Conway, Ark.— Calling all Hendrix playwrights. Submissions are open for the 2024-2025 Hendrix-Murphy Student and Alumni Playwriting Contests, co-sponsored by the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation and the Hendrix Department of Theatre Arts and Dance. The contests, which are open to current Hendrix College students and all Hendrix alumni, will be judged by a professional playwright who will submit a written evaluation of each entry. Cash prizes of $750 and $400 are awarded to the first and second place winners of each contest.
Proposed in 1985 by then-students Werner Trieschmann and Douglas A. Blackmon and theatre faculty members Dr. Rosemary Henenberg and the late Professor Frank Roland, the Student and Alumni Playwriting Contests are in their thirty-seventh year. Trieschmann is now a professional playwright, the first playwright to receive Arkansas’ Porter Prize, and Blackmon is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and historian.
“A special thing about the Playwriting Contests is the opportunity for lifelong learning, a core part of the liberal arts tradition. We want to encourage everyone to keep writing and keep being engaged in the theatre even after they’ve left Hendrix,” said Professor of Theatre Arts Ann Muse.
One play of significant promise will be selected for a staged reading in Hendrix College’s annual Playwright’s Theatre in fall 2025. Playwright’s Theatre, now in its twenty-fourth year, was developed in its current format by retired faculty member Danny Grace. It furthers the efforts of the contests by giving the playwright the opportunity to hear their work read aloud by actors in front of a live audience.
“We’re giving students the exposure of the real process of what it’s like to write a play and the invaluable experience of having an external judge critiquing their plays and giving them substantive feedback, which gives them a fresh perspective,” explained Muse. “The Playwriting Contests and Playwright's Theatre give such a terrific opportunity for alums to come back and be engaged and to work with current students.”
Calls for Playwright’s Theatre readers will be issued in summer 2025. The cast of Playwright’s Theatre is composed of Hendrix alumni and current students.
Contest Rules and Regulations:
Both contests are limited to one entry per playwright. Each play submitted must be original, unpublished and not produced or read in any venue previously. There are no restrictions of subject or style. Please review the contest rules and Modern Play format guide prior to submission. Both student and alumni play submissions must be submitted to Tiffany Pickett, communication & events manager at the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation, at pickett@hendrix.edu by Friday, February 7, 2025, by 5:00 p.m. For a full list of contest rules and regulations visit hendrixmurphy.org/playwriting-contests.
About the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation
The Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs in Literature and Language were founded in 1978 by a gift from Charles H. Murphy, Jr., former CEO of Murphy Oil Corporation, in memory of his mother Bertie Wilson Murphy. Their mission is to enhance and enrich the study of literature and language at Hendrix College.