JOKES ON HER Nonprofit to Launch, Backing Women's Comedy With $5K Prize

Playwright Sandy Rustin has launched Jokes On Her, a new nonprofit dedicated to discovering and supporting female-identifying comedic playwrights. Submissions are now open for the organization's inaugural annual comedy prize.

The Jokes On Her Comedy Prize will award $5,000 to the writer of a full-length comedic play. The winner will also receive a professional industry reading in New York City in partnership with WP Theater and New Georges, a Q&A at The Drama Book Shop and assistance identifying additional developmental opportunities for the play.

The prize is open to women, including gender-nonconforming and femme-identifying playwrights whose gender identity aligns with the organization's mission, who reside in the United States or Puerto Rico and are at least 21 years old at the time of submission.

Jokes On Her was created in response to the continued underrepresentation of women's voices in theatrical comedy. The organization aims to invest in writers early in the development of their work while building a larger pipeline and archive of comedies written by women.

"Most of the comedy classics were written by men – not because women are less capable of writing comedy, but because they've historically had fewer opportunities to be produced, published, and celebrated," Rustin said. She added that she hopes the organization can help create "a deeper archive of comedies written by women" while changing perceptions about the value of comedy in the theatre.

Rustin made her Broadway playwriting debut with The Cottage and is widely known for her stage adaptation of Clue. She is also the inaugural recipient of McCarter Theatre's new Comedy Commission and has been named by American Theatre as one of the country's most-produced playwrights.

Jokes On Her Leadership

Rustin will serve as Board Chair. The Board of Directors also includes Kaliswa Brewster, Evan Fleischer, Asmeret Ghebremichael, Max Grossman, Lauren Gunderson, Casey Hushion, Matthew Lefferts, Douglas Lyons and Sarah Saltzberg.

An Advisory Board includes Susan Bernfield, Jamie Denbo, Kristoffer Diaz, Selina Fillinger, David Henry Hwang, Michael Cruz Kayne, Lisa Kron, Danny Pudi, Keenan Scott II and others.

The organization has also assembled a National Theatre Council designed to help create a developmental pipeline for winning plays. Participating organizations include Alliance Theatre, Alley Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Barrington Stage, Denver Center Theatre Company, Florida Studio Theatre, Geva Theatre, Hartford Stage, McCarter Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Two River Theater, WP Theater, New Georges and The Drama Book Shop, among others.

Participating theatres may support winning playwrights through studio space, table reads, 29-hour readings, workshops and other artistic resources.

Submission guidelines and dates are available through Jokes On Her.