write comedy. If you love rock and roll play rock and roll. The worst thing you can do is try to be something you’re not.

And, so here’s my list of the Top Five Reasons not to Write Blog Post Lists.

If it’s not the way you write: don’t do it.
If it’s not the way you write: don’t do it.
If it’s not the way you write: don’t do it.
If it’s not the way you write: don’t do it.
If it’s not the way you write: don’t do it.

Okay so, I really only had one thing to say but I listed it five times. Which is another reason I’m not a big fan of lists.

Have you ever read a list of things and the first item is good and insightful but the rest of the list is a bit lame and you just know they’re reaching because they really just have one point they want to make.

Well, if that’s the case, as it is here, just write about one thing. Better to say one thing well that ten things poorly.

Opportunities for Playwrights

Wildclaw Theatre: Deathscribe 2016

Deadline: July 31st, 2016
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Submission Fee: None.
Type: Short Original Horror Radio Plays.
Restrictions: Scripts must be no more than ten minutes in length and should follow radio drama format. Scripts must be ready to produce, including directions for sound and music cues. Submissions cannot include the use of any copyrighted music. Writers may submit up to two (2) scripts for Deathscribe consideration in any year.
Award: Five Scripts will be selected from all submissions. These five pieces will be performed on stage in front of a live audience on stage with Foley artists and a band creating the sound effects and live music. The writer of the winning piece, chosen by a celebrity panel of judges, will receive the coveted Bloody Axe Award, as well as a $100 cash prize.
Note: Scripts are judged blind. No identifying information should appear anywhere in the document.
Scripts will be performed by no more than 6 actors, therefore scripts with more characters will require double casting.

For complete submission details and festival information refer to the Wildclaw Theatre: Deathscribe 2016 Web Site.

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Alumnae Theatre Company: New Ideas Festival 2017

Deadline: September 5, 2016
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Submission Fee: None Listed
Type: One Acts 10 to 40 minutes in length
Restrictions: Scripts should be submitted electronically in PDF or Word format. Scripts must be original works that have not been previously performed outside of a workshop.
They may be any genre or style, with a running time of 10 to 40 minutes; one act of a full-length play may also be accepted for production. Submissions longer than 40 minutes will be considered for a reading, which will showcase the script development accomplished during the rehearsal period.
Each playwright may submit a maximum of two scripts.
Preference will be given to Canadian Scripts and scripts with challenging roles for women of all ages.
Award: Production or reading in Alumnae Theatre Company’s New Ideas Festival
Note: Alumnae Theatre Company’s New Ideas Festival (NIF) is an annual, three-week juried festival of new plays, works-in-progress and experimental theatre.
No identifying information should be on the script/proposal; please include a cover page providing: play title, list and description of characters, short play synopsis. Send a separate contact page with the play title, playwright’s name and contact information, and a short 75 words or less biography.
NIF does not provide feedback on submissions.
The 2017 festival lineup will be announced in early November.

For complete submission details and festival information refer to the Alumnae Theatre Company New Ideas Festival Web site.

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theatreinspiraTO

Deadline: November 20, 2016
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Submission Fee: None
Type: 10 Minute Play
Restrictions: The theme “Grow Up” must be an integral part of the play. The play must be 10 minutes in length. The contest is open to all regardless of geography or age. Submissions are made on line. Plays must be written in English. The festival accepts any style except musicals. Playwrights may submit one play.
Award: If selected, winning plays will be performed in Toronto, Canada from June 1 to June 10, 2017. Betweent 18 and 24, ten-minute plays will be selected. 1st prize: $500 Canadian.
Note: The story can be comedy, drama, a parody, absurd or anything in between.
Previously produced plays (but not plays that have been produced at InspiraTO before) are accepted.
The playwright must own the rights to the play up to June 10, 2017. (i.e. the script cannot be owned by a publisher).

For complete submission details and festival information refer to the theatreinspiraTO Web Site.

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Ashland New Plays Festival

Deadline: December 31, 2016 or until 400 scripts have been submitted
Location: Ashland, Oregon
Submission Fee: $15.00 US
Type: Full Length drama or comedy (90 to 150 minutes)
Restrictions: One submission per author per year. Plays must be previously unproduced. Maximum of eight actors; doubling is allowed provided a doubling plan is included with the cast list.
Award: Five-day festival in Ashland, Oregon that features professional actors from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the community. The festival includes rehearsals and two staged readings of each winning play. The winning playwrights receive a $1,000 stipend and local accommodations. The ANPF will take place from October 18-22, 2017.
Note: The Ashland New Plays Festival is committed to the presentation of new dramatic work that is uniquely theatrical, has literary merit, and appeals to our audience’s emotions and imaginations. Such work invariably reflects an original concept or theme, possesses a clear and cogent structure, and includes characters whose language expresses their individual worldview.
All submissions are judged blind. No indication of authorship should be on any of the pages of the script.
ANPF does not accept: Film or television scripts, translations or adaptations, children’s theatre, or musicals.
Winning playwrights are notified in June 2017 and will be announced publicly in July 2017.
Playwrights are responsible for the cost and arrangement of transportation to and from Ashland.

For complete submission details and festival information refer to the Ashland New Plays Festival Web Site.

Sage Advice

“In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it ‘got boring,’ the boredom arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep the ball rolling.”

― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

King is talking about reading a book but the same principle applies to movies and television and plays. When someone changes the channel or when the rustling and coughing and squirming gets noticeable in the theatre you’ve lost your audience.

You can sense it.

And if you’ve lost your audience it probably means you’re boring them. They’ve lost interest in your story or your characters because the story has become stagnant. They’ve ceased to be entertained because an engaged audience is an entertained audience.

Lets say you want to write about how horrible war is. That’s fine. But we already know wars are horrible. Just telling us war is horrible isn’t anything new. What you have to do is tell us a unique story about how war is horrible. That’s what makes your play or novel or song unique. Theme is an idea. Story is action.

What’s the theme of Casablanca? You could say it’s the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.

What’s the theme of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan? You could say it’s the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.

Same theme different story but both stories are about sacrifice. A theme won’t keep us watching. Theme is the controlling idea. Story is your characters taking action in order to achieve their goal and by doing so they illustrate the theme of your work.

HowlRound

A knowledge commons by and for the theatre community.

Are you familiar with HowlRound? HowlRound is an excellent resource for theatre artists. There are hundreds of blog posts, essays, and an archive of livestreamed video events and conferences.

“HowlRound was born five years ago—as a place for artists to provide feedback, learning, expertise, frustration, and vision—in an effort to enliven the fields of theatre and performance to the aspiring and established artist alike.

From the beginning we decided to use the commons as our frame. This idea of a performance commons is new to many. It’s a simple idea really. A commons is a place to share the resources you have and take the resources you need. We believe that making art is more than a money game, that ticket sales for a live performance are just one piece of what it takes to claim success in our art form. Access and engagement are our highest values, and everyone, yes everyone, has something to contribute to the learning, the making, and the sharing of art.”

I’ve shared HowlRound articles on my twitter feed @lifeisanact and on my Facebook page but I thought I’d go deep into the archives of HowlRound and seek out blog posts or articles that I like or that I found interesting and share them here on my own website from time to time. Here are three articles worth checking out:

Ten Minute Plays: A Breath of Fresh Air or. . . .? by Barry Martin August 26, 2012

Are 10 minute plays really plays? Are they a good thing or a bad thing for the audience and the playwright? Barry Martin dives in and discusses whether or not ten minutes provides the necessary time for a fully developed story with a beginning middle and an end or are these short theatre pieces more often than not simply scenes or sketches – and does that matter?

Barry Martin was born and raised in the Ozarks and majored in Theater at Missouri Southern State College and forgot to graduate before stumbling into a 23-year career in radio in four different states. In 2008 he returned to the stage, and shortly after co-founded the Napa-based Lucky Penny Productions with Taylor Bartolucci. Together they produce quality theatre in the hinterlands of the North San Francisco Bay.

What makes an Artistic Home? By Todd London January 12, 2012

Creating a space where artists can feel at home in order to create art is the focus of this piece by Todd London. The series was initiated by Jamie Gahlon at HowlRound who asked theatre artists from around the country to talk about their personal search for an artistic home. As London points out, What makes an Artistic Home? is a great question but one that has yet to be answered precisely and the answer as to what makes an artistic home will differ for each artist.

Todd London became the first recipient of Theatre Communications Group’s (TCG) Visionary Leadership Award in 2009, for “an individual who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to advance the theatre field as a whole, nationally and/or internationally.” He is currently the Executive Director of the University of Washington’s School of Drama, where he holds the newly established Floyd U. Jones Family Endowed Chair in Drama. He came to Seattle in 2014 from 18 seasons as Artistic Director of New York’s New Dramatists, the nation’s oldest center for the support and development of playwrights, where he worked closely with more than a hundred and fifty of America’s leading playwrights and advocated nationally and internationally for hundreds more.

The Title of the Play: Does it Matter? by Melisa Annis May 5, 2014

Finding a title for anything is difficult. Once you title a play, a movie, a show, even a band, it automatically becomes a part of the product’s identity. It’s impossible for us not to judge a book by it’s cover, though often we pretend that we are far too sophisticated to pick up a book based on its design—more often that not, we do.

Melisa Annis is a NYC based playwright currently in the middle of the madness of completing an MFA in playwriting in a hybrid program by Fordham and Primary Stages. Her play Pit was produced last year at Theater for The New City, and Keep Calm and Carry On was developed with Primary Stages also in 2013 directed by Dominic D’Andrea. Melisa has just closed a one act at the Fordham Studio Theatre called Fit For A King directed by Kel Haney. Her personal essays/articles have been published in The Western Mail (UK), Clockhouse Literary Journal andThe Fordham Observer. She is originally from Wales, living in NYC for almost a decade now. (This biography is from Melisa Annis’s 2014 profile on Howlround. An updated bio can be found on her personal website which provides a more current list of her plays and accomplishments.)

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Submission Opportunities for Playwrights

June 20, 2016 by James Hutchison |

“Authors by the hundreds can tell you stories by the thousands of those rejection slips before they found a publisher who was willing to ‘gamble’ on an unknown.” – Zig Ziglar

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Make time to write. Writing is the priority. But you also have to make time for the business of writing and part of that business is making submissions.

Over the last couple of years I’ve assembled a growing list of festivals that offer a variety of opportunities for established and emerging playwrights. I’ve listed eleven of those playwriting opportunities below.

Well ten playwriting opportunities and one television writing opportunity.

Many of these competitions have been in existence for several years and some of the prizes are outstanding. But big prize or little prize the competition is fierce and some of these festivals can draw up to a thousand submissions or more.

So what are your chances?

None if you don’t enter.

And what are your odds if you do enter?

That depends. Depends on how good you are, who the judges are, and whether or not it’s a full moon. But if you don’t enter you guarantee failure. And if you do enter you face rejection. And rejection hurts. Why does it hurt?

“The answer is — our brains are wired to respond that way. When scientists placed people in functional MRI machines and asked them to recall a recent rejection, they discovered something amazing. The same areas of our brain become activated when we experience rejection as when we experience physical pain. That’s why even small rejections hurt more than we think they should, because they elicit literal (albeit, emotional) pain.” (Why rejection hurts so much – and what to do about it. Guy Winch, Ideas.Ted.Com. December 8, 2015)

So, it hurts. I understand that. I’ve felt that. But does a salesman stop making calls because the last client he talked to said no? Does a baseball player stop going up to bat because the last two times he struck out? No, of course not. The salesman makes another call and the baseball player takes another swing. Being rejected is simply a part of life and if you’re a writer, an actor, a salesman, or an entrepreneur rejection is simply going to be a bigger part of your life than it is for other people.

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Now, before we get to the list of playwriting opportunities there’s one more fantastic opportunity I want to tell you about.

Until midnight June 30th Steven Pressfield is offering his most recent book on writing for free from his web site. Yes free! “No opt-in required. You don’t have to enter your e-mail address or compromise your privacy in any way.”

Pressfield is the author of, The War of Art, Do the Work, and Turning Pro. These are three of my favourite books about the art and business of writing and I would highly recommend them to any aspiring writer.

Pressfield is also the author of The Legend of Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire, and the Warrior Ethos. He has a great blog on his web site where he muses about the art and business of writing. In his most recent blog post he has offered – free to download – his new book on the business of writing called: Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t.

“What is Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t about?

The title comes from the very first and most important lesson I ever learned as a writer, on the very first day of my very first job, as a junior copywriter for Benton & Bowles Advertising in New York. What the phrase means is that because readers are inevitably busy, impatient, easily-distracted, i.e. they don’t want to read your sh*t, it’s incumbent on you and me as writers to make our stuff so interesting, so sexy, so unusual, so compelling that a reader would have to be crazy NOT to read it.

Every other lesson in writing follows from this one tough-love truth.” (Get Steve’s New Book On Writing…Free! Steven Pressfield – June 15, 2015)

Please note that this is a limited time offer. After June 30th the book will no longer be available for free. But once it’s not available for free you can certainly buy it. After all writers need to eat too.

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So, now we come to the playwriting opportunities. Several of these deadlines are coming up fast so if you’ve got a play ready to go fantastic. If you don’t then make note of the contest or festival and plan for next year.

The information I’ve provided is not the complete information about the festival. I’ve provided an overview for each opportunity in order for you to determine if it’s an opportunity you want to check out further. At the bottom of each listing there is a link leading to the Festival/Competition website for further information.

In other words, don’t take my word for it, before you enter any of these contests please check out the complete submission guidelines provided by the Festival and/or theatre at their websites.

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Jewish Ensemble Theatre: 28^th Annual JetFest

Deadline: June 30, 2016
Submission Fee: $15.00
Type: Full Length
Restrictions: Playwrights over 18
Award: Each of the four finalists receives a $500 honorarium.
Note: Entry must be a full length original work or adaptation with a minimum running time of 85 minutes that has not been published prior to the festival in 2017. Cast size of 7 or less is preferred. Staged readings/workshop productions are not disqualifying factors.
JET’s programming generally reflects issues of social conscience and human rights both in drama and comedy.

For complete submission details, festival information and how to enter your play refer to the Jewish Ensemble Theatre: 28th Annual JetFest website.

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StoryBook Theatre: National TYA Playwriting Competition

Deadline: July 1, 2016
Submission Fee: None
Type: Theatre for Young Audiences (8yrs & Older) 55-75 minutes in length
Restrictions: Playwrights must reside in Canada and be eligible to participate
Award: 3 scripts will be awarded $1,000.00 (Canadian) each. Playwrights of the 3 winning plays will be invited to participate in a workshop for play development with a professional dramaturg and director. The workshop will include a public reading at StoryBook Theatre in Calgary in September 2016. Winning plays may be eligible for up to an additional $700.00 for travel costs.
Note: SBT is looking for original plays including adaptations of folktales or stories from the global culture. Plays must be previously unproduced and unpublished. Scripts can have as many characters as you like but must be played by a cast of no more than 8 actors.

For complete submission details, festival information and how to enter your play refer to the StoryBook Theatre: National TYA Playwriting Competition website.

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Northern Arizona Playwriting Showcase

Deadline: July 1, 2016
Submission Fee: $12.00
Type: 10 minute play festival
Restrictions: Plays should be written for no more than 3 actors. Entries may not have been a previous contest winner on any stage; entries may not have been performed for a paying audience. Plays may have been workshopped in venues where donations are accepted.
Award: Winning plays will receive a staged reading.
Note: Plays will be judged anonymously. Please submit your play with just the title but no author identification on the title page. Submit your contact information in a separate document. Co-authored plays are acceptable. Multiple submissions are also acceptable.

For complete submission details, festival information, and how to enter your play refer to the 2016 Northern Arizona Playwriting Showcase website.

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Alleyway Theatre: Maxim Mazumdar New Play Competition

Deadline: July 1^st, 2016
Submission Fee: $25.00
Type: Full Length and One-Act
Restrictions: Open to anyone of any age or citizenship but limited to one submission per year. Entries must not be previously produced and withheld from production during the period of the competition. Plays or musicals which have had workshops or staged readings are eligible for submission.
Award: The winning full-length play or musical will receive its premiere production at Alleyway Theatre during the season which begins ten months after the announcement of the winners, and a royalty/prize of $400.00 will be awarded.
The winning one-act play will receive its premiere in the annual Buffalo Quickies one-act celebration, and a royalty/prize of $100 will be awarded.
Note: Full length – limit one play or musical per year, not shorter than 90 minutes, any style, requiring no more than 10 performers. All submissions of musicals must include an audio CD.
One-Act – limit of one play or musical, per year, 20 minutes or less, any stle, no more than 6 performers. All submissions of musicals must include an audio CD.

For complete submission details, festival information, and how to enter your play refer to the Alleyway Theatre Maxim Mazumdar New Play Competition website.

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Quannapowitt Players, Inc.: Suburban Holidays V!

Deadline: July 1, 2016
Submission Fee: None listed.
Type: One-Act
Restrictions: If you are not a resident of New England your play will be considered however preference is given to New England playwrights (MA, CT, NH, ME, VT). Plays must be the original works of the playwrights and unpublished at the time of production. Preference is given to unproduced work, but works with limited productions will be considered.
Playwrights may submit one play only. If more than one play is sent, then none of the playwright’s submissions will be considered.
Award: Plays will be fully produced with a full set, costumes, props, sound cues, and rep lighting. Playwrights whose plays are chosen for production will receive a $100 honorarium.
Note: Suburban Holidays 5 explores the theme of the holiday season (in whatever form that means for the playwright. Though we receive many winter holiday themed submissions (Christmas, New Year’s, etc.) all other holidays are welcomed. Have a Valentine’s Day play? We want to read it! Kwanzaa? Send it along! Purim? We’d love to see it.
One-acts of any length will be considered, but plays of between 10 and 25 minutes are mostly likely to be accepted.
There are no restrictions on cast size. We welcome large cast plays. Original musicals will also be considered, though musical accompaniment will be restricted to a keyboardist, should a musical be produced.

For complete submission details, festival information, and how to enter your play refer to the Quannapowitt Players Suburban Holidays V website.

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The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation: 2016 Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award

Deadline: July 1, 2016
Submission Fee: No fee.
Type: Television Script Writing Award
Restrictions: The applicant must be a non-U.S. citizen residing outside the U.S. The applicant must not have reached his/her 30^th birthday as of December 31, 2016. The applicant must be a minimum of 18 years of age upon completion of the entry form. The applicant may not have had a script or contributed any written words to any fiction material produced and/or aired on television prior to entry date. Material that has previously been sold or is currently under option may not be submitted. Only one entry per scriptwriter will be accepted.
Award: The winner will be flown to New York City to be presented with an award and a US$2,500 prize at the International Emmy World Television Festival. The winning script will be read by actors in front of an audience at the Festival, and the winner will be invited to take part in the red carpet festivities at the International Emmy Awards.
Note: The Applicant must deliver an original completed DRAMA script for television (Drama Series: A dramatic production in which theme, storyline, and main characters are presented under the same title.)
Script must be a minimum of a half-hour and a maximum of one-hour commercial length.
The script should be a stand-alone or pilot script, not a random episode that is part of a series.

For complete submission details and festival information refer to The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation 2016 Sir Peter Ustinov Television Script Writing Award website.

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South Street Players: The Tri-State Theatre Festival: Halloween Edition

Deadline: July 3, 2016
Submission Fee: None Listed
Type: One-Act 20 minutes or less
Restrictions: Only accepting plays from playwrights in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Plays in standard playscript format must be 20 pages or less. Submissions longer than 20 pages will be declined for consideration.
Award: Play gets produced at the Tri-State Theater Festival Halloween Edition from October 21-23, 2016 in Spring Lake, NJ.
Note: Plays must be Halloween-themed, which includes but is not limited to, plays about ghosts, vampires, werewolves, witches, zombies, trick or treating, pumpkins, headless horsemen…pretty much anything and everything Halloween…however all plays must be family-friendly, PG-rated.
Playwrights may submit more than one play. South Street Players is a family theatre. No excessive swearing, no nudity.

For complete submission details and festival information refer to the South Street Players Tri State Theatre Festival: Halloween Edition web site.

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Theatre Lila: Submissions for original work entitled – The BED: A Theatre LILA invention

Deadline: July 10, 2016
Submission Fee: None Listed
Type: Short scenes from 5 minutes to 30 minutes.
Restrictions: No monologues. Cast may not exceed 8 actors.
Award: All winning pieces will be combined into a collage-like production that will be produced in March 2017. Writers will receive a small stipend, a pair of complimentary tickets to the production and acknowledgement in press, website, and playbill materials.
Note: Accepting submissions from playwrights and poets. Seeking short scenes ranging from five minutes to a maximum of thirty minutes. Seeking all styles of poetry, spoken word, and original song.
The entire scene will be set around a large four poster bed. Submitted works must revolve around this set piece only plus props.
Theatre Lila is seeking a diverse collection of voices from all cultural backgrounds, races, and ages.
Selected scripts will be combined to create the world premiere of The BED.

For complete submission details and festival information refer to the Theatre Lila: The BED: a Theatre LILA invention website.

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The Bridge Initiative: Women in Theatre: Playwright of the Year Award

Deadline: August 1, 2016
Submission Fee: None Listed
Type: New Plays and Musicals
Restrictions: Female Playwrights only.
Award: Playwrights and their plays receive promotion through The Bridge Initiative: Women in Theatre website, press releases both locally and nationally, and social media channels. Additional promotion is provided by three additional theatres: Magnolia Theatre Company, WAMTheatre Company, and InProximity Theatre. These three female-focused theatre companies are joining forces with The Bridge Initiative to help foster the playwright throughout her process.
A week long development workshop in Arizona which includes a professional director who specializes in development, dramaturg, actors, and other supportive artists for the process that will best serve the play and the playwright.
Additional staged readings of the play with Magnolia Theatre Company and WAMTheatre regionally, as well as InProximity Theatre in New York City, that will include the support of producer and artists. The writer may attend in person or via Skype or FaceTime.Travel, housing, and stipend for the week of development in Arizona.
Note: Accepting new plays and musicals written by women. The work must be in development with a cast limit of eight (8) and the writer must have an understanding of the next stages needed towards the creation of the play. The Playwright will be submitting her piece with the intention of committing time, work, and rewriting within a conscious and measured pipeline of development that will be generated with The Bridge Initiative: Women in Theatre and three other theatre companies committed to the shepherding of the work and writer throughout the process. A panel of professional theatre artists nationwide will adjudicate submissions.
The winning writer must be available for the development process, beginning with a week-long residence in Arizona February 21^st to 26^th with a dedicated director, actors, and supportive artists throughout the week in Arizona and beyond.
The play must not have been fully produced prior to the contest and there must not be any rights attached to the script.

For complete submission details and festival information refer to The Bridge Initiative: Women in Theatre Playwright of the Year website.

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David Charles Horn Foundation: Yale Drama Series

Deadline: August 15, 2016
Submission Fee: None
Type: Full Length Play
Restrictions: Playwrights may submit only one manuscript per year. Plays must be written in English. Submissions must be original, unpublished full-length plays written in English. Translations, musicals, adaptations, and children’s plays are not accepted. The Yale Drama Series is intended to support emerging playwrights. Playwrights may win the competition only once. Worldwide submissions are accepted.
Award: The winning play will be selected by the series’ current judge, Nicholas Wright. The winner of this annual competition will be awarded the David Charles Horn Prize of $10,000, publication of his/her manuscript by Yale University Press, and a staged reading at Lincoln Center Theater. The prize and publication are contingent on the playwright’s agreeing to the terms of the publishing agreement.
Note: Plays that have been professionally produced or published are not eligible. Plays that have had a workshop, reading, or non-professional production or that have been published as an actor’s edition will be considered.
Plays may not be under option, commissioned, or scheduled for a professional production or publication at the time of submission.
Playwrights must omit their name and contact information from the manuscript. The manuscript must begin with a title page that shows the play’s title, a 2-3 sentence keynote description of the play, a list of characters, and a list of acts and scenes.

For complete submission details and festival information refer to the David Charles Horn Foundation – The Yale Drama Series website.

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American Blues Theatre: Blue Ink Playwriting Award

Deadline: Submissions from July 1, 2016 to August 31, 2016
Submission Fee: $5.00
Type: Full Length
Restrictions: Plays must be written in English. Worldwide submissions are accepted. Translations, musicals, children’s plays are not accepted.
Award: The winning play will be selected by Producing Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside and the Ensemble. The playwright receives a monetary prize of $1,000 and a developmental workshop or staged reading at American Blues Theater in Chicago. Cash prizes are awarded for runners up, finalists, and semi-finalists too.
Note: Submissions must be the original, unpublished full-length plays written in English. Adaptations are accepted with proof of rights held unless source text is in the public domain.
Plays that have been professionally produced or published are not eligible. Plays that have had a workshop, reading, or non-professional production will be considered.

For complete submission details and festival information refer to the American Blues Theater Blue Ink Playwriting Award website.

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**Before you enter any of these contests please check out the complete submission guidelines provided by the Festival and/or theatre at their websites. Although I’ve tried to double check everything and make sure it’s accurate it’s always best to check the source. And good luck!

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Never Give Up Premieres at King’s Shorts

May 25, 2016 by James Hutchison |

“Courage doesn’t always roar, sometimes it’s the quiet voice at the end of the day whispering ‘I will try again tomorrow”

― Mary Anne Radmacher

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The lottery winner and the overnight success are the exception. Most of the time you have to do the work in order to succeed. And while doing the work doesn’t guarantee success – not doing the work certainly guarantees failure.

Not that failure is a bad thing. Not when we learn from our failures and get back up and try again. No artist, athlete, or entrepreneur has every succeeded without failing. The difference, it seems, between those that succeed and those that don’t is often perseverance.

Unfortunately, we’re a culture focused on the quick fix in the form of success and diets and personal growth. We want to be able to tone our abs while sitting on the couch; lose weight by eating one miracle food; succeed in business without really trying.

But, life is never that simple.

If you want to better yourself, in any way, it takes work and effort. Time and time again the wisdom of the ages speaks to us – before you can harvest the fruit you have to grow the tree.

You don’t become a concert pianist overnight. It takes years of work and dedication. It also takes talent. But even the most talented musician would not succeed without countless hours of practice.

Of course, sometimes even those without talent have a driving ambition to succeed.

That’s the theme behind my play: Never Give Up – a ten minute comedy about going after your dreams.

Never Give Up is about playwright Nigel Davenport who has been entering the Short Cuts Playwriting Festival for years. He’s never won, in spite of submitting hundreds and hundreds of plays. So, when Nigel gets a call from Artistic Director Todd Sparks, he thinks his luck has finally changed, that is, until he meets with Todd and Todd tells him that they’d like him to stop submitting to the Festival because he’s a terrible playwright. In fact, three members of this year’s reading committee resigned, two were treated for depression and one tried to commit suicide all because of Nigel’s plays. But instead of giving up, this only inspires Nigel to try harder and figure out how to write an award winning play that will win the festival.

Never Give Up, is one of eight plays premiering at this year’s King’s Shorts Festival of Ten Minute Plays in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia from June 17th to 19th. The production is being directed by Ron Wesman and stars Simon Bonnington as Nigel and Blaine Schumacker as Todd.

The King’s Shorts Festival makes live theatre accessible to audiences, playwrights, directors and performers in order to allow all these groups the opportunity to participate in the experience of live theatre. In addition, based solely on the written scripts, Theatre Nova Scotia selects and awards a first and second place winner. Audiences who come to the festival vote for their favourite play and the winner is presented with a People’s Choice Award after the final performance.

This year’s King’s Shorts plays and playwrights are:

The Agency Sent Me

Playwright: Jim Prime, New Minas, Nova Scotia
Director: Verilea Ellis
Cast: Ashlea Viola, Paul Lalonde, and Penelope Domries

Chase the Ace

Playwright: Charles Salmon, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Director: Carolyn Crowell
Cast: Margie, VanBinsbergen, and Wayne Currie

The Darwin Club

Playwright: Rachel Cooper, Canning, Nova Scotia
Director: Gail Chester
Cast: Brian Rice, William McCormack, Alex Hancock, and Henry Bent

Hot Flush

Playwright: Sue Higgs, Head Jeddore, Nova Scotia
Director: Jane DeWolfe
Cast: Elizabeth Rhymer and Daniel Marsh

Miami

Playwright: Gene Dejoie, Sherman Oakes, California
Director: Kelley Pozzolo
Cast: Donnie Carter, Freeman Butland, and Joey Lajoie

Never Give Up

Playwright: James Hutchison, Calgary, Alberta
Director: Ron Wesman
Cast: Simon Bonnington and Blaine Schumacher

On Three

Playwright: Mark Redmayne and Santiago Arcila, Vancouver, British Columbia
Director: John MacEachern
Cast: Oliver Wilkes, Bruno Jennings, Angela Fischer, and Dave York

Top the Timer

Playwright: John Anthony Brodston, Omaha, Nebraska
Director: Jeff Styles
Cast: Scott McQuillan, Doug Glenen, and Clinton Chester

As a non-profit performing arts centre King’s Theatre’s mission is to forward the development of cultural, artistic and educational exchange by offering a wide range of stage performances, concerts, independent films, and other cultural events designed to appeal to the widest possible audience.

Theatre Nova Scotia is a non-profit organization committed to encouraging and supporting all aspects of live theatre in Nova Scotia through its programs and services.

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Never Give Up was workshopped through the Alberta Playwrights’ Network Wordshed program with the participation of Trevor Rueger, Christopher Hunt, Elinor Holt and Julie Orton. The Alberta Playwrights’ Network assists in the development of both plays and playwrights through a number of different development programs.

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An interview with Playwright Meredith Taylor-Parry – Part One: Survival Skills

January 26, 2016 by James Hutchison |

Playwright Meredith Taylor-Parry – Photograph by James Hutchison

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“You want to write the kind of play where people are going to go home and talk about it, and think about it, and talk about themselves a little bit. You know, my God, if it got people to think about their own mortality a little bit, how could that be a bad thing? We all run around scared to talk about it, but we’re fascinated by it at the same time. The idea that we’re mortal. Just to have that discussion opened up wouldn’t hurt.”

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Meredith Taylor-Parry is a Calgary based actor and playwright. Her play, Survival Skills won the New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest in 2013 and was produced Off Off Broadway by the 13 Street Repertory Company, in New York City in April 2014.

Her most recent work, Book Club was developed as part of the Suncor Stage One Festival at Lunchbox Theatre and will receive a world premiere at Lunchbox in February.

I sat down with Meredith, while her four month old Beagle Tucker, lay happily nearby chewing puppy toys, to talk with her about Survival Skills and Book Club, as well as her writing process.

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JAMES HUTCHISON

When you go to a play what is it you go for? What is it you hope to get out of it?

MEREDITH TAYLOR-PARRY

I guess I want to be moved emotionally, always. I like Opera. I always write while I listen to Opera. I want to be moved. I like the tragic. I like stories where you watch people getting put through the wringer. Watching characters go through hell and then some. And I like stories and plays with some expression of hope at the end. That’s very important. It doesn’t need to be wrapped up perfectly, but just something.

JAMES

Tell me about the reason you wrote Survival Skills.

MEREDITH

Well, my Dad committed suicide in two thousand and two after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, and I always knew that I wanted to write about it. I never thought about writing a novel – I always thought it would be a play.

JAMES

How difficult was it to put that out into the world? Because that’s a very personal thing.

MEREDITH

It was difficult, but when an experience like that happens to you – or at least my experience is – you’re compelled to tell that story over and over and over again.

And I’ve heard some people say, yeah but some people never want to talk about it again – but that wasn’t me. I was compelled to tell that story to friends – to grief groups –I’m just compelled to share it. I don’t know how many times my mom and I would get on the phone after it happened and we’d end up retelling that day – the actual event – when we found the suicide note – when we called the police – when my brother went out to look at the body that afternoon.

And I originally thought the play was going to open with that scene, but then I went to a Playworks Ink Conference in 2011 and I signed up early and got into Daniel MacIvor’s workshop. And he started the workshop by reading the scene you’d submitted. And he’s a pretty fantastic actor and he did all the different parts. I had my sister there, my brother there, my mother in the scene, and the character that represented me. We were all there and he just read through that first scene from beginning to end and when he finished – it was silent and he said, “That’s a hell of a way to start a play. People discovering a suicide note.”

And I went, “Yeah, yeah I guess it is. I wasn’t really thinking about that.”

He said, “We’re going to end the scene right here where your brother hangs up the phone and I want you to write the next scene.”

And I wrote the next scene and that became the first scene of the play because I took his advice – that is a hell of a way to start a play. But I think I needed to write the suicide scene first because that was the hardest scene to write – bar none – and to go back and remember those moments in specific detail.

JAMES

How much do you credit that workshop with moving forward on the play?

MEREDITH

Huge. He looked at me and said, because I had some humour in there, “Meredith, any play that can bring levity to the topic of death needs to be written.” He said, “I myself am terrified of the medical system. I’m not afraid of dying – I’m terrified about becoming a patient of the medical system.”

And here’s this man who has written all these beautiful plays with all this fabulous experience and wisdom but at the same time he’s a really good teacher too. He really has the right touch. And I think he just knew the right thing to say to help keep me going. He also made us promise, before we left the workshop, to send him the first draft by a certain date. And I did, because it’s Daniel MacIvor, right. I wasn’t not going to do it. I was two weeks late, but it made me finish it.

JAMES

You worked on the play for a couple more years and then entered it into the New Plays of Merit Contest in 2013 and won. What was it like getting the phone call that the play had won?

MEREDITH

That’s what my dream was up to that point. That someone was going to phone me up and tell me that I was good enough to win a contest. And I felt really good about it because it was New York. Because to me that was the place where all the good playwrights go. So, that was a real shot in the arm – no question. I felt pretty good about that – but I was stunned.

JAMES

What was it like to go see your play on stage?

MEREDITH

I vowed that I wasn’t going to be critical of my work because I don’t know if this is ever going to happen to me again. The idea of going to New York to see your play – Off Off Broadway in a little old theatre with a little old 92 year old Broadway performer running it. I mean this theatre had a lot of history. Tennessee Williams’ plays were performed there. And I thought, don’t ruin it by sitting there thinking about all the things that are wrong with your play. It wasn’t perfect, and I still think there are things that can be improved about the play, but I just vowed I was going to go and enjoy it.

JAMES

It’s interesting to me because there’s a certain completion to the journey. From the experience of your father having committed suicide, to writing the script, to winning the contest, to getting it produced. How you would sum up the whole experience as you were watching the production with your family?

MEREDITH

Well the first word that popped into my mind was surreal, and the second thing was how much I enjoyed the performances, and how much the actors brought to it. I just vowed I was going to go and enjoy it and I wasn’t going to worry about my family as far as taking care of them or worry about their reactions to it either. But you know, I also worked through a lot of stuff with that play.

When dad was suspecting a bad diagnosis – this was three days before he completed suicide – I phoned his room at the Moncton Hospital from Calgary. And he said, “Oh they’re going to do some tests and things.” Because at first they thought it might be a bowel infection and a reaction to antibiotics. But there was a moment where he hesitated on the phone and in my mind I wondered what was he was going to say next. To me there was something that he meant to say and tell me. Like he opened his mouth to say it and it didn’t come out and I wondered if it was, “Listen if it’s a bad diagnoses this is what I’m going to do.” But he didn’t say anything, and I heard this kind of breath, or hesitation, and I wondered, and wondered, and wondered about that afterwards.

And then I thought, well what would you have done if he had said, you know, this is not going to go well…would I have suspected…because we knew his philosophical stance on end of life. He always said, “If I ever got a bad diagnosis that would be it.” But it’s a leap in your mind to hear those words and really imagine your father actually doing that.

So I thought, in my state of mind, what would I have done? I probably would have called mom and told her not to leave him for a minute. And then there’s a part of you that would have said, “Okay – whatever you need – I’ll do it – I’ll help you.”

And I did end up inadvertently helping him complete the act by flying to the Maritimes, because when my mother came to pick me up at the airport that’s when he completed. So I felt complicit in that, and that bothered me for a long time, even though it was inadvertent. It was a window of opportunity, and he took it, and I provided that. So, in a way I helped whether I wanted to or not.

I changed the play so that the character who plays me actually does make the decision to fly home to get her mother out of the house so that her father will have the window of opportunity very knowingly not inadvertently.

JAMES

Dramatically that’s a good choice.

MEREDITH

Dramatically it was a hell of a lot better choice than what really happened.

JAMES

Because then the character is active.

MEREDITH

Yes.

JAMES

What do you think your dad would think of this play?

MEREDITH

Wow. I just think he’d be horrified, because he was such a private person. I had to struggle past that a little bit because he’d be so horrified that I laid it all out. But you know what? Whatever form – and I do believe there is some kind of spiritual form that he takes now – I don’t think he has those same opinions any more.

And after he was gone, I pretty quickly said this is more about me than it is about him. This is more about us. And that’s how I was able to write it. I was lucky, because my family wasn’t upset. But dad would have been. I think for sure. But I wouldn’t have had to write it – you know what I mean – unless it had happened.

JAMES

Was it cathartic for your family in some ways?

MEREDITH

Maybe in some ways. I sat right beside my mom and my aunt and I could feel the seat shaking because they cried and cried and they laughed too, but there was a lot of tears you know. I know that my aunt and mom told me they sat up all night in the hotel room talking about it. My brother said, “Man it’s weird to see your life up on stage like that.” But it was probably not as cathartic for them as it was for me

JAMES

What are your hopes for the story?

MEREDITH

I would love to see it produced again, of course. Published and produced. Those are the things that I’m looking for with all my plays. I don’t really want them to just sit stagnant. You want to write the kind of play where people are going to go home and talk about it, and think about it, and talk about themselves a little bit. You know, my God, if it got people to think about their own mortality a little bit, how could that be a bad thing? We all run around scared to talk about it, but we’re fascinated by it at the same time. The idea that we’re mortal. Just to have that discussion opened up wouldn’t hurt.

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Next week, in Part Two, I talk with Meredith about her play Book Club, and it’s upcoming production at Lunchbox Theatre.

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Survival Skills by Meredith Taylor-Parry

A father takes his life. The family gathers to mourn. Only one saw the body. Only one knows what really happened.

Winner: 2013 New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest

Premeired at 13th Street Repertory – NYC April 3 – May 1, 2014 with the following cast and crew.

Directed by Leanora Lange

Cast

Kathleen – Aimee Thrasher
Annalise – Kristen Busalacchi
Eliza – Mary Ruth Baggott
Oscar – Jason Kirk
Len – Danny Sauls

Crew

Stage Manager – Alex Bishop
Properties Assistant – Aimee Thrasher
Dramatrug – Kurt Hollender
Producer – Sandra Nordgren

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Playwright Meredith Taylor-Parry

Meredith Taylor-Parry is a playwright based in Calgary, Alberta. Her play Survival Skills won the New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest in 2013 and was produced Off Off Broadway by the 13th Street Repertory Company, NYC in April 2014. Her play Devices received a production in Week One of the New Ideas Festival at Alumnae Theatre in Toronto in March of 2015. Her most recent work, Book Club, was developed as part of the Suncor Energy Stage One Festival of New Canadian Work at Lunchbox Theatre in Calgary in 2014 and will receive a world premiere at Lunchbox in February 2016. Meredith is Co-Artistic Director of Bigs and Littles Theatre Society and also enjoys writing and performing for young audiences.

You can contact Meredith at LinkedIn by clicking the link above or by email at: mtaylorparry@gmail.com

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Survival Skills – Synopsis

“He saw a window of opportunity.”

A man diagnosed with terminal cancer commits suicide, leaving his family behind to struggle with the aftermath. Our journey begins 20 years later as Annalise and her sister sit at their dying mother’s bedside. The daughters are compelled to relive with the audience the horrible days following their father’s death when those closest to him came together to mourn and try to understand his choice. The play moves between past and present.

Their father’s decision is a controversial one. It was terribly painful for his wife and children to experience such a sudden, violent loss. But as we watch the sisters sit with their mother we begin to understand the motives behind his action. Is the choice to let death come in its prolonged and often agonizing way any less traumatic for those involved? Should we have the right to choose?

As in any time of family crises, personalities clash and sibling rivalries are revisited. Annalise’s frustration grows as her father is both accused of being a coward and applauded as hero. Finally she reveals an awful secret; her father needed her help. It is only by sifting through the memories that haunt her, that she will find forgiveness.

New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest

New Works of Merit is an international playwriting contest developed in 2003 to bring works of social significance to the general public.

13th Street Repertory Company

The 13th Street Repertory Company, founded in 1972 by Artistic Director Edith O’Hara, provides a place for actors, directors, playwrights, and technicians to develop their craft in a caring, nurturing, professional environment.

The Science of Theatre

November 17, 2015 by James Hutchison |

I came across a rather intriguing playwriting contest last week.

“The Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, in its ongoing mission to explore the intersection of science and art, announces a CALL FOR PLAYS for the 2015-16 SBU Science Playwriting Competition.”

And best of all there’s prize money! Five hundred bucks for the winning play. Three hundred for second. And one hundred for third. There should always be prize money, in my humble opinion. Yes, we might do art for art’s sake but in a world that runs on money it’s nice to get a little cash once in a while.

Or at least a Starbucks or Tim Horton’s gift card, don’t you think? After all, you need money to fuel your writing marathons at Starbucks or Seattle’s Best or Second Cup or Tim Horton’s or any other coffee house playwrights and novelists and poets go to write. I myself don’t go to coffee shops to write. I usually go for coffee. I have my writer’s nook at home. I have my desk and my space and that’s where I find I’m most creative. But hey, one of the things you need to discover as a writer is what works for you, and if writing in a coffee shop is your thing – great.

Anyway, back to the contest. Theatre and science are no strangers to each other. Theater explores questions and so does science. Both are dedicated to trying to understand and reveal truth. Science is not devoid of emotion. Yes, there is the scientific method but the person who pursues the science is driven by a passion to understand. And there is an art to science. Science progresses through innovation – through figuring out how to test and measure and understand the processes of the universe. So of course, theatre and science should be brought together in order to entertain and enlighten audiences about science, the human spirit, and our hunger for knowledge.

And, if you’re a scientist with an idea for a play or a playwright with an idea for a science experiment then put pen to paper and write.

Plays should be around 10 minutes in length.
Winning plays receive a staged reading in the Fall 2016 semester.
Plays must be unpublished work.
Deadline is Midnight April 1, 2016. After midnight your play turns into a pumpkin.
For complete contest details and how to enter follow this link: 2015-16 SBU Science Playwriting Competition.

The awards committee will consist of Professors Christopher Herzog, George Sterman, and Steve Marsh. The event is made possible by the generous support of the Simons Center, the C. N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, and the SBU Department of Theatre Arts.

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