NORTHWEST TEN FESTIVAL SEEKS SUBMISSIONS OF 10-MINUTE PLAYS FROM PLAYWRIGHTS IN IDAHO, OREGON, WASHINGTON, AND BRITISH COLUMBIA

NW10 Celebrates its 12th Year of Co-Production with Oregon Contemporary Theatre

The Northwest Ten Festival (NW10) returns for the 12th consecutive year, continuing its mission to be the Pacific Northwest’s premiere 10-minute play festival. Selected submissions will be produced during the 2020 NW10 at Oregon Contemporary Theatre in Eugene from March 20-29, 2020.

The 2020 show is titled Northwest Ten: Oh Boise!, because the festival is adding Idaho as an eligible state for play submissions this year. 

“We’re delighted to carry on into our twelfth year running and to expand the festival to include playwrights from Idaho,” NW10 Producer Connie Bennett. “Eugene area audiences have come to appreciate the tradition of whimsy, surprise, and delight inherent in the ten-minute play format.  We are so grateful to all those who have participated in the past decade of NW10, including our co-producers at OCT, the talented actors, directors, designers and crew, the community at large, and—of course—the playwrights! Oh boy, Oh Boise!”

The 10-minute play has been called “the haiku of American theatre,” a dramatic form that condenses an entire story into just 10 exhilarating minutes. Ten-minute play festivals spread nationwide after they were first introduced at the Actors Theatre of Louisville in the mid-1970s.  Continuing the spirit of collaboration in local theatre, the Northwest Ten Festival is co-produced by Northwest Ten and the Oregon Contemporary Theatre. Selected submissions are presented during a two-weekend festival each spring. The 2020 Northwest Ten Festival will run March 20-29.

Guidelines for 2020 NW10 Submissions

  • Open to residents of Idaho, Oregon, Washington State and British Columbia.
  • Scripts must be original, unpublished, not produced or scheduled for production in the Pacific Northwest (ID, OR, WA, or B.C.) at the time of submission.
  • Scripts must have a run time of approximately 10 minutes, totaling 10 pages or less in 12 point font  (exclusive of title and cast pages).
  • Plays with small casts, simple sets, and minimal technical requirements are strongly preferred.
  • Limited to one submission per playwright.
  • Selected playwrights will be notified in January 2020.
  • Playwrights consent to permit Northwest Ten & Oregon Contemporary Theatre to produce their play if selected. Each playwright selected for production will receive a $75 honorarium and retains copyright and full ownership of their plays.
  • Plays will be staged for two weekends, March 20 – March 29, 2020, at Oregon Contemporary Theatre in Eugene, OR.
  • Selected playwrights are strongly encouraged to participate in the audience talk-back following the matinee on Sunday, March 29, 2020.

SUBMISSION PROCESS

  • Send entries to: NW10Festival@gmail.com with the subject “NW10 Submission – [Play Title].”
  • All submissions should be in any standard professional play format. The first page of the script should include the title, characters, and basic setting; title and page number should appear at the top of each page.
  • In the body of the email, include the following:
  • Play title
  • Playwright’s name, address, phone number(s) and email address
  • Submissions must be sent as an attachment in MS Word or PDF format only; no hard copy submissions will be accepted.
  • The email should contain two PDF (or MS Word) attachments:
  • [“Play Title – BLIND”]; e.g. your play, free of all contact information
  •  [“Play Title”] is the complete, unblinded version of your play, to be used by actors and directors for selected scripts.
  • Deadline: Submissions must be received on or before October 31, 2019. Only the first 100 submissions will be considered. Playwrights will be notified immediately if their submissions arrive after the cutoff date or the submission cap has been reached.

Find more information about the Northwest Ten Festival online at octheatre.org/nw10.