Kemuel DeMoville Wins June 2025 Go Try PlayWrite Contest for New Short Play

Kumu Kahua Theatre and Bamboo Ridge Press have announced Kemuel DeMoville as the winner of the June 2025 Go Try PlayWrite Contest for his short play You Can Feel It All the Way into the Core of Your Being. They Give Birth Astride of a Grave, the Light Gleams an Instant, then it's Night Once More.

An award-winning playwright, educator, and arts leader, DeMoville has had his works produced internationally since 2005. He holds an MFA in Playwriting from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and an MA in Syncretic Theatre from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. His writing has appeared in publications including The Kenyon Review, Cirque, and various play anthologies, and his plays are published by Next Stage Press, YouthPLAYS, and Heuer Publishing. He currently serves as Director of the Drama Program at Spokane Falls Community College.

The June prompt challenged writers to create a 10–12-page scene using a provided "word salad" of lines in exact order—taken from a transcript of a speech at a Business Roundtable meeting in Doha, Qatar on May 15, 2025. The contest is judged anonymously, with one winner selected each month by a rotating panel of local theatre professionals. All submissions are reviewed by Kumu Kahua Theatre Artistic Director Harry Wong III.

Each monthly winner receives $100 and a subscription to Bamboo Ridge Press.

Entries are now being accepted for the July 2025 Go Try PlayWrite Contest. Full contest rules, formatting guidelines, and entry information can be found at www.dramatistsguild.com/script-formats.

The Go Try PlayWrite contest is a partnership between Kumu Kahua Theatre and Bamboo Ridge Press aimed at nurturing local playwrights and amplifying voices from Hawai‘i’s theatre community. The program is supported by a variety of local and national organizations and donors.