Topic: New Play Programs Submission deadline November 1st
PLAYWRIGHTS:
Submissions for the NPP Micheal Kanin Playwriting Awards are being accepted HERE. Just click on the Playwriting link at the top of the page. There are a number of awards, and playwrights may submit their work to any of the categories that are suitable. Please the “Guidelines for Submissions” link that is available on the Playwriting page.
PLEASE BE AWARE OF A BIG CHANGE THIS YEAR: There are separate email addresses for the submission of cover letters and the for different categories of plays. Please see the links on the right side of the Playwriting page. If you have any questions about the process, feel free to contact Patrick Carriere at carriere@mnstate.edu
ACTORS:
We are producing a staged reading of “The Lord of the Underworld’s Home for Unwed Mothers” [see description below] by Louisa Hill of the University of Iowa, which won the Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting at the National Festival this past year. We are looking for 5 student actors (3 female and I male, and one non-gender specific) to participate in this reading which will be the showcased production on the Monday evening of the festival. Students must be able to arrive in Lincoln in time for mid-morning rehearsal on Sunday and will be in rehearsal a significant portion of Sunday and Monday.
“The Lord of the Underworld’s Home for Unwed Mothers is a reimagining of the Demeter and Persephone myth set in the 1960s and 1990s that explores the politics of motherhood through a landscape of Catholicism, horticulture, and death metal.
When Dee meets the daughter she surrendered 25 years ago, their reunion falls short of her romanticized dreams. Corie, her daughter, is a death metal enthusiast who isn’t interested in being a part of Dee’s life, since believes she was given up because she wasn’t wanted or loved.
To show her otherwise, Dee must dive into her 1960s teenage years—navigating love and lust, faith and fate— to help Corie understand the circumstances that led to giving her up. By retracing and reliving her middle class Catholic upbringing, Dee shows Corie how these cultural ideologies and mythologies shaped her actions and their devastating consequences.
Will her story be enough to convince her daughter to give her another chance? Again and again, Dee must venture to the pits of hell to retrieve her daughter. But if Dee finds her, will she be the daughter she wants?”
Interested students should send a resume and have a message of support from a faculty member sent to patrick.carriere@mnstate.edu
DRAMATISTS:
The LMDA/KCACTF Student Dramaturgy Award is designed to recognize contributions by student dramaturgs to the conception, development and production of theatre within their colleges and universities, or to educational projects in dramaturgy. Also inherent in the guidelines is the belief that the dramaturg should participate fully and uniquely in the collaborative act of making theater and in promoting social discourse around the theatrical event. To validate the significance of the dramaturg’s contributions – and to raise awareness of dramaturgy in the academic field – the Kennedy Center requires a letter of nomination from a faculty member.
This award is the result of a unique collaboration between Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA), the professional association of dramaturgs and literary managers working in North America, and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF), a national program dedicated to improving the quality of college and university theater in the United States. Additional support is provided by the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE). Professional dramaturgs, members of LMDA who live in each region, will select the winner of that region’s LMDA/KCACTF Student Award in Dramaturgy. The philosophical foundation of this award – like that of dramaturgy itself – rests in the belief that art benefits from examination on the parts of both artist and audience, and that creative inspiration accompanied by analysis and reflection is most likely to lead to productions and projects that fulfill the spiritual, social and personal potential of the theatrical event.
The Student Dramaturgy Award is divided into two general categories: the LMDA/KCACTF Student Dramaturgy Award (also referred to as the National Award) and the Region V ATHE Student Dramaturgy Award (also referred to as the Regional Award). Each project you bring to the festival may be entered in only ONE category – either National or Regional, however, you are not limited in the number of projects you bring to the festival.
You are eligible for the National Award if you served as the dramaturg for a production or workshop during Festival 45 (January-December 2012) and your school participates in KCACTF. If you are selected as the recipient of the Region V National Award during our regional festival in January 2013, you are automatically invited to participate in the National Festival in April 2013 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
These guidelines apply to both the National and/or Regional category:
1. To enter, you must be either an undergraduate or graduate student enrolled at least part-time (6 semester hours) at the time of the creation/completion of the project that is being submitted for the award.
2. A faculty mentor (preferably the director of the production you dramaturged, for the National category) at your school must be able to vouch for your work on the project and must provide a letter of nomination on your behalf.
3. You must hand-deliver your project at the regional festival on Sunday, January 20 or Monday, January 21, 2013. Your projects will be displayed on a table in the Design Exhibit area of the festival. Check-in times are subject to change, consult the coordinator if you have any questions.
4. You are required to attend any workshops dealing specifically with dramaturgy. Consult the festival schedule for information on times and locations.
5. The regional festival, its hosts and volunteers are not responsible for items lost or stolen from the display area or its environs.
6. All projects should include as much documentation of process as possible.
7. All entries will receive an oral response from one or more Festival Special Guest Respondent(s) with expertise in Dramaturgy based on the criteria found on the national website (see: AWARD CRITERIA). You MUST be physically present during the respondents’ oral feedback. The response session is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, January 23 and is subject to change based on the festival schedule.
To enter either the National or Regional category:
1. Submit a two-page, typed letter no later than December 10, 2012. This letter must:
a.Identify the production, school, and name of the dramaturg;
b.Summarize your experience as the dramaturg;
c.Identify any unique or unusual issues which shaped your work; and
d.Articulate your understanding of the nature of dramaturgy.
2. Send this two-page letter electronically (as a pdf file or word document) to Cheryl Black, Dramaturgy Coordinator at BlackC@missouri.edu.
3. Fill out the online entry form.
DO NOT send documentation of your project in advance. Bring all relevant materials to the festival at the prescribed times. Please note that different regions or the national website may have different procedures for application. Please follow these guidelines for submission to
Region V Festival 45 and address any questions re: the submission process to Cheryl Black at BlackC@missouri.edu
AWARD CRITERIA:
Distinctiveness: what is creative about the dramaturg’s approach and/or analysis?
Contextualization: how is the production or project enhanced by dramaturgical analysis or research; alternatively, how is the academic project in dramaturgy imaginatively projected into a larger social, political, academic or artistic setting?
Impact: in what ways are the audience, artists or institution enriched by dramaturgical ideas and execution
Process: how much and in what ways is the dramaturg involved with the entire process. How did he or she contribute to the process outside of initial research and putting together packets?
Ethics: how are issues that might be raised by the terms of the collaboration or changing responsibilities dealt with and/or resolved?
FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES:
Regional fellowship recipients will receive membership in LMDA, an all-expense paid residency at the National Festival at the Kennedy Center in Mid-April, and multi-day workshops with leading artists in both production and new play dramaturgy.
The recipients of the National LMDA/KCACTF Fellowships receive residencies with the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis and/or the Kennedy Center/National New Play Network’s MFA Playwrights’ Workshop in the summer.
The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival
UNDERGRADUATE THEATRE SCHOLAR AWARDS
KCACTF is pleased to continue an awards program for undergraduate theatre scholars attending KCACTF participating institutions. In order to further student activity in the discipline of theatre scholarship, this program encourages and rewards research and scholarly writing among undergraduates throughout the nation. Research Papers on all areas of the art and craft of Theatre, the outcome of class assignments or students’ own research interests, will be reviewed by KCACTF-appointed readers for cash awards and a KCACTF National Festival residency in April, 2013.
Submission Criteria
The manuscript should be a scholarly paper of 10-20 pages [plus endnotes, references, and supporting visual imagery, if appropriate] on any area in the art, craft and/or history of theatre, or a cross-disciplinary topic with the art of theatre featuring as a key area of investigation.
Eligibility
The submitting student must be a bona fide, matriculated undergraduate student, at least half-time enrollment, at an institution that has participated with an associate or participating entry in KCACTF in 2011 or 2012.
The submitted manuscript should have been written no earlier than September 2011.
At this time, co-authored manuscripts will not be considered for the awards.
To Submit
A. All submissions will be in PDF format. No paper or CD Rom copies will be accepted.
B. Each manuscript will be submitted with a blind title page:
1)Title of Paper
2)Date
3)The statement: “This is a copyrighted work submitted for review purposes only”
C. The manuscript will have no author identification within the body of the paper [headers, footers, at pagination points, etc.]
D. A full title page consisting of
1)Title
2)Name of the author
3)Date
4)Copyright notice [“copyright 2012 name of author”]
5)E-mail address
6)Snail mail address
7)Name of academic mentor
must be submitted as a second, separate PDF document in the same e-mail as the blinded manuscript to ghenry@kennedy-center.org
Award Selection Criteria
The manuscripts will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
• Originality of the topic or approach
• Scholarly rigor
• Use of primary resources
• Organization
• Style
• Syntax
• Grammar
• Punctuation
A selection panel of eight readers, one from each KCACTF region, made up of faculty and emeritus faculty, will be appointed by each KCACTF Regional Chair. No faculty member with a student in the submission pool will be appointed to the selection panel. The KCACTF Artistic Director will appoint a team of finalist readers in consultation with the KCACTF National Committee, should the total number of submissions warrant.
The award recipients will be announced on or around March 1, 2013.
The Awards:
First place $1000
Second Place $500
The first place award-winner will receive an all-expenses paid fellowship to participate in the National Festival at the Kennedy Center, April 16-20, 2013.
Questions?
Gregg Henry, Artistic Director
Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival
Education Department
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington DC 20566-0001
202.416.8864
ghenry@kennedy-center.org
Rick D. Anderson
Director of Theatre
Kirkwood Community College
Chair, Region V, KCACTF
(319) 398-5899 ext. 5389
rick.d.anderson@kirkwood.edu