The Marin Young Playwrights Festival celebrates the work of teen playwrights and encourages a focus on playwriting in Bay Area high schools. Eight original ten-minute plays are performed by teens in an event at Marin Theatre Company. The play selected as the MYPF winner receives a staged reading with professional actors, open to the public at MTC.

This program complements MTC's playwriting competitions for professional playwrights, the Sky Cooper New American Play Prize and the David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize.

Congratulations to our 2011 Marin Young Playwrights Festival participants, and to the winning play:

PILLSBURY
by Lindsy Mobley and Matt Saunders of Drake High
performed at MTC by the cast of Fuddy Meers, April 2011

MYPF winning playwrights Matt Saunders and Lindsy Mobley (second and third from right, in front) with the cast of Fuddy Meers.

2011/12 Guidelines
Plays must be five to ten minutes long (no more than tenpages) in any genre: comedy, drama, etc. Plays must have a cast size of no more than four actors (fewer than four actors is also acceptable), with no design requirements beyond a few chairs or stools, a small table, and simple hand props. Musicals, translations, and adaptations are not eligible. Collaborations are welcome as long as all participating playwrights are eligible under these rules. Plays must not have received a production prior to submission. Playwrights must be enrolled in high school in the 2011-12 school year, and must be a resident of or attend school in Marin or Sonoma County. Only one submission per playwright is allowed each year.

NEW: Script submissions must follow standard stage play formatting, explained here: http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/howtoformatastageplay.
Note that this site offers a downloadable Microsoft Word document that provides the correct formatting for you. Please use a 12-point font and make sure your script is no more than 10 pages long.

Submissions
There is no fee to submit. Electronic submissions are accepted in Word or PDF format only and can be sent to youngplaywrights@marintheatre.org -- please do not mail. Email subject line should be "MYPF submission", body of email should include playwright's name, contact address, phone number, and affiliated high school, as well as the text below. Please read and then copy the following text into the body of the email:

"By submitting this script, I am authorizing its entry into the Marin Young Playwrights Festival. I grant Marin Theatre Company the right to produce this script, if it is selected, at the Marin Young Playwrights Festival in 2012, including an event on February 13 and potentially including a production with MTC's Summer teen program. I understand that finalist playwrights are expected to attend a meeting on January 19, 2012, and I will plan to keep this date available so that I may attend if this script is selected. If selected as the winner of the Marin Young Playwrights Festival, I grant Marin Theatre Company the right to produce this script as a public staged reading in 2012. I understand that there will be no financial compensation for these rights. I hereby warrant that I am the sole author and owner of all rights in the play (including without limitations, copyright), and the play is wholly original with me and has not been, in whole or in part, copied from any other work, and does not infringe upon the rights of others."

The submission deadline is 5pm on Friday, November 18, 2011. Please, no phone inquiries.

Selection of Finalists
All submissions will be read by MTC's Teen Advisory Board (TAB). Any TAB members who submit plays will not participate in the selection process. The TAB will select eight finalists. No more than two finalists will be accepted from any one high school. Finalists will be announced on Monday, January 16, 2012. ALL FINALIST PLAYWRIGHTS MUST ATTEND a meeting at 5pm on Thursday, January 19. All playwrights who submit plays should keep this date and time free. Failure to attend may result in losing a spot as a finalist.

Performance of Finalists
The eight finalists will be performed at MTC in the Marin Young Playwrights Festival at 7pm on Monday, February 13, 2012. It is the responsibility of the playwright to find actors. The playwright has the option of casting members of the Teen Advisory Board; in past years most playwrights have opted to cast students from their high schools. The performance of each script must be 10 minutes long or less. Simple props and costumes are allowed. Simple generic furniture will be provided; no other set pieces are permitted.
NEW: Actors must perform with scripts in hand, even if they have memorized their lines.
This event will be open to the public. Members of MTC's Artistic Staff will serve as judges, and will select one winning script.

Staged Reading of Winning Script
The winning script will be presented as a staged reading with professional actors and a professional director at MTC, probably in conjunction with MTC's New Works Series. The date and time for this reading is TBA.

Drama Teachers
MTC encourages high school drama teachers to make the Marin Young Playwrights Festival a part of the curriculum. Students may submit plays and participate in this program on their own, without support from their drama department, but it's wonderful when the drama department can get involved. Here are some possibilities:

• bring a professional playwright from MTC to your school to lead playwriting workshops designed to get your students started writing scripts they can submit ($100 per hour of instruction)
• give credit for writing a 10-minute play. Note: we do not encourage you to give credit for submitting plays to the competition, as this can lead to a glut of submissions. If you do make an assignment of writing a play, we encourage you to invite but not require your students to submit. We do encourage you to submit the best plays on behalf of your students.
• help any finalists from your school rehearse and produce their performance for the Festival on February 13. Drama teachers are encouraged to attend the Festival.