Kumu Kahua Theatre and Bamboo Ridge Press Reveal the Winner of the August 2024 Go Try PlayWrite Contest

The August Go Try PlayWrite winner is Lee A. Tonouchi for his piece Need for Speed. Lee A. Tonouchi a.k.a. "Da Pidgin Guerrilla" had couple few plays produce befo by Kumu Kahua Theatre. His play Oriental Faddah and Son ran at Paliku Theatre. HTY wen go do his youth play Three Year Swim Club. An'den da East West Players wen go do da adult version which wuz one Los Angeles Times Critic's Choice Selection. Dis stay his eighth time winning da Go Try Playwrite contest.

August 2024 Prompt: 

A sporting prompt. First, make up a sport, then write a ten page maximum scene using that sport. The scene should end in a display of either sportsmanlike or unsportsmanlike behavior. Avoid describing the sport you create; assume all the characters know all the rules, subtleties, and history of the sport. All the characters think they know everything about the sport.

Each month Kumu Kahua Theatre co-sponsors this playwriting contest with Bamboo RidgePress in their combined effort to nurture local playwrights and authors. Each month a different judge is pulled from amongst the theatre practitioners in the Hawaii theatre community. All plays submitted are read by Kumu Kahua Theatre Artistic Director, Harry Wong III. 


Contest Rules: Each entrant must write a 5-page monologue and/or a 10-page scene based on monthly requirements. Each month a new prompt will be chosen by Kumu Kahua Theatre’s Artistic Director. The prompt will be given on or by the 1st of the month and the due date will always be the last day of the month. All entries must be written in traditional play format; instructions on this format can be found here: https://www.dramatistsguild.com/script-formats courtesy of the Dramatists Guild. 

There will be one winner each month. Scripts will be submitted to the judges anonymously. So please do not put your name on the cover of your script. Winners will receive $100.00 and a subscription to Bamboo Ridge Press. 

We are now accepting entries for the September Go Try PlayWrite Contest!

September 2024 Prompt: 

 A joke prompt. First write a joke at the top of the page. The joke does not have to be an original joke you made up. It can be a joke you heard. Then write a ten page maximum scene dramatizing the joke. “Knock knock,” jokes; “why did the…?,” jokes; “did you ever notice”; etc. Any joke you’d like to see acted out. Also, you can just use the joke as inspiration for the scene. You do not have to have a chicken crossing the road…or, you can, if you like.

Click Here to enter

Kumu Kahua productions are supported in part by the NME Fund of the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, the Island Insurance Foundation, The State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, through appropriations from the Legislature of the State of Hawaiʻi, The AAPI Community Fund, The Richard Aadland Fund, The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, The John R. Halligan Charitable Fund, Spectrum/Charter Communications, ABC Stores, the Gloria Kosasa Gainsley Fund, Hawaiʻi Public Radio, H. Hawaii Media, Simply Storage, The Kim Coco Fund for Justice of the Iwamoto Family Foundation, Vacations Hawaiʻi, Zippy’s Restaurants, Highway Inn, Generations Magazine, CVS/Longs Drugs, HMSA, Hawaiian Electric, MonkeyPod, Ron and Rachel Heller, Leonard and Charlotte Chow, and other foundations, businesses, and loyal patrons.

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