Ensemble Theatre to Host 2022 Playwriting Competition

Tristate area playwrights, it's your time to shine! Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati will host the fourth annual PLAY/write: The Jackie Demaline Regional Collegiate Playwriting Competition, held in memory of writer, critic, and arts advocate, Jackie Demaline. Students currently enrolled full- or part-time at a university or college in the Cincinnati tristate region are welcome to submit their plays to the competition. Dependent upon submissions up to three winners will be chosen. Each winner will receive $2,500 from the Jackie Demaline Fund and a professionally staged reading of their script.

Demaline's love of the arts started at a young age. Throughout her life, she continued to be a passionate believer in the arts as an entertainment writer and editor for multiple newspapers and publications. After moving to Cincinnati in 1994, she covered theatre and the arts for The Cincinnati Enquirer for 20 years and worked as an important catalyst for change and growth during a time when new theatres and companies were popping up all over Cincinnati, helping to secure their place in the community.

After a four-year battle with cancer, Demaline passed away on June 17, 2018. As her final gift to the community, she arranged for her estate to fund the PLAY/write competition. Through this, her legacy lives on-providing new voice development, kick-starting arts careers, and caring for the community through thoughtful programming.

Submission guidelines:

WHO:

• Students currently enrolled at a university or college in the Cincinnati tristate region

WHAT:

• Original, unpublished full-length plays written in English. Translations, musicals, adaptations, and children's plays not accepted
• Plays must be typed and page-numbered

• Subject matter is open, however, the play should address some of the characteristics Jackie considered when critiquing theatre:
  1. Does it tell me something I didn't know about myself or the world in which I live?
  2. Does it hold up a mirror at an angle I've never tried so that the things I know now suddenly possess new meaning?
  3. Does it move me? Excite me? Provoke me?
  4. Does it make me laugh or cry? Make me uncomfortable? Make me think?

WHEN:

• Submission deadline: 11:59 pm EST, March 31, 2022.

HOW:

• Submit your script electronically at www.ensemblecincinnati.org/playwriting-competition
• If you have questions about the competition or submission process, please email Jared D. Doren, Programming & Events Manager, at jdoren@ensemblecincinnati.org

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