No application fee, The Alpha Project - Playwright in Residence Program, top award: $1,000

Deadline: 30 April 2011

Announcing the THE ALPHA PROJECT: THE REPERTORY THEATER OF IOWA / PRAIRIE MEADOWS Playwright in Residence Program 2011-2012 Season

Description and Mission.

The Alpha Project (the RTI / Prairie Meadows Playwright-in-Residence Program) will commence during the 2011-2012 season, supported in part by a Prairie Meadows 2010 Community Betterment Grant. The Alpha Project is planned to continue as a core program of RTI. The mission of the Alpha Project is to showcase new works for the stage, and to provide a training ground for local writers.

A. 2011 Alpha Project Competition Submission Guidelines.

The Playwright-in-Residence will be chosen from submissions to the Alpha Project’s nationwide competition. Guidelines for submission are as follows:

1. The 2011 competition guidelines will be announced in March, with a submission deadline of April 30th (postmark). The judging committee will review the submissions and choose the winning play. The decision will be announced by June 15, 2011.

2. The playwright must have a demonstrated connection to the state of Iowa, by birth, residency (past or current), education, etc. The playwright should detail this connection in a cover letter accompanying the script submission.

3. There is no restriction as to genre, style or language, except as follows:

a) At this time, neither musicals nor plays written expressly for children are eligible.

b) The play must be full-length (between 75-130 pages, when typed in manuscript format [see below]). At this time, one-acts, either individually or in collection, are not eligible for the competition.

c) The play must be un-produced and unpublished. The winning playwright will be expected to grant the Repertory Theater of Iowa the exclusive right (but not obligation), for one year following the announcement of the prize, to produce the world premiere of the play.

d) The play must be set in standard manuscript format, typed or printed from a computer, using standard Courier 12 pt font. No handwritten manuscripts will be accepted.

4. Entries being judged will be identified only by the title of the play; judges will not be given any information on individual playwrights. Therefore, for plays being submitted in hard copy, the play’s bound title page must bear the title of the play only. No other identifying information should appear in the bound manuscript. The playwright must include an unbound title page, bearing the title of the play, the playwright’s name and any other pertinent identifying and contact information; this unbound title page will be kept separate from the manuscript and unseen by the judges.

5. Playwrights may submit plays via e-mail. The play should be formatted in a Word or PDF
file and submitted to James Serpento, project coordinator at navarre_2@yahoo.com. Please
put “RTI Playwriting Contest Entry” in the subject line.

a) Deadline: E-mailed submissions must be received by 11:59 pm on April 30, 2011.

6. Playwrights may submit plays in hard copy via U.S. Postal Service. If doing so, please
submit 2 copies of the play to the following:

The Alpha Project Playwriting Competition
c/o the Repertory Theater of Iowa
PO Box 8218
Des Moines, IA 50301

a) Both copies must be bound. Simple cardstock binders are sufficient; there is no need to use heavy 3-ring binders.
b) Do not send originals.
c) Do not send via a method that requires a signature for delivery.
d) Manuscripts will not be returned; non-winning manuscripts will be recycled.
e) Deadline: Submissions mailed via U.S. Post must bear a postmark before 11:59 pm
on April 30, 2011.

B. The Judging Process.

1. Each play will be read by a five-member judging team, made up of up to three Repertory Theater of Iowa company members and two other non-RTI members of the Des Moines theatre
community.

2. Following this initial screening, the top five plays will be chosen and discussed at a judges’ meeting; from this pool of five, the three prize-winning plays will be chosen.

3. Decision of the judges shall be final.

C. Awards and Expectations

1. The winning playwright will receive an award of $1,000. 2nd and 3rd place playwrights will
receive awards of $250 and $100, respectively.

2. The Repertory Theater of Iowa shall have the right, but not the obligation to produce the
world premiere. This right shall extend for a period of one year following the date of
announcement of the prize.

3. Once a production is scheduled, the winning playwright will be expected to collaborate with
the director and production team in the weeks prior to a production. RTI maintains the right to
all final decisions regarding artistic direction in connection with the production, and ultimate
creative control is reserved for the company and its chosen director.

4. The winning playwright will be expected to be in attendance during one of the weeks of the
play’s production and to offer at least one lecture, class or other reasonable presentation to
interested parties (writers, audience members, etc) during that time. The winning playwright
will receive no additional compensation for this service.

5. Repertory Theater of Iowa/Prairie Meadows and/or the Alpha Project shall provide some
measure of assistance in the winning playwright’s travel and housing during the period of
his/her attendance.

More information here.