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Sunday, October 29, 2017

The Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission

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The Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission invites playwrights to propose plays inspired by a particular prompt.

For this round, please consider the oeuvre of Caryl Churchill. We paid particular attention to Top Girls, Fen and Far Away, but by all means read and consider any and all of her plays.

Your play should feature:
  • three sections, the second of which is set in a workplace;
  • a cast of mostly (perhaps all) women—-of differing ages, cultures, and especially, classes/means/education levels;
  • a formal event (a pageant, a parade, a number, a dinner party) involving many people;
  • an ersatz mother/daughter relationship.
Embrace economy of language, and specificity and fidelity of language to character. Consider if and when those rules explode.

Submit the following through the online application form below:
  • (this is a BLIND submission, see notes below)
  • completed information form;
  • a one-page letter of intent describing your proposed project;
  • 10 exploratory pages from the proposed project (either contiguous or from different sections of the proposed play);
  • one of your finished plays for reference;
  • your resume.

IMPORTANT NOTES

No names please — on the letter, the 10 page sample or the complete play. The panel reads all submissions BLIND — the only place your name should appear is on the info form and on your resume.

The letter of intent should briefly map out the proposed piece and, if need be, orient the reader to the excerpt’s relationship to the whole. You needn’t explain or repeat anything that your 10 page sample makes clear. Then give us an idea of where the piece is coming from and where you think you want to go with it.

We ask you to include one of your finished plays for reference. Note (where prompted in the form) any relationship or similarities the complete play has to the proposed project, and recommend 10 pages for us to start with.

One last thing: this is a commission for Clubbed Thumb. So look around our website at our guidelines and production history for reference, if they are not familiar to you.

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DEADLINE: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11th, 11:11PM EST
The proposals will be read and adjudicated over the course of the fall, and the commission(s) awarded by the end of 2017.

The $15,000 commission — which might be split between writers if the panel so elects — will be paid out in three installments every six months, with the first installment following the signing of a contract. Send questions to ryan[at]clubbedthumb.org

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