WINNERS

CEO by Jenny Lyn Bader
BRB by Omar Bakry
130K and Counting by Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich
Sarah and Manny by Paul Bolger
ESP by John Doble
Guy and Roy by Tom Evans
JLS by Wayne L. Firestone
DNA by Dana Hammer
MoMa? by Rose-Mary Harrington
Hang-Ups by Brett Hursey
The Michaelson Model by Alexis Kozak
Acronymphomania by Joel Levitt
Jumpy by Toby Miller
APR by Robert O’Connell
O.U.T. by Ron G. Rosenfeld
Bridge of No Return by Scott C. Sickles
The OP by Alexander Wilkie

JUDGES PICKS

What Time Did You Say? by Brigid Amos
A Fable by Judith E. Barlow
K.O. by Cris Eli Blak
The Last Word by Dan Borengasser
Business is Business by Patrice Hamilton
Something Holy in Croatia by Steven Haworth
At This Hour by Alice Jankell
Safe Walk by Rebecca Kane
Our Cuckoo Bird by Anthony Leiner
War Dog by James McLindon
Spitfire Angels by Gretchen O’Halloran
Obsession by Bridgette Dutta Portman
Vent by Nicholas Priore
Imminent Domain by Oren Safdie
Cherish the Day by Patrick R. Spadaccino
Charm City by Rosemary Frisino Toohey
SMD by Ruth Zamoyta

War Dog by James McLindon | READ PLAY HERE

An ex-military dog confronts what he has done … and who is to blame.

For more about the playwright, visit jamesmclindon.com.

Spitfire Angels by Gretchen O’Halloran | READ PLAY HERE

The year is 1944 and Diana, a member of the English ATA (Air Transport Auxillary) and her husband Derek DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross), each fly their own Spitfire next to one another across the English Channel to a liberated Brussels delivering a photographic aircraft and for a “jolly" good time. The return trip six days later in thick fog, however, proves to be a much different story.

Vent by Nicholas Priore | READ PLAY HERE

Douglas, an older black man, and Patricia, a younger white woman, are sharing a ventilator in an overrun NYC hospital during the Corona Virus outbreak of 2020. He is further along than she is, starting to accept his fate and without enough breath to protest it, while she still has a sense of hope in denial and enough breath left to vent her frustrations. Both must come to terms with the situation and one another as time and air run out.

Imminent Domain by Oren Safdie | READ PLAY HERE

Everything is falling into place for Carrie and Syd who live in a small house in Venice, California. Syd’s just sold a TV pilot and no longer has to tutor high school kids, and Carrie, 8 months pregnant, is getting ready to quit her boring job. All is full of promise until a giant RV pulls up in front of their house.

Cherish the Day by Patrick R. Spadaccino | READ PLAY HERE

Kris and Phil fell in love during college, but parted bitterly after graduation. Kris became a successful marketing executive; Phil became a skilled trauma surgeon. Years later, they are unexpectedly reunited…can reminiscing about happier days finally grant them closure?

Charm City by Rosemary Frisino Toohey | READ PLAY HERE

How does a lofty organization like UNESCO pick and choose who gets the designation and who doesn't? A conflict of cultures occurs when a resident of Charm City---that would be Baltimore---seeks the designation for her hometown.

For more about the playwright, visit www.frisinotoohey.com.

SMD by Ruth Zamoyta | READ PLAY HERE

On Sid’s first day at college, his Grandpa visits his dorm and gives him the family heirloom: a cross-stitch of the family initials, "SMD" to hang above his bed. When Sid protests, Grandpa reminds him of his great forefathers and helps him appreciate his awkward name.

For more about the playwright, visit ruthzamoyta.com.

CEO by Jenny Lyn Bader | READ PLAY HERE

Helaine, a CEO who believes assistants should be seen and not heard, misses a corporate retreat only to learn that her executive assistant Lizbeth dominated the conversation there in an inspiring way. Back at the office, Helaine now peppers the assistant with questions, but Lizbeth has been silenced for so long she can only manage abbreviated answers. A comedy about losing and finding one’s voice.

Jenny Lyn Bader recently performed her solo play Equally Divine: The Real Story of the Mona Lisa (Theater at the 14th St. Y) before all live theatre got indefinitely postponed. Her other plays include Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library (Luna Stage), which had its first public reading at Urban Stages; In Flight (Turn to Flesh Productions); and None of the Above (New Georges). One-acts include Worldness (Humana Festival), Miss America (NY Int’l Fringe Festival/”Best of Fringe” selection), and Beta Testing (Symphony Space). A Harvard graduate, she has received the 2019 “Best Documentary One-Woman Show” Award (United Solo Festival); 2019 Athena Writes Fellowship; Lark Playwriting Fellowship; and the O’Neill Center’s Edith Oliver Award. For This Is Not a Theatre Co, she co-authored Play in Your Bathtub and Café Play and wrote The International Local (Subway Plays app). She belongs to the Dramatists Guild, LPTW, and Playwrights Gallery. For more, visit www.jennylynbader.com.

BRB by Omar Bakry | READ PLAY HERE

Two NYC based Egyptian friends, Tarek and Khalifa are COVID-quarantined in a tiny cabin on a cruise ship. When Khalifa's sister texts him that his wife Samira is in ICU with the virus and that she will "BRB" after talking to the doctor, waiting for her, an explosion of simmering tensions reveals a long-hidden love triangle.

Omar Bakry is a NYC-based artist/writer/director that is not defined by any one culture. He brings a global fusion to his stories, the nature of conflict, and a hard-earned awareness of the fragility and toughness of the human condition. Born in Sweden in 1976, and raised in Egypt, Omar attended the Faculty of Fine Arts (Cairo University), graduating with a B.A. In 2007, he moved to New York to pursue theater and film, studying directing in the School of Visual Arts and New York Film Academy. Omar and his wife started Timewormz Production Company in 2014. His recent plays include ALL I SEE, SUPERMAN AND SERENA, and BRB. He currently attends the Roger Simon Hendricks Studio as a writer/director. www.timewormz.com

130K and Counting by Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich | READ PLAY HERE

What goes bump in the night? Suburban mothers worrying about bowling parties and COVID19. A darkly comic mother-to-mother discussion that explores the funny and frightening world lurking behind picket fences in the age of maternal impotence and a pandemic.

Productions include Hitting the Wall, off-Broadway Theatre Row (Prod.Tony-winner Arielle Tepper Madover); Sister Sister, Northern Light Theatre (Edmonton, Canada, Nominated, Elizabeth Sterling Best Original Play Award); Boy Girl Boy Girl, Trinity Rep (Providence); Double Vision and Absolute Flight: A Reality Show With Wings, both in the NY International Fringe Festival (the former transferred off-Broadway Fringe Encore Series); Romeo Chang, Overtime Theatre (San Antonio, Winner ATAC Globe Award, Best Production); Still Life, Forward Flux Productions (Seattle); Big City, Trustus Theatre (Columbia, S.C.); Work developed in NYC: Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, Roundabout, Rattlestick, Cherry Lane, Stella Adler, ARACAworks, Ensemble Studio Theatre. In LA: Rogue Machine, Theatricum Botanicum, Elephant Theatre, The Blank Theatre, Laguna Playhouse. And Regionally: Capital Stage, Kennedy Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Geva, Victory Gardens, Palm Beach Dramaworks. Won: Beverly Hills Julie Harris Playwriting Award, The Israel Baran Award, and was a runner up for the Sundance Playwriting Lab, O’Neill Playwrights Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Princess Grace Award, and Heideman Award. Nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award and included on the Kilroy List. Published by Smith and Kraus and Applause Books. MFA/Artist-in-Residence, Brandeis University. barbarablumenthalehrlich.com

Sarah and Manny by Paul Bolger | READ PLAY HERE

What effects do acronyms have on the lives and relationship of two special needs adults?

As an actor, Paul’s memorable plays have been Eugene O’Neil’s “The Sea Plays” with his brother, John (Willow Cabin) and Tennessee Williams’ “27 Wagons Full of Cotton,” directed by Zina Jasper. Most recently, Paul played Charlie the mailman in “On Golden Pond” at the Hampton Theatre Company in Quogue.

ESP by John Doble | READ PLAY HERE

A seemingly routine conversation about their dog devolves into an offbeat exchange that reveals much about the dynamics of a couple’s relationship.

John Doble’s first screenplay, THE AMEN SISTERHOOD, won the 2020 Humanitas New Voices Award. Plays include A Serious Person (Winner, Arts & Letters Prize for Drama, Georgia College; Belper Prize, Belper, UK); Tatyana and the Cable Man (Best Play, Midtown Short Play Festival, NYC); Coffee House, Greenwich Village (Neil LaBute Festival, St. Louis and 59E59 Theatre Off-Broadway, NYC), Twilight Time (LaBute Festival, St. Louis), Three Blind Dates (Hollywood Fringe), and To Protect the Poets, Reunion Run, and The Mayor Who Would Be Sondheim (all in FringeNYC). John’s plays have been produced across the US and in the UK and received acclaim in numerous competitions. His short stories have appeared in various literary magazines and a collection, Lefty and Other Stories, was published by Clemson University. He is a member of The Dramatists Guild and Playwrights’ Center. www.JohnDoble.com

Guy and Roy by Tom Evans | READ PLAY HERE

Guy and Roy, two men in their 30’s, single, roommates, laborers, spend a pre-supper evening drinking beer and playing a word game Roy devised for entertainment because their TV set died.

Tom Evans, 88, an under employed director is amping up his playwriting. A New Cadence, his politically incorrect piece about a musically talented slave who escapes to Indiana during the Civil War is as yet un-produced. Other works: Yellow Dog Crossing, with professional productions at: Appletree in Chicago; Mill Mountain, Roanoke; Highlands Playhouse, NC; Black Hills Playhouse, SD; South Carolina Rep, Hilton Head; Tales From Olympus (commissioned and produced by Indiana Rep); The Gull; Vaudeville I and II (commissioned and produced by Kaleidoscope Players, Raton, NM). The Satchel, a dramatization of the mysterious death of Meriwether Louis, developed during a 2012 New Harmony Project residency, followed by a reading at SoBe Festival of New American Plays, 2013, Miami Beach. Back Home and A New Cadence were developed at Winter Playwrights Retreat, Creede, CO, 2012/2013. Notable directing: The Diviners, Circle Rep, 1981. Samuel French reports 30,000 subsequent productions..

JLS by Wayne L. Firestone | READ PLAY HERE

Two aging birds share their divergent approaches to life. One is cautious and believes there are distinct stages to life and now has settled into retirement as a stage for observation and not experimentation. The other is curious, willing to take risks to seek adventures and new possibilities regardless of age and is guided by a literal and spiritual reading of Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

Wayne L. Firestone was a member of the 2019 John F. Kennedy Center Immersive Playwriting Workshop in Washington, DC, where he studied with Gary Garrison, Jacqueline Goldfinger, Mark Bly, and a cohort of empowering playwrights from around the country. He previously developed several “magic-realist” manuscripts about travels around the world during several fiction workshops at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Three of his short plays were selected for production in NY festivals for Spring/Summer 2020: Rogue Theatre Festival “Esperanto Rises,” August 2020; Urban Stages Acronym Plays, “JLS,” August 2020, and Take Ten Festival-Between Us Productions at the Secret Theatre “Madame Magician,” April 2020. In November 2019, he produced a table reading at the Writer's Center of the full-length version of Madame Magician –“Disappearing,” inspired by the German poet and playwright Else Lasker- Schuller. He is a Member of the Dramatists Guild of America. For more, visit Wayne on New Play Exchange.

DNA by Dana Hammer | READ PLAY HERE

The results of a DNA Ancestry test wreak havoc in the lives of a married couple.

Dana Hammer is a writer of things and a winner of awards. She thinks genetics are fascinating. She hopes you enjoy her play! For more, visit www.danahammer.com.

MoMa? by Rose-Mary Harrington | READ PLAY HERE

MoMa? is the co-mingling of three iconic art figures who find themselves out of step with the digital age and perplexed by modern day acronyms.

Rose-Mary Harrington is a graduate of New College of Speech and Drama, London, England. Rose-Mary received her M.A. from the University of Arizona in Theatre/Playwriting. Productions of her plays run the gamut from Coop Theatre East in New York to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. to Theatre Southwest, Houston to Women in Theatre, Los Angeles. Rose-Mary was the recipient of the Oregon Literary Fellowship in Drama. Her play Six Seconds was the winner of New American Playwrights Project at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Her play Detained received an equity production by Up Theatre in New York. Her ten minute play The Wedding Dress was given a staged reading by Follies, Sarasota, Florida in 2019 this play was produced by Port City Playwrights in February 2020. She was a 2020 finalist for the Thomas Wolfe Playwriting Award. Rose-Mary is a life member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Hang-Ups by Brett Hursey | READ PLAY HERE

Sometimes relationships can be EXtra complicated.

Brett’s plays have appeared in over two hundred and fifty theaters across the country including venues in Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Hollywood, as well as internationally in England, Belgium, Luxembourg, Romania, Australia, South Korea and Canada. He has also had over sixty off/off-off Broadway productions in Manhattan.

The Michaelson Model by Alexis Kozak | READ PLAY HERE

When Mr. Dryser tries to educate Logan in the way of the American classroom, will the student become the teacher?

Alexis studied Theatre Arts and English at Rutgers University. He spent his early 20s in Los Angeles, chasing the dream. Sometime after that, he got an MFA in Playwriting from Boston University, and now teaches high school theatre and often writes the fall play. He has published The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, the only current dramatic adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s eponymous short story. He also has a scene book for high school actors called The Greatest of All Time, carried by Eldridge Publishing. Applause Books is publishing two of his monologues this year in their Monologues from New Plays series. Alexis loves theatre, soccer, reading, and his family…in no particular order. For more, visit www.alexiskozak.com.

Acronymphomania by Joel Levitt | READ PLAY HERE

Acronymphomania, written almost entirely in real acronyms, is a cynical romantic comedy that explores the pitfalls of dating and friendship and a potential solution to both.

Joel is a retired arts educator and administrator for the Danbury Public Schools but, as a freelancer over the years, he has had over a dozen publications of his short humor, light verse and prose, including The New York Times, Reader’s Digest, and Twilight Zone Magazine. Joel and his wife have lived in Connecticut for over 40 years but, somehow, have never lost their authentic Brooklyn accents. Joel fell in love with playwriting last year at the age of 70, when he attended an undergraduate course in playwriting.

Jumpy by Toby Miller | READ PLAY HERE

Amid the tumult of contemporary New York life, two men, a police officer and a quarantined bachelor, attempt to find some common ground over some home cooking.

Toby Miller’s writing has appeared in numerous publications, as well as compilations from HarperCollins and St. Martin’s Press. As an actor, Toby has worked regionally (Ray Court in the US regional premiere of The Bodyguard at White Plains Performing Arts Center, Lord Aster in Peter and the Starcatcher at the Argyle, Dracula in Edward Gorey’s Dracula at Theatre Workshop Nantucket) and in New York (Walter Kaufman in the world premiere of The Music in my Blood, Hypokrit Theatre, Pastor Jonas in Strindberg’s The Father, Strindberg Rep.). For more, visit www.tckm1.info.

APR by Robert O’Connell | READ PLAY HERE

It’s time for the Annual Performance Review. Don’t try this at home.

Robert O’Connell is a career educator and the author of five books. His novels, Flash Mob, Cruise Mob, and Campus Mob, are comedy-romance mysteries. He has also published two anthologies of essays and short plays from his blog, The Day I Dressed Better Than My Wife, and The Death of Comedy. He has three children and lives with his wife in North Carolina. For more, visit www.flashmobthenovel.com & www.thesmartestguyiknow.wordpress.com

O.U.T. by Ron G. Rosenfeld | READ PLAY HERE

David, a middle-aged man, visits O.U.T., the federally-mandated Office of Unfortunate Termination, to make arrangements for his scheduled death.

Ron Rosenfeld is the author of four full-length plays and twelve one-act/scene plays. His works explore the interface between science, religion, faith and ethics. His full-length plays are Survival of the Fittest, Helios, Fixation, and Stella Nova. Recent short plays include You Bet Your Life, Gravity, Pressing Matters, Global Entry, Pushback, Superhero, A Day in the Life, Toy Must Remember This, Our Lady, and Frankly, My Dear. Ron is a member of The Pear Playwriting Guild in California.

Bridge of No Return by Scott C. Sickles | READ PLAY HERE

On August 18, 1976, on the Joint Security Area in Panmunjom within the Korean DMZ, North Koreans murdered two American soldiers... with axes. A UN officer helps a diplomat determine what went down, so they can recommend what to do next.

SCOTT C. SICKLES is an LGBTQ/biracial Korean American writer. His plays have been performed in New York City, across the United States, and internationally in Canada, Australia, the UK, Hungary, Singapore, and Lebanon. Full-length plays include: Nonsense and Beauty (World Premiere, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, March 2019; 2018 Edgerton New Play Award; 2020 ATCA Steinberg Award Finalist), Marianas Trench (2019 O’Neill Finalist), Pangea (O’Neill Semifinalist), Composure (Winner, 2016 New York Innovative Theatre Award; 2018 Lambda Literary Award Finalist), Intellectuals (Smith & Kraus’ New Playwrights: Best Plays of 2007), Moonlight & Love Songs (GayFestNYC 2013), Lightning From Heaven (1999 Beverly Hills Theater Guild/Julie Harris Playwriting Award), Perfecting the Kiss (Capital Fringe, 2018). Published Short Plays: Beautiful Noises (Smith & Kraus), murmurs (Samuel French), Turtles and Bulldogs (Applause). Five consecutive Writers Guild of America Awards for the daytime drama General Hospital, eight Emmy nominations. Member, Dramatists Guild, New Play Exchange. For more, visit www.ScottCSickles.com.

The OP by Alexander Wilkie | READ PLAY HERE

Two New York police officers on a stake out of a drug house, discover, through the timely delivery of a take-out meal, that one of their own is selling them out.

Bio: Alex’s play, Big Bear Lake, was a winner of the Heartland Theatre 10-Minute Play Competition this year, and his short play, Furious George, was part of the Thin Line Between Love and Hate play festival in February staged by the Philadelphia Dramatists Center in Philadelphia. In 2019, his two-act comedy Vaudeville Villains was performed at the Sketch Club Players in NJ. An adjunct professor at Rowan College, he lives in Moorestown, NJ.

What Time Did You Say? by Brigid Amos | READ PLAY HERE

Sydney’s insistence on scheduling everything based on EST (Eastern Standard Time) has caused a missed lunch with Taylor, who now shows up furious at Sydney’s door. As the two friends argue over EST vs. EDT (Eastern Daylight Time), it becomes clear that more than daylight saving time is confusing them.

For more about the playwright, visit www.brigidamos.com.

A Fable by Judith E. Barlow | READ PLAY HERE

Asap, the browbeaten twin brother of fable writer Aesop, meets Lol, a free-spirited DMV worker, at a neighborhood coffee shop. The two discover that, despite very different outward appearances, they share a deep subversive streak.

K.O. by Cris Eli Blak | READ PLAY HERE

Late one night in a famed inner city boxing gym, young, beaten up Tyler walks in to find the owner and former boxing champion Buddy Collins. While at first Tyler only comes in looking for a trainer to teach him how to fight back, along the way he falls into a conversation that reveals that sometimes the best fight you can win is by using your brain to get out of your conditions, not your fists.

For more about the playwright, head to @criseliblak.

The Last Word by Dan Borengasser | READ PLAY HERE

An SWM (single white male) meets an SWF (single white female) through a personal ad that is not entirely true. And maybe that’s a good thing.

For more about the playwright, visit www.dan.borengasser.com.

Business is Business by Patrice Hamilton | READ PLAY HERE

When Jason tries to buy drugs from his usual connects, he finds he has to not only worry about the jacked up price due to a reduced supply, but the extra security measures put in place by Charlie and his wife Gianna due to the coronavirus.

Something Holy in Croatia by Steven Haworth | READ PLAY HERE

Two men meet in a remote and abandoned industrial neighborhood somewhere in Croatia. The meeting is an illicit deal to buy a stolen holy relic from a Croatian monastery. Both men think they are good at this game but only one is right.

For more about the playwright, visit www.stevenhaworth.com.

At This Hour by Alice Jankell | READ PLAY HERE

In an old bookshop, after hours, two friends share a meal and something more.

For more about the playwright, visit www.alicejankell.com.

Our Cuckoo Bird by Anthony Leiner | READ PLAY HERE

After finding out that the father Kate has known all her life isn't not her biological father, she goes to her Mother, Lucille, for the truth. In doing so, Kate and her sister, Megan, find out more about their mothers past that they wished would stay secret.