Epic Shorts 2023

Call for Submissions

PDX Playwrights is excited to announce a live production of Epic Shorts! We’ll be hosting a night of 10-minute plays, works bound to be short in time and epic in creative scope, produced and directed by PDXP Admin and written by members of our community. The selected plays will be performed live at CoHo Theatre on Saturday, January 21, 2023! We’ll also be using this event as an opportunity to fundraise for the organization to support all PDXP activities.

If you’d like to write and submit a play for consideration in this event, please see the guidelines below.

• Submit to epic@pdxplaywrights.org starting as early as today and no later than 11:59 pm Tuesday, November 15, 2022.
• For a downloadable copy of the guidelines, click here.

INFORMATION FOR SUBMITTING PLAYWRIGHTS
AS YOU PREPARE TO WRITE YOUR PLAY

1. The theme: Each play must be based on the theme Sea Change, which you are free to interpret in your own way. When you submit, please include a document separate from your script that features a playwright’s statement about how your play fits the theme. Statement should be no more than 75 words.
2. Length: The play must be under 10 minutes maximum running time (not “10 pages” — most plays take more than a minute to perform for each page of script). Playwrights are expected to time their plays in advance of submission. Plays which run longer than 10 minutes (in the judgment of our jury) may be disqualified.
3. Casting: Your play must be able to be cast with four or fewer actors — two male and two female. Our director will cast a small company of actors who will create all the evening’s roles. Actors will vary in age, race, ethnicity, identity, and ableness, so we would encourage playwrights to write with as much casting flexibility as possible.
4. The set: The director will direct the plays so that they can flow quickly from one to the other with a minimum of setup and takedown. There is no ability to change the set up within your play (ie. no scene change.). Please write a play that may be staged with simple available items such as a card table and a few folding chairs, which can certainly be used to suggest a multitude of locations.
5. Costumes and props: Keep costumes and props simple. No more than two props per play. Props and costumes must be readily available and inexpensive.
6. The playwrights: We want to work with playwrights who want to work with us. As we note in our mission statement, we strive to support Portland playwrights, foster the craft, and honor the lived experiences of all people. More information about who we are and what we aim to do is available on our website. 
7. READ CAREFULLY: Plays will be selected by a jury chosen by the Administrative Team of PDXP. Scripts will be juried blind. Do not include your name anywhere on the electronic script you submit. Your name should only appear in the accompanying submittal email (the body of the email message) and the subject line of the email, not on the script. That email should be sent to epic@pdxplaywrights.org and have as subject line: Epic Shorts submission: [your last name] followed by [the title of your play]
8. One submittal per person: Each playwright may submit one script. It must be submitted by way of one distinct email address. We will not reformat your play. We will disregard it if your name appears within the script.
9. Play production, royalties, and revenues: PDXP will fund the production, including the charge for performing venue and payment to actors and director. PDXP will retain the evening’s revenues from ticket sales and concessions, if any, to cover the cash outlays it makes. Epic Shorts playwrights will not pay towards the production costs and will not receive the revenues. Playwrights will retain all rights, including copyright, in their own work. PDXP will pay playwrights a small royalty fee ($25.00) for use of the work.
10. Permission: By submitting plays to PDXP/Epic Shorts you are representing that you have exclusive rights to the work. If your play is chosen for production in PDXP’s Epic Shorts you are giving PDX Playwrights the non-exclusive right to produce and perform the play in its 2023 Epic Shorts Program.
11. Fitness for Epic Shorts: Plays submitted must not have been previously produced and must be the product of a Pacific Northwest playwright.

Questions may be directed to epic@pdxplaywrights.org.

We will provide updates on our website and newsletters, and will notify those selected by email in December 2022.

We look forward to seeing your work. Best wishes!