Blank Theatre Company Seeking Works for Young Playwrights Fest

Los Angeles’ respected Blank Theatre Company (whose artistic producer is Noah Wyle of TV’s “ER”) is accepting submissions for its eighth annual Young Playwrights Festival, through April 1. This nationwide competition is open to writers 19 or younger, who may submit original plays and musicals of any length and on any subject for a chance to have their work professionally produced by the company.

Between eight and 12 plays will be produced; each winning playwright is paired with a professional writer-mentor, and the plays will be fully staged workshop presentations performed by professional actors.

Past mentors have included Terrence McNally, Jack Heifner, Nora Dunn and Garry Marshall; actors who have participated in past productions include Wyle, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Debra Messing and others.

Winning plays also have a chance at receiving a full-scale, main-stage production, complete with option agreement and royalties; in 1999, that honor went to 18-year-old Beth Bigler for her play “Boy,” recently nominated for a 2000 LA Weekly Award for One Act Playwriting.

Pages must be numbered and submitted unbound; submissions must be postmarked by April 1, and there is a limit of three plays per playwright. All plays must include a cover sheet with the play’s title, the playwright’s name, date of birth, school (if any), home address and home phone number.

* For more information, contact festival producer Christopher Steele at (323) 662-7734, or go to https://www.theblank.com/.