Prize for Women Playwrights

Congratulations to Los Angeles - based playwright Keliher Walsh, whose Year of the Rabbit won our first biennial Prize for Women Playwrights in 2011 and will receive its world premiere at Balagula Theater on April 1 - 4 and 8 - 11, 2012. The next submission period will be October 2012, and that winner will be announced in March 2013. For details on the prize's first year, please refer to Rich Copley's blog:

"Los Angeles-based playwright Keliher Walsh's Year of the Rabbit has won first prize in the Kentucky Women Writers Conference's competition for full-length plays. The play, which ties the Vietnam and Afghanistan wars together, will receive a full production by Balagula Theatre in March. The competition was judged by award-winning playwright Naomi Wallace, a native of Prospect, Ky., who selected Walsh's script from three finalists, which also included One Night in a Dance Hall by Ludmilla Bollow of Milwaukee, Wis., and Burying Mother by Donna Spector of Warwick, N.Y. 'Year of the Rabbit makes evident, with a fresh theatricality and original imagination, the historical and emotional connectedness we often wish to deny between what one might call Big History and the most intimate experiences of our lives,' Wallace said in a news release from the Women Writers Conference. "The play brings together the disparate worlds of love and war, and the collision is both disturbing and at times, deeply moving.'"

Read more from Rich Copley's Copious Notes>>

2011 Prize Information Archive

The Kentucky Women Writers Conference will award a national playwriting prize to bring more scripts by women to the stage, especially those featuring majority-female casts. The winner will receive a production by Balagula Theatre in Lexington, Kentucky (www.balagula.com), plus a cash prize of $500. The winning play will be workshopped prior to its world premier for a paying audience in winter 2012.

May 26, 2011 - Mid-Course Correction:

KENTUCKY PRIZE FOR WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS TO WAIVE ENTRY FEE. Read more on the Playwriting FAQ [PDF].

Eligible Playwrights

The competition is open to all women playwrights. There are no restrictions on age, residence or experience. Playwrights previously unpublished are strongly encouraged to submit their work. Co-authored scripts are eligible if at least 50 percent of co-authors are female.

Eligible Plays

One-act or full-length scripts in English, with a running time between 45 and 90 minutes, that have not been published or commercially produced as of the entry deadline (July 1, 2011) and will not be published or produced before the release of the KWWC production (winter 2012). However, scripts that have been staged in a workshop production or script-in-hand staged readings are eligible.

Deadline and Timeline

• Mailed submissions must be postmarked by July 1, 2011
• Winner will be posted on our Web site www.kentuckywomenwriters.org on September 1, 2011
• Winning script will be workshopped in October - December 2011
• Production will occur in winter 2012
• $500 cash prize to be paid on opening night of production

Subject Matter, Casting, and Production Limitations

KWWC is seeking new plays that can be produced as world premieres. We place no limitations on subject matter. However, KWWC espouses a feminism that creates economic equality, a violence-free society, and racial and ethnic justice, and we encourage art that envices a consciousness about the cultural inheritance of women's identity. Scripts may be based on factual events, purely fictional, or adaptations. KWWC encourages women writers not trained as playwrights to adapt their own fiction, nonfiction, or poetry for the stage. KWWC is not seeking one-man or one-woman scripts, musicals, or children's plays. Limitations:

• Reading time must be in the range of 45-90 minutes.
• Casts must be in the range of 2-6 actors, preferably with a majority female cast
• Set, lighting, sound, costume, and prop requirements must be kept to a minimum. The producing theater has a modular stage (nine 8-foot by 4-foot platforms) with a stage height of 9 feet. Performance space is limited to 12-feet deep. The stage has no curtain and no off-stage wings. Adequate lighting and sound capabilities are available. Questions about performance space should be directed to the Balagula Theatre Company: theatre@balagula.com

Judging Process and Criteria

All entries will be screened by KWWC staff for completeness and adherence to contest guidelines. Judging will consist of two rounds. In round 1, a diverse panel of theater professionals and educators will choose 5 finalists. In round 2, Naomi Wallace will choose 1 winner. Judging will be guided by the following criteria, in descending order of importance:

• Literary merit and theatrical potential
• Number of compelling roles for female actors (cast is limited to 6)