For the third year, Playhouse on the Square’s Department of Theatre Education has announced it will be accepting submissions for their Annual 10-Minute Play Slam! Competition. The Play Slam! is a 10-Minute Young Playwright’s Festival hosted in partnership with International Paper and the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, in which contestants create a 10-minute play around a predetermined theme. This year’s themes are “No One Is Alone” for the middle school division and “Rise Up!” for the high school division.
All scripts submitted are adjudicated by a panel of judges that consists of the Play Slam! coordinator, Playhouse on the Square staff, and associate and resident company members, along with local writers and directors.
Last year’s competition included submissions from all over Memphis, including public, private, and charter school students. The winners were Emily Roper of Germantown High School in the high school division and Lauryn Bonds of Appling Middle School in the middle school division. Bonds also went on to win the American Alliance for Theatre and Education’s Playwrights for Change National Competition.
Five Finalists and one winner will be chosen to present during the Play Slam! Festival from the middle and high school divisions. The finalists will have their script presented as a staged reading with local actors. Winners will have their script performed and directed by local professionals on a Playhouse on the Square stage. The winner of the middle school division will also have their play submitted to the Young Playwrights for Change National Competition during AATE’s national conference, July 21-25, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
Entries must be submitted online or postmarked by February 1, 2021. More details on the contest can be found here.