McNerney Playwriting Contest
Eleventh Annual Todd McNerney Playwriting Contest Results
Congratulations to all of our finalists and winners! Beginning in late February the eight finalists will receive a free virtual public reading. The runner-up and winning plays will be presented during the 2021 Piccolo Spoleto Festival. Details and dates to follow soon.
Staged Readings
Welcome to New Works Wednesdays --- the exciting new (pandemic driven) addition to the Todd McNerney National Playwriting Awards. This Spring we will be reading eight of the 2020 finalist plays via Zoom every Wednesday evening.
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.
The schedule (subject to change) of the readings is as follows ....
March 17 - The Tiger Play by Anne Phelan
March 24 - Dead Air by Greg Jones Ellis
March 31 - Firewater by Samantha Marchant
April 7 - Of Men and Cars by Jim Geoghan
April 14 - Good Neighbors by Jane M. Lee
April 21 - Shakespeare's Start by Rich Rubin
April 28 - A Story About a Girl by Jacquelyn Reingold
May 5 - Only Human by Christine DiGiovanni
To register to receive the Zoom link for any of the above readings, please click here.
Twelfth Annual National 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 that focuses on full-length plays that 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.
Winner
$400.00 cash prize
Staged reading at the 2021 Piccolo Spoleto Festival
Travel allowance to attend the reading
Runner-Up
$100.00 cash prize
Staged reading at the 2021 Piccolo Spoleto Festival
Submission Requirements:
--SASE Business envelope for notification of results
--Material must be unpublished and unproduced.
--Full length, no musicals
--$10 entry fee, payable to College of Charleston
--Open for submission November 1st, 2020
--Deadline February 15th, 2021
--Hard copy mailed to:
Todd McNerney National Playwriting Contest
College of Charleston
Department of Theatre and Dance
66 George Street
Charleston, SC 29424
All items must be received to be eligible for consideration.
Questions:
Shannon Horn
(843) 953-6306
McNerney Playwriting Award Winners
2019
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
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
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
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
Winner – Last Night and the Night Before (formerly Sam) by Donnetta Lavinia Grays
Runner-Up – Miranda by James Still
2014
Winner – Safe by Donna Hoke
Runner-Up – Veils by Tom Coash
2013
Winner – Spark by Carídad Svich
Runner-Up – Mad Gravity by William Missouri Downs
2012
Winner – The House That Jack Built by James Still
Runner-Up – Fortune’s Child by Mark Scharf
2011
Winner – Life Is Mostly Straws by Richard Manley
Runner-Up – Dead and Buried by James McLindon
2010
Winner - Advanced Women by Michèle Aldin Kushner
Runner-Up – The Willow Grove by Walter Thinnes