2027 Stanley Drama Award Accepting Applications for Playwrights
Wagner College Theatre offers $2,000 prize for new plays and musicals through the Stanley Drama Award
Applications are now open for the 2027 Stanley Drama Award! Administered by Wagner College Theatre, the top prize of $2,000.00 has been offered annually to an original full-length play, musical, or one-act play sequence that has not been professionally produced or received trade book publication.
The deadline for submissions is September 1, 2026, after which our esteemed panel of judges will determine the winner and finalists, to be announced in Spring 2027. Applicants are now welcome to submit their application online. The required reading fee of $32.00 can be paid online at https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?retail=wct01. Once the fee has been paid, please email stanleydramaaward@wagner.edu with a pdf copy of your completed application form, your manuscript, and a confirmation of payment for your reading fee. In the case of musicals, please also include digital links to the music. Please visit https://wagner.edu/performing-arts/stanley-drama/ for more information.
The Stanley Drama Award was established in 1957 by Staten Island philanthropist Alma Guyon Timolat Stanley and endowed through the Stanley-Timolat Foundation to encourage and support aspiring playwrights. Past winners include Terrence McNally's This Side of the Door (aka Things That Go Bump in the Night), Lonne Elder III's Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, and Jonathan Larson's Rent. Past judges include playwrights Edward Albee and Paul Zindel, actresses Geraldine Page and Kim Stanely, and TV producer/pioneer talk-show host David Susskind.
About Wagner College Theatre
Wagner College's Theatre Department provides students with a strong liberal arts background combined with intensive training in dance, music, acting, design, and more. With more than 50 years producing live performances on Staten Island, Wagner College has become a leader in the field and has ranked among the top five collegiate theater programs in the United States by the Princeton Review since 2004, most recently ranking 1st nationally in their 2026 "Best 391 Colleges" guide. Through a rigorous combination of theory and practice, the department seeks to foster leadership, a sense of community, artistic integrity, intellectual expertise, and the best professional values to serve students in their chosen profession.
For more information about our season, faculty, students, and ticketing please visit https://wagner.edu/performing-arts/.
Videos