Ten-Minute Play Competition

A wonderful opportunity for new and emerging writers to have their work read by theatre professionals as well as the chance for the 5 finalists to engage in their work being produced, from inception to stage.

The theme for the 2013 contest was

Berlin Was Yesterday: Expatriate Traffic from the Kaiser to Kotti

 And the winners were:

Symphony of Everyday Life by Claire Delaby & Alberto Di Gennaro

Culture by Emal Ghamsharick

Physical Exercises by Marie Hoffmann

Fluffers by Harvey Rabbit

Lass die Nutten tanzen by Antoine Hummel & Jacques Pradillon

The winners were performed  March 8 - 16 2013

“Nackt besser aussehen.” — Jiminy McFIT

You ever feel like the whole Ex Pat thing has gotten a bit overblown? The gig seems flabby…puffed up and bloated by tag lines, slackers, and The New York Times. Remember the days when you really had to work for your Berliner Pfannkuchen? When it wasn’t just a 2€ Döner down the hole after a cheap flight from Clyde, NY, 14433? Shakespeare im Park Berlin* is looking to pump up your ETB Expat Month with its kale-spiced week of 10 minute performances – bringing Strength and Health to the month of March! Five new pieces have been selected to form one closed-circuit loop of teeth grinding, bone bending, flat out hoofing-it through 15 cherry nooks and crannies of tender proscenium-sirloin and leaky backstage-gut. This is no Schabernack! Just as Frederick the Great dunked strapping young Dutchmen into his mud-swamped Prussian backwater to erect a delightful Baroque period French knockoff and characterized it “Frederician Rococo,” ETB is bringing in big, bulging guns for its fourth annual Ten Minute Play Competition:

So put down the pot-stickers and hoist up your dumbbells for seven evenings of performance, all of which look even better in the buck.

* Shakespeare im Park Berlin is a multi-lingual, site-specific performance ensemble, founded in 2010.  For more information please visit:

http://www.shakespeareimparkberlin.org/

Read an interview with Maxwell Flaum about the contest from the pages of THE READER (here).

RULES FOR SUBMISSION

1. Plays must be written around the theme to be announced.  Authors may interpret the theme in any way they wish. Plays must be in English, unpublished, and never before performed.

2. Scripts should be approximately 10 pages and the staged performance should be expected to run between 9 and 11 minutes.

3. Our competition bids to be green with the request that entries are only to be submitted electronically, attached via email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it as a PDF file. The subject line should read '10MinutePlay2013' then the title of your piece e.g '10MP13MyPlay'. To maintain anonymity we request that playwrights only include their name, the title of their piece, postal address and telephone number in the body of the email. Each page of their submitted script should contain the title of the piece and the number of each page in the top right hand corner and NO other information. 

4. Maximum number of actors: 2 men and 2 women.  Plays need not include all four actors. Actors may play multiple characters.

5. Plays may not require unusual set pieces or elaborate props.

6. Playwrights must have lived in Germany for any length of time at any time in the past - or of course currently still live here.

7. The playwright authorizes English Theatre Berlin to stage the production throughout the festival and to use the title and/or other text from the manuscript as well as any audio or video recordings of it for publicity purposes associated with the festival and/or the theatre itself indefinitely. The author will retain the copyright and all other privileges associated with ownership.

8. The authors of the five plays selected for performance will each receive 100 Euros.  Winners may be asked to participate in interviews or other publicity for the competition or theatre.  Participation in these promotional events is voluntary.

9. There is no limit to the number of entries by any author and an author may win any number of the prizes.

10.  A jury of three theatre professionals and journalists will choose the finalist.  The decision of the jury is final.