National New Play Network Seeks Plays for The Smith Prize Deadline 12/30

The NATIONAL NEW PLAY NETWORK (NNPN), the country's alliance of non-profit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, is accepting submissions for the fifth annuAl Smith Prize. Funded by a gift from writer Timothy Jay Smith and a group of socially conscious donors, The Smith Prize is awarded to a full-length, non-musical political play that illuminates issues that can only be dealt with at the national or global level, even if the story is told from an individual perspective.

The Smith Prize carries two $2,500 cash awards. The first award is given to the writer of the selected script. The second award is given to the first NNPN member theatre that commits to producing the winning play.

ABOUT THE SMITH PRIZE
The winner of the first annual award, announced in December 2006, was Topsy Turvy Mouse by Peter Gil-Sheridan. In November 2007, Black Gold by Seth Rozin was announced as the winner of the second Smith Prize, and went on to productions at InterAct Theatre Company (Philadelphia), Prop Thtr (Chicago) and Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis) as part of the Continued Life of New Plays program. The 2008 prizewinner, Y York's dark comedy ...And LA is Burning, received its first NNPN member production from Florida Studio Theatre in March 2009. In 2010, two plays split the prize: Sean Christopher Lewis' Killadelphia, and Martin Zimmerman's White Tie Ball.

SCRIPT ELIGIBILITY
NNPN seeks plays that examine American civic institutions, particularly our democratic institutions, and ask: Who are Americans as a people? What are we becoming? What are our global responsibilities? Only full-length, non-musical political plays will be considered, and at the time of application, the play must not have had a professional production.

HOW TO APPLY
There are two steps to the application process:

1) Pay the submission fee of $10. Writers may pay online by visiting www.nnpn.org, then click on the "Donate" button in the lower right-hand corner, and in the "instructions to seller" section, type "Smith Prize" and the name of the play.

2) Email a blind copy of the script (without name on the title page or anywhere in the script) to jason@nnpn.org. The script may be formatted in MSWord or PDF format.

The deadline for receipt of both the script and application fee is December 30, 2010. The winner will be announced in June 2011. Visit http://www.nnpn.org/prog_smith.php for further information.

ABOUT NNPN
The National New Play Network (NNPN) is the country's alliance of leading non-profit professional theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays. Since its founding in 1998, NNPN has commissioned over a dozen playwrights, provided thirteen MFA graduates with paid residencies, and supported nearly 80 productions nationwide through its innovative Continued Life of New Plays Fund, which creates "rolling world premieres" of new plays. Through these activities and others, NNPN has granted nearly a half million dollars to theaters and artists in the past ten years. Hundreds of artists have gained employment through these efforts in the 24 regions of the country where NNPN member theaters are located. NNPN receives substantial support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Shubert Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

NNPN's 26 member theaters: Actor's Express Theatre (Atlanta), Actor's Theatre of Charlotte (Charlotte, NC), Borderlands Theater (Tucson), Curious Theatre Company (Denver), Florida Stage (Manalapan), Florida Studio Theatre (Sarasota), Fountain Theatre (LA), Horizon Theatre Company (Atlanta), InterAct Theatre Company (Philadelphia), Kitchen Dog Theater (Dallas), Magic Theatre (San Francisco), Marin Theatre Company (Mill Valley, CA), Mixed Blood Theatre Company (Minneapolis), New Jersey Repertory Company (Long Branch), New Repertory Theatre (Watertown, MA), New Theatre (Coral Gables, FL), Orlando Shakespeare Theater (Orlando), Performance Network Theatre (Ann Arbor, MI), Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis), Playwright's Theatre of New Jersey (Madison), Prop Thtr Group (Chicago), Salt Lake Acting Company (Salt Lake City), Southern Rep (New Orleans), Unicorn Theatre (Kansas City, MO), Victory Gardens (Chicago), and Woolly Mammoth Theater Company (Washington, DC).

 

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