The next submission period for our biennial Prize for Women Playwrights will be November 2016 at this link [to come]. For our last cycle in fall 2014 we received over 300 submissions, reviewed blindly by our judging panel of theater professionals Mylissa Crutcher, Tonda Fields, Kathryn Newquist, and Eric Seale. Playwright Carson Kreitzer chose the winner.
The Kentucky Women Writers Conference awards a biennial Prize for Women Playwrights to bring more scripts by women to the stage, through a collaboration among our program, a partnering theater, and a guest judge. The winner receives a world premier production for a paying audience, with royalties, plus a cash prize of $500. The winning script may be workshopped prior to its production. If you would like to receive our bi-monthly listserv with updates about this contest and our other programming, please send your request to kentuckywomenwriters@gmail.com.
Partnering Theater
Eric Seale, former director of Actors Guild of Lexington, will independently produce the winning script.
Guest Judge
Tba for 2016. In 2015, playwright Carson Kreitzer chose the winner.
Eligible Playwrights
The competition is open to all women playwrights. There are no restrictions on age, experience, or residence, meaning you are still elibible if you reside outside of Kentucky or outside of the United States. Co-authored scripts are eligible if at least 50 percent of co-authors are female.
Eligible Plays
One-act or full-length scripts in English, with a running time between 45 and 90 minutes, that have not been published or commercially produced as of the entry deadline and will not be published or produced before the release of the KWWC production. However, scripts that have been staged in a workshop production or script-in-hand staged readings are eligible: we are seeking new plays that can be produced as world premieres. We place no limitations on subject matter. Scripts may be based on factual events, purely fictional, or adaptations. We are not seeking musicals or children's plays.To ensure an equitable judging process, please submit only a "blind" script, with all personal identifying information removed. Limitations:
Reading time must be in the range of 45-90 minutes.
Casts must be limited to 8 actors (1 actor may play multiple roles).
The production will be in a small black box theater. Set, lighting, sound, costume, and prop requirements should be kept to a minimum.
Deadline and Timeline
Entries must be electronically submitted by November 30, 2016
Winner will be posted on our Web site in February 2017
Winning script may be workshopped, tba
Production will occur in November 2017
Judging Process and Criteria
All entries will be screened by KWWC staff for completeness and adherence to contest guidelines. Judging will consist of two rounds. In round 1, a diverse panel of theater professionals and educators will choose 5-10 finalists. In round 2 a guest judge will choose 1 winner. Judging will be guided by literary merit and theatrical potential.
Past Winners & Guest Judges
Naomi Wallace was our first judge in 2011 and chose Keliher Walsh’s play, Year of the Rabbit, produced by Balagula Theatre in Lexington. Kia Corthron was our next judge in 2013 and chose Jo Morello’s E.G.O.: The Passions of Eugene Gladstone O’Neill, also produced by Balagula. Carson Kreitzer selected in The Silent Woman by Lydia Blaisdell, independently produced by Eric Seale in 2015. The Silent Woman tells the strange, true tale of a painter living with an effigy of his ex-lover in 1919. It had its world premiere in Lexington, KY on Nov. 5 - 7, 2015 (press release).