Epic Shorts 2024

Call for Submissions

• NOTE: The call for Epic Shorts script submissions in 2024 is now closed. The blinded evaluation process is underway, and we will let folks know the results later in February. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO SUBMITTED!

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We seek 10-minute plays creatively addressing the theme “Strange Burdens”

Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is not a gift given, but a choice made, and the choice may be a hard one. The road goes upward towards the light; but the laden traveler may never reach the end of it.

— Ursula K. LeGuin, The Tombs of Atuan

PDX Playwrights is excited to announce a live production of Epic Shorts as part of our lineup in the Fertile Ground Festival of New Works! 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 Chapel Theatre at 12:30 pm and 7:30 pm Saturday, April 20, 2024! 

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

• Read the guidelines below.
• Write your script.
• Use our short Epic Shorts 2024 Online Submission Form to answer questions.
• Submit your script according to the guidelines by email to epic@pdxplaywrights.org.
• Both the submission form and the script must be received no later than 11:59 pm Thursday, February 8, 2024.
• 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 Strange Burdens, which you are free to interpret in your own way. When you submit, your online submission form is separate from your script and it features a playwright’s statement about how your play fits the theme. Statement should be no more than 70 words.
2. Length: The play must be under 10 minutes maximum running time (not necessarily “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 — up to two characters of any one gender, if specified (e.g. no more than two males and two females). 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 physicality, 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 (i.e. no scene change). Please write a play that may be staged with commonly 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 suggested 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 submittal form and the subject line of the email, not on the script itself. That script should be sent to epic@pdxplaywrights.org and have as subject line: Epic Shorts Submission: [the title of your play] by [your last name]
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 Epic Shorts 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 stipend ($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 2024 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 by the end of the day Tuesday, February 20.

We look forward to seeing your work. Best wishes!

Epic Shorts 2024 Online Submission Form