News Rules Submit Sponsors Partners About Press 2007 Contest

Who can submit a script?

• Open to all current and former residents of the Czech Republic
• Applicants must provide references to verify that they reside or resided in the Czech Republic or their play will not be considered.
• Semifinalists and finalists from the 2007 Prague Post Playwriting Contest may submit plays

What must your submission include?

• Plays should have an estimated running time of 30 minutes
• Scripts must be submitted in English
• Scripts must be received no later than Nov. 30
• Scripts are open to any subject
• Submissions must be only new works, or works never performed in Prague
• Scripts should be submitted without the playwright’s name and contact details. The playwright’s name and contact details should be provided on a separate sheet or in an e-mail
• Scripts may be submitted in hard copy or electronically. Scripts submitted electronically must be in Word format (.doc) or as a PDF
• Scripts submitted in hard copy cannot be returned
• Writers may submit as many scripts as they like
• There is a submission fee of 100 Kč for each play submitted
• The playwright must agree to the indemnification agreement

What will the judging be like?

• The initial stage of judging will be done by readers from the Prague Playhouse. The judging will be blind (without the judges’ knowledge of writers’ names and details). Readers will judge the submissions based on the following criteria:
• Productibility
• Story
• Originality
• Writing quality
• The readers will select the top 10 plays (semifinalists)
• The semifinalists will be announced between Dec. 17 and Dec. 21
• The semifinalists will be sent to an elite panel of judges. They will judge the semifinalist plays based on the following criteria:
• Story / plot
• Originality
• Dialogue / writing quality
• The judging panel will rank the semifinalists 1 to 10
• The top three plays from the semifinalists are the finalists (the order will be known only to the contest organizers)
• The finalists will be announced between Jan. 7 and Jan. 11
• Three prizes will be awarded:
• Best play by a non-native English writer (this will be awarded regardless of whether the play is in the top three overall)
• Audience Award (Audience members will cast ballots after each performance)
• Best overall (cash prize of CZK 20,000) according to the judging panel

What will the production be like?

• The top three plays according to the judging panel will be produced by the Prague Playhouse
• The event organizers will select directors
• Writers who make it to the final selection are invited to work with the director according to the following:  
• Directors will be encouraged to make contact with playwrights at the earliest possible opportunity, but directors have the final say in the elements of production – including casting
• If possible, playwrights should attend the initial read-through of the work with the cast
• After the read-through and before intensive rehearsals begin, the director and playwright (and perhaps one of the producers) should have a candid discussion about possible rewrites. The playwright is encouraged to take an active and constructive role in this process, and all revisions to the work are subject to negotiation and the final approval of the playwright
• Playwrights are encouraged to attend rehearsals under the commonly established practices of the theater: a) The director is captain of the rehearsal process, while the writer is an observer unless invited to comment; b) the playwright should funnel all comments through the director, refraining from giving notes to actors or designers without the express approval of the director

Who are this year’s judges?

Marcy Arlin – founded the Immigrant´s Theatre in New Yorku in 1988. The theatre’s mission is to present traditional and experimental plays by and about immigrants to the United States and worldwide as well as extending intercultural relationships and tolerance all over the world. Marcy Arlin has been a frequent director of the Immigrant Theatre’s productions.

Jim Haynes - was born in Louisiana. He was briefly attended L.S.U. and Tulane. Jim created the Paperback Bookshop and Gallery in Edinburgh. He founded the Traverse Theatre, created the London Traverse Theatre Company and the Arts Laboratory. Jim also co-founded SUCK and directed the Wet Dream Film Festival in Amsterdam. A professor of Sexual Politics and Media Studies for 30 years, Jim also founded Handshake Editions and was awarded the Whitbreat Prize for "contribution to theatre in Britain". Web site: www.jim-haynes.com

Marta Ljubková - studied Czech Language and Literature at the Philosophical Faculty, Charles University, Prague, and directing and dramaturgy at the Academy of Performing Arts, Prague. Since 2005, she has been working as a free-lancer in different Czech theatres as an author, dramaturge and director (Naive theatre, Liberec, National Theatre in Ostrava, Universal NoD, Prague, Klicperovo divadlo Hradec Králové.). In 2006-2007 she worked as a dramaturg at West Bohemian Theatre in Cheb. Since 2004, she has been teaching different courses on Contemporary Czech Drama and Literature at the Charles University, Prague. She is an editor of the cultural newspapers A2.

Steffen Silvis - is The Prague Post's theatre and film critic. Steffen is also a playwright, having had a number of productions of his work in the U.S. and the U.K. Silvis was twice named co-winner of the International Playwriting Festival in London, and has won a handful of journalism awards for his criticism. A judge at the inagural Prague Post Playwriting Contest.

Clare Wallace, PhD - is a Senior Lecturer in Irish and British Literature and Irish and Intercultural Studies. She also lectures at the University of New York, Prague. She is a frequent contributor to the Irish Studies Review, and her work on Irish literature has appeared in Irish University Review, Irish Theatre Magazine, Litteraria Pragensia, The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, Dialog (Poland) and Modern Drama. From 1997 to 2002 she was the managing editor of the international literary journal The Prague Review, and is a former member of One Eye Open/Jedním Okem, a bilingual journal focusing on women’s issues in Central Europe. She is a member of the steering committee of EFACIS, a Representative for Europe in IASIL and member of the Czech Association for the Study of English (CZASE) and the German Society for the Study of Contemporary Drama in English (CDE).