The Q Collective is seeking submissions for its upcoming original short play festivals THE COMING OUT PLAY FESTIVAL and THE TRANSLUMINATE ARTS FESTIVAL.
Submission and Selection Period:
Plays for THE COMING OUT PLAY FESTIVAL may be submitted via email only from June 1 through August 15, 2019, with festival play selection completed by September 1, 2019. Playwrights selected will be notified by September 1 and announced by September 15.
Topics of interest in this year’s festival include: Intersexuality, Bisexuality, Pansexuality, Polyamory, Coming Out in Immigrant Communities, Coming Out in Communities of Color, Coming Out as a Conservative Queer Person, Coming Out in Religious Communities, Coming Out Later in Life. Plays do not necessarily have to fall in one of these categories nor must they only explore the LGBTQIA+ experience of coming out.
Plays for THE TRANSLUMINATE ARTS FESTIVAL may be submitted via email only from June 1 through December 15, with festival play selection completed by January 5, 2020. Playwrights selected will be notified by January 5 and announced by January 15.
Topics of interest in this year’s festival include: Trauma associated with coming out as trans expansive, experiences of gender affirming surgery, experiences with starting hormones, dating someone with your deadname. Plays do not necessarily have to fall in one of these categories but must fall under the trans expansive experience in some way.
Performance Dates:
THE COMING OUT PLAY FESTIVAL will be held October 17 – 19, 2019, at The Monocle, in the Grove neighborhood of St. Louis.
THE TRANSLUMINATE ARTS FESTIVAL will be held February 27 – 29, 2020, at The Chapel, in the Wydown-Skinker neighborhood of St. Louis.
Playwrights will be invited to the first read through of their play and a performance and are encouraged to invite friends as well as share any interviews and/or publicity materials via their social channels.
Compensation:
Selected playwrights will receive a $50 stipend for their work and two tickets to a performance of their choice. Playwrights may attend any rehearsals but are asked to please arrange ahead of time with the director of their piece. The producer or director may contact the playwright for purposes of clarification, publicity, and other artistic, technical or festival marketing and promotion needs.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
- Scripts must be typewritten using Samuel French guidelines (http://www.playwrightslocal.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Samuel-French-Formatting-Guide.pdf).
- Scripts must not exceed fifteen minutes in length. We will NOT accept plays with longer run times. Please time your plays prior to submission. A general page estimate for a 15-minute play includes approximately 14-20 pages, although this is clearly not an exact science.
- Due to the limitations of our host venues’ theater space (proscenium with no apron, approximately 16 feet wide and 8 feet deep), please limit your script to 1-4 actors. Roles may be doubled within our acting pool.
- Please keep prop and set demands to an absolute minimum.
- A fundamental foundational principle of The Q Collective is to be open and welcoming to all gender identities, races, ethnicities, sexualities, ages, abilities, etc. Our play festivals reflect these values and we encourage writers to embrace them.
- Scripts and cover pages shall be submitted in PDF format. Submitted scripts should bear only the title of the play. They shall NOT include a synopsis, author’s note, nor the name, address or other author-identifying information. To ensure blind review, please include a separate cover page document with the title of the play, name of the author, address, phone number, email, and university/college, theatre, or state affiliation, as applicable, as well as a synopsis of your play.
- Playwrights may submit multiple works; however, no more than two (2) plays per playwright will be produced in the festivals.
- Previously produced but unpublished works and well-developed works in progress are welcome; plays previously produced by The Q Collective are not eligible.
- Works may be submitted for both
Submit plays and cover pages by email attachment in PDF format to: submissions@theqcollective.theater with the subject COMING OUT 2019 or TRANSLUMINATE 2020. Plays to be submitted to both festivals for consideration can be sent with the subject PLAY FESTIVAL SUBMISSION. Please direct any questions to Sean Michael at the same email address.
Julian Sun is a Chinese American gay trans man who was born and raised in the suburbs of St. Louis and now lives in Los Angeles. He creates art in his free time when he’s not pursuing a career uplifting the LGBT community.
Liam Oldelm is a portrait photographer from Maeystown, IL. After studying illustration and receiving a BFA in Communication Design, they began to seriously pursue photography as a medium. They are interested in exploring gender, masculinity, and identity through portraiture. Find OldElm Photography on Facebook at 
Charlie Blake is a native MidWesterner who has only recently returned to the Heartland after more than decade exploring other locales. They received their bachelor’s degree in Studio Art with a concentration in Metalworking from Earlham College in 2008, with a second major in Biology. Charlie also earned a PhD from Texas State University in 2016 and currently survives capitalism by working as a biologist. They are deeply grateful for the love and support of so many beautiful members of the St Louis trans and queer community.
The Q Collective 