New Jersey Playwrights Contest
Click Here for This Year's Finalists' Stage Reading Performances
Staged Readings of the Three Finalists from the
Sixth Annual NJ Playwrights Contest
October 27-29, 2009, 8:00 PM
Hunziker Black Box Theatre
Admission: FREE
Get a peek at the works of three up-and-coming New Jersey playwrights as you enjoy staged readings of the finalists from the Sixth Annual NJ Playwrights Contest. Each evening is a different play - come to one or all three (they’re FREE!). Stay after the performance to meet the author and provide valuable feedback to the judges. The winning author will have a full production of his/her play in June 2010.
Winner of the Sixth Annual NJ Playwrights Contest
June 3-6, 2010 & June 9-13, 2010
Wed.-Sat at 8:00 PM, Sun. at 2:00 PM
Hunziker Black Box Theatre
Admission:
$15.00 Standard, $12.00 WPUNJ Community & Senior Citizens,
$9.00 Students
Preview Performance Thurs. 6/3/10 - all tickets $9.00
Meet-the-Author session immediately following the Sun. 6/6/10 Matinee
Who won? Come find out! See a full production of the winning playwright’s work. Who knows, you might just be watching a future Pulitzer Prize winner. Last year’s social satire IT’S ALL ABOUT THE KIDS played to sell out crowds and was a resounding success and is currently being developed as a feature film.
About the Contest
The New Jersey Playwrights Contest (NJPC) supports the work of emerging New Jersey playwrights by exposing their work to the public through staged-readings and a full production of the winning play. Unpublished scripts by New Jersey residents are solicited in the Summer and through a rigorous selection process one play is selected to receive a professionally designed and directed production the following Spring semester.
All playwrights residing in the state of New Jersey are eligible to enter the NJPC. Students, and members of the local community, who have the time and energy to commit to a production are invited to participate. Open auditions for the staged-readings usually take place in early September and in mid-December for the full production. Casts vary widely depending upon the reading or show but often include undergraduates from a variety of majors, alumni and other members of the University community as well as local community actors or semi-professional performers and on a rare occasion a professional actor. The artistic and technical staffs for all NJPC shows consist of fulltime and part-time theatre professionals working in the northern New Jersey area.
Previous winners of the annual NJPC are: NINE MONTHS, INSIDE OUT by S. W. Senek (2005), TUESDAY IN JERSEY WITH ANDY, by Dennis Russo (2006), END OF THE WORLD BUTTON, by S.W. Senek (2007), MARGOT FRANK: THE DIARY OF THE OTHER YOUNG GIRL, Book & Lyrics by Lori Mooney & Diana Rissetto, Music by Cooper Cerulo, Michael Sangiovanni & Warren Helms (2008) and IT'S ALL ABOUT THE KIDS, by Caytha Jentis (2009).
This year's finalists are: BUICK BECOMES ELECTRA or THE TORRID ZONE, by Stanley Werse, THE GRACELAND CRUSADE, by S.W. Senek, and I WANNA BE FAMOUS! or BAVARIAN RAGE, by Kal Wagenheim.
The NJPC is coordinated by Ed Matthews and Shari Selke of the University Performing Arts Department, and is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
