NEW DUE DATE: Playwrights Needed

NEW DUE DATE: Sept. 15th / Acceptance Notification: Sept. 30th / All Plays will be Announcement after Sept 30th.

Playwrights! Anacostia Playhouse is seeking new and non-produced 10-minute plays for New Voices New Works: ACT ONE, the first installment of our 2023-2024 Playwright Pipeline. This year’s theme is “We Are Family”. Selected playwrights will work with a professional director and actors to prepare for a final staged reading performance. 

THEME DEFINITION:

Family: (Google) a group of two or more persons related by birth, marriage, or adoption who live together; (Webster) a group of one or more parents and their children living together as a unit. –Or, all the descendants of acommon ancestor.

We are Family: Song from 1979, sung by the family group Sister Sledge, and written and produced by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers (Click on the song title link to hear the song).

We are Family: A familial unit who considers themselves family. They support each other and have a very close relationship. They believe in each other and share a deep emotional/spiritual connection. This can include as few as 2 people, or a large group. 

SUBMISSIONS:

Play submissions should address the theme of Family whether literally, spiritually, and/or socially. The play should be set in an East of the River Community. (Modify your location, if necessary to fit this qualification.) Consider the many phases of Family that we survive or create and what the results or consequences have meant or will mean in the future. 

Another approach would be to consider the current family controversies regarding our LGBTQ+ community, or church/school families, or our blood relatives with whom we do or don’t get along – just examples. Also consider negative transformations when things fall apart. How did our Family dynamics manifest themselves during COVID? 

ACT ONE, our 10 Minute Play Festival will be held in November 2023 at the Anacostia Playhouse located in historic Anacostia in Washington DC.  The festival is an opportunity to introduce new and seasoned playwrights to Washington’s theater community; as well as establish relationships among writers, producers and directors. All chosen plays will have staged readings directed by a local Washington director. Please note that, due to the high volume of submissions we receive, we are unable to respond individually to each work sample that is submitted. You will hear from us by mid-September 2023, if your work has been accepted into the festival. Submissions will be accepted now through August 25, 2023.

The deadline has been extended to September 15, 2023. Individuals will be notified of their acceptance into the Play Festival by September 30th.

Submissions must be submitted to the Anacostia Playhouse by email only at info@anacostiaplayhouse.com. Please submit only new non-produced works.  All plays should have no more than a maximum of four characters.