Neukom Institute Seeks Submissions for Playwriting Award

The Neukom Institute Literary Arts Awards

"What does it mean to be human in a computerized, digital world?"

In an effort to understand, promote, and honor the convergence of art, science, and real life, The Neukom Institute for Computational Science at Dartmouth has announced the establishment of the Neukom Institute Literary Arts Awards, a global award program to honor creative works around speculative fiction. The program includes three distinct categories, including one specifically for playwriting. The Neukom Institute is dedicated to supporting and inspiring computational work, and the Literary Arts Awards is part of the Institute’s initiative to explore the ways in which computational ideas have an impact on society.

The Institute is calling for play submissions written in response to the prompt "What does it mean to be human in a computerized, digital world?" The inaugural awards will be announced in spring of 2018; each award comes with a $5,000 honorarium. The award-winning play will be workshopped in July 2018 as a reading in Dartmouth Department of Theater's VoxFest. This will be followed in January 2019 by an additional workshop reading as part of New Works Now, the annual festival of new plays at Northern Stage, a LORT-D theater in White River Junction, VT. Additional support will be provided by the Office of the Associate Dean for the Arts and Humanities.

The Institute and its Literary Arts Awards Program were recently featured in the Dartmouth News; read the article HERE.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

The deadline for play submissions is December 31, 2017. Submissions must include:

1) A blind copy of the play

2) A resume/bio of the playtwright 

3) A production history of the submitted play 

4) A one-page statement of purpose answering the following questions:

  • How does your play address the theme of exploring humanity in our computerized, digital world?
  • What are your goals for this play in its current form?
  • The winning play will receive two readings: one at VoxFest at Dartmouth College and the second in the New Works Now Festival at Northern Stage. How would you use this two-part development process to achieve these goals?

**NOTE: plays that have received a full production are not eligible for this competition.**

Playwrights can make their submissions HERE. Questions should be directed to VoxFest founding member Kate Mulley at kate@voxtheater.org.