THEATER -- NOVEMBER 2020

Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program

The Juilliard School

INFO: The Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program offers a one-year graduate-level fellowship. You may be invited to continue your studies through a second academic year, thereby completing a total of 52 credits for the two-year fellowship period and earning an Artist Diploma (AD) in Playwriting.

The Playwriting Program is tuition-free and typically accepts 4-5 fellows per year.

For more detailed information about the program, please visit the Drama Division webpage.

ELIGIBILITY: It is preferred that you hold an undergraduate degree; however, you will also be considered if you have advanced training equivalent to a bachelor’s degree or exceptional artistic accomplishments.

International students are welcome to apply, however, play submissions must be in English. 

While there is no limit to the number of times you may apply to this program, you are encouraged to critically consider your personal and professional development between applications. If you reapply, you should submit a new play with each application, unless it is a previously submitted play that has been significantly re-written.

DEADLINE: November 15, 2020

https://www.juilliard.edu/arm/drama/college/playwriting/artist-diploma

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Lift Every Voice Black Women Speak Monologue Festival

Fantasy Theatre Factory

INFO: Fantasy Theatre Factory in Miami, Florida, understands that black female playwrights are underserved when it comes to the production of their work. We are holding a call for black female playwrights from the United States to submit monologues that reflect their personal experience. These monologues will be presented by Fantasy Theatre Factory in February, 2021 during Black History Month. An honorarium will be paid to those playwrights whose scripts are selected.

Submission Guidelines:

  • Submissions accepted from female black playwrights who reside in the United States.

  • Two submissions per writer maximum.

  • The monologue may be part of a larger work or a stand-alone piece.

  • Monologue should read between 2 and 5 minutes.

  • Preferred format is PDF

  • On the cover page, indicate name, address, phone and email address.

  • Email scripts to: blackfemaleplaywrights@gmail.com

DEADLINE: November 15, 2020 midnight EST

https://www.ftfshows.com

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2020 FICTION PODCAST CONTEST

Shore Scripts

INFO: Podcasts are kind of a big deal! Over 100 million people in USA listen to at least one Podcast a month and that rate is increasing by 20 million year on year. Fiction podcasts are taking a century’s worth of entertainment in radio plays and pushing the boundaries to tell stories in fresh and innovative ways, quickly becoming the fastest-growing sub-section of this booming industry. Many writers, including our Judges, have forged successful careers for themselves through Podcasts. Hollywood’s taking notice too! More and more of these shows are being adapted for Televsion: Homecoming, Limetown, Carrier, Left Right Game & LORE to name but a few. 

The beauty of the fiction Podcast format is that it allows you as a writer to be completely free to tell the story you wish to tell, without having to factor in the budgetary constraints of filmmaking. Our Podcast Contest offers more in funding and prize money than any other. 

In collaboration with our winning writers, Shore Scripts will produce both episodes, making use of our industry connections to find talented cast and crew. We will look to attach a named actor/actress to each episode to further elevate the show and draw in a larger audience. Once both episodes are live, we will contact commissioners in an attempt to greenlight the series. The writers have final say on all potential commissioning offers.

This is a great opportunity to get your work commissioned and voice heard in this ever-growing industry. You don’t even need to write an episode from scratch. Perhaps you have a screenplay, novel or stageplay that could be adapted to fit this medium. Read our How to Adapt my Screenplay into a Podcast for some pointers.  

We accept screenplay, radio and stageplay format. Check out our Rules and FAQ’s for all the info. 

AWARD:

  • Two winners will be chosen to have their pilot scripts produce, each with a budget of $5,000

  • Plus, each winner will also receive $1000 Cash!

DEADLINES:

  • Early - November 15, 2020

  • Regular - December 18, 2020

  • Final - January 21, 2021

https://filmfreeway.com/ShoreScriptsFictionPodcastContest

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LITERATURE GRANT

Café Royal Cultural Foundation

INFO: Café Royal Cultural Foundation NYC will award a publishing grant to authors of fiction / creative non-fiction, poetry and playwriting. 

GRANT: Up to $10,000.00  

ELIGIBILITY: Authors in fiction / creative non-fiction, poetry and playwriting. The applicant must be the originator of the written material.

Grants awarded in this category may fund costs associated with continuing the composition of work submitted.

Writers applying must be a current resident of New York City and have lived there for a minimum of one year prior to applying.

The processing time of application can take up to three months. Please make sure to submit your application with ample time before the start date of your project. 

Application Requirements: 

  • Up to and no more than a 30 page PDF of the work, for the Café Royal Cultural Foundation executive committee to download and read.

  • A letter of intent from the publisher with a date of planned publication, if no publisher is assigned, Café Royal Cultural Foundation may work with writer to help find a publisher.

  • A short description of the project.

  • A short author biography of the person(s) involved.

  • List of costs that the grant money be used for - must not exceed the amount of $10,000.00

Click on the apply button below to download the application. Once completed, please e-mail application to publishinggrant@caferoyalculturalfoundation.org.

We accept applications all year round. Applications will only be received by e-mail. The processing time of application can take up to three months. Please make sure to submit your application with ample time before the start date of your project and please refrain from inquiries in the meantime.

DEADLINE: November 16, 2020 at 9am

https://caferoyalculturalfoundation.org/literature-page

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JEROME FELLOWSHIPS

The Playwrights' Center

INFO: The Playwrights' Center's Jerome Fellowship is intended to support early career playwrights who demonstrate extraordinary potential, artistic vision, and a commitment to spending a year in residence in Minnesota developing their work with the Playwrights' Center in community with other fellows. Fellows will receive an $18,000 stipend and $2,500 in development support.

Fellows spend a year-long residency in Minnesota (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022), working in an individualized and hands-on way with the Playwrights' Center artistic staff—some of the most experienced and connected theater professionals in the country. Beyond the financial stipend, the value of fellowships is more than doubled with the year-long support the Playwrights' Center adds through workshops with professional directors, dramaturgs, and actors—and through the connections the Center makes between playwrights and producers of new work. This holistic and customized combination of financial support, connections with other artists, and professional connections is career-changing for most playwrights.

Applicants must reside in, and have the legal right to work in, the United States during the fellowship term. Applicants may not have had more than two different works fully produced by professional theaters at the time of the application. (Note for 2020: If you had a production that was canceled or postponed due to COVID-19, that does not count when determining eligibility. Even if the play technically opened before cancellation, you do not need to count that production, so you will still be eligible for this fellowship. Please be sure to mark cancellations or postponements clearly on your resume.) Fellows commit to spending the 12-month fellowship period in Minnesota and actively participating in the Center's programs. Housing and travel are not provided. Playwrights may not receive more than two Jerome Fellowships. A previous Jerome Fellowship recipient applying for a second fellowship must submit a different play than the play that accompanied the previous successful application. Recipients may not receive any other Playwrights' Center fellowships during the year.

DEADLINE: November 19, 2020 at 11:59pm CST

https://pwcenter.org/programs/jerome-fellowships

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: AFRO-LATINX ANTHOLOGY

Alan Pelaez

INFO: Editor Alan Pelaez Lopez invites contributions to a multi-genre anthology (Title TBA) of contemporary queer and trans Afro-Latinx writers on memory, care, and futurity published by a notable University Press with a slated publication date of 2021.

This collection of writings will serve as a living archive of contemporary literature by queer and trans Afro-Latinx writers. By “Afro-Latinx,” we mean writers who are Black of Latin American and Caribbean descent. This anthology aims to push the boundaries of how we think, accept, deny, or play with the concept of “Latinx.” The final project will not be a survey of recent literature but a gesture towards an Afro-Latinx aesthetic informed by differently Black experiences. Latin America and the Caribbean, as landscapes, as imagined communities, and as diasporic analytics are continually shapeshifting. Black people in, of, and from Latin America, the Caribbean, and their diasporas are at the heart of this shapeshifting, but the literature of Afro-Latinx writers is— similarly to Black people across the continent— policed, surveilled, and organized by non-Black entities. This anthology seeks to open, nuance and challenge narratives made about us without us. The anthology is not an explanation of what it means to be a queer and/or trans Black person of Latin American and/or Caribbean descent, but a dialogue of how we work with, through, and against memory, care, and futures.

The anthology seeks to answer:

  • How do queer and/or trans Black writers from Latin America, the Caribbean and their diaspora(s) address memory? How do queer and trans embodiments help us understand and/or question the past, the present, and construct a Black queer and trans future?

  • How does Blackness remember geographies we are no longer inhabiting, those we never inhabited, and those we may never know?

  • What are the textures of caring, being cared for, and accepting care as Black queer and/or trans people?

  • What are the uses of care, love, intimacy, and kinship in queer and/or trans Black spaces?

  • And, how do our genders, sexualities, sexual performances, and rejections of all three serve as worldbuilding embodiments for the future?

Mediums:

  • Creative non-fiction (15 pages max)

  • Fiction (15 pages max)

  • Poetry (Send 3-5 poems, no more than 7 pages)

  • Comics (15 pages max—you can send text submission if it’s not inked yet, or send a full first draft)

  • Plays and choreopoems (15 pages max)

  • Performance essays / documentation (20 pages max including images—you must have permission to use all images submitted.)

What we are looking for from contributors:

We are looking for new work (or pieces that have not appeared in a full-length collection that you have retained the rights to) that address memory, care and futures. All work must be submitted in English and you must be open to working with an editor. Pieces that utilize other languages are welcome as long as the piece is primarily in English. This anthology will not publish work that considers Blackness as a monolithic experience. All published writings will receive a modest honorarium.

Submissions:

Please include your name, contact info, and a 50-word bio.

DEADLINE: December 1, 2020

http://www.alanpelaez.com/afro-latinx-anthology/

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2021 NATIONAL LATINX PLAYWRITING AWARD

Arizona Theatre Company

INFO: Submissions for the 2021 National Latinx Playwriting Award are now open. Latinx playwrights residing in the United States, its territories or Mexico are encouraged to submit scripts for the award. Each script will be read and evaluated by a culturally diverse panel of theatre artists; finalists will be judged by ATC artistic staff.

We have extended the submission deadline for the 2021 National Latinx Playwriting Award to December 1, 2020.

Submission Procedure

We respectfully ask that you adhere to the following application requirements:

  • Submit a single script electronically or via U.S. mail if you prefer.

  • All submissions must be received by December 1, 2020. Please include a title page on the script that includes the play’s title, the author’s name, and contact information (including a phone number, mailing address, and email).

  • Include a cover letter of no more than one page, describing the play’s developmental history, and how the play fits into the playwright’s broader career trajectory.

Submit manuscripts to:

NLPA@arizonatheatre.org

OR 

National Latinx Playwriting Award
ATTN: Elaine Romero, Playwright-in-Residence
Arizona Theatre Company
343 S. Scott Ave. Tucson, AZ 85701

Eligibility

The award is open to all Latino playwrights currently residing in the United States, its territories, or Mexico.

Scripts may be in English, English and Spanish, or solely in Spanish. (Spanish-language and bilingual scripts must be accompanied by an English translation.)

Plays must be unpublished, professionally unproduced, and not currently under option at the time of submission.

Full-length and one-act plays (minimum length: 50 pages) on any subject will be accepted.

Scripts

The physical scripts become the property of Arizona Theatre Company and will not be returned. In this case, “property” means the physical property of the theatre, not the intellectual property or any rights to the play.

The winner will be notified by Fall 2021.

For more information contact Elaine Romero, ATC Playwright-in Residence: info@arizonatheatre.org.

DEADLINE: Extended to December 1, 2020

https://arizonatheatre.org/national-latino-playwriting-award/

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ONGOING

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Theatre [Untitled] 

INFO: We are seeking original plays or musicals that celebrate stories not yet told on stage and uplift underrepresented people. Women, BIPOC, and LQBTQ+ strongly encouraged to submit. We are always looking for new pieces to produce. We are committed to exposing up and coming playwrights and their works.

If you would like to submit your play to us, please email theatreuntitled@theatreuntitled.com with the subject line "New Play Submission" with:

Your play as a PDF and

Tell us a little about yourself and your artistic viewpoint in the body of the email.

DEADLINE: Ongoing

http://www.theatreuntitled.com

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EMERGING PLAYWRIGHTS FUND

Audible

INFO: In 2017, Audible launched a theater initiative, intended to radically increase access to exceptional plays and performances. A core pillar of the initiative is the Emerging Playwrights Fund, a program that invests in and nurtures self-identifying emerging playwrights, some of our most inventive, delightful, and provocative storytellers. Through the Fund, Audible aims to connect extraordinary performers with remarkable original work, amplifying new voices and harnessing the power and potential of audio to reach millions of listeners.

The Fund specifically supports the creation of original dramatic work, written with audio in mind, but theatrical in spirit. If you are looking to submit an idea for an audio project that is not a play, please visit www.audible.com/pitch.

Audible is dedicated to commissioning, developing, and producing work that reflects the diversity of our members and our world. To accomplish this, Audible is committed to granting at least 50% of emerging playwright commissions to artists of color and women.

GUIDELINES:

To be considered as an applicant for a commission, please submit all of the following to AudibleTheater@audible.com:

1. One full-length script for an original or adapted play (in English language only) that represents your voice ("Script"). The Script can be in any genre and may include one-acts and solo pieces;
2. A short biography; and
3. A brief statement about why audio plays appeal to you.

If you have an idea for an original audio play, you are welcome to include a pitch or summary along with your statement (this is encouraged, but not required).

ELIGIBILITY: Any applicant over the age of 18 may submit a Script. Employees or independent contractors, or immediate family members (spouses, domestic partners, parents, grandparents, siblings, children, and grandchildren) or those living in the same household of employees or independent contractors of Audible Inc., Amazon or any entity involved in any aspect of the Theater Fund may not submit a Script for consideration, unless it is determined by Audible in its sole discretion in accordance with Audible’s then current policies and procedures that no conflict of interest exists in connection with accepting the relevant submission for consideration.

CONDITIONS: All submissions must be the original creations of the applicants. By submitting a Script, each applicant represents and warrants that: (a) the submitted work is his/her 100% original creation, (b) the submitted work will not violate or infringe the rights (including copyrights and rights of privacy and publicity) of any other person or party, and (c) all materials and elements comprising the submitted work are exclusively owned or controlled by the applicant. Audible may determine, in its sole discretion, that an applicant is ineligible to submit a work for consideration if these requirements, and others described in these Guidelines, are not satisfied to Audible’s satisfaction.

Applicants understand and acknowledge that (i) Audible is in the business of developing and distributing content, (ii) Audible receives numerous submissions (both from outside and from within Audible) of content ideas and creative materials, (iii) Audible is continually developing ideas, formats, shows, stories, concepts, artwork, music, and the like, and (iv) content developed or distributed by Audible may resemble, be similar to, or contain identical material or elements found in works submitted to Audible for consideration. By submitting a project via this program, each applicant understands and agrees that Audible is not prohibited or restricted from developing or distributing content that may contain elements similar or identical to an applicant’s submission, and Audible will not be obligated to any applicant in any manner if such similar or identical elements were developed or obtained by Audible either independently or from sources other than the applicant’s submitted work.

DEADLINE: Submissions are accepted year-round. Due to the number of Scripts that Audible receives, Audible will only consider one Script at a time from each applicant and will not consider resubmissions, including those that have been significantly revised. The Audible team evaluates submissions on a rolling basis, and applicants will be notified regarding the status of their submissions via email. Thanks in advance for your patience while we process your Script; our typical response time is 6-8 months.

https://www.audible.com/ep/audible-theater