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Submissions are now closed for the Relentless Award Ten Minute "Picket Plays."

Thanks to all who submitted! Stay tuned for info about the next Relentless Award, coming in November.

The American Playwriting Foundation is accepting applications for The Relentless Award Ten Minute “Picket Plays,” an award created to support WGA writers who are unable to work due to the current strike. The award is open to all current WGA members. Six winning ten minute plays will be chosen by our selection committee, and each winning writer will be awarded $10,000. The winning plays will be performed at Theatre Row by members of the Relentless Company of actors, including Leslie Bibb, Wayne Brady, Billy Crudup, Vincent D’Onofrio, Griffin Dunne, Gina Gershon, Walton Goggins, Natasha Lyonne, Sam Rockwell, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Liev Schreiber, Yul Vazquez, and others. Additionally, five finalist plays will be selected and awarded $1,000 each.

The Relentless Award, founded in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman, places special emphasis on works that are fearless, featuring passionate voices that are relentlessly truthful. Submissions to The Relentless Picket Plays should be written specifically for this opportunity, addressing the theme “Picketing/Striking.” 

The Relentless Ten Minute Play Awards will celebrate works that:

  • Speak to the current moment

  • Exhibit fearlessness

  • Exude passion

Our criteria for submission casts a wide net of eligibility, and we encourage submissions from writers of all identities. Our goal is to foster the creation of new work for the theater while work for television and film is halted, and to recognize and support people whose voices have been historically under- or unrepresented. ​

Eligibility/Criteria for Submission

  • Only short plays (ten minutes running time, no more than 15 pages) are eligible for the 2023 Relentless 10 Minute Play Awards.

  • The works must be unproduced, unpublished, and cannot have had a previous production or a current production commitment.

  • Each writer may submit one play only.

  • Musicals are ineligible.

  • Applications are limited to pieces by writers with United States citizenship, those who possess or are in the process of obtaining a green card, those with student, immigrant, or work visas for the United States, or anyone who currently resides in the United States and has lived here for at least four (4) years.

  • Submitting writers must be current members of the Writers Guild of America.

  • Associate WGA members are not eligible.

  • Plays co-written by two authors may be submitted, as long as both writers are eligible members of the WGA.

  • Writers must be at least 18 years old*.​​ ​(*except in NE and AL where writers must be 19 years old, and MS where writers must be 21 years old)

  • Works may be based on underlying material, in which case proof of authorization or right to adapt the underlying material must be uploaded with the application if it is not in the public domain.

  • Plays considered to be “Theatre for a Young Audience” are ineligible.

 

How to submit your play:

The submission window is from August 3, 2023 until September 5, 2023.

 

There is a link to Submittable.com at the bottom of this page to submit your play.

  • You'll receive confirmation your application has been received.  Our staff will reach out to you if there are any problems.

 

Please contact aodonoghue@bfany.org with any eligibility, submission, or other questions.

We look forward to reading your work.

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