Kumu Kahua Theatre and Bamboo Ridge Press Reveal The May 2024 Prompt For Go Try PlayWrite

Kumu Kahua Theatre, in collaboration with Bamboo Ridge Press and The Popolo Project announce the May prompt for their monthly play writing contest, Go Try PlayWrite.

Thanks to a generous donation from an anonymous donor, contest winners in 2024 will receive a $100.00 check as well as a subscription to Bamboo Ridge Press.

May 2024 prompt

Black people in Hawai‘i comprise approximately 3% of the total resident population, but
even with such small numbers, people of African descent have been a part of Hawaiʻi
since the early 1800s, arriving before many of the ethnic communities we often think of
as a regular part of the social fabric of the islands. Despite this history, Local Black
people are often assumed to be part of the military, sometimes assumed to be transient
and disconnected from ‘āina, their own ancestors, and disconnected from authentic
cultures.

For this special prompt, created in collaboration with the Pōpolo Project, we focus on
this specific community in Hawaiʻi. We're calling Black people born, raised, who live in,
or have lived in Hawaiʻi, to write a ten (10) page maximum scene or a six (6) page
maximum monologue about what it feels like, looks like, is like to be Black in Hawaiʻi.
Draw on any experience you have had in Hawaiʻi—growing up here, going to school
here, dating, working, relating, finding your way.

 

Deadline to Enter: June 6, 2024

Kumu Kahua Theatre was founded in 1971 by a group of graduate students at the
University of Hawaiʻi, with the original goal of producing locally-written experimental
works. The theater educates and trains new generations of aspiring theater
professionals through its "living laboratory" of productions and public play readings, and by holding classes and workshops in acting, improvisation and playwriting.
https://www.kumukahua.org

The Pōpolo Project is a Hawai‘i-based nonprofit organization that redefines what it
means to be Black in Hawai‘i and in the world through cultivating radical reconnection to
ourselves, our community, our ancestors, and the land, changing what we commonly
think of as Local and highlighting the vivid, complex diversity of Blackness.
https://www.thepopoloproject.org/

Bamboo Ridge Press was founded in 1978 to publish literature by, for, and about
Hawaiʻi's people. We currently publish two volumes a year: a literary journal of poetry
and fiction featuring work by both emerging and established writers, and a book by a
single author or an anthology focused on a special theme. In forty plus years we've
published a diverse catalog of poetry, prose, screenplays, stage plays, novels, and
more. https://www.bambooridge.org/

 

Each month entrants must write a 5-page monologue and/or a 10-page scene based on monthly requirements. Each month a new prompt will be chosen by Kumu Kahua Theatre's Artistic Director, Harry Wong III.  All entries must be written in traditional play format; instructions on this format can be found here: https://www.dramatistsguild.com/script-formats courtesy of the Dramatists Guild. 

 

There will be one winner each month. Scripts will be submitted to the judges anonymously. Each month Judges are selected from among the many talented theatre practitioners in the Hawaii theatre community. 

 

Submit your May entries HERE

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