Denver Center for the Performing Arts to Hold New Youth Playwriting Workshop, Competition

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) has announced the launching of a new playwriting initiative for Colorado high schools students in the fall of 2013. The program will begin in late September and will accept one-act play submissions October 1 - December 1. It is designed to advance literacy, creativity, writing and communication through playwriting while nurturing Colorado's promising young playwrights and developing theatre artists and audiences.

"We have seen incredibly creative and provocative material coming from high school students," said Director of Education, Tam Dalrymple Frye." This one-act contest will give them another means of expression. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we discover the world's next greatest playwright, here in Colorado."

The program is two-fold. The DCPA will initially send professional playwrights into high school English, language arts and drama classes to provide workshops in writing a one-act play and in using drama as a communication tool. The DCPA will then host a state-wide competition for original one-act plays written by high school students. The plays submitted will be judged blindly by DCPA professionals from the company's artistic, literary and education departments.

The competition will result in ten semi-finalists, three finalists and one winner. The finalists will receive a $250 cash scholarship, a staged reading at the 2014 Colorado New Play Summit and a complimentary pass to any reading or production at the Summit. In addition, each teacher of the top three finalists will receive a $250 gift certificate for books, supplies or other teaching tools for their classrooms. The winner will have his/her play produced at the Denver Center Theatre Academy during the 2014 summer program.

For a full competition timeline and rules, please visit denvercenter.org/playwright or contact academy@dcpa.org.