Submissions Begin: Saturday, September, 1, 2012

Submission Deadline: Thursday, November 1, 2012

The Great Plains Theatre Conference is a powerful combination of training, performances and community building, making it one of the top gatherings in the country for new and emerging playwrights, actors, directors, designers, technicians, dramaturgs, scholars and new theatre enthusiasts.

To learn more about the GPTC visit www.mccneb.edu/gptc

Plays submitted will be considered for the following categories:

MainStage Series

The MainStage series features the top five plays submitted to the GPTC, selected via a “blind” reading process. Mainstage scripts are rehearsed by local and national directors and actors, and receive dedicated readings throughout the week in a public format. A panel made up of the Honored and Featured playwrights serve as respondents to the MainStage work. All 2013 MainStage plays will be published in The GPTC Reader, 2013 MainStage- an anthology of plays to be used as a classroom text and available for sale to the general public. MainStage playwrights will also receive a $500 honorarium, travel, room and board, conference registration and are recognized with the Holland New Voices Award.

PlayLabs

The PlayLabs are the heart of the GPTC. Thirty plays will be chosen for the 2013 PlayLabs by a “blind” reading process. PlayLab scripts are rehearsed by local and national directors and actors and read concurrently in a public format. A panel of select theater professionals will serve as respondents to the work. PlayLab playwrights receive room and board and conference registration.

StageWrite *

One play, by an emerging woman playwright, is chosen from the pool of 2013 PlayLab playwrights for the StageWrite Emerging Playwright Scholarship. The playwright receives a $500 scholarship to offset conference expenses. The selected playwright also receives room and board and conference registration.

* The StageWrite Women’s Initiative is a year-round program bringing together women playwrights and their supporters to recognize and raise funds to directly benefit women playwrights participating in the GPTC and within the Omaha community.

Playwrights whose scripts are chosen for the MainStage, PlayLab or
StageWrite must attend the entire conference.

Submission Guidelines

• The GPTC accepts both full-length and one-act scripts.
• Plays must be a minimum of twenty minutes/pages or longer.
• Playwrights may submit a maximum of one script.
• Plays that have received an Equity production, plays for young audiences and musicals are not accepted.
• Notification to playwrights on the status of their plays will begin mid-January, 2013. All selections are finalized by March 15, 2013.
• Plays must be submitted with no identifying information on any of the pages, this includes information about production or award history.
• A $10 fee must accompany the submission. Submissions will not be considered without payment. The entire fee is applied toward the costs for readers.

Submission Inclusions

Please submit TWO separate documents:

• The PLAY* with no personal identifying information on any of the pages. Include at the beginning: a TITLE PAGE with only the name of the play (without your personal information included); a play SYNOPSIS** of 150 words or less; a CHARACTER LIST with character descriptions and notations as to whether characters may be doubled up or must be of a certain ethnicity; one to two sentence TEASER** description of the play.


• A second TITLE PAGE containing your name, address, phone number(s) and email address.

Submissions will only be accepted electronically in MS Word or PDF. Do not use zip files.

* The playwrights name must not appear on the pages of the play. If there is identifying information on the play pages, the play will not be considered.

** The synopsis and teaser will be used as an introduction during the blind read process and for publicity purposes and for use in the GPTC program, if play is selected.

*** For submissions from countries other than United States, please contact us at theatreconference.mccneb.edu