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Overview
Now in its 29th year, the New Jersey Young Playwrights Program provides an opportunity for students in all school environments, grades 4-12, to write plays and receive written response to their work from professional theatre artists.
The New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival selects representative plays from over 400 submissions, and presents them as concert and staged readings with professional actors and directors. Prior to the readings, the selected playwrights meet with their director/dramaturg to discuss the play and work on possible revisions.
Winning plays are presented during the New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival, a partnership between Playwrights Theatre and Premiere Stages at Kean University.
How NJYPF Works
Plays are accepted in the following Divisions:
- High School (Grades 10-12)
All plays are submitted to Playwrights Theatre by the posted deadlines. Prefered method of submission is via the internet/email; however, an exception may be made when submission are the product of a classroom project. Classroom teachers who may want to submit student plays by paper copy should contact the Education office at Playwrights Theatre no later than January 3, 2012 to make arrangements.
Once plays are received, they are distributed elecronically to readers, all of whom are professional theatre artists. First-round readers receive a packet of plays and select those that will advance to the next round. This reading process continues until 10-15 scripts remain in each division. These final scripts are sent to a panel of theatre professionals and/or a Playwrights Theatre administrator. The Panel reads each script and meets to discuss each play and potentially select winners for each division. First-round readers provide written feedback to each playwright.
There may be up to two winners in the Elementary and Junior High and up to three High School division. Winners in the High School division receive a New Jersey Governor’s Award in Arts Education at an event in Trenton, cosponsored by the NJ Arts Education Partnership and the New Jersey Department of Education. Winning playwrights who individually write their play (i.e., without a co-author) may be eligible to receive a scholarship to attend Camp Premiere, the summer theatre program at Premiere Stages.
All winning playwrights receive Certificates of Achievement. A statewide press release will publicize these student awards.
General Contest Timeline and Deadlines
2011-12 Contest and Festival
January 14, 2012-- High School Play Submission Deadline
January 15, 2012-- Elementary and Junior School Play Submission Deadline
late March/early April 2012 -- Winning plays announced
May 2012 -- New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival readings at Kean University
Summer 2012 -- Play Critiques distributed.
Want to submit a play?
Submission guidelines and procedures can be found on our Submit Your Play page.
ABOUT PREMIERE STAGES
Premiere Stages is committed to serving the cultural needs of the Kean University campus community and the northern and central New Jersey regions through the production of premiere Equity productions, professional development and training programs and the cultivation of emerging artists. In a time when the majority of theatres are producing revivals, Premiere Stages is committed to ensuring that emerging artists are afforded the opportunity to have their work developed and produced in a safe and nurturing environment. Premiere Stages strives to be the ideal professional university program, actively engaging and enhancing the specialized training programs at Kean University while embracing and serving a culturally diverse audience, children-at-risk, and a broad pool of local artists.
Premiere Stages' commitment to developing new theatrical voices begins with our many Education programs. The Premiere Stages Play Factory includes in-school playwriting residencies for students in elementary through high school; the Musical Fun Series, touring productions for youth brought to Kean University, and Camp Premiere, a two-week intensive playwriting program in the summer for high school students
Disclaimers.
Playwrights Theatre reserves the right to not award a winning play and/or reduce the number of winning plays in any category. Festival programming is subject to available funds, and Playwrights Theatre reserves the right to cancel the Festival should those funds not be available. The Governors Awards are issued by an independent agency, and Playwrights Theatre cannot guarantee whether that agency will issue awards in any given year. Premiere Stages reserves the right to not award scholarships, or to limit the number awarded, for any reason.
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