McNerney Playwriting Contest
The Todd McNerney Playwriting Contest
In 2006 an anonymous donor created the Todd McNerney Playwriting Award to honor faculty member and former Chair Todd McNerney and to recognize the excellence of College of Charleston student playwrights. The initial award was created to be awarded to a student-written 10-minute play and continues to this day. In 2009, the same generous donor provided additional resources to create a second award which focuses on full-length plays and is open to playwrights from across the nation. The donor and the award support the development of new plays and raise awareness of the College and its Theatre and Dance Department's commitment to new work.
Twelfth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Annual Todd McNerney Playwriting Contest Results
Congratulations to all of our finalists and winners!
The COVID-19 pandemic not only caused the cancellations of the 2020 and 2021 Spoleto Festival USA and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival and greatly contracted the scale of the 2022 festivals, it also greatly impacted our selection panel and its ability to select and announce the winners of the 2021 and 2022 contests. We are pleased to announce that the ending of the COVID-19 public health emergency and the return to a more normal calendar means a return to the presentation of staged readings at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival!
The runners-up and winning plays of the 2021, 2022, and 2023 contests will be presented during the 2023 Piccolo Spoleto Festival as part of the Department of Theatre and Dance's Stelle di Domani series.
2021 Finalists
Asylum by Robert Fieldsteel
Carl a.k.a Karl by D.T. Arcieri
High Falls by Stephanie Everett
Oil and Watercolor by Seanan Palermo Waugh
Painted Brick/White Houses by Anderson John Heinz
The Scrambling Class by Amy Tofte
Shylock the First by Andre R Heinze
There’s Always Tomorrow by Sonya Harden
Touch the Moon by Arianna Rose
(verb) a play on words by Seth Freeman
Runner-up:
Oil and Watercolor by Seanan Palermo Waugh
Winner:
(verb) a play on words by Seth Freeman
2022 Finalists
The Arlo File by Amy Crider
The Blue Whale by Laura Zlatos
The Children of Good People by Spencer Huffman
Fat Muslim Girls by Ken Kaissar
F1rst D1g1ts by Michael D. Fox
Hope by Joe Atkinson
Petrified by Paula Fell
Seeing Violet by Peter Snoad
Sinkhole by Alison Minami
You’re a Weirdo, Annie Best or A Kiss to Build a Dream On by Erin Shea Brady
Runner-up:
Fat Muslim Girls by Ken Kaissar
Winner:
The Blue Whale by Laura Zlatos
2023 Finalists
Closet Space by Jane M. Lee
The Consequences of Madison Mumbry by Darren V. Michael
El Nido by Raul Garza
Floating Naked with Piranhas (How I Learned to Love Working at Amazon) by Rich Rubin
Gendered Language by Bethany Dickens Assaf
Going Wild by Peter Snoad
Leannán Sidhe by Deanna Strasse
The Rimsky-Fogelman by Andrew R. Heinze
Sic Amo Sic Amas by J.S. Cassidy
Slowly and Then All at Once by Katherine Vondy
Runner-up:
The Consequences of Madison Mumbry by Darren V. Michael
Winner:
Closet Space by Jane M. Lee
Fifteenth Annual National Playwriting Contest
Winner
$400.00 cash prize
Staged reading at the 2024 Piccolo Spoleto Festival
Travel allowance to attend the reading
Runner-Up
$100.00 cash prize
Staged reading at the 2024 Piccolo Spoleto Festival
Submission Requirements:
--SASE Business envelope for notification of results
--Material must be unpublished and unproduced (including amateur productions).
--Full length, no musicals
--$10 entry fee, payable to College of Charleston
--Open for submission January 3rd, 2024
--Submissions must be postmarked by February 18th, 2024
--Hard copy mailed to:
Todd McNerney National Playwriting Contest
College of Charleston
Department of Theatre and Dance
66 George Street
Charleston, SC 29424
--Please provide an unbound copy of your submission.
--Playwrights may submit multiple entries. Please submit one entry fee and SASE envelope per submission and mail entries separately.
All items must be received to be eligible for consideration.
Questions:
Miles Boinest
(843) 953-6306
McNerney Playwriting Award Winners
2020 (11th Annual Contest)
Winner -- Righteous Among Us by Amy Tofte
Runner-Up --Goodnight Embryos by Maureen McGranaghan
Finalists --A Story About a Girl by Jacquelyn Reingold
Dead Air by Greg Jones Ellis
Firewater by Samantha Marchant
Good Neighbors by Jane M. Lee
Of Men and Cars by Jim Geoghan
Only Human by Christine DiGiovanni
Shakespeare's Start by Rich Rubin
The Tiger Play by Anne Phelan
2019 (10th Annual Contest)
Winner -- The Dying Declaration of Madge Oberholzter by Raegan Payne
Runner-Up -- The Poles of Inaccessibility by Craig Pospisil
Finalists -- Dead Behind the Eyes (or The Ingenue Play) by Becca Anderson
Dinosaur(s)by James Still
The Dying Declaration of Madge Oberholzter by Raegan Payne
Indoctrination by Harold Ellis Clark
Intellectual Property by Richard Lyons Conlon
Queer Theory by Lacey Alexander
Parts & Pieces by Amy Tofte
The Poles of Inaccessibility by Craig Pospisil
The Savage Queen by Edgar Chisholm
When They Came by MT Cozzola
2018 (9th Annual Contest)
Winner -- The Lady Demands Satisfaction by Arthur M. Jolly
Runner-Up -- Rev by Rachel Bykowski
Finalists -- The End Will Hurt by Laura Neill
Exposure by Pauline David-Sax
Frank by Joanna Castle Miller
Frankie and Johnny (The Play) by Keenya Jackson
Fuel by Caridad Svich
The Gray List by Allen Provost
The Hero and the Scholar by Marshall Botvinick
The Lady Demands Satisfactuon by Arthur M. Jolly
(A) New World by James Still
Rev by Rachel Bykowski
2017 (8th Annual Contest)
Winner – Treehouse by Joe Musso
Runner-Up – Flying by Sheila Cowley
Finalists – The Evolution of Darwin by Steve Warren
Family Pains by Erin Osgood
Flying by Sheila Cowley
The Letters by David Zellnik
Radar Range by Maura Campbell
The Plastic City by Matthew Kelly
Pooka by James McLindon
Signature Photo by Michael Bucklin
Sycorax: Cyber Queen of Qamara by Fengar Gael
Treehouse by Joe Musso
2016 (7th Annual Contest)
Winner – Swimming Upstream by Rich Rubin
Runner-Up – Like a Billion Likes by Erik Forrest Jackson
Finalists - All Things Evolve by Carl L. Williams
Black Super Hero Magic Mama by Inda Craig-Galvan
Chore Monkeys by Patrick Gabridge
Greenville Tomorrow by Chris Widney
Infinite Beginnings by David Vazdauskas
Queens for a Year by T.D. Mitchell
Like a Billion Likes by Erik Forrest Jackson
Radical Two by Carlos Jerome
The Snowmaker by Aleks Merilo
Swimming Upstream by Rich Rubin
2015 (6th Annual Contest)
Winner – Last Night and the Night Before (formerly Sam) by Donnetta Lavinia Grays
Runner-Up – Miranda by James Still
2014 (5th Annual Contest)
Winner – Safe by Donna Hoke
Runner-Up – Veils by Tom Coash
2013 (4th Annual Contest)
Winner – Spark by Carídad Svich
Runner-Up – Mad Gravity by William Missouri Downs
2012 (3rd Annual Contest)
Winner – The House That Jack Built by James Still
Runner-Up – Fortune’s Child by Mark Scharf
2011 (2nd Annual Contest)
Winner – Life Is Mostly Straws by Richard Manley
Runner-Up – Dead and Buried by James McLindon
2010 (Inaugural Contest)
Winner - Advanced Women by Michèle Aldin Kushner
Runner-Up – The Willow Grove by Walter Thinnes