The Competition
Following the success of the The Playwrights' Studio's national playwriting competition EVOLVE, we have teamed up with Orange, 'A Play, a Pie and a Pint' and The Herald to find new and exciting playwrights across Scotland.

The competition, called ‘The Orange Play Writing Prize’, will be run by the Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland and is open to writers in two age categories, 14 -18 year olds and 18+. The main prize for each category will be for the play to be professionally produced and shown for a week at Oran Mor, Glasgow during the 2005 autumn season of lunchtime plays.

Short listed entrants will receive high quality professional support to develop their plays, as required. The plays must be between 30 - 40 minutes long and have a cast of no more than 3. The only entry restrictions are that the writer must not have had a stage play professionally produced and must be Scottish or live in Scotland.

Workshops
Workshops, led by leading playwrights including Nicola McCartney and Isabel Wright, to help people understand what makes a successful short play, will be held around the country as listed below. Workshops for both age ranges will be held at each venue simultaneously from 2-5pm.

Sat 14 May -  Macphail Centre,  Ullapool
Sun 15 May - Thistle Hotel, Inverness
Sat 21 May -  Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
Sun 22 May -  Eastgate Arts Centre, Peebles 
Sat 11 June - Mull Theatre, Mull 
Sat 18 June - Perth Theatre, Perth 
Sun 19 June - Oran Mor, Glasgow 
Sat 25 June - Theatre Royal, Dumfries 
Sat 2 July - Orkney Arts Studio, Kirkwall 
Sun 3 July - North Highland College, Thurso
 
Workshops are free, but places are limited and must be booked in advance. To book a place, please call Claire on 0141 332 4403 or email claire@playwrightsstudio.co.uk.

A judging panel, including David MacLennan, Producer of Glasgow Lunchtime Theatre’s ‘A Play, A Pie & A Pint’, David Greig, Gerda Stevenson, Chris Dolan and William McIlvaney will then chose one winner and six runners up from each category. The winner will have their play produced while the six runners up will have rehearsed readings of their plays one lunchtime.

How to Enter
Throughout June and July, The Herald will publish an entry code in their Arts & Books Saturday magazine. This code will be needed to access a downloadable entry pack with instructions on how to submit your short play from www.playwrightsstudio.co.uk. All entries must follow guidelines in the entry pack.

Deadline for entries will be Friday 29 of July.