Arena Stage Now Accepting Scripts For 10th Annual Student Playwrights Project

The 2009-10 Arena Stage Student Playwrights Project invites all students in 5th through 12th grades in the District of Columbia and its neighboring counties to enter an original ten-minute play into competition. Entries must be delivered to Arena Stage by Friday, December 4, 2009.

The winning students will receive playwriting master classes and participate in further script development with professional playwrights, directors and dramaturgs. The winning entries will then be performed by professional actors. All winning playwrights receive $250.

Guidelines for competition:

Who: Playwrights must be students in 5th through 12th grades. Students must attend school in the District of Columbia, the City of Alexandria or one of the following counties: Loudon, Prince William, Fairfax, Arlington, Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's, or St. Mary's. Home-schooled students must be residents of the aforementioned cities and counties.

When: Entries must be received at Arena Stage by Friday, December 4, 2009 to be eligible for competition.

What: Submitted plays must be the original, unpublished work of one playwright. Pieces written by more than one student will not be accepted. Suggested length is 6-10 pages. Plays longer than 12 pages will not be read.

Submission process: All submissions must include an Arena Stage cover sheet, which may be downloaded at www.arenastage.org. Plays will not be accepted without a cover sheet. All plays must be typed, double-spaced, in 12 pt. font, with page numbers. The title of the play and the playwright's grade should be listed on each page of the play. The playwright's name, contact information, or school should not appear anywhere on the play except the cover sheet. Submitted scripts will not be returned. Playwrights wishing to confirm receipt of their submission should enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard. Winners will be notified by Arena Stage and the list posted at www.arenastage.org in January.

Three copies of the entered play, with the required cover sheet attached to the top copy, should be mailed to:
Student Playwrights Project
Arena Stage - Community Engagement Division
1101 Sixth Street, SW
Washington, DC 20024

Please note: This is a mailing address via USPS only - plays cannot be hand-delivered or FedExed to this address.

"Part of Arena Stage's mission is to develop new American plays that highlight a wide variety of American voices," says Anita Maynard-Losh, Director of Community Engagement at Arena Stage. "The Student Playwrights Project Ten Minute Play Competition gives students an opportunity to give voice to their diverse and individual stories, while giving us insight into the issues and events most important to them."

The Student Playwrights Project is sponsored in part by Toni Ritzenberg.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Molly Smith and Managing Director Edgar Dobie, Washington, D.C.-based Arena Stage has become the largest theater in the country dedicated to American plays and playwrights. Founded in1950 by Zelda Fichandler, Thomas Fichandler and Edward Mangum, Arena Stage was one of the nation's original resident theaters and has a distinguished record of leadership and innovation in the field. With the opening of the new Mead Center for American Theater in 2010, Arena Stage will be a leading center for the production, presentation, development and study of American theater. Now in its sixth decade, Arena Stage serves a diverse annual audience of more than 200,000. For more information please visit www.arenastage.org.

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