Burien Actors Theatre is seeking submissions of new plays by Washington State playwrights for the 2017 Bill and Peggy Hunt Playwrights Festival. Both one-act and full-length plays are sought.

Winning scripts will be staged April 14 through May 7, 2017 as part of Burien Actors Theatre’s 2016-17 season. In addition to having their plays produced, winning playwrights will also receive monetary prizes.

The submission deadline for all scripts is Oct. 21, 2016. To qualify for the Festival, all submissions must follow Playwrights Submission Guidelines detailed below. The guidelines can also be found at www.burienactorstheatre.org.

About the Bill and Peggy Hunt Playwrights Festival

The mission of the Bill and Peggy Hunt Playwrights Festival is to encourage, promote and showcase previously unproduced theater works written by Washington state residents.

The festival was named to honor Bill and Peggy Hunt’s dedicated services to theater and to Burien Actors Theatre (BAT). Peggy Hunt joined Burien’s active theater scene in 1960 with a leading role in the play Harvey. Over the next 35 years, both Bill and Peggy Hunt appeared in and directed plays, designed and built sets, served on BAT’s Board of Trustees, and were involved in some aspect of every theater project.

Originally from Canada, the Hunts were familiar with Canadian play competitions and were instrumental in igniting this idea locally. The first staged competitions were theatrical, aimed more at fostering play production rather than writing, with entries from the greater Seattle area. In the early 1970s, these competitions were held as part of Burien’s Arts Festival.

Later, Peggy Hunt suggested establishing a playwriting competition with winning shows to be produced by Burien Actors Theatre. The company has been producing this unique festival every two to three years since 1999.

Playwrights Submission Guidelines

Open to any person residing in the State of Washington.

There are no submission fees.

Scripts may either be one-act or full-length. A series of unrelated or loosely related acts or scenes that could more properly be separated into one-act plays will not be accepted as a full-length play and may be treated as separate one-acts for purposes of this Festival.

Submissions must be original and unpublished. Plays that have never been produced or have only had a workshop or a reading, whether staged or otherwise, are eligible. However, plays that have been fully produced are not eligible.

The Festival provides a semi-workshop environment and basic production, so excessive production requirements may result in disqualification.

All submissions must be typed/word-processed, page-numbered, and in standard professional play format. Format guidelines can be obtained at http://www.samuelfrench.com/submissions via the “Samuel French Formatting Guide” link or going to http://www.samuelfrench.com/content/files/upload/General%20SFI%20Format….

Manuscripts must begin with a cover page that includes the following so we have important information about you and your script, including how to contact you: Name of play, your name, email address, U.S. mail address and phone number, as well as the number of script pages, number of acts and type of play (comedy, drama, etc.). The cover page will be removed from your manuscript to ensure blind judging.

Manuscripts must also include the play’s title on a separate page from the cover page (since the cover page will be removed), 2-3 sentence synopsis, character list (including gender, age range and features such as skin or hair color necessary to script), setting (time and place), and list of acts and scenes.

Scripts may be submitted via either email or U.S. mail. Emailed scripts must be in either PDF or Microsoft Word format and sent to playwrightsfestival@burienactorstheatre.org. Scripts sent via U.S. mail should go to: Bill and Peggy Hunt Playwrights Festival, Burien Actors Theatre, P.O. Box 48121, Burien, WA 98148.

Do not send the only copy of your work. Manuscripts cannot be returned.

Copyright remains with the playwright.

Legal clearance of materials not in the public domain is the playwrights’ full responsibility.

Burien Actors Theatre reserves the right to reject any manuscript for any reason.

Playwrights are asked but not required to participate in discussions with the audience following performances.

Entries must be emailed or postmarked by Oct. 21, 2016.

Winners will be announced January 2, 2017. Winning scripts will be staged April 14 through May 7, 2017, and winning playwrights will each receive a small monetary prize.

Questions? Contact info@burienactorstheatre.org or 206-242-5180.

About Burien Actors Theatre
Exciting live theater has been a tradition in Burien since 1955. Incorporated in 1980, Burien Actors Theatre has been a leading producer of quality live theater serving residents of the Seattle and south Puget Sound areas.

BAT gives audiences an intriguing and invigorating theater experience with unusual and fantastical productions they can’t see on film or see anywhere else. The company’s mission is to treat audiences to productions of the highest artistic integrity that excite, engage and involve both the local and expanding theatrical communities in the Puget Sound region.

BAT is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) entity and operates on revenue from ticket sales, donations, grants and sponsorships.