November 28, 2011

Deadline Approaching for UCSB's 5th

STAGE International Script Competition

The deadline for playwrights wishing to participate in the 5th STAGE International Script Competition is Thursday, December 1. Headquartered at UC Santa Barbara, Scientists, Technologists, and Artists Generating Exploration (STAGE) is a biennial competition for new works about science and technology. The author of the winning script will receive a cash prize of $10,000.

Housed in UCSB's California NanoSystems Institute, STAGE develops theater that depicts the technological age in which we live, fosters new and imaginative voices and methods of storytelling, and promotes understanding of the sciences in the public arena. This year's panel of judges includes Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abair.

Now in its fifth cycle, the STAGE Competition has grown in stature and expanded its international reach. The winner will be announced in mid-July in Dublin, in conjunction with the 2012 Euroscience Open Forum, the largest interdisciplinary science conference in Europe. The $10,000 prize will be awarded in October by a science Nobel Laureate at an award ceremony in Dublin. In tandem with the ceremony, a group of professional actors from Ireland will perform a staged reading of the winning play. Nancy Kawalek, studio professor at UCSB and founder and director of STAGE, will direct the reading.

Plays written in English, including translations, may be submitted to this global competition from anywhere in the world. In addition to the cash prize, the winner will receive access to advice and guidance from accomplished theater, media, science, engineering, and technology experts. Other development possibilities for the winning script are often available as well.

The STAGE Competition began as a unique collaboration among artists and scientists at UCSB, and each cycle has been juried by a team of gifted artists and scientists. UCSB'S Nobel Laureate Alan Heeger (2000, chemistry) and award winning playwrights David Auburn, John Guare, and Sir Anthony Leggett selected "The Altruists," by British playwright Craig Baxter as the winner of the 4th STAGE Competition. In the 3rd STAGE Competition, the same panel named Anna Ziegler's "Photograph 51" as the winner. Zieger's play is currently being produced as a feature film by Academy Award-nominated director Darren Aronofsky, Academy Award-winning actress Rachel Weisz, and Ari Handel.

More information about the STAGE International Script Competition is available at www.stage.cnsi.ucsb.edu.

About UC Santa Barbara

The University of California, Santa Barbara is a leading research institution that also provides a comprehensive liberal arts learning experience. Our academic community of faculty, students, and staff is characterized by a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration that is responsive to the needs of our multicultural and global society. All of this takes place within a living and learning environment like no other, as we draw inspiration from the beauty and resources of our extraordinary location at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.