Latino Playwrights Initiative

The Latino Playwrights Initiative, Austin Scriptworks, Teatro Vivo and the State Theatre want to identify and inspire Latino playwriting talent in Central Texas. Whether you're an established writer, or someone that's been looking for the right excuse to put pen to paper, here are the basics:

Writers must be Latino/a
Plays must be under 25 minutes
No musicals, or plays for young audiences

But just when you thought you were getting off easy, these fine folk went and rounded up a few artists of international renown (namely Caridad Svich, Elaine Romero, and Michael John Garces) and asked them to come up with limits for that burgeoning theatrical epic you're about to write. Somehow you have to include the following three ideas into your work: "rolling pin", "edge (in any sense of the word)", and "an overwhelming, wholly and utterly empty pause. Devastatingly sad and deeply joyous, with no value or dramaturgical/structural meaning for the performer or the audience, true cessation in action, intent, movement and thought - a moment of pure living, of supra-rational awareness". Wow. That last one sounds like a play all by itself.

The deadline for your submission if June 15th. You can mail it to Austin Script Works, P.O. Box 9787, Austin, TX 78766. For more info, visit Austin Script Works' website.

Photo courtesy of Emin Ozkan at Stock Exchange