The Chirp

The Relentless Award
Deadline: May 15, 2018
The Relentless Award, established in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman and his pursuit of truth in the theater, is the largest annual cash prize in American theater awarded to a playwright in recognition of a new play. The American Playwriting Foundation encourages submissions by first-time playwrights, playwrights of color, and playwrights of all gender identifications. The author of the Relentless Award-winning play will receive $45,000, the option to have the winning play published by the Dramatists Play Service, a week-long residency at SPACE on Ryder Farm, and a national roll-out of the play through the Ed Vassallo Relentless Reading Series. MORE INFO
ReOrient 2019
Deadline: May 31, 2018
Golden Thread Productions, a partner of The Lark's Middle East America Initiative, is seeking short plays for the ReOrient Festival of Short Plays 2019. The ReOrient Festival showcases the diversity of voices and aesthetics from the Middle East and its worldwide diaspora in a curated festival of short plays produced biennially in San Francisco. MORE INFO
5th Wall Productions
Deadline: May 31, 2018
The Staged Reading Series is a part of 5th Wall Productions' new play development process. Each month, one previously unpublished and unproduced play will receive a staged reading, followed by a a critical response session with the audience. At the end of each season, TWO of these selections will be chosen to receive a workshop production. MORE INFO
The Ingenious Grant
Deadline: June 1, 2018
Town Hall Theater is offering a $1,000 prize for a new play with several interesting roles for young women. The winning play will receive a staged reading at Town Hall Theater in Middlebury, Vermont with the possibility of a full production in the Fall of 2018. To be considered, plays must have a young female protagonist and female characters (ages 18 and under) with speaking roles that go beyond the stereotypical girlfriend, daughter or nerdy best friend roles. MORE INFO
Ma-Yi Writers Lab
Deadline: June 1, 2018
Founded in 2004 by Sung Rno in connection with the TCG/NEA residency program, the Ma-Yi Writers Lab is the largest resident company of Asian-American playwrights ever assembled. Currently led by Co-Directors Michael Lew and A. Rey Pamatmat, the Lab is a professional peer-based workshop in permanent residence with the OBIE and Drama Desk Award-winning Ma-Yi Theater Company, designed to nurture and showcase Asian-American playwrights in New York City. MORE INFO
The Civilians' R&D Group
Deadline: June 15, 2018
Are you a writer, composer, director, or performance maker in NYC with an investigative theater project you'd like to explore? The Civilians' R&D Group is a creative community that meets biweekly for nine months, during which time each artist or team of artists develops a new piece of investigative theater. The creative process may include interviewing, community engagement, research, or other experimental methods of inquiry. The process will culminate in a public presentation of the works-in-development. MORE INFO
American Stage’s 21st Century Voices: 2019 New Play Festival
Deadline: June 15, 2018
American Stage's 21st Century Voices is an initiative dedicated to developing and presenting new works for the stage that speak to a contemporary audience in fresh and compelling ways. 21st Century Voices programming includes an annual staged reading festival, workshopping of new scripts, playwriting residencies and fully produced new plays receiving one of their first three professional productions at American Stage. MORE INFO