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Submissions Now Open! APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS: Application Form Example of past work - One script with name and play title on cover. No co-written submissions, no musicals and no screenplays. A theatrical resume or CV Typed answers to the following questions (no more than one page each): How would this commission be of value to you? What project would you want to write/develop and why?  (Please include a detailed synopsis of the play. What inspires you to write plays? What are the successes and challenges that you have faced and how do you hope to address those in the future? Describe your relationship to your Middle Eastern heritage. Names of and contact information for up to three references. CRITERIA FOR SELECTION: Must be a US resident Playwrights of a Middle Eastern background (West/Southwest Asian and North African) Plays where the protagonist or central character is of a Middle Eastern background. Plays that somehow deal with Middle Eastern or Middle Eastern American experiences, identity and/or themes.  Playwrights who create ambitious, fresh, playful, engaging, energizing, provocative, powerful and theatrical works. Plays that reveal unique and vital perspectives. Playwrights with clear goals about their writing who are open and committed to a developmental process. DEADLINE: JUNE 30, 2010

Download the Application Here!

 

For Playwrights of Middle Eastern Backgrounds

Middle East America: A National New Plays Initiative is a first-of-its-kind tri-coastal collaboration involving San Francisco’s Golden Thread Productions, New York’s Lark Play Development Center, and Chicago’s Silk Road Theatre Project. This initiative was designed to encourage and support the development of Middle Eastern American playwrights and Middle Eastern American plays, of the highest artistic caliber, and to enrich the canon of American dramatic literature. We aim to challenge both the lack of representation and the one-dimensional stereotypical representation of persons of Middle Eastern descent on America's stages. The goal of this initiative is to provide additional opportunities for writers of Middle Eastern backgrounds, to expand cultural representation of Middle Eastern Americans, and to integrate Middle Eastern American plays into the American theatre repertoire.

The initiative will provide $10K to commission a Middle Eastern American playwright to develop a new work. The commission will be awarded to a playwright selected by application process and will include in-depth development support at the Lark Play Development Center in collaboration with Golden Thread Productions and Silk Road Theatre Project. This initiative also includes a development phase that will be designed with an eye towards production at Golden Thread Productions and/or Silk Road Theatre Project.

Our Objectives

• To foster the development of new world class dramatic literature.
• To identify, nurture, and support a community of Middle Eastern American playwrights.
• To enhance the development of a canon of Middle Eastern American plays.
• To expand the repertoire of Middle Eastern American stories.
• To encourage other theaters, nationally and internationally, to produce the plays of Middle East America awardees.
• To creatively challenge both the lack of representation and the one dimensional, stereotypical representation of persons of Middle Eastern descent on America’s stages.
• To strengthen the respective missions of Golden Thread Productions, Lark Play Development Center, and Silk Road Theatre Project and further each company’s commitment to Middle Eastern representation.

Deadline for Next Call is June 30, 2010

Middle East America | A National New Plays Initiative