THE LESLIE SCALAPINO AWARD FOR INNOVATIVE WOMEN PERFORMANCE WRITERS

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Deadline June 1, 2016

In memory of Leslie Scalapino, her extraordinary body of work, and her commitment to the community of experimental writing and performance. Read about Leslie here.

The Leslie Scalapino Award recognizes the importance of exploratory approaches and an innovative spirit in writing for performance. You can learn more about the winners of our first and second cycles, Joyelle McSweeney's Dead Youth, or The Leaks, and Khadijah Queen's Non-Sequitur, by clicking "Past Winners and Runners Up" above. Last cycle we received many submissions and a wonderful range of work.

The Prize: The winner will receive a $2,500 cash prize, print publication of the winning text by Litmus Press, a staged reading of the piece in New York this fall, by Fiona Templeton's company The Relationship; and a full production of the work in the following year. The award is biennial.

The Call: Full guidelines, including timeline and instructions for online submission of materials will be announced in early May 2016, with a deadline in late May or early June. Please read the guidelines carefully.

We are looking for a full-length work for live performance by a woman writer with an inquiring approach to language and content. The poetic practice of Leslie Scalapino was interdisciplinary, including photography, plays, performance, and collaboration with dance and music. We would like to honor this aspect of her work in the award.

While the principal focus for the award is on innovative writing for performance, competitive submissions may consider a range of approaches to innovation in performance, including but not limited to integrated experimentations with language, gesture, movement, sound, visual art / vision, site / location and/or activist practice. The writer should demonstrate some experience in the discipline, materials or medium involved. The submitted work should not have been produced or published prior to the Award production and publication in fall 2017.

Applicants should have had no more than 3 productions of their work, as the award is intended to open up opportunities, although it is not limited to emerging writers. The Award for Innovative Women Playwrights intends to support new writing by female-identified people, inclusive of transwomen. The prize is open to international submissions in English.

How to apply:

You will be asked for:

1. A 10-page excerpt from a completed work.

2. Your CV.

3. A further single page of work statement, to include a) a summary of the work, and b) a description of your approach. Please be brief and to the point.

Timeline:

Call for entries: May 2, 2016

Deadline: June 1, 2016

Full texts requested from shortlist: July 15, 2016

Deadline for full texts: August 1, 2016

Winners and finalists announced: Mid-September 2016

The Leslie Scalapino Award for Innovative Women Playwrights is funded by the Leslie Scalapino-O Books Fund and supported by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and is administered by The Relationship. Publication of award-winning works will be in collaboration with Litmus Press. For more information about Leslie Scalapino, please visit her website: www.lesliescalapino.com.