3-Minute Playwriting Contest

Congratulations to our

3-Minute Playwriting Contest Winners*

(Please scroll to bottom of screen to see future submission deadlines & contest information.
CLICK HERE to access scripts that have been provided by previous contest winners.)

July 2020 Contest Winners

Theme: Trap/Escape

(in alphabetical order by playwright name)

Our Bushmaster by Sandra Dempsey

With a keen sense of drama and a formidable wit, Sandra Dempsey writes complex plays inhabited by articulate, richly drawn and emotional characters. Her work is as poignant and instinctive as it is wide-ranging and authoritative in subject, and many award-winning pieces comprise her theatrical legacy. Her writing is uncompromising and vital; powerful, compassionate and impassioned. She is also a popular, dynamic performance-reader, always delighted to accept invitations to read for audiences.

Alice in the Rabbit Hole by Donna Gordon

Donna Gordon is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. She has worked as a costume designer for a dance studio and for ComicCon.. She was the editor of a community newsletter, and has been published in a poetry magazine. Her articles have been published twice in an international self-help magazine. In 2011 Donna, along with two other writers, won the Point Loma 24 Hour Experiment playwright contest. She has produced five plays in San Diego. Two plays were produced at the Tenth Avenue Theater, and two were produced at her church. In two of the plays, she played leading roles. Her most recent production was a reading of her murder mystery “Out of the Bookstore” which was staged at the Performance Annex in City Heights. Her play “The Ribbon” was read at Scripteasers in San Diego, via Zoom. Her play “Reaching the Mansion” was read by Zoom, in a program sponsored by ICWP.

Where English Lives by Debbie Miller

Brooklyn-based playwright Debbie L. Miller wrote her first play, “Tea Leaves,” which premiered in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1996. Her plays have been produced Off-Off-Broadway and around the U.S. and have appeared in the Samuel French Short Play Festival. She starred in “Driven,” a one-person show featuring seven of her original monologues, playing characters ranging in age from 28 to 74 and in “Driving to Hawaii,” her second one-person show, in which she played 14 characters. Miller has a background in improvisation, which has helped her write plays and monologues. She has received grants from the Puffin Foundation and the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation and is a lifetime member of The Dramatists Guild of America and a member of the International Centre for Women Playwrights.

THANK YOU TO OUR JULY JUDGE, Namrata Jain:

Namrata comes to us with more than a decade of theater practice and research with a focus on women and representation in South Asia. She has taught literature and gender at University of Delhi. Her research, teaching, and community work form a continuum of theory and praxis aimed at creating inclusive, intersectional, diverse, and equitable environments. Namrata holds a PhD in Literature with a focus on contemporary Indian theater from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India, as well as a Master's in Asian Studies and a Graduate Certificate in Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies from Ohio University where she was also a Fulbright FLTA. In addition to her academic credits, Namrata has created and performed devised work with Pandies' Theatre, an activist theatre group based out of Delhi, India.

April 2020 Contest Winners

Theme: Surprise

(in alphabetical order by playwright name)

Speed Dating by Teresa Fogel

Teresa Mella-Fogel is a playwright in the second chapter of her life. She has written several plays and has more in development. She is a member of the Theatre Artists Workshop in Norwalk, Connecticut as well as a board member. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild. Her play," Wedding Day Blues." was chosen and performed at the New Works Festival of Theatre Artists Workshop. Her plays have had several readings. Her short piece, "Looking for Juliet", will be published in the Drama Notebook in Spring of 2020. She has attended the Writers Conference in Wesleyan (2018) and Yale (2016). Teresa lives in Old Saybrook, Connecticut where she gets her inspiration from the beautiful shoreline.

Happy Anniversary by Jean Klein

Jean Klein, a playwright, editor, and publisher, has been a semi-finalist in the O’Neill competition, and is currently co-director of the Virginia Playwrights Forum and workshop leader at Dreamwrights, a playwrights group at Zeider’s American Dream Theatre. Her degrees are a B.A. from Carnegie-Mellon and an M.A and M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. A full-length play Unreasonable Possession was produced as a staged reading at the Earl Hamner Theatre in Nelson County, Virginia; a short play, Lifeswap was produced at The Venue on 35th in Norfolk, Virginia in 2012 and at The Edge Theater in Belle Haven, Virginia. Two plays, Lifeswap and Priming The Pump have been filmed for airing by Cox Cable in Virginia and North Carolina. A one-act play “Snapshots” was a winner in the Kernodle Play competition was produced in August of 2014 at The Venue in Norfolk, VA, and at The American Theatre in Hampton, VA. A full-length play Refraction Of Light was produced by Looking Glass Productions at The Venue for the Norfolk Summer PlayFest; had a staged reading at Playwrights Night at Wilkes University; and a subsequent staged reading by Transcendence Theatre Company in NYC.A new play, Generous Rivals received a staged reading by Zeider’s American Dream Theater in Virginia in June and a production at Zeider’s Proteus Festival in October. Inside and Out, a play she wrote for Wilkes Faculty Night is scheduled for a workshop production at The Barrow Group in NYC in August of 2020. She is also the founder and owner of HaveScripts/Blue Moon Plays, a dramatic publishing company for new plays and spoken word poetry and fiction which explores social/political issues and challenges, as well as providing new scripts for the high school, college, community theater, senior performer market.

Forgiving Mary by Laura Pfizenmayer

An Alabama native, Laura Pfizenmayer now lives on the beautiful Gulf Coast in Gulf Shores, Al. She began writing plays about 12 years ago and has achieved some success as a regional playwright with over 50 full staged productions. She is a member of the Dramatists's Guild and participated in both Last Frontier and Great Plains Theatre Conference Play Labs, Estrogenius and two appearances in Washington, DC SWAN Day. Her play "Waiting Rooms" is being performed in April at South Baldwin Community Theatre in Gulf Shores. She is married and the mother of six and the grandmother of 14. As can be expected, she writes comedy.

THANK YOU TO OUR APRIL JUDGE, Jeanne Becijos:

Jeanne's one-acts have been produced in San Diego, NYC, New York State, and Indiana. Her musical was performed in Chula Vista, CA. A play and several one-acts have been finalists in San Diego and national festivals and contests, including Actors Alliance Festivals, ScripteasersCompetition, New Perspective Festival, New York Strawberry Festivals, Khaos Company Theatre new play festival, and three pieces in San Diego Fringe Festivals. A book of her student plays has been published.

January 2020 Contest Winners

Theme: Journeys

(in alphabetical order by playwright name)

Bus Stop by Christine Emmert

Christine works as a freelance writer and educator in addition to her theatre credits. She has been published and performed throughout the English speaking world. Most recently she was premiered on Cape Cod this summer in Peter Pan's Mother. Her play, From Out the Fiery Furnace, has been touring the last four years for the National Park Service. She recently published The Nun's Dragon, a novel, on Amazon Kindle.

Love Me or Shoot Me by Domnica Radulescu

Domnica settled in the United States in 1983 as a political refugee from her native Romania. She is Distinguished Service Professor of Comparative Literature at Washington and Lee University. She is the author of ten scholarly books and edited collections on subjects as diverse as the tragic heroine across cultures, women and comedy, Exile and immigrant Literature, Theater of war and exile. She is the author of three internationally acclaimed novels: Country of Red Azaleas, Black Sea Twilight and Train to Trieste. The latter novel was translated into thirteen languages and won the 2009 Library of Virginia Best Fiction Award. She is the winner of the 2011 Outstanding Faculty Award for the state of Virginia. A theater critic, director, teacher and practitioner, she is the author of several plays of which two were recognized by the Jane Chambers playwriting Award and were presented as staged readings or full productions in Virginia, Washington DC, New York and Bucharest Romania. Her play Exile Is My Home. A Sci-fi Immigrant Fairy Tale received Honorable Mention at the Jane Chambers playwriting Award and was produced off off Broadway at the Theater for the New City in April and May of 2016 under the direction of Andreas Robertz. The production of Exile is My Home was awarded the Outstanding Performance by a an ensemble cast award from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors in 2016. Radulescu is two times Fulbright scholar.

 Davy Was a Bigot by Michèle Raper Rittenhouse

Michèle Raper Rittenhouse is a Southern writer living in New York that writes strong female characters. She has had the opportunity to have her work presented in London, England at the Double X Festival through the North American Association of Actors, and plays developed through the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference under the artistic direction of Lloyd Richards, former dean of the Yale School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theatre. and the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference. She has been a playwright in residence with the Abingdon Theatre Company in New York City and received the Witter Bynner Fellowship, a national award given to one playwright per year. As part of the residency, she was commissioned to write and have produced Off-Broadway a new play. For full bio, visit Michèle's NPX page at https://newplayexchange.org/users/3584/michele-raper-rittenhouse  

THANK YOU TO OUR JANUARY JUDGE, AMANDA LEE:

October 2019 Contest Winners

Theme: Food

(in alphabetical order by playwright name)

Hungry Women by MT Cozzola

MT Cozzola is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists. Her plays have been produced and developed at Piven Theatre; Chicago Dramatists; The Side Project; The Fine Print Theatre; Victory Gardens; Donny’s Skybox; La MaMa ETC; and elsewhere. Commissions: Working Women’s History Project; Step Up Productions; The Side Project; and Something Marvelous: A Festival of Magical Realism. Honors: Winner, Heartland Theatre’s 2015 New Plays from the Heartland; 2015 Equity Library Showcase Finalist; 2014 and 2018 Illinois Arts Council Awards; Residencies at Hawthornden Castle, La MaMa Umbria, Ragdale, and Playa. She is represented by The Robert A. Freedman Dramatic Agency.

Double Entree by Nancy Gall-Clayton

Nancy Gall-Clayton writes plays about historic women and events as well as comedies. Her female characters are complex, often older, and never stereotypes. Nancy was a Tennessee Williams Scholar at Sewanee Writers Conference and a Visiting Artist at Ohio State University. More than 80 of her plays have been on stages in the USA, Australia, Canada, Denmark, and Japan. She is published by Dramatic Publishing, Smith & Kraus, Motes Books, and others. Nancy is a member of the International Centre for Women Playwrights, 365 Women a Year Playwrights, Southeastern Theatre Conference, the Dramatists Guild, and the New Play Exchange.

On the Menu by Catherine Haigney

Catherine Haigney (AKA Nina) has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia and taught the “Great Books Program” at St. John’s College from 1989-2016. She now lives in the Ragged Mountains of Virginia and has begun a second career in writing absurdist plays. Ten of her scripts are posted on newplayexchange.com. Her other plays use mythology with magical realism to highlight the connection between various political oppressions and our mass destruction of nature. Her work in 2019 will center on climate change and why we cultivate denial. Catherine’s play scripts are posted on newplayexchange.org.  "I love the challenge of ICWP’s 3-Minute Contest! I think of a three-page script as being like the short poetic forms (e.g. haiku or double dactyl) that poets use... for all kinds of reasons. Each time I’ve written one, I’ve learned something new about playwriting." - C. Haigney

THANK YOU TO OUR OCTOBER JUDGE, KEITH PEARSON:

Over the past twenty years, Keith Pearson, as Managing Director of The Theatre Company (TTC), has been responsible for some of the most dynamic and adventurous performance work which has been seen in Kenya.  He has been instrumental in the development of the devised work technique. Voice of a Dream (2002) KigeziNdoto (2006), Githaa (2006), Sauti Kimya (2009) and My Moving Home (2010), Shungwaaya (2012 and toured Mali in 2013) were developed through the technique of engaging the experiences of the performers.  He is the proprietor of the Karichota Arts Centre in the Mt. Kenya forest near Nanyuki and the proud father of Mo Wanjeri (of Yellow Light Machine music group) and William Maragua.

July 2019 Contest Winners

Theme: Social Change
(in alphabetical order by playwright name)

Metaphysics by Mona Curtis

Mona is a self-taught artist and playwright, ESL teacher and blogger. She came late to theater. She wrote her first play at 40 and had her first production at 59. But writing and art have been a part of her life since she can remember. The International Centre for Women Playwrights has been her artistic lifeline, at least as regards to theater. According to Mona, “Being self-taught has its advantages and disadvantages. There are many things about theatre I don’t know and that’s why I’m so thankful for ICWP and its listserv in particular. Every day I receive thoughts and insights into theater and a place where I can ask questions and get answers in a supportive atmosphere. But I think my work also bring a freshness and a new perspective to theater that maybe wouldn’t have been there if I had had a more traditional education.”

Mona’s medium of choice is Theatre of the Absurd. Watching The Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco is what inspired her to become a playwright. “It’s funny. I didn’t intend to write absurd,” Mona says, “I was trying to write as realistically as I could and this is what came out.”

Weather Report by Catherine Haigney

Catherine Haigney (AKA Nina) has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia and taught the “Great Books Program” at St. John’s College from 1989-2016. She now lives in the Ragged Mountains of Virginia and has begun a second career in writing absurdist plays. Ten of her scripts are posted on newplayexchange.com. She can be reached at nhaigney@gmail.com, but has no presence on social media for reasons her next dystopia may reveal. “Transdroid,” a three-minute take on Artificial Intelligence applied to replacing women, celebrates the potential for solidarity between exploited beings. Her other plays use mythology with magical realism to highlight the connection between various political oppressions and our mass destruction of nature. Her work in 2019 will center on climate change and why we cultivate denial. Catherine’s play scripts are posted on newplayexchange.org.  

A Better Ending for Widow Tweed by Tasha Partee

A theatre teacher, playwright, and performer, Tasha Partee has delighted in working with thespians of all ages in New York City and throughout Virginia since 2001. She holds an M.A. in Educational Theatre and English from NYU and a B.F.A. in Theatre Education from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her plays have been produced by the New York International Fringe Festival, The Hudson Guild Theatre Company under the artistic direction of Jim Furlong, Manhattan Repertory Theatre, and The New York New Works Theatre Festival. Awards include the 2019 Inspiring Teacher Award, presented by Wells Fargo and The National High School Musical Theatre Awards (also known as The Jimmy Awards). Tasha is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and currently serves as Upper School Theatre Director at Lawrence Woodmere Academy in New York, where she works with students in grades K-12 in Theatre and Dance.

THANK YOU TO OUR JULY JUDGE, SANJAY KUMAR:

Sanjay Kumar is a practitioner of activist theatre. As the founding President of pandies' theatre and the director/chief facilitator of its productions and workshops from 1993 onwards, he has been creating performances with and for the marginalized in India for over 20 years. He has directed over 40 plays for the proscenium, many kinds of activist plays in communities over the country and worked in close conjunction with many groups and communities enabling the young of these to create their own problems around their own problems and visions.

He is a resident of the Rockefeller Bellagio Residency (Italy, 2010) for work on platform children, a participant of the US government's prestigious International Visitor Leadership Program (Social Change through Arts,2011) and alumni of the International Class for Social Therapy, East Side Institute for Long and Short Term Psychotherapy (New York, 2012). He is an Associate professor at the Hansraj College, University of Delhi. His doctoral thesis (JNU, 2014) is a PaR on applied activist theatre. He has published and presented in national and international journals and conferences and conducted workshops on theatre with the marginalized/ theatre as therapy all over the world.

April 2019 Contest Winners

Theme: Transformation
(in alphabetical order by playwright name)

Transdroid by Catherine Haigney

Catherine Haigney (AKA Nina) has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia and taught the “Great Books Program” at St. John’s College from 1989-2016. She now lives in the Ragged Mountains of Virginia and has begun a second career in writing absurdist plays. Ten of her scripts are posted on newplayexchange.com. She can be reached at nhaigney@gmail.com, but has no presence on social media for reasons her next dystopia may reveal. “Transdroid,” a three-minute take on Artificial Intelligence applied to replacing women, celebrates the potential for solidarity between exploited beings. Her other plays use mythology with magical realism to highlight the connection between various political oppressions and our mass destruction of nature. Her work in 2019 will center on climate change and why we cultivate denial. Catherine’s play scripts are posted on newplayexchange.org.  CLICK HERE to read Catherine's winning play, Transdroid.

New Kitten by Jennifer O'Grady

Jennifer O’Grady is a playwright and poet. Full-length plays include Charlotte’s Letters (Henley Rose Award; Newvember Festival Dublin; Semifinalist: O’Neill Playwrights Conference; BETC’s Generations Award), Paranormal Love (MTWorks Newborn Festival; Finalist: Newvember Festival), Ellery (selected for The Best Women’s Stage Monologues 2017) and Quasars (selected for The Best Women’s Stage Monologues 2014 and Best Contemporary Monologues for Women 18-35). Her short plays are published or forthcoming in Thirty New Ten-Minute Plays (Applause), The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2017 and 2016 (Smith and Kraus) and Stage It 3: Twenty Ten-Minute Plays. Her plays have been produced or presented by the Irish Repertory Theatre, Rover Dramawerks, Heartland Theatre, The Bechdel Group, Monster Box Theatre, 13th Street Repertory Theatre, AboutFace Ireland, Phoenix Theatre, The Factory Theatre at Greenville University, White Mouse Theater Productions and other companies. She is also the author of two poetry books, White (Mid-List Press First Series Award) and Exclusions & Limitations (MadHat Press, 2018). Her poems have been taught, set to music and featured in numerous places including Harper’s, The New Republic, NPR, Poetry, The Kenyon Review, Poetry Daily and American Poetry: The Next Generation. She lives with her family near New York City. You can learn more about Jennifer and her work by visiting her website at www.jenniferogrady.net.

Sex Education by M. Lynda Robinson

M. Lynda Robinson has been working in theatre, film & TV for the past 30 years as an actor, director, producer, teacher, coach, and playwright in Boston, NY, & DC. She has won numerous acting and playwriting awards, and has 3 published 10-minute plays. She teaches playwriting at the Gloucester Writers Center and Acting for Film at Boston Casting & other venues. Lynda lives in Massachusetts on beautiful Cape Ann.

THANK YOU TO OUR APRIL JUDGE, KRISTEN OSBORN:

Kristen Osborn is a Chicago-based director and theatre maker. Currently, Kristen serves as Artistic Associate and Outreach Coordinator at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble and Literary and Casting Associate at Northlight Theatre. She is the founder and producing artistic director of JoyistLA. Directing credits include those eyes who saw death at Red Theatre (workshop), The Opportunities of Extinction at North Central College, Fog at UCLA, JoyistLA’s First Embrace, and an original adaptation of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, Lift. Assistant directing credits include Henry IV, (dir. Daniel Sullivan, Shakespeare Center LA,) The Scene (dir. Kimberly Senior, Writers Theatre,) Sex With Strangers (dir. Kimberly Senior, Geffen Playhouse,) Relativity (dir. BJ Jones, Northlight Theatre,) The Cake (dir. Lauren Shouse, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble,) Choir Boy (dir. Trip Cullman, Geffen Playhouse), Fighting Shadows (dir. Robert Egan, Inner-City Arts.) Kristen’s previous work with the Ojai Playwrights Conference, serving as Artistic Associate and Associate Director, has ignited in her an insatiable appetite for new play development processes. She is a graduate of UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television. www.kristenosborn.com. 

January 2019 Contest Winners

Theme: Secrets
(in alphabetical order by playwright name)

Secret Sharers by Dori Appel

DORI APPEL’s plays have been widely produced in the United States and internationally. Her full-length plays, Girl Talk, Hot Flashes, and Hat Tricks, are published by Samuel French, and many of her monologues are published in anthologies. She was the winner of the Oregon Book Award in Drama in 1998 for Freud's Girls, in 1999 for The Lunatic Within, and in 2001 for Lost and Found, and has been the recipient of several other playwriting awards. She is also a widely published poet and the author of a collection of poems, Another Rude Awakening. She lives in Ashland, Oregon. http://www.doriappel.com

Little Match Girl by Susan Cinoman

SUSAN CINOMAN is a playwright and screenwriter whose work is published and produced internationally. Her one- act play, “Fitting Rooms” is featured in Applause Books, “Best Short Plays of 1996.” Off Broadway plays include “Cinoman and Rebeck” at The Miranda Theatre and “Gin and Bitters.” She has had numerous workshop productions of plays produced at The Ensemble Studio Theatre and Naked Angels. Prizes and awards included: The Best Narrative Film at New England Film and Video Festival, Official Selection by The International Berkshire Film Festival, The Maxwell Anderson Playwrights Prize, The Aristos Award, Guilford Performing Arts Prize in Drama, Circle of Excellence Award. She is also the creator of the recurring character of Ms. Cinoman on ABC-TV’s “The Goldbergs” and is a frequent contributor to the show.

Miranda's Secret by Catherine Haigney

CATHERINE HAIGNEY started writing plays in response to political events in the U.S. and decades of reading “Great Books” as a Tutor at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. Now living in rural Virginia, she is working on a trilogy of absurdist comedies following the adventures of a contemporary “Narcissus” who cannot escape his “Echoes,” the entourage of women who haunt and challenge him in his rise to power. The resourcefulness of women contending with patriarchy, a recurring theme in her work, surfaces in the three-minute play Miranda’s Secret. Inspired by ICWP’s theme of “Secrets” and love of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Catherine asked a “what if” question: What if Miranda realized she doesn’t want to leave the island where Ariel and Caliban are now free? Would she submit to a destiny determined by her father, or would she use her own magic to change it? Catherine’s play scripts are posted on newplayexchange.org.  CLICK HERE to read Miranda's Secret.

THANK YOU TO OUR JANUARY JUDGE, LINDSAY PRICE:

Lindsay Price is the Vice President of Theatrefolk Inc, the co-creator of the Drama Teacher Academy and has been a professional playwright for twenty-three years. She specializes in plays for schools and student performers with over 900 productions a year across Canada, the US and overseas. Further to playwriting Lindsay has twenty-one years experience teaching workshops at conferences, festivals, and in the classroom.  She is a member of the Dramatists Guild and an invited member of the Theatre Ontario Adjudication Talent Bank.

 

October 2018 Contest Winners

Theme: Epiphany

(in alphabetical order by playwright name)

SEA CHANGES by Christine Emmert

Christine Emmert is a writer, actress, director and educator. Her many genres of writing include poetry, academia, playwrighting and novelist. She has just finished appearing in the PHL Bridge Festival in Philadelphia in her piece, THE PLAGUE SEEKER. A member of ICWP and the Dramatist Guild, she lives in Pennsylvania with her also creative husband and sometimes collaborator. 

Moon Pixels by Judith Pratt

Judith Pratt is also a director, theatre professor, and actor. Her plays have been produced in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and Cape Town South Africa, to name a few. Her full length-play The Wright Place has been published by JAC Publishing Co, and read at the Vokes Theatre in Wayland MA. Her monologue, Waah, has been published by JAC in “Singular Voices.”Most recently, Maize was read by Artemisia Theatre in Chicago in September 2015. Spiralling received a reading from Panndora Festival, Long Beach CA, in 2015, and a podcast from 12 Peers Theatre in Feb. 2016. (http://www.12peerstheater.org/modern-myths-podcast) In October 2016, Chimera received a reading at the Road Less Traveled Theatre in Buffalo NY. Judith is an adjunct professor of theatre at Wells College, NY and has begun to write fantasy novels.

The Harvest by Michele Rittenhouse

Michèle Raper Rittenhouse is a Southern writer living in New York that writes strong female characters. She has had the opportunity to have her work presented in London, England at the Double X Festival through the North American Association of Actors, and plays developed through the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference under the artistic direction of Lloyd Richards, former dean of the Yale School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theatre. and the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference. She has been a playwright in residence with the Abingdon Theatre Company in New York City and received the Witter Bynner Fellowship, a national award given to one playwright per year. As part of the residency, she was commissioned to write and have produced Off-Broadway a new play. For full bio, visit Michèle's NPX page at https://newplayexchange.org/users/3584/michele-raper-rittenhouse

Runners Up:

Forget and Forgive by Pat Montley

Pat Montley has had 17 plays published, separately or in anthologies or textbooks (Samuel French, Playscripts Inc., Meriwether, Heinemann, Applause, Dramatic Publishing, Prentice-Hall, International Center for Women Playwrights, Dramatics Magazine). Her plays have been given over 180 presentations, including readings at the Kennedy Center, Center Stage (Baltimore) and the Abingdon Theatre, and productions at the Nebraska Repertory Theatre, the Manhattan Theatre Source, the Harold Clurman Theatre, the Nat Horne Theatre, Baltimore's Theatre Project, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She was one of 50 playwrights nationally commissioned by Center Stage to write a monolog for the "My America" series. Her work has been supported by a Kennedy Center Playwrights' Intensive, by residencies at the Millay Artists' Colony (NY) and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program (CA), and by grants from the Maryland and Pennsylvania Arts Councils, the Shubert Foundation, the Mary Roberts Rinehart Foundation, and Warner Brothers. CLICK HERE to read Forget and Forgive.

END by Aoise Stratford

Aoise Stratford’s plays have been produced internationally, as well as around the country at Looking Glass Theatre, City Theatre, Lakeshore Players, The American Globe, Manhattan Theatre Source, Centenary Stage, SoloChicago, Red Thread, The Hangar, Cherry Arts, The Kitchen Theatre Co., and many others. Her short play JO is currently being performed at the National Theatre in London. She has won several awards, including a Pinter Review Silver Medal and the Yukon Pacific Playwriting Award, and she has been a finalist for the Actors’ Theatre of Louisville’s Heideman Award and a nominee for The American Theatre Critics’ Association New Play Award. Her play THE UNFORTUNATES was a Time Out NY Critics Pick and winner of The Susan Glaspell Award. Aoise is a member of the Dramatists Guild and of the International Center for Women Playwrights, and is represented by Beacon Artists Agency. She currently teaches playwriting at Cornell University.

THANK YOU TO OUR OCTOBER JUDGE, JILL PATRICK:

Jill Patrick has been a freelance writer and literary manager based in Atlanta, Georgia for the last sixteen years, first as host of the In-Town Atlanta Writer's Group from 2002-2006, then as Managing Artistic Director of Working Title Playwrights from 2006-2016. Since 2015, she has had a freelance column for Lint!, Japan’s premiere English as a Second Language magazine. She is the Director of New Works Reading Series at Out of Box Theatre in Marietta, Georgia, and serves on the Advisory Board for Atlanta's Essential Theatre, as well as on WTP’s Advisory Council. She is the Founding Board Vice President of the Jo Howarth Noonan Foundation for the Performing Arts, which recently hosted its second annual MoJo Festival celebrating women, wisdom and possibility. She studied Theater and Theology at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, and holds a B.A. in Performing Arts from Clayton State University, Morrow, Georgia. She firmly believes there is no more dangerous thing than an artist without an outlet, and thrives on helping other's excel in their endeavor.
____________________________________________________________________________________________

July 2018 Contest Winners

Theme: Survivors
(in no particular order)

The Last Little Girl by Kay Adshead

Kay Adshead is a poet, playwright, theatre maker and producer. She trained at RADA as an actress, where she won the Emile Littler Award for Outstanding Talent. She has played leading roles in film, theatre and TV, including Cathy in the BBC classic series Wuthering Heights, Viola in Twelfth Night and Betty in Touched at The Old Vic, and Linda in Mike Leigh’s film Kiss of Death.As a writer, she has been nominated 3 times for The Susan Smith Blackburn Award. She has written over 25 plays published by Methuen, Faber and Faber, and Oberon, with commissions and productions at The Royal National Theatre, The Royal Court, The Young Vic, The Bush, Soho Theatre, The Cock pit, The Arcola, Theatre503, The Omnibus and many more.In 1999 with Lucinda Gane, she co-founded award-winning theatre company Mama Quilla, winning amongst other awards, Edinburgh Fringe First, Adelaide Fringe Sensation Award, Adelaide Best Fringe Performance Award, MEN best Fringe Performance, nominated for an EMMA and Encore Magazine best Play of theYear. www.mamaquilla.org

Marney and the Cuttlefish by Elizabeth Douglas 

Formerly a nonfiction writer and magazine editor, Elizabeth Douglas is the author of The Habit (Image/Random House). Currently, she is interested in writing plays about the lives of women. Elizabeth is a member of the International Centre for Women Playwrights and the Playwrights’ Center. She lives with her husband and daughter in central New York. http://elizabeth-douglas.com

Survivors by Carol Libman

Carol Libman is a Founding Member of Playwrights' Workshop (Montreal), Canada's foremost organization dedicated to the development of plays and playwrights.  Now living in Toronto, Canada, she is a long-time Alumnae Theatre Company member, co-organizer of NEXT STAGE READINGS, a monthly series of readings by members of the theatre's new Play Development Group. Recent productions include::  A Life Beyond Doubt, Tomorrow's Eve Theatre, Toronto;  A Very Different Place, Rare Day Projects, Toronto; Cornered, Inspirato 2018, 10-minute international  play festival, Toronto. Coming up: Lies and Consequences, Rare Day Projects, and  Airport Tales, Garrison Little Theatre, Fort Erie, Ontario. And now I'm looking forward to the next 3-minute play challenge.  Lots of fun to do.  Thank you, ICWP.

Honorable Mention:

Planned Obsolescence by Bara Swain

Bara Swain’s plays have been performed in 100+ venues in 20 states and three continents.  NYC theatres include Urban Stages, Barrow Group, Sam French, Abingdon, Articulate, Players Theatre, Artistic New Directions, Project Y, Symphony Space and Ego Actus.  Publishers include Smith & Kraus, Art Age Press, Applause Books, Original Works, Meriwether, and JAC Publications.  Critical Care, produced on stage and in film, is reprinted in the college textbook, Serious Daring: Creative Writing in Four Genres (Oxford U. Press) and serves as a key reading for the craft of playwriting.  Honors include Heideman Award Finalist and City Theatre’s National Award Finalist for Short Playwriting.  Bara currently serves as the Creative Consultant at Urban Stages. www.BaraSwain.com  

THANK YOU TO OUR JULY 2018 JUDGE, JOY HENDRY:

Born Perth, Scotland 1953, Joy cut folk-singing teeth at Perth Folk Club while still underage for licensed premises. She also became heavily involved in Youth Theatre and generally addicted to the arts. Since 1970, she has been prime-mover of Chapman, Scotland's Quality Literary Magazine, since 1970. Working through the magazine, she has led the way with many welcome Scottish developments – in Scots language, the teaching of Scottish literature in schools and helped steer the drift towards greater Scottish autonomy (etc!). Her dramatic work includes Gang Doun wi’ a Sang (for Perth Theatre) and The Wa’ at the Warld’s End (Radio 3 90 minute drama), both about poet and diarist William Soutar, and through Chapman, she helped revitalise Scottish drama by stimulating extensive and radical debate – leading ultimately to the creation of the Scottish National Theatre, and other projects. She has always written poetry, but also plays, criticism, reviewed for national newspapers and broadcast extensively on radio. Health issues have impeded progress lately, but she is now resuming her vocation as troublemaker and altering prioiries to focus on her own creativity. (Ouch!)