Harwood 100 Playwriting Competition

Calling all thespians! Harwood Museum of Art seeks 10-minute original plays on the theme of “Harwood 100: Reflecting on Our Legacy. Envisioning the Future” for production in January 2024. Some examples of play concepts that would be relevant to the theme are stories about individual artists or historical figures from the Harwood collection/arts in Taos, artist relationships, the art making process, the culture and history of Taos, and places or figures from works of art in the Harwood collections. As well as works that reflect on a future vision for the arts in Taos.

The performing arts have been an integral part of the Harwood since its early years. John Gaw Meem’s 1938 building addition included a communal theater room on the second story. For over seventy years, this theater hosted hundreds of locally created events and plays. The Harwood 100 Playwriting Competition is an homage to this tradition and a community invitation to be part of telling the story of the Harwood, its collections, and Taos history.

Submissions will be judged by a panel of Harwood staff and community members. Chosen playwrights will be notified approximately early to mid-October 2023. Auditions will be held in November. Plays will be produced in late fall/early winter with performances scheduled for January 26-28, 2024.

Submissions were due September 10. We are no longer accepting plays.

This project is supported in part by New Mexico Humanities Council and New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Guidelines

Submissions must fit the theme – “HARWOOD 100: Reflecting On Our Legacy. Envisioning The Future.“

We seek NEW plays. Please do not submit work that has been produced previously.

Your play must contain at least two (2) characters, but no more than four (4) and should consist mainly of dialogue, not monologues. Plays must stay within the ten-minute timeframe. A good rule of thumb is one-minute per page. Remember that something MUST happen in those ten minutes: Exposition, Rising Action, Conflict, Climax, Falling Action, & Resolution (or not)

This project is open to writers ages 13 and up. We encourage participation from a diverse body of artists and do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, military status, sexual orientation, marital status, or physical or mental disability. Please read and consider the Judging Criteria.

Format play submission using our style sheet. DO NOT put your name on the play itself, as submissions will be judged anonymously. DO put your title and page numbers on every page.

Only one entry will be accepted from each playwright.

Authors of selected plays retain copyright of their material and grant Harwood Museum of Art permission to produce their play including the right to record for archival purposes.