Prizes will be as follows:
Winning/Featured Musical $500
The first-place
winner will be offered courtesy round-trip transportation
within the continental U.S., and hotel accommodations
during the festival based on availability.
Competition
Rules
SCRIPT
LENGTH & TYPE
MUSlCALS
45-60 minutes running time, with a flexible act-break
TARGET
AUDIENCE
MUSICALS Ages 5-12
CAST
SIZE
MUSICALS
Maximum eight (8) adult actors to play any number of
roles.
Musicals
lending themselves to simplified and suggested settings
will be at a distinct advantage in this competition.
Shows suitable for touring are desired. The NCTF will
employ qualified directors, designers, and technicians
to realize the vision of the winning playwrights, and
final design choices will be the sole province of the
Festival production team.
CONTENT
While scripts should target the appropriate audience,
those musicals appealing to adults as well as children
will be at an advantage. Contemporary relevance is to
be preferred over mere topicality--we seek plays whose
appeal will last beyond this season's headlines. In
addition to English-language submissions, we will also
consider bilingual (English and Spanish) scripts. We
will accept new adaptations of traditional, public-domain
titles as well as new stories.
MUSIC
Authors of Musicals must submit legible sheet music
with chord symbols and/or accompaniment and lyrics included,
also a Vocal CD of music with vocals in show order.
No videos, please.
ORIGINALITY
All materials submitted must be original, unpublished,
not accepted by any other publisher at the time of submission
and not be subject to publisher-owned copyright or licensing.
Claim to copyright is the author's responsibility. Author(s)
will obtain the consent of any individual or other entity
involved in the development of submitted materials.
Ineligible titles for the 2009 competition: Alice in
Wonderland, Charlotte's Web, Cinderella, Hansel &
Gretel, The Princess and the Pea, Puss-in-Boots, Wizard
of Oz or any shows with a Christmas/Holiday theme.
LICENSING
and royalties
Actors' Playhouse reserves all production rights for
exclusive live performances and staged readings of the
winning Musical, during the Festival period. The prize
money shall constitute any and all royalties due the
author(s) with respect to these live performances produced
by Actors' Playhouse through June 30, 2010.
Royalties
for subsequent Actors' Playhouse productions of the
winning Musical, after June 30, 2010, including film
and television rights, shall be the subject of a separate
agreement. Actors' Playhouse reserves the right of first
refusal for worldwide video and film rights to the winning
Musical through the end of June 2010. Actors' Playhouse
and the author(s) shall engage in good faith negotiations
for all royalty payments and other contractual terms
of such contracts according to industry standards.
TRAINING TAPES
Actors' Playhouse reserves the right to make video and
audio tapes of the competition finalists for use as
an educational adjunct in its theatre workshops and
the Actors' Playhouse Conservatory. Such tapes shall
bear the copyright of the author(s) and shallnot be
assigned or transferred to any third party. Actors'
Playhouse shall not receive any compensation or profit
from use of these tapes, and presentation of such tapes
shall only occur in classroom and research settings.
Winning author(s) will receive one copy of such tapes.
PUBLICATION
Author(s) of the winning Musical agree to note the following
information in all future publications of this work:
1) Its production by Actors' Playhouse Productions,
Inc., as the winning entry in the Fourteenth Annual
National Children's Theatre Festival, April, 2009, at
Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, Coral Gables,
Florida; and 2) The following production staff: Dr.
Lawrence E. Stein, Chairman of the Board; Barbara S.
Stein, Executive Producing Director; David Arisco, Artistic
Director; Earl Maulding, Director of Theatre for Young
Audiences. Such publications will also note the Directors
and Designers of the initial Festival production and
the names of original cast members.
FINAL COPY
All entries must be produced by typewriter or computer
printer on 8 1/2"x ll" white paper. Lines
should be one-and-a-half spaced; stage directions should
be indented and single-spaced. Please number your pages.
Your name, address, phone number, and the title of the
musical, must appear on a cover page separate from the
text of your work (Festival judges will not know the
names or addresses of authors submitting work). Sheet
music should be similarly arranged and must be easily
legible. Actors' Playhouse reserves the right to reproduce
copies for distribution to Festival judges.
ALL
MATERIALS SHOULD NOT BE BOUND.
SUBMISSIONS
Manuscripts and accompanying materials will be returned
only with a SASE. A $10 reading fee, payable in U.S.
funds to Actors' Playhouse, must accompany all entries.
There is no restriction on the number of entries you
may submit, but each entry must be accompanied by a
separate entry fee and official entry form. To have
scripts returned, please send a pre stamped envelope
with the correct postage.
DEADLINE
Entries must be postmarked by April 1, 2008, or earlier.
Works mailed without proper postage will not be considered.
Winners will be notified by November 1, 2008, and all
other entries (if submitted with SASE) will be returned
by January, 2009.
JUDGING
A screening committe will thoroughly examine each entry
to insure adherence to contest guidelines. The contest
panel will consist of judges of prominent reputation
in music composition, theatrical literature and performance.
Decisions of the judges are final.
