Navigating Playwriting Competitions

BY Becky Brett

While you’re waiting for your play to receive its Broadway or Humana Festival debut, playwriting competitions can be a great way to shop your work around and win some cash, a full production of the work or both. Last winter, during the run of In the Red and Brown Water by Tarell McCraney (the 2007 Alliance Theatre Kendeda Competition winning play), I had the opportunity to speak with Celise Kalke, artistic associate and dramaturg for the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, about the playwriting competition process and what makes a competition worth entering. Using the Kendeda Competition as a filter through which to view these opportunities, we can see the elements that make for a fair contest.

A quick google search found www.playwritingopportunities
.com, which lists many nationwide competitions by deadline. October alone had more than 50 entries, some with submission fees (typically $10) and some without. Some competitions are OK with the play having been previously produced, and some are not. Some have specific themes or subject matter, some have time limits and some are just looking for a really good play.

Kalke, who helps administer the Kendeda Competition, had some great advice to on how to determine where to submit your play. She recommended looking at the prizes offered and how the scripts are judged, which is also an excellent way to tell the legitimate competitions from the fake ones.

Competitions such as the Weissberger Award at the Williamstown Theatre Festival; the Wendy Wasserstein Prize from the Dramatists Guild and the Educational Foundation of America; and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, administered by a stand-alone board of directors in Houston, New York and London all have large ($20,000 and above) cash prizes for the winner. These cash prizes can make a big dent in those mortgage or student loan payments and supplement living expenses while writing.

We all want to be paid for our work, but the point of writing a play is to see it produced. Many high-caliber competitions offer just that, as well as national exposure to other theatres that might be interested in subsequent productions of your play. For example, winners of the Kendeda Competition don’t receive any cash, but they do enjoy a full production by a renowned director at the Alliance. The 2007 winner was also published in American Theater magazine, and all finalists receive professionally staged readings in Atlanta and New York, with exposure and introductions to literary managers, producers and artistic directors from all over the country.

Kalke noted that it is important that the judging process be transparent, and that reading the plays “blind” (without knowing who the author is) keeps the playing field level. The process at the Alliance is for every submission to be read blind by three people. The plays are then scored from 1 to 10, with 1 meaning the play should not proceed any further. A small pool of finalists are then read by Alliance Theatre artistic director Susan Booth plus three other national leaders in the field. Readers from Chicago have included Richard Christiansen, Curt Columbus and Robert Falls.

What are the judges looking for? Kalke said that she reads for talent level of the writer and not necessarily for produceability. “Is the play unlike anything I’ve read before? Does it stick with me? Is it dramatic?” she asked. She also looks for “athleticism of language” and an understanding on the part of the playwright of “what a play does.”

Since the Kendeda Competition is for playwrights in their final year of graduate school, it is important to note that none of the judges for the final round teach, so they are not likely to have seen the play in earlier stages of development.

After money and a world premiere production, a good competition will also introduce writers to people who can help further their play and their careers. Look for opportunities to showcase the work for other theatre companies, agents and literary managers. Kalke said that the Kendeda finalists are scouted by every major agency. They also have the opportunity to meet their audience, the acting community and members of the greater theatre community throughout the process.

Money, networking and production are all important benefits to consider when choosing which competition to enter. The quality of the competition is only as good as the quality of the judging, and the transparency of the process will help you determine that.

The submission deadline for Kendeda is Oct. 1, and this is a postmark deadline. They want all scripts mailed because it is too difficult to keep electronic submissions blind in the early stages of the process. The finalists are chosen in early November and go to the judges before Thanksgiving. The winner is notified after the first of the year.

For the other major competitions mentioned above, check the following websites for more information, including deadlines and requirements.