Playwrights Theatre Accepting Submissions to the 31st Annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest and Festival

Playwrights Theatre is currently accepting submissions for the 31st Annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest and Festival. Plays are accepted in the following divisions: Elementary (grades 4-6), Junior High (grades 7-9), High School (grades 10-12), and Revolutionary Plays (grades 4-12). Interested young playwrights must submit their plays online at www.njypf.org. High School plays must be received no later than 11:59pm on January 13, 2013. Elementary and Junior High School entries must be received no later than 11:59pm on January 14, 2013. For complete details and submission guidelines, visit www.njypf.org, or contact Jim DeVivo, Direction of Education at 973-514-1787 X14 or njypf@ptnj.org, or visit the New Jersey Young Playwrights Blog at http://njyoungplaywrights.blogspot.com/

There may be up to three winners in the Elementary, Junior High, and High School division and High School winners receive a New Jersey Governor's Award in Arts Education, cosponsored by the New Jersey Arts Education Partnership and the New Jersey Department of Education.

This year's contest has a new category: Revolutionary Plays (grades 4-12). This category is for plays written to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the founding of the State of NJ. Cash prizes will be awarded. For this category, three plays, one in each grade range, may be awarded a $100 US Savings Bond, and their school a $50 Gift Card towards the purchase of Books for their library. For specific information on the Revolutionary Plays, go to http://www.ptnj.org/pages/nj-young-playwrights and click on the link to the special web page created for this category. The Revolutionary Plays category is presented as part of NJ350 http://officialnj350.com/ the 350th anniversary of New Jersey's existence as a state.

For over 31 years, the New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest and Festival has been deepening the writing experience for young writers by providing entrants with detailed feedback from theatre professionals about their play. The Contest selects plays from over 400 submissions and presents them as staged reading with professional actors and directors. Selected playwrights meet with their director/dramaturg to discuss the play and work on possible revisions. Winning plays will be presented during the New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival annually held in May in collaboration with Premiere Stages at Kean University.

"The New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest and Festival is one of the oldest programs of its type in the country," said John Pietrowski, Artistic Director of Playwrights Theatre. "Winners of past contests have gone onto careers in the theatre and film, including Mary Hamilton, Judah Skoff, and Austin Bunn, whose film 'Kill Your Darlings' is currently premiering in movie theatres. Students have told us that the process of working on plays with professionals and the comments they receive on their scripts were the highlights of their school experience"

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