NATIVE VOICES: CALL FOR FULL-LENGTH PLAYS
Autry Museum of the American West
DEADLINE: August 2, 2021
INFO: Native Voices is currently accepting submissions of full-length plays (60+ pages) by American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and First Nations playwrights addressing all themes and topics.
2022 Playwrights Retreat and 28th Festival of New Plays
The Retreat and Festival bring artists to Los Angeles to work on 3–4 plays through a rigorous directorial and dramaturgical commitment for 8–10 days in May/June. The Retreat culminates in public staged readings of the plays at the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles and La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego. Selected playwrights receive artistic support as well as an honorarium; out-of-town artists receive roundtrip airfare plus lodging in Southern California.
Selection Process: Full-length plays (60+ pages) received by August 2, 2021 will be read and evaluated. A select number of playwrights will be invited to submit formal proposals detailing their developmental goals should their play be chosen for the short list. Scripts will then be sent to a committee of nationally recognized theatre artists for further evaluation. With their help, Native Voices selects up to four plays for the Playwrights Retreat and Festival of New Plays. Playwrights will be notified in February 2022.
https://theautry.org/events/signature-programs/native-voices-annual-call-for-scripts
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Yale Drama Series
DEADLINE: August 15, 2021
INFO: The Yale Drama Series is seeking submissions for its 2022 playwriting competition. The winning play will be selected by the series' current judge, Paula Vogel. The winner of this annual competition will be awarded the David Charles Horn Prize of $10,000, publication of their manuscript by Yale University Press, and a staged reading or virtual performance. The prize and publication are contingent on the playwright's agreeing to the terms of the publishing agreement.
There is no entry fee. Please follow these guidelines in preparing your manuscript:
This contest is restricted to plays written in the English language. Worldwide submissions are accepted.
Submissions must be original, unpublished full-length plays, with a minimum of 65 pages. Plays with less than 65 pages will not be considered. Translations, musicals, and children's plays are not accepted.
The Yale Drama Series is intended to support emerging playwrights. Playwrights may win the competition only once.
Playwrights may submit only one manuscript per year. Only manuscripts authored by one playwright are eligible.
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 professional production or publication at the time of submission.
Plays must be typed/word-processed and page-numbered.
The Yale Drama Series reserves the right to reject any manuscript for any reason.
The Yale Drama Series reserves the right of the judge to not choose a winner for any given year of the competition and reserves the right to determine the ineligibility of a winner, in keeping with the spirit of the competition, and based upon the accomplishments of the author.
Electronic Submissions:
The Yale Drama Series Competition strongly urges electronic submission. By electronically submitting your script, you will receive immediate confirmation of your successful submission and the ability to check the status of your entry.
If you are submitting your play electronically, please omit your name and contact information from your manuscript and submission file name. 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. Please enter the title of your play, your name and contact information (including address, phone number, and email address), and a brief biography where indicated in the electronic submission form.
If you would like to submit an electronic copy of your manuscript please go to: https://yup.submittable.com/submit.
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/yale-drama-series-submissions
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PUBLISHING GRANT
Café Royal Cultural Foundation
DEADLINE: August 16, 2021
INFO: Café Royal Cultural Foundation NYC will award a publishing grant to authors of fiction / creative non-fiction, poetry and playwriting.
AMOUNT: 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.
Please make sure to submit your application with ample time before the start date of your project.
REVIEW PROCEDURES: Funding decisions will be made by the Café Royal Cultural Foundation Selection and Executive Committees. The following criteria will be applied in evaluating grant proposals:
Creativity, originality, ideas and concepts, writing style
Importance of the Project/Cultural Relevance
Promise of future achievements in writing
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
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Issue 8: "Aria" - Early Bird Submission
Lucky Jefferson
DEADLINE: August 22, 2021
SUBMISSION FEE: $0
INFO: The curtains are drawn, the house lights dim to dark, a spotlight illuminates the center stage, and an audience anticipates your dramatic verses. This is an open call to all the playwrights (and those new to the craft)! We welcome you to our first collaborative script issue!
To join our production, send us 1-3 short unpublished scenes that are a continuation of Act I, Scene I, which you can find here.
When scripting out your scene, use Scene I (above) as a model and keep these rules in mind:
Replicate the dramatic structure / format
Only two characters in the scene: HIM and HER
Setting can certainly change but keep it realistic
The scene should not exceed 200 words
Have fun with stage directions and dialogue
You are welcomed to still incorporate poeticness in your scenes
https://luckyjefferson.submittable.com/submit/197327/issue-8-aria-early-bird-submission
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RESIDENCY PROGRAM: UCROSS FELLOWSHIPS FOR NATIVE AMERICAN VISUAL ARTISTS AND WRITERS
UCross Foundation
DEADLINE: September 1, 2021
APPLICATION FEE: $0
INFO: The Ucross Residency Program is open to visual artists, writers, composers, choreographers, interdisciplinary artists, and performance artists, as well as collaborative teams. Applicants must exhibit professional standing in their field; both mature and emerging artists of promise are welcome to apply.
Current work is requested. An applicant's work sample is the most significant feature of his or her application. Unless work is interdisciplinary, i.e. the various genres interconnect, each applicant is encouraged to apply in a primary discipline and submit a work sample and project description that emphasizes this single discipline. Competition for residencies varies seasonally and with the number of applications. While only one Fellowship winner will be selected, all applicants will have the option of being considered for a regular Ucross residency.
ELIGIBILITY: Residencies are open to Native American writers who meet the criteria below. They must:
* Be a practicing contemporary writer who is currently producing works in one or more of the following genres -- FICTION, NONFICTION, POETRY, DRAMA, SCREENWRITING, PLAYWRITING, HYBRID FORMS, and more;
* Be an enrolled member of a state-recognized or federally-recognized Tribe, Pueblo, Nation, Native Community, Political Entity, or Alaskan Native Village.
FICTION WORK SAMPLE: Your writing sample should be representative of the genre in which you plan to work while in residence. Writing samples should be double-spaced and include your full name.
* Appropriate sample: 20 pages of fiction, which could be a novel excerpt, a story, several stories, or a combination.
NONFICTION WORK SAMPLE: Your sample should be representative of the genre in which you plan to work while in residence. Writing samples should be double-spaced and include your full name.
* Appropriate sample: 20 pages of nonfiction
POETRY WORK SAMPLE: Your sample should be representative of the genre in which you plan to work while in residence. Writing samples should be double-spaced, but poetry submissions may be single-spaced, and they should include your full name.
* Appropriate samples: 10 pages of poetry.
PLAYWRITING WORK SAMPLE: Your sample should be representative of the genre in which you plan to work while in residence. Writing samples should be double-spaced and include your full name.
* Appropriate samples: One complete play (documentation of production may be included, if relevant).
SCREENWRITING WORK SAMPLE: Your sample should be representative of the genre in which you plan to work while in residence. Writing samples should be double-spaced and include your full name.
* Appropriate samples: One complete screenplay (documentation of production may be included, if relevant).
https://ucrossfoundation.submittable.com/submit
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New Visions
New York Classical Theatre
DEADLINE: September 1, 2021
INFO: New York Classical Theatre, an AEA, Off-Broadway Theatre, is expanding its repertoire beyond the classics and launching its first-ever new play competition: New Visions.
The vision statement of NY Classical affirms that we “believe that everyone—regardless of social, economic, or educational background—should have the opportunity to enjoy live professional theatre together as a community.”
We recognize that the historic theatrical canon from which American theatre derives its “classics” has a long history of violence, oppression, and erasure of bodies, identities, and voices that are not white, not male, not cis-gendered, not heteronormative, and/or are not able-bodied.
In an effort to expand our mission to address this erasure, NY Classical is embarking on a three-year initiative to develop two new, original plays for production in our 2024 and 2025 seasons. We are seeking plays that explore new ways of viewing the “classics,” expand our ideas of what “classics” can be, and challenge the power structures that undergird the notion of “classics.”
These New Visions can include, but are not limited to…
Adaptation/Translation. Examples include: Cherrie Moraga’s The Hungry Woman and Herbert Siguenza’s El Henry.
Response/Subversion. Examples include: Branden Jacobs Jenkins’s An Octoroon and Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Prequel/Sequel. Examples include: Lucas Hnath’s A Doll’s House, Part 2
Plays that engage with history and bring forgotten events to life. Examples include: John Guare’s A Free Man of Color and August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean
Plays that engage with written stories beyond the stage, including novels, poems and poetry collections, and journals that exists in the public domain. Examples include: Kate Hamill’s Pride and Prejudice and Kristin Laurence’s Little Women
Plays that derive from oral histories, rituals, and other forms of creating, knowing, remembering, and documenting the world beyond the written word. Examples include: Ondinnok’s Rabinal Achi and SPAC’s Tenshu Monogatari.
For Phase One of New Visions, we will select 8 quarter-finalist plays.
During 2022, each selected playwright will receive:
An invitation-only studio reading by a professional director and professional actors
A conversation with our Literary Director to discuss the play and determine how to structure feedback to best serve the playwright’s goals
Targeted feedback from our invited audience of the theatre’s board, staff, and community members.
A $200 stipend
A script review by our Literary Director following the reading and revisions by the playwright.
For Phase Two, based on feedback from the invited audience, the development of the work, and the opinions of our Literary and Artistic Directors, at least four of the eight plays from Phase One will be invited to continue developing their work with NY Classical.
During 2023, each continuing playwright will receive:
A full, public staged reading under Equity’s 29 hour reading guidelines.
Continuing conversations with our Literary Director to further develop the play.
A $300 stipend
For Phase Three, 2 of the plays from Phase Two will be selected to receive in 2024:
A one-week development workshop of their play with plans for a full production in our 2024 and/or 2025 seasons. This workshop will include a professional director and dramaturg chosen in conversation with the playwright.
Round-trip airfare and housing for the workshop.
A $70 per diem.
A $500 stipend.
We invite and encourage playwrights of all backgrounds, experience, and training to apply.
***We are especially interested in plays that engage histories and traditions from outside the European canon.***
***We are especially interested in works that challenge and contest the classical canon.***
Eligibility Requirements:
USA Based Playwrights Only.
Play must be primarily in English. Bilingual plays, including ASL, are encouraged.
Only plays that have not had a professional production are eligible. Scripts that have had readings, workshops, and university productions are welcome.
Plays must have an estimated run time between 70 and 150 minutes.
Plays must include a minimum of 50% characters from historically excluded groups.
We are not looking to commission a new play. We are looking to develop existing original works.
We are not accepting musicals at this time. However, plays with music are okay.
Please submit the following as one .pdf titled “LAST NAME – TITLE OF PLAY” to literary@nyclassical.org:
Your name
A 100-200 word synopsis of the play
A character breakdown that describes the minimum 50% characters that are from historically excluded groups as defined in the opening paragraphs of this call.
A brief statement (as short as one sentence) of how this play is in conversation with an idea of “classics”
The first ten pages of dialogue from the play you would like considered.
Please put “New Visions - Submissions - (your last name)” in the subject line
Please do not send complete scripts unless requested.
TIMELINE:
Submissions close September 1, 2021.
We contact shortlisted playwrights for complete scripts by November 8, 2021.
The eight Quarter-Finalists will be notified by January 15, 2022.