Premiere Stages to Combat COVID-19 with the Power of the Pen

Premiere Stages, the professional theatre company in residence at Kean University, has announced a new playwriting competition offering cash awards and other benefits for New Jersey-based writers inspired by the challenges of COVID-19. The Premiere Senior Endeavor Awards will be part of the 2020 Premiere Play Festival, Premiere Stages' acclaimed new play development program that provides readings, workshops and full productions to regional playwrights as part of each season.

Accepted entries will be one-act plays between 10 and 60 pages inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic. Content can directly relate to issues surrounding the virus or may be more abstractly related. Plays can be autobiographical or can be completely fictional; an application form will ask two simple questions about the author's experiences. Submissions are limited to writers in one of the below categories who reside in New Jersey.

• The High School Senior Endeavor Award will provide $1000 to a student, a rising senior completing high school in May or June of 2021. The winning high school student will also receive a professional reading of the play and a letter of recommendation that can be used to support fall college applications.

• The College Senior Endeavor Award will provide $1000 to a Kean University student who is graduating in May of 2020. The winning Kean senior will also receive a professional reading of the play and will be extended the offer of a paid six-month internship in the Premiere Stages Literary Office.

• The NJ Senior Endeavor Award will provide $1000 to a senior citizen who currently resides in a New Jersey assisted living or independent living residential community. Premiere Stages will also provide a professional reading of the play and a fully sponsored Premiere Stages Legacy Residency for all senior citizens residing in the same community as the winning writer, once CDC guidelines for social distancing have been fully lifted. Legacy residencies are part of the Premiere Play Factory and provide opportunities for senior citizens to partner with professional playwrights to document, share and celebrate their legacies with their peers and families through a showcase of their work as performed by professional actors.

The Premiere Senior Endeavor Awards are sponsored through a sustained funding gift from longtime Premiere Stages donors W. John Bauer and Nancy Boucher and were conceived by John J. Wooten, producing artistic director and founder of Premiere Stages. 

"With every challenge comes opportunity,” Wooten said, "and in times like these, we have looked to our artists to help heal and re-inspire our communities. That is why we are committed to not only maintaining our commitment to writers during this crisis, but to increasing it."

Premiere will accept submissions from June 1 through August 1, 2020, and the three winners will be selected by September 1, 2020; any submissions received before or after this submission window will not be considered. There is no fee to enter the competition.

All three winners will receive developmental readings with a professional cast, director and dramaturg, between October 9-11, 2020 on the Kean University campus. An additional six playwrights, two in each category, will receive an honorable mention certificate and an honorarium of $100 each. All Premiere Senior Endeavor Awards entries will be evaluated by a panel of theatre professionals in consultation with Premiere's artistic and literary staff. 

Complete submission guidelines are available at premierestagesatkean.com/senior-endeavor-awards. Premiere Stages is committed to supporting a diverse group of writers. Playwrights of all backgrounds and experience levels are encouraged to submit.

The Premiere Play Festival has received over 5,000 submissions and developed more than 50 plays since 2005. Multiple plays produced by Premiere have been honored by the American Theatre Critics Association, and/or have been published by Samuel French, Dramatists Play Service, Dramatic Publishing Company, Playscripts, and Broadway Play Publishing. A number of Play Festival winners and finalists have subsequently been produced in New York and at regional theatres across the country. Premiere Stages plans to announce additional Festival events and the complete 2020 season in April.