Pride Films and Plays Announces the Great Trans* Play Contest^

The Chicago-based performing arts company Pride Films and Plays announces its inaugural The Great Trans* Play Contest. The international competition is open exclusively to playwrights who are transgender, gender queer, gender fluid, non-binary, or of other gender nonconforming identities, all referred to here as "trans*." The mission of this new competition is to specifically encourage new stories touching the trans* community and its members which are told with authentic trans* voices and thereby provide valuable opportunities for trans theatre artists in the disciplines of performance, direction, and management. In the process, Pride Films and Plays will foster trans* identified authors and help amplify their work within the queer and general theatre communities.

Specific benefits to the winning submission will include a cash award, and further development in a week-long rehearsal workshop under the direction of PFP company member and trans* artist Delia Kropp, culminating in two publicly performed staged readings at Pride Films and Plays' home, the Pride Arts Center. Two other submissions will be named finalists and will also receive a cash award and a recorded reading of their work by Chicago actors.
The deadline for submissions is April 16, 2017. While there is a $45 entry fee to apply, Dramatists Guild Members are exempted from that fee. You will be able to enter the Dramatists Guild Discount Code on the page which asks for credit card information. Further details, contest Rules & Terms and a submission form are available online at https://filmfreeway.com/festival/GreatTransPlayContest. All submissions must be made online.

The Great Trans* Play Contest will serve as Pride Films and Plays' 2017 Great Gay Play and Musical Contest, the competition the company has conducted since 2010. Pride Films and Plays' Artistic Director Nelson Rodriguez says, "Pride Films and Plays seeks to develop the highest quality work with LGBTQ+ characters or themes. Our production history includes world premieres of finalists in our contests, Chicago premieres of excellent extant plays, in-house developed new works, as well as historical LGBTQ+ pieces." More information on these productions is available at http://pridefilmsandplays.com/pfp-production-history-and-awards/.

ABOUT PRIDE FILMS AND PLAYS

Pride Films and Plays changes lives through the generation of diverse new work (or work that is new to Chicago) with LGBTQ+ characters or themes that is essential viewing for all audiences. We accomplish this mission through fully-staged productions, writing contests and staged readings, film screenings, and special events. We foster long term relationships with artists to create programming that is as diverse, unique, and complex as the community we represent. In 2015, Huffington Post called PFP "A powerful and empowering entity." The company acquired its two performance spaces at 4139 and 4147 N. Broadway in July 2016, renaming the spaces the Pride Arts Center.

Pride Films and Plays is supported by The MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture at The Richard Driehaus Foundation, The Illinois Arts Council, City of Chicago's City Arts Fund, the Elliott Fredland Charitable Trust, Proud to Run, the AmazonSmile Foundation, Arts and Business Foundation, Tap Root Foundation and Alphawood Foundation.

PFP is a member of the Smart Growth Program of the Chicago Community Trust. Pride Films and Plays is a member of the LGBT Chamber of Commerce of Illinois and The League of Chicago Theatres.

For more information, visit www.pridefilmsandplays.com or call 1.800.737.0984.

ABOUT PRIDE ARTS CENTER

Pride Arts Center (PAC) opened in 2016 and consists of two performance spaces: The Buena at 4147 N. Broadway which has 50 seats and The Broadway at 4139 N. Broadway which has 85 seats, and it is run by Pride Films and Plays. PAC has become an important part of the arts environment in the Buena Park neighborhood and beyond by hosting events including After Orlando, Bechdel Fest, SheFest and the 525,600 Minutes Cabaret. Upcoming events include the legendary Charles Busch in That Girl, That Boy January 29 and 30. Additional tenants in 2017 include Walkabout Theater, New American Folk Theater, Cor Productions, Underscore Music Theater, 20% Productions, About Face Youth Theater, Another Door Productions, and of course Pride Films and Plays for Priscilla: Queen of the Desert will be followed by For The Love Of (Or The Roller Derby Play) and The Nance.

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