Trinity Rep’s 11th annual playwriting competition for New England high school students, Write Here! Write Now!, is now accepting submissions. Students in grades 9-12 can enter up to two original ten-minute plays and submit via the application form available at trinityrep.com/whwn. Winning plays will then be performed at Trinity Rep during a free public reading featuring Brown/Trinity MFA students and resident acting company members on May 10, 2022. The submission deadline is March 13, 2022 at 11:59 pm, and winners will be announced on April 11, 2022.
“I am looking forward to this year’s Write Here! Write Now! festival for the opportunity to celebrate the exceptional creativity of our high school community,” Associate Education Director Matthew Tibbs said. “Each year we are blown away by the diversity of what they have to offer in the form of original ten-minute plays.”
Additional resources for bringing playwriting into the classroom as well as the festival’s submission guidelines are available online. Trinity Rep hopes this will motivate classrooms to implement playwriting in their curriculum.
“Playwriting is often a new format for many who enter but we believe in the power it holds,” Tibbs explained. “It’s unique, exciting, and often a very authentic form of creative writing. It’s an honor to be able to give space and to hear what is on the minds of students throughout the region.”
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Write Here! Write Now! is a part of the expansive educational initiatives at Trinity Rep. Creative writing, English, and theater teachers from all high schools in New England are encouraged to incorporate playwriting into their classroom curriculum and are provided lesson plans by Trinity Rep. Whether they complete their plays as part of a class or independently, students may submit up to two ten-minute plays free of charge to the Write Here! Write Now! competition. Each year, four winners are selected with at least one winner from a Providence, RI school. Resources for teachers, including a guide for bringing the Write Here! Write Now! curriculum into the classroom, are available on Trinity Rep’s website.
RECOGNITION
Scripts are adjudicated through a blind evaluation process by Trinity Rep’s education and artistic staff as well as guests from the community. Every play that is submitted will receive feedback to enhance the playwriting experience and aid in the development of the student’s creative voice.
The four winning plays receive further feedback as the writers engage in an in-depth dramaturgical look at their scripts. Winners also receive a scholarship towards any Trinity Rep Young Actors Studio afterschool class and 20 free tickets to a Project Discovery student matinee performance during the 2022-23 Season for their school. Each award-winning student will have their ten-minute play presented by professional actors at a staged reading at Trinity Rep on May 10, 2022.