Five 10-Minute Playwrighting Contests

If you are trying to breaking into playwrighting professionally or just enjoy writing plays, there are many many contests for 10 minute plays that will provide you with exposure, street cred, sometimes some money, and best of all: a chance to have your work performed. There are many 10-minute playwrighting contests in the U.S (and elsewhere) which accept work at different times throughout the year. Many 10-minute play contests don't even charge fees- a big difference from the rather pricey contests screenwriting aspirants are used to. Here's a list of some 10-minute playwrighting contests you might want to look into if you're interested in this kind of writing.

Humana Festival of New American Plays. Anyone new to playwrighting, such as myself, quickly learns the annual Humana Festival in Louisville Kentucky is sort of to plays what the Sundance Festival is to movies. It's a place where somewhat established playwrights go to showcase their work and get it buzzing. The full length play competition is closed to agented writers only (which is probably necessary to keep down submissions, but also seems counterintuitive, given the competition's goal is to find the future of American playwrighting- as if the only good writers are the ones with agents…but that's another story.) Anyhow, the way to get involved in this contest if you're without representation is the 10-minute play contest. You can submit just one script, ten minutes or less. The deadline is November 1st, or at least it was in 2006. Check the website for details.

Short & Sweet 10 Minute Play Festival. This is a contest based in the Australian cities of Sydney and Melbourne but it's open to anyone who wants in. It's in fact billed as the biggest short play festival in the world. The plays selected for the festivals are performed by local theatre companies at the Short & Sweet Festival. You can read more about it at their site.

Annual Chameleon Theatre Circle New Play Contest. Based in the Twin Cities area, this company has hosted a new play contest since 1998. One section of the contest is devoted to 10-minute plays. (Actually, any play up to 15 pages is put into this category.) Genre is the playwright's choice. Small cash awards are given to the winners, along with production. There's also a contest for One Act and full-length plays. You can enter certain combinations of these lengths. All the specific information on entries is located at their site.

Heartland Theatre Company's Annual 10 Minute Play Contest. Located in Illinois, this company offers a theme-based playwrighting competition open to 10-minute plays. Eight winners are selected for performance in their festival in their 67-seat heatre. More information on the contest rules and the current theme can be found at their website:

Snowdance 10-Minute Comedy Festival. This playwrighting opportunity is sponsored by the Over Our Heads Theatre Company in Racine, Wisconsin. 10-minute comedic plays (or shorter plays) are eligible for entry. Winners are performed during the company's comedy festival. There is no fee to enter. The last deadline was November 1st, 2006. Check out more details.

The Theatre Oxford 10-Minute Play Contest. This playwrighting contest offers the winning writer a $1000 prize, production of the script, and other prizes. A book of 10-minute plays is published by the company. Check their website for details. The next deadline is February 15, 2007.

Good luck with your submissions, or should I say: break a leg!