Theatre expert Edwin Wong has upended our understanding of theatre by arguing that risk is the dramatic fulcrum of the action, and his first book launched a major international playwriting competition, now in its fourth year. He's calling on playwrights worldwide to submit plays to the annual 2022 Risk Theatre Modern Tragedy Competition, juried by an international panel of professionals, anonymous to each other and the public until the winners are announced.
Cash prizes of $10,200 for the winner and five $600 prizes for the runners-up (total $13,200). The winner will meet and collaborate with Wong in an online playwriting workshop, which will culminate in a staged reading of the winning play streamed online to an international audience.
This one-of-a kind workshop will explore how the winning play makes risk palpable by considering unconventional playwriting topics. Electronic submissions will be accepted until 9 p.m. PT, May 31, 2022. The winners will be announced on the competition's website late August 2022.
Wong is a classicist and theatre researcher specializing in the impact of the highly improbable. He has been invited to talk at venues from the Kennedy Center and the University of Coimbra in Portugal to international conferences held by the National New Play Network, the Canadian Association of Theatre Research, the Society of Classical Studies, and the Classical Association of the Middle West and South. His newest book, When Life Gives You Risk, Make Risk Theatre, is available June 7, 2022. For more info, you can check out risktheatre.com.