East West Players Announces Playwriting Competition Face of the Future

East West Players, the nation's premier Asian American theatre organization, is pleased to announce Face of the Future, a playwriting competition with cash prizes awarded to the top three plays, including $5,000 for the first place winner, $2,500 for second place, and $1,000 for third place. All winners will be considered for workshop and/or production at East West Players. This year, the focus is on the exploration of the reality of multicultural America from an Asian American perspective. For instance, subject matter might include, but not limited to, biracial or multiracial identity, clashes or collaborations between cultures, or international/transnational storylines.

"Through Face of the Future, East West Players hopes to encourage more works with Asian American themes and characters," says EWP Producing Artistic Director, Tim Dang. "We encourage everyone with ideas exploring these themes to submit their play. As we move into a more multiracial and global society, it is important to process the many levels and complexities of stories in our lives. We continue to encourage comedies as Asian American theatre is in need of these works to balance an overwhelming majority of dramas. Our audiences also demand more humor in their lives as a diversion from serious world events."

East West Players previously held a competition in 2008 called Pacific Century. The winners of Pacific Century included S. Vasanti Saxena for SUN SISTERS, Philip W. Chung for MY MAN KONO, and Michael Golamco for YEAR ZERO.

All our playwriting contests have received major funding from The James Irvine Foundation. Previous EWP writing competition judges have included Henry Chan, Julia Cho, Philip Kan Gotanda, Amy Hill, David Henry Hwang, Judith Nihei, Gary Shimokawa, Alice Tuan, and Wakako Yamauchi.
Submissions will be accepted beginning May 2 through August 31, 2011. Notification of winners will take place in February 2012. Submissions must be original, unproduced full-length plays or musicals. Translations or adaptations will not be accepted. Submissions must have Asian Pacific American themes and/or characters as the primary focus.

All genres are welcome, comedies are encouraged. Plays should require no more than 5-7 actors. Musicals should require no more than 10-12 actors. The story should be told in less than 2.5 hours including a 15-minute intermission and must be accessible to a primarily English-speaking audience. East West Players must have the first option to produce.

All submissions must include a $20 entry fee with the Face of the Future entry form which can be found at http://www.eastwestplayers.org/arts_education/literary_competitions.htm. Submissions should be mailed to FACE OF THE FUTURE Playwriting Competition, 120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. For additional information, please contact Literary Manager Jeff Liu at 213.625.7000 x27 or JLiu@EastWestPlayers.org.

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