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Dateline: 1st April, 2010
Competition for Plays for Young People Trinity Guildhall has announced a major new competition for playwrights from around the globe to produce a one act work for audiences of children under-11 years, or those aged between 12 and 16.
John Gardyne, Trinity College London’s Chief Examiner for Drama and Speech, said, “Although theatre audiences, particularly in the West End, are thrillingly on the up, young people – as a distinct audience group – are still extremely poorly served. There is too little emphasis, attention or financial backing given to children’s theatre. If we are to inspire the next generation to develop a lifelong love of theatre then they need material that reaches out to them and has relevance to their lives.
“One of the main purposes of this competition is to give writers the opportunity to come up with something different, something that will captivate young audiences in a new way. What might a new one act play look like? Let’s awaken our children from their sleepy drama classes, and take a breath of fresh air. This could turn out to be an industry changing competition, as well as a West End hit!”
At the launch at the Vaudeville Theatre, children’s playwright David Wood OBE, said, “Children and young people's theatre is still regarded by many as the Cinderella of our craft. After forty years writing and directing plays for this undervalued sector, I am heartened to find a competition that recognises its vitality and importance. I much look forward to reading the entries and hope that the competition will encourage writers to take the plunge and discover how exciting writing for children can be.”
The competition will be promoted in the 60 countries worldwide in which Trinity Guildhall and Trinity College London have a presence and the final shortlisted plays will be read by a distinguished panel of judges, which includes:
The winners will receive: The writer of the winning play entry in each category will receive:
Up to four additional awards of “Highly Commended” entries will receive a cash prize of £500.
An award will also be made for The Most Promising Playwright under the age of 12 and The Most Promising Playwright under the age of 16. A document giving further guidance for candidates can be downloaded from www.trinityguildhall.co.uk/playwriting Entries must be submitted either as an email attachment or hard copy by 1 June 2010. A registration fee will be payable to cover costs of administration and reading. This fee is intended purely to cover the costs of the first stage of reading and will be kept at as low as possible. The cost in the UK is £20 per entry. All entries will be read in their entirety and readers will provide individual reports providing constructive feedback on each play.
Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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