CALL for PLAYWRIGHTS -- Jasper Project Opens its Call for Scripts for the Play Right Series 2025

Play Right Series: 2025 Call for Submissions

The Jasper Project announces the 5th cycle of its Play Right Series, a collaboration between area theatre artists and Jasper Community Producers—or theater aficionados, supporters and even newcomers. The project will culminate in summer 2025 with the staged reading of a brand-new South Carolina play. 

Submitting A Play

The play submission window is now open. 

  • Playwrights must be natives or residents of South Carolina.

  • The winning playwright must be present for development sessions with Community Producers in Columbia during the summer, 2025 (specific dates to be determined later), and must agree to offer program credit to The Jasper Project at any subsequent productions or publications.

  • Plays may address any topic, using language appropriate to the subject matter; we are not, however, considering musicals or children’s plays. 

  • Submissions must be one-act plays, 45-75 minutes in length, typed according to industry-standard format (see our Sample Format). 

  • Please include, as a cover sheet, a one-page bio of the playwright and description of the play, including cast size and any unusual technical demands, bearing in mind that smaller and fewer are usually preferable.

  • One submission per playwright, please.

  • Please submit your play no later than February 15, 2025  to playrightseries@jasperproject.org

 

Play Selection

When the submission window closes on February 15, 2025, the Play Right Series committee will read and select a play for development through the spring and summer.  “Development,” in this case, means round-table readings with paid actors and directors and attended by Community Producers and Professional Others, followed in the summer by rehearsals and presentation at Harbison Theatre in early September. 

The process will be facilitated by Jasper Community Producers—audience members invested in the development process and supportive of the state’s literary talent. In exchange for a modest financial contribution Jasper Community Producers will be offered insider views of the steps and processes inherent in creating theatrical art by attending readings and rehearsals, and informative talks and presentations including conversations with the actors, director, playwright, stage manager, costumer, and sound and lighting designer. The result: Community Producers learn about the extensive process of producing a play and become invested personally in the production and success of the play and its cast and crew, thereby becoming diplomats of theatre arts.

Previous winning plays have included:

Sharks and Other Lovers by David Randall Cook

Moon Swallower by Colby Quick

Therapy by Lonetta Thompson

Letting It Grow by Chad Henderson

Jasper Announces the Winning Playwright for the 2024 Play Right Series

The Jasper Project is excited to announce that Chad Henderson’s play Let it Grow, has been selected as the winning play in the 2024 Play Right Series competition. Henderson’s play was unanimously chosen from 14 submissions by a committee of four theatre artists including Dewey Scott-Wiley, Libby Campbell, Bakari Lebby, and Jon Tuttle. Henderson’s play will be workshopped during the summer as part of the Jasper Project’s fourth Play Right Series, then presented as a staged reading. Previous winners of the Jasper Project’s Play Right Series include Randall David Cook’s Sharks and Other Lovers, Colby Quick’s Moon Swallower, and Lonetta Thompson’s Therapy.

The Play Right Series was created by Jasper in 2017 as a catalyst for encouraging new theatre art from South Carolina playwrights. The project is unique in that it invites community members to join the project as Community Producers, individuals and couples who take part in the workshopping of the manuscript while they learn about the process of creating theatre art. A minimum fee of $250 per person allows an individual to become a Community Producer who goes on to be recognized as an honored guest at the staged reading of the new script at the end of the project. Previous Community Producers have included James and Kirkland Smith, Bill Schmidt, Ed Madden, Bert Easter, Wade Sellers, Libby Campbell, Paul Leo and many more. Stay tuned for more information on openings for the 2024 Community Producer roster.

Chad Henderson is a professional theatre artist in South Carolina who is known for directing contemporary plays, musicals and original works that mix music, movement, imagination, and invention to create unforgettable works for the stage. Henderson served as the Artistic Director of Trustus Theatre (2015-2021) in Columbia, SC, and is the current Marketing Director for the South Carolina Philharmonic, where he most recently produced Home for the Holidays at Koger Center for the Arts. Selected Trustus Theatre credits include: The Brother/Sister Plays, Green Day’s American Idiot, Evil Dead, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Last 5 Years, Assassins, The Great Gatsby, Next to Normal, and The Restoration’s Constance - an original musical for which Henderson also authored the book. Henderson has directed with various theatres in South Carolina including Workshop Theatre of South Carolina, The Columbia Children’s Theatre, Spartanburg Next Stage, and Theatre South Carolina (USC). Henderson has completed three residencies at The Studios of Key West, where he developed new works and directed as part of TSKW’s One Night Stand, a 24-hour new play project. His short film Overture, which he wrote and directed, won the 2017 Second Act Film Festival Audience Choice Award. In the last theatre season, Henderson directed Hundred Days (Workshop Theatre), a staged reading of Moon Swallower (Jasper Project), Don’t Let Pigeon Drive the Bus (Columbia Children’s Theatre), and Clyde’s (PURE Theatre). Other Charleston directing credits include Living Dead in Denmark (College of Charleston), The Brothers Size (Piccolo Spoleto), and PURE Theatre’s lauded production of Fun Home in 2018 which was revived for Piccolo Spoleto that same year. Chad lives in Columbia, SC with his wife Bonnie, whose love and support fuels his passion for the theatre. Visit his website for more information on the artist.

PLAY RIGHT SERIES SCRIPTS DUE WEDNESDAY!

Wednesday January 31st is the last day to submit your original stage play to the Jasper Project’s Play Right Series competition.

We’re so excited to share that Trustus Theatre has invited Jasper to present this year’s winning entry’s staged reading as part of a new theatre fest this summer that they will be announcing soon. Even better, Trustus has graciously invited Jasper’s previous two winning stage plays to be performed as part of the same fest! Thank you, Trustus Theatre, for making it all about the community and for continuing your commitment to NEW ART!

Read here to get all the deets on how to submit your play and get it to us no laster than midnight on Wednesday!

Cheers and Break a Leg!