The Jane Addams Festival of New Plays is seeking submissions from playwrights inspired by the life and work of Jane Addams. The festival will run March 7-9, 2019 and will include four fully produced ten-minute plays in addition to a one-act play. The Jane Addams Festival of New Plays is produced by Highland Community College in Freeport, Illinois.
The Playwrights of the selected plays will receive a DVD of the production of their play. The plays will be directed by theatre faculty and experienced community members and the cast will consist of Highland students and local actors.
Jane Addams was a Nobel Peace Prize winner and a founding member of the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union. She was a pioneer in the field of modern social work.
Addams was born in 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois located in Stephenson County. Highland Community College is located five miles south of the birthplace of Jane Addams.
The New York Times calls Jane Addams “an incredible role model for our time.”
Theme and Submission Guidelines
Playwrights are encouraged to write on themes related to and inspired by the work of Jane Addams. Biographical plays about Jane Addams are also accepted. Possible themes related to the life and work of Jane Addams include, but are not limited to, peace advocacy, women’s rights, the plight of immigrants and the poor, sociology, settlement homes, community, education, social work, civil rights, and civil liberties. In addition to plays about the life of Jane Addams, we are interested in plays about issues of social change embodied in the life and work of Jane Addams. Playwrights are encouraged to think broadly about these ideas.
- The plays must not be more than ten pages long, excluding title pages and character lists. Plays longer than ten pages will not be considered.
- Each playwright may submit only one script, so send us your best effort.
- Please note that we are unable to offer feedback and commentary on the scripts.
Submission Procedure
Playwrights should submit their plays in electronic format to playwriting@highland.edu no later than December 10, 2018. Please be sure to include current contact information with your submission.
A committee of readers made up of faculty and community members will evaluate the scripts and playwrights selected for inclusion in the festival will be notified no later than January 15. For more information or questions about the festival, please contact Laura Early, Theatre Arts Instructor and Director of the Theatre Arts Program at Highland Community College laura.early@highland.edu
For more information about the life and work of Jane Addams go to https://www.hullhousemuseum.org/about-jane-addams
and http://cedarvilleareahistoricalsociety.org/