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Calling all Middle School Playwrights!

In partnership with the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE), Raleigh Little Theatre is hosting the Young Playwrights for Change competition!

Young Playwrights for Change is a national playwriting competition for middle schoolers hosted by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE). Raleigh Little Theatre is hosting a regional competition open to students in grades 6-8.

The 2018-2019 competition theme is: “discovering truth about ourselves and others.” How do we discover comforting or uncomfortable truths about ourselves? What do we learn about ourselves or the world around us as a product of the discovery? How do we discover the truth about another person or group of people who have different beliefs and identities from our own? How do we determine truth and non-truth when traditional sources of information are questioned or dismissed? When we discover a truth about ourselves or others, how does that change us and how do we act upon what we have learned?

To be considered for submission, the play must meet these guidelines:

• Provide written permission from a parent or guardian
• Must not be entered into more than one host organization
• Must be no longer than ten minutes when read aloud
• Must have no more than six characters in the script
• Script is written in standard American format
• Must be the original work of the author, neither co-authored nor an adaptation of pre-existing work

For a complete list of of guidelines, visit the AATE website for a description of the program including formatting criteria for the submitted scripts.

Plays are submitted to regional competitions, and each regional host site selects a winner to advance to the national competition. Raleigh Little Theatre will host a staged reading of the finalist plays on February 23, 2019.

Plays can be submitted individually or through a teacher/or class to Meredyth Pederson Cooper, Director of Education at meredyth@nullraleighlittletheatre.org. All plays will be read and reviewed by a committee of artists and educators associated with Raleigh Little Theatre. The submission deadline is December 15, 2018. Finalists will be contacted in January. Raleigh Little Theatre will host staged readings of the top five regional entries on Saturday, February 23, 2019, where it will also be announced which 10-minute play was chosen to send on to the national competition.

The national competition winner is chosen April 10, 2019. The winning play in the National Competition will be presented in a staged reading by professional actors and a professional director at AATE’s National Conference in New York City August 1-5, 2019 The playwright and one family member will have the opportunity to attend the event. Hotel and travel from within the US are included.

Please carefully review the Young Playwrights for Change competition rules and adhere to the formatting in the style guidelines. Not sure where to start? Read AATE’s creative tip sheet to get your juices flowing!

Please contact RLT’s Director of Education, Meredyth Pederson Cooper, with any questions at meredyth@nullraleighlittletheatre.org or 919-821-4579 x245.