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MTC's Two New American Play Prizes
The Sky Cooper/MTCy New American Play Prize
The David Calicchio/MTC Emerging American Playwright Prize
2010 Winners Of Mtc’s Two American Play Prizes
The 2010 Sky Cooper New American Play Prize has been awarded to Bill Cain for 9 Circles. (Bill Cain’s critically acclaimed Equivocation receives its Bay Area premiere at MTC this spring.) Cain will receive a $10,000 award accompanied by a world premiere production of 9 Circles in the Lieberman Theatre as part of MTC’s 2010–11 season. The 2010 David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize has been awarded to Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig for Lidless. She will receive $2,500 and Lidless will be included in MTC’s New Works series in the 2010–11 season. The winners this year were selected from 380 eligible submissions.
“The entire MTC artistic staff was astounded by the power and grace of 9 Circles—it was our unanimous choice for the Sky Cooper New American Play Prize. Mr. Cain's highly theatrical vision, so evident in Equivocation, is again on dazzling display. The heart of Cain's 9 Circles, a haunting journey of a young American soldier who must negotiate the consequences of a brutal crime, will leave audiences breathless,” says MTC Artistic Director Jasson Minadakis. “MTC is also pleased to introduce a bright, important new voice for the American theater, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig. Her play Lidless focuses on the life of a female Guantanamo interrogator after she has left military service. Ms. Cowhig displays amazing maturity and promise in her storytelling, dialogue, use of structure, and craft.”
Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s plays have been developed at the Hedgebrook Women Playwrights Festival, Seattle Repertory Theatre, PlayPenn, the Alley Theatre, Ojai Playwrights Conference and Yale Rep. Lidless will be published by Yale University Press in 2010 and will appear in the High Tide and Contemporary American Theatre Festivals. A nominee for the Wasserstein and Susan Smith Blackburn Prizes, Cowhig’s other honors include the 2009 Keene Prize for Literature, the 2009 Yale Drama Series Award, a Glimmer Train New Writer’s Award, and grants from the Playwright’s Center, Interact Theatre, Santa Fe Art Institute, the Ragdale Foundation and the MacDowell Colony. She received her MFA in Writing from the James A. Michener Center for Writers of the University of Texas, Austin, her BA in Sociology from Brown University, and a certificate in Ensemble Created Physical Theatre from the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre. Frances was raised in Philadelphia, Northern Virginia, Okinawa, Taipei, and Beijing.
The Sky Cooper/Marin Theatre Company
New American Play Prize
Norton J. “Sky” Cooper established the New American Play Prize at Marin Theatre Company in 2007 to celebrate the work of the American playwright and to encourage the creation of bold, powerful new voices and plays for the American stage. The Sky Cooper Prize will be awarded annually to either an established or emerging playwright for an outstanding new work. The play selected as the Sky Cooper winner will receive a full production at Marin Theatre Company as part of the theatre’s annual season and will be given regional and national promotion. In addition, the playwright receives a $10,000 award, as well as travel and accommodations for the MTC rehearsal period.
Plays must be full-length in any genre: comedy, drama, etc. Musicals, translations, individual one-acts, and any play previously submitted for the Sky Cooper or David Calicchio Prizes are not eligible. Collaborations are welcome, in which case prize benefits are shared. Plays may not have received a full-scale, professional production prior to submission. Plays that have had a workshop, reading, or non-professional production are still eligible. Playwrights must be citizens of the United States. Playwrights with past production experience are especially encouraged to submit new work. Only one submission per playwright is allowed each year. If you are eligible for the David Calicchio Award you may submit the same play for both prizes.
Submission is a two-phase process.
Phase I: Submit a two-page maximum abstract of the play including title, character breakdown, brief story synopsis and playwright bio or resume. Also include 10 pages of consecutive sample dialogue. Do not send videos or CDs. Literary agents may submit full scripts of their client’s work. All abstracts and dialogue samples will be read. From these, selected manuscripts will be solicited for Phase II by October 1. Due to the high number of submissions, not every playwright will receive a response to their Phase 1 submission. Do not send a manuscript with or instead of the abstract. Unsolicited manuscripts will not be read. Due to the high number of submissions we cannot return any materials. If you would like notification that your submission was received, please send it with a SASP. Electronic submissions are accepted in Word or PDF format only and paper copies must also be sent to MTC if requested. Please NO PHONE OR EMAIL inquiries.
Phase II: All manuscripts that have been solicited after Phase I will be read. Manuscripts should be neatly typed, securely bound and have the playwright’s name, contact address and phone number clearly visible on the front page. No solicited manuscript will be returned without a self-addressed, stamped envelope with adequate postage.
All final selections are made by Jasson Minadakis, Artistic Director of Marin Theatre Company.
Submissions are accepted between April 1 and August 31 (postmarked).
Address all submissions to:
The Sky Cooper/Marin Theatre Company New American Play Prize
Marin Theatre Company
397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley, CA 94941
Or electronically to skycooper@marintheatre.org
The David Calicchio/Marin Theatre Company Emerging American Playwright Prize
Norton J. “Sky” Cooper established the Emerging American Playwright Prize award at Marin Theatre Company in 2007 in honor of David Calicchio’s lifelong career as a playwright and in support of Marin Theatre Company’s commitment to the discovery and development of new and emerging American playwrights. The Calicchio Prize will be awarded annually to a professionally unproduced playwright for a new work that shows outstanding promise and a distinctive new voice for the American theatre. The play selected as the Calicchio Prize winner will receive 2 public staged readings at Marin Theatre Company as part of the theatre’s annual New Works Series. The playwright will receive a $2,500 award, as well as travel and accommodations for the MTC rehearsal period (25 hours).
Plays must be full-length in comedy, drama, etc. Musicals, translations, adaptations, individual one-acts and any play previously submitted for the Sky Cooper or David Calicchio Prizes are not eligible. Collaborations are welcome, in which case prize benefits are shared. Playwrights may not have received a full-scale, professional production of the submitted play, or any of their other works, prior to submission. Plays and playwrights that have had workshop, reading or non-professional productions are still eligible. Playwrights must be citizens of the United States. Only one submission per playwright is allowed each year. If you plan to also submit your play to the Sky Cooper Play Prize you may do so but it must be the same play.
Submission is a two-phase process.
Phase I: Submit a two-page maximum abstract of the play including title, character breakdown, brief story synopsis and playwright bio or resume. Also include 10 pages of consecutive sample dialogue. Literary agents may submit full scripts of their client’s work. All abstracts and dialogue samples will be read. From these, selected manuscripts will be solicited for Phase II by October 1. Due to the high number of submissions, not every playwright will receive a response to their Phase 1 submission. Do not send a manuscript with or instead of the abstract. Unsolicited manuscripts will not be read. Due to the high number of submissions we cannot return any Phase I materials. If you would like notification that your submission was received, please send it with a SASP. Electronic submissions are accepted in Word or PDF format only and paper copies must be sent to MTC if requested. Please NO PHONE OR EMAIL inquiries.
Phase II: All manuscripts that have been solicited after Phase I will be read. Manuscripts should be neatly typed, securely bound and have the playwright’s name, contact address and phone number clearly visible on the front page. No solicited manuscript will be returned without a self-addressed, stamped envelope with adequate postage.
All final selections are made by Jasson Minadakis, Artistic Director of Marin Theatre Company.
Submissions are accepted between April 1 and August 31 (postmarked).
Address all submissions to:
The David Calicchio/Marin Theatre Company Emerging American Playwright Prize
Marin Theatre Company
397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley, CA 94941
Or electronically to davidcalicchio@marintheatre.org