web siteSeeking fully produced one act plays (cast, directed and ready to perform)
7 minutes to 20 minutes in length for MRTʼs WINTER ONE ACT PLAY COMPETITION 2019
JAN. 9 - FEB. 2, 2019 at Manhattan Rep, 17-19 West 45th St. NYC
FIRST PRIZE for BEST PLAY: $1000
EACH PLAY WILL BE GIVEN A MINIMUM OF THREE PERFORMANCES,
(And an additional 3 performances if the play goes on to the FINALS.)
We will supply a technician to run the sound and lights.
To submit your one act play production please email:
The complete play in .pdf file format,
a synopsis of the play,
the character breakdown,
the approximate running time of the play,
the set and lighting requirements,
the playʼs production history (if it has been produced before and where)
your mailing address,
and a creative team leader contact email address to:
manhattanrep@yahoo.com
by Monday December 3 , 2019
Please put “Winterl One Act Play Competition” in the subject heading.
We will contact you within a week as to your acceptance.
Plays that we love will be accepted on a First-Come First-Served basis.
The earlier you submit the better chances you have of being accepted for we may end submissions before December 3, if we fill up all available performance slots
There is no submission fee. NON-EQUITY ONLY.
Each play will be given a MINIMUM of THREE performances, with THREE more performances if your play moves on to the finals.
Once accepted, there will be a $175.00 participation fee.
There will be NO additional security fees or Manhattan Repertory Theatre based production fees.
Follows is an overview of how the competition will be run and what will be expected from each creative team participating. We have run these competitions now for a number of years now and they are always great fun, and pretty exciting too.
This Fall, we are simplifying the voting process so that it is crazy fair to all and easy to understand.
There will be 6 performance series with 5 plays in each series so we are only accepting 30 plays.
Each performance series will consist of 5 plays in each series. The 1 play from each performance series that scores the highest will go on to the Finals Thursday January 31, Friday February 1 and Saturday February 2 at 9 pm So there will be six plays in the Finals. The one play that scores the highest for the three Finals performances will win the $1000 grand prize which is awarded that night.
The voting here is done by audience ballot where each play in a performance series is rated from 5 to 1 in order of preference with no duplicates - 5 being the best. (6 to 1 for the Finals.) The voting is crowd-sourced in a way that prevents the play with the most friends from ALWAYS winning. We like that. It still helps to invite friends but bringing the most friends does not guarantee entrance into the finals. A great play will!!
Another one of the things that we do that we feel is very important is that we organize and run the tech for the show so that in each performance series of 6 plays everything flows smoothly creating a professional show. We supply a technician and we run all the tech. All the scene changes between shows are orchestrated so that they are 60 seconds or less, so that the audience does not have to go crazy waiting as actors set the set for 10 minutes or more, like in other competitions in town. We create a slick professional show so that all the shows in each performance series can showcase their work in a professional context.
Lastly, we orchestrate the performance times at this competition so that there is MEET and GREET time after your performance, so you are not RUN right out of the theatre which occurs all the time at festivals throughout New York and, yes, this is super important to us too... we keep our theatre and our dressing room super CLEAN for audience and actors alike. It is part of our mission to keep our space clean for the artists who are working here. (Some theatres in NYC are downright scary for they have never been dusted in years!)
So come have some fun with us this Winter. We just finished our Fall competition and it was awesome. Wonderful plays. Wonderful creative artists! And we had a gas!
Over 10,000 theatre artists have developed their work at Manhattan Rep since September 2005.
Please join the fun.