Student playwrights are strongly encouraged to submit their one-act plays to the Frost and Dodd Student Playwriting Competition, which culminates each summer with the Frost & Dodd Student Play Festival. The festival showcases the work of three student playwrights: two Frost contest play submissions are selected to be produced as staged readings, while the winning Dodd contest play is mounted as a fully-produced production. Performances take place in July, in the Bentley Theater; winners also receive a cash prize. The deadline for submissions is typically sometime in late March of each year; click here for term-specific deadlines.

Beyond the Frost & Dodd Student Play Festival, students looking for a performance platform to develop original written work via a staged reading or performance workshop may submit an application to any of our student production tracks: YourSpace, PlaySpace, or fully-produced Student Production Slot. Visit the Student Productions page of this website for details.

Academically, the Department offers a number of courses in playwriting, including Playwriting I & II which focuses on both play and screenwriting. Serious playwrights may also choose to continue their academic studies with our Professor of Playwriting through THEA 80: Independent Study.