Multi-cultural Short Plays Competition « The Nature is Our Stage », 2016 Call for Submission

Towards the 35th ITI World Congress in Manaus / Amazonas / Brazil, the International Playwrights’ Forum calls upon playwrights and writers worldwide to participate in a competition for the 5 best 10 Minutes Plays on the subject « The Nature is Our Stage ». The winning short plays will be presented as a staged reading or full performance at the Congress, and a mentoring program for the development of a full length play will be granted to the playwrights of the winning plays.

The theme of the Congress « The Nature is Our Stage » seems to be perfectly accommodated to the venue of the Congress, and might serve as a venture point for a multi-cultural presentation at the Congress of short plays inspired by the subject. The plays will be chosen by a jury whose members will be selected by the IPF.

The aims are:

• To endow writers all over the Globe with the opportunity to find their unique cultural and personal expression to one of the most burning issues that preoccupy Mankind both positively and negatively;
• To develop the skills of emerging as well as more established playwrights by challenging them with a difficult task, as well as by offering them dramaturgical support facilitated by the early submission of the material;
•  To give the dramatists a world-class stage in terms of the professionalism of the audience, the chances of arousing international interest in the their texts, and the potential opportunity to develop the short scripts into full length plays;
• To express the common threads that unite us all as children of the Universe, while getting acquainted with [the « otherness » of ] other cultures, learning to appreciate them and be inspired by them.The Rules
  1. The entries must be in one of the main UNESCO languages, English or French, accompanied by a 
script in the original language.
  2. The Competition is open to all playwrights without regard to age, gender, nationality or 
membership of any organization.
  3. Playwrights may submit one play only, which should not be longer than 8 to 10 pages (approx. 24 000 characters including spaces).
  4. No previously published or produced plays will be accepted.
  5. In submitting the play, the playwright agrees to abide by the rules.
  6. The winners accept that their plays will be read and/or performed (staged reading or fully 
performed) at the 35th ITI World Congress in Manaus without further remuneration.

The Jury

A Jury of five members will assess the plays and choose up to five plays. The plays will not be graded according to any hierarchy (i.e. first, second, etc.). The Jury’s decision is final.

The Awards

1. There will not be any monetary or material award.
2. The winning plays will be read or performed (staged reading) at the 35th ITI World Congress in 
Manaus, held from 30 May to 4 June 2016.
3. A mentoring program will start after the announcement of the winning plays and can last until the 
end of the year 2016 – depending on the needs of the playwrights.

Participation

1. All entries must be sent by e-mail as PDF attachment. The entry must bear the full name of the playwright, the title of the play and contact details in the body of the e-mail. The PDF must be without the name of the playwright.
2. All entries should be sent to the email-address: competition@iti-germany.de
3. To ensure anonymity, the IPF guarantees to forward the script of the play to the jury without 
identifying the name of the playwright.
4. All entrants will receive e-mail confirmation that their play has been received, and that it complies 
or does not comply with the competition rules.
5. Once the jury has chosen, the winning plays will be announced on the ITI website www.iti-worldwide.org. The winners will also be informed via e-mails, sent to the e-mail addresses from which they originally sent their plays.

Submission deadline is January 16, 2016

Andrea ZAGORSKI President IPF
Ursula WERDENBERG Secretary General IPF
Gad KAYNAR (Kissinger) Head of the Jury IPF