American Repertory Theatre and Discovering Justice
announce
Discovering Justice through A.R.T. Playwriting Contest 2006

Cambridge, MA – Robert Woodruff, Artistic Director, Gideon Lester, Associate Artistic Director, and Robert J. Orchard, Executive Director of the American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.), and Maria Karagianis, Founder and CEO of Discovering Justice, are pleased to announce the first annual Discovering Justice Through A.R.T. Playwriting Contest.

Discovering Justice – a national non-profit leader in civic education – and the Tony-award winning American Repertory Theatre are seeking original dramas that deal with historically relevant moments in United States constitutional history that have modern echoes.

The winning entry will be an historical, educational theater piece and will be suitable for students in grades 8-12, with interest for adult audiences as well.  The piece will be at least forty-five minutes in length but no longer than one hour, and will be able to be performed by no more than 5 actors.

Playwrights can choose from the following two topics: 1) The cases of slaves Mum Bett (1781) and Quock Walker (1783) and their significance in eventually abolishing slavery in Massachusetts; or 2) Shay's Rebellion “against unsettled economic conditions and against politicians and laws which were grossly unfair to farmers and working people in general” (Id). Playwriting guidelines and online resources are available at: http://amrep.org/dj/djguidelines.pdf

The winning playwright will receive a $1,000 cash prize and a staged reading of the play in 2006/7 at the American Repertory's Theatre's Zero Arrow Theatre.  If the play is deemed to be of appropriate quality, then a fully staged version of the play will be produced at the Zero Arrow Theatre and then go into residence in the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse or the John Adams Courthouse (home of the Massachusetts Supreme Court), both in Boston. The play will become part of Discovering Justice's Discovering Justice through Theatre program. The Discovering Justice through Theatre program aims to reach students through drama, helping them connect to their nation's legal history, and as a result, to understand their own place in history as responsible citizens of our democratic society. Since the program was launched in January 1999, it has seen tremendous growth. In total, the Discovering Justice through Theatre program has produced two dramas and educated more than 5,000 students from schools throughout greater Boston, Worcester and Springfield.

Discovering Justice is a non-profit 501(c) 3 hailed by the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and National Public Radio as a model of democracy education.  In only seven years, Discovering Justice, housed in the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse on the Boston harbor and the John Adams Courthouse in downtown Boston, has become a $1.2 million organization with a staff of 15, plus hundreds of volunteer judges, lawyers and other citizens.  Programs include teacher training institutes; interactive plays about American Constitutional history performed in courtrooms by professional actors; symposia on important topics in democracy; an art and architecture tour program that makes courts accessible to the people they serve; and a groundbreaking elementary school literacy curriculum on justice and democracy.  An official curriculum of the Boston Public Schools, Discovering Justice serves over 10,000 students annually. For more information, visit Discovering Justice's web site at www.discoveringjustice.org

The American Repertory Theatre is the only not-for-profit theatre in the country that maintains a resident acting company and an international training conservatory, and that operates in association with a major university. Over its twenty-six year history the A.R.T. has welcomed American and international theatre artists who have enriched the theatrical life of the whole nation. The theatre has garnered many of the nation's most distinguished awards, including a Pulitzer Prize, a Tony Award, and a Jujamcyn Award. Since 1980 the A.R.T. has performed in eighty-one cities in twenty-two states around the country, and worldwide in twenty-one cities in sixteen countries on four continents. It has presented one hundred and seventy productions, over half of which were premieres of new plays, translations, and adaptations.

Contest Mechanics:

1. Deadline for submission of entries is on September 1, 2006. Entries sent by mail or courier should be postmarked/invoiced not later than September 1, 2006.  Entries submitted via email to afiles@discoveringjustice.org must be sent by midnight on September 1, 2006. The winner of the 2006 Discovering Justice through A.R.T. “One-Act Playwriting Contest” will be announced on September 20, 2006.  There will be a staged reading of the winning entry at the Zero Arrow Theatre in Cambridge, MA in 2006/7.  If the play is deemed to be of appropriate quality, then a fully staged version of the play will be produced at American Repertory's Theatre's Zero Arrow Theatre in Cambridge, MA before going into residence in the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse and/or the John Adams Courthouse in Boston as part of the Discovering Justice through Theatre program.

2. Individuals may submit only one (1) entry for the competition.

3. If submitting typewritten copies (not recommended), the contestant must submit five (5) copies of the entry. If submitting via email, the entry need only be sent once. In either case, the entry must be double-spaced on regular 8-1/2 x 11 inch paper, with approximately one-inch margin on all sides. Each entry must be accompanied by a one-page synopsis and the cast of characters.

4. Entries must be addressed to:

Ms. Amory Files
(One-Act Playwriting Contest)
Discovering Justice
John Joseph Moakley Courthouse
One Courthouse Way, Suite 3120
Boston, MA  02210

OR

afiles@discoveringjustice.org

5. DISCOVERING JUSTICE and the ART shall have the sole right to designate the Board of Judges whose decision shall be final and unappealable. The Board of Judges shall be the sole body to evaluate the merits of the works. The Board of Judges shall have the discretion not to award any prize if in its judgment; no meritorious entry has been submitted.

6. Should the play be selected as a winner of the 2006 Discovering Justice through A.R.T. playwriting contest, DISCOVERING JUSTICE and the ART would intend to enter into an exclusive rights agreement with the playwright.

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