Paramount School of the Arts Announces First NEA Grant & Open Call for New TYA Play Commission

Paramount School of the Arts in Aurora, Illinois is commissioning a new play for young audiences that it intends to tour to schools throughout the greater Fox Valley area.

The new work initiative, supported by the NEA Arts Work Grant Program, is the first such grant for Paramount from the prestigious National Endowment of the Arts.

To get the project rolling, Paramount School of the Arts is inviting playwrights of color anywhere in the U.S. to submit a proposal for an original new play with music for young audiences.

Proposals will be reviewed by jurors from Paramount Theatre's artistic and new works departments, staff and teaching artists at Paramount School of the Arts, and a committee of diverse local educators and community members.

One proposal will be selected and the writer will receive a $3,000 commission to collaborate with Paramount to develop the work.

The deadline to submit a proposal is by 11:59 p.m. CST on January 5, 2021.

To apply, writers must complete an online submission form, posted at paramountaurora.com/tya-touring-production-commission-submission, and digitally submit the following via email to school@paramountarts.com:

A one-page play proposal for a new or in progress, 45-60 minute, unwritten play with music for young audiences (generally targeting grades 3 to 5)

A one-page resume

A three-to-five page sample scene

An already finished play, for reference only

Proposals for new plays must:

Center the story around global majority people (non-white), with particular interest in stories that center around Mexican-American culture (44% of Aurora's population)

Utilize four performers or fewer

Explain the use of singular, flexible or representational scenic elements as this play will be toured to schools with a variety of performance spaces

Demonstrate how the use of music will play a role in the script

Demonstrate how audience members will be engaged in the storytelling (this could be audience participation of some kind, such as children assisting in creating an environment, or contributing to the music making)

Paramount will select one proposal and offer a commission contract in February of 2021, which will be announced upon signing.

Then, Paramount will spend the winter and spring of 2021 developing the piece with the writer, a director, actors and a dramaturg, culminating with a workshop reading.

i??The intention is to tour the play to Fox Valley schools during the 2021-2022 school year.

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