ANDERSON — The Alley Theatre Company is calling on playwrights to submit to its sixth-annual Greenberg Playwright Competition.
According to Rick Vale, artistic director for the Alley Theatre, the competition was started shortly after the theater was founded eight years ago.
Vale said that he and others at the theater noticed the lack of playwriting competitions that allowed young and inexperienced playwrights to participate.
However, a few days before the group would meet to solidify the dates and other essential information of the competition, they got news that Clarice Greenberg, a local actress, had died.
“Just as we were sitting down to that meeting, it was obvious to all of us that we should name the competition after her,” Vale said. They also asked the family for permission before doing so.
The competition is broken down into four groups by age – grades 6-8, grades 9-12, age 18-26, and 27 and older. There will be one winner per age group.
While the Alley Theatre is located in Anderson, the competition is open to any Indiana resident.
Playwrights are able to submit more than one play to the competition if they choose. Plays that have been submitted to other competitions are also welcome.
Additionally, anyone who has previously won a Greenberg Award is welcome to submit to the competition again.
The four winners will receive $500 cash and have their play performed at the Alley Theatre. The theater will take care of all the casting and work-shopping involved with the plays.
Submitted plays must not run longer than 20 minutes, cannot have more than seven characters, must be appropriate for an audience of all ages and must be performable with a simple set.
After submission, the plays are numbered anonymously and given to a panel of three judges.
“These are people who are used to reading scripts,” Vale said, noting that some are teachers while some are actors.
The judges then, individually, rank the plays. For example, if the middle school group has five submissions, the judges will rank the plays one through five, one being the best.
After ranking, all three of the judges’ rankings are tallied and the winner will be determined.
Submissions to the competition will be accepted through March 1 and winner will be announced on April 9.
Winning plays will begin casting and workshops in summer 2022 and will be performed in April 2023.
Submissions must be sent to thealleytheatremail@gmail.com in the form of a PDF or Word document by March 1 to be considered. Playwrights are asked to submit scripts free of identification and submit a separate cover sheet that includes name, address, email, phone number, age and school grade if in school.
While the competition is currently only open to Indiana residents, it could expand in the future.
“There is a good chance in the next few years that we will open this up nationally just because there has been such a call,” Vale explained.
© 2024 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.