THE LOUD KARMA EMERGING WOMEN AND GENDER-DIVERSE PLAYWRIGHTS AWARD
Sponsored by Loud Karma Productions, LLC
Description
Loud Karma Productions was created because women and gender-diverse playwrights deserve to have their voices heard. We are dedicated to producing works of emerging and marginalized artists who find themselves overlooked for reasons that have nothing to do with their talent. Our mission is to support emerging women artists and artists of any gender who are marginalized because of age, disability, gender, or ethnicity. We support the LGBTQ+ community, POC, and are an ally business.
It is no secret that female and gender-diverse playwrights are underrepresented in theatres across the US and internationally. In a study released by the AAPAC, in a recent Broadway season, 86 percent of the produced playwrights were white males. Women and nonbinary voices are woefully underrepresented in spite of the amazing, groundbreaking, and vital work they are creating.
It is the goal of Loud Karma Productions to celebrate and recognize emerging female and nonbinary playwrights and provide opportunities for these deserving women and gender—diverse writers to have opportunities—both in experience and support—for their reach to continue to grow and their careers as playwrights expand—and take their work to the next level. This award is a natural extension of our company’s mission statement to support emerging diverse and marginalized writers.
Qualifications
PLEASE APPLY TO OUR GOOGLE DOC APPLICATION HERE
We especially encourage woman and gender-diverse playwrights who identify as any of the following to apply: older, queer, disabled or POC.
Submission Requirements for the Loud Karma Productions Emerging Female and Gender-diverse Playwright’s Award:
1. The applicant must define themselves as a woman or gender-diverse person.
2. The applicant must have a play or musical that they have written in production at the 2023 Hollywood Fringe Festival. If the playwright submits a musical, they must have written the book for the show. (We understand that librettists may be working with others, but this award will be for the book of the musical or play only, and only the individual author of the book will be considered for this award.) In the case that a writing team applies and wins as a team, the cash award will be split, but each playwright will have an opportunity to have their work produced in the upcoming Loud Karma Production as either a team or individual writers.
3. The applicant must submit an application and copy of their play through the Hollywood Fringe Website for this award no later than the final cutoff date as designated by the Hollywood Fringe Festival. (Because this is a writing award, our team of judges will ONLY judge you on the written work. This will be deleted as soon as judging is concluded, and the intellectual property of the playwright will always be protected.)
4. The finalists or their representatives must attend the Hollywood Fringe Awards and Closing Ceremony.
Methodology
Our awards committee is chosen from a diverse group of talented playwrights, actors, directors, producers, tech people, and other talented theatre makers. We select working theatre people from across the nation—and because we have a written word award, people from coast to coast can and do participate as our judges. As we do each year, we chose from a broad spectrum of theatre leaders. We have had as our judges in the past, Dramatist Guild Officers, Equity actors and directors, produced and published playwrights and talented tech people with long and impressive resumes that span theatre from LA to New York.
Reward
The Loud Karma Emerging Women and Nonbinary Playwright’s Award will provide the following opportunities to the winner and two runners up for this award:
A 500.00 cash prize to be used as the playwright wishes to promote their next play venture. (Runners up will receive a 300.00 cash prize and a 200.00 cash prize, respectively.)
A framed Certificate honoring their achievement.
Have your play submitted to an Equity Theatre’s New Works Program for consideration for a staged Equity Reading. (2024 winner, Starr Shapiro’s show, Obsessed received this honor.)
An opportunity for the playwright to submit a new work they have written—either a short play or monologue—for consideration as part of an upcoming Emerging Women and Nonbinary Playwrights Event produced by Loud Karma Productions. The runners-up will also be invited to submit a monologue or short play for production in the same event.
An interview about their ongoing work on our podcast, Loud Karma Talks Theatre!
