Seeking Submissions for the 2025 Midwest Dramatists Conference

 

The Midwest Dramatists Center (MDC) is excited to announce the sixth annual Midwest Dramatists Conference on October 15-18, 2025 in Olathe, Kansas. The conference is a place for playwrights to gather and have their work shared and critiqued. We invite playwrights to attend from across the country, and we encourage a diversity of voices and viewpoints.

Accepted playwrights can look forward to the following activities: 

• October 15: Evening reception with special guest speakers from local arts organizations.

• October 16: A full day of adjudicated play readings followed by a showcase of work by MDC playwrights. 

• October 17: Inge Forum honoring Kansas playwright William Inge, followed by a performance of The Jonbenet Game by Tori Keenan-Zeltat the Unicorn Theatre. Shuttle service and tickets included.

• October 18: Breakout sessions and additional adjudicated play readings followed by a Gala Dinner.

 

Industry professionals Gene Kato with Next Stage Press (www.nextstagepress.com) and playwright/director/teacher Luke Yankee (www.lukeyankee.com) will serve as adjudicators for the play readings and conduct the breakout sessions. Additional adjudicators will be announced on our website.

 

To participate in the conference, submit a 10-minute play with no more than three characters and a brief bio. Each accepted playwright will be given a directed reading of their play by professional actors and receive adjudicator feedback. The play must be unpublished, but previous productions or readings are acceptable. There is no submission fee. One submission per playwright. The submission window will remain open until June 1 or until we have received 125 applications. Selected playwrights will be notified by July 1.  

Submit your 10-minute play and brief bio to director@midwestdramatists.org 

Once you are accepted, the conference registration is $275. 

Playwrights whose plays are chosen are required to attend the conference in order to have their plays read. The conference will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Olathe, Kansas, 12080 S Strang Line Road. The hotel is offering a discounted rate for attendees. The Inge Forum will be held at the Unicorn Theatre, 3828 Main Street in Kansas City, Missouri.  

If you are not participating in the festival, there are several Midwest Dramatists Conference events that are open and free to the public to attend. More details about the conference will be announced at www.midwestdramatists.org.

Announcing Inge Forum at 2025 MDC Conference

The Midwest Dramatists Center (“MDC”) is excited to announce its collaboration with members of the William Inge family to produce an Inge Forum as part of its 2025 Midwest Dramatists Conference in the fall. 

Playwright William Inge was born in Independence, Kansas in 1913 and wrote “Come Back Little Sheba,” "Picnic,” "Bus Stop," and "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" in the 1950s. Inge won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1953 for “Picnic,” and his screenplay for “Splendor in the Grass” won the Academy Award in 1961. 

 The Inge Forum, one day of the conference, will include workshops, readings from some of Inge’s plays, and a discussion on the impact of his work on American theatre. The Forum, along with some other conference events, will take place at the Unicorn Theatre.

 “The Inge family is proud and excited to be a contributor,” said Paula Brown, a great-niece of Inge, who was impressed by last year’s MDC Conference which she attended. MDC was started in the Greater Kansas City, Missouri metropolitan area in 2014 by playwrights Bryan Colley, David Hanson, Michelle Tyrene Johnson, and Vicki Vodrey. It serves to support emerging playwrights, furthering the growth of their art and its impact on the greater theater community and the Greater Kansas City metropolitan area. 

“We couldn’t be more excited to be honoring one of the most important playwrights from the Midwest in our conference,” says Vodrey, Producing Director of the conference. “I believe partnering with the Inge family is a natural fit for MDC.” 

The next conference is scheduled for October 15-18, 2025 with more details to follow. Applications for playwrights to apply to the conference will be announced and open in the spring.

Midwest Dramatists Conference this weekend

2024 Midwest Dramatists Conference

September 26-28, 2024 • Hilton Garden Inn, Olathe, KS

All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise indicated.

Thursday, September 26

• 7:00pm: Opening Reception
• 8:00pm: Meet the adjudicators Edward Einhorn, Lonita Cook, David Hanson, and Lindsay Adams Kennedy with special guests Ernie Nolan, Artistic Director of the Unicorn Theatre, and Khalia Davis, Artistic Director of the Coterie Theatre.

Friday, September 27

• 9:00am
  The Last Meal by Elena Naskova
  Dead Caterpillars by Layli Rohani
• 9:30am
  Who’s a Snowbird by Kathleen Maule Holen
  Gun Free by Jessie Salsbury
• 10:00am
  Big Footprints by Kyle Walker
  The Wonder Drug by Daniel Born
• 10:45am
  Scribe Stadium by Danielle Dresden
  Most Outstanding Minority Girl by Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos
  
• 11:15am
  Mother’s Day by Betsy Anne Huggins
  The Tenting by Tom Moran
• 11:45am
  Juliet’s Post Credit Scene by Greg Lam
• Objectively by Allan Maule
• 1:15pm
  Doors Are Closing by Donald Cooper
  Something Blue by Sache Satta
• 1:45pm
  Love Letters by Amber Dickinson
  White Cotton, Black Light by Samuel Heyman
• 2:15pm
  Ring Around the Rosary by Ward Kay
  Spring Break by Kevin King
• 3:00pm
  Loneliest Road in America by Grace Laughton
  A Cupboard Full of Coffee Cups by Bridget Grace Sheaff
• 3:30pm
  The Last Man on Earth by Arthur M. Jolly
  The Illiad: Book 7 by Rand Higbee
• 4:00pm
  With Apologies to White Elephants by Everett Robert
  My Piano Doesn't Like Me by Larry Rinkel
• 4:30pm
  Seven Polaroids of Men's Bottoms by John Adams
  The Drums by Katherine Vondy

• 7:00pm Horse Power: Tom Bass’ American Story: Join us for a new play by MDC playwright and board member Michelle Tyrene Johnson at the Coterie Theatre in Crown Center. (attendance optional).

Saturday, September 28

• 8:30am Breakout Session 1 (not open to the public)
  
• 10:00am Breakout Session 2 (not open to the public)
  

• 11:30am
  Unmuted by Clark DesSoye
  Esto Tambien Pasara by Jessica Mayer
• 12:00pm
  Killing Maggie by Laura Mazzuca Toops
  The Waiting Room by Alli Hartley-Kong
• 12:30pm
  Not About Pretty by Wendy Vogel
  Mnemorian by Annie Considine
• 2:00pm
  The Coat with the Silver Lining by Alison Reeger Cook
  I Will Tell the Bees by Audrey Webb
• 2:30pm
  Surprise Visit by James Mainard O'Connell
  Geminds by Andra Laine Hunter
• 3:00pm
  The Three O'Clock by Peggy Powell
  Two Sisters and a Red Lollipop by Judah Skoff
• 3:45pm
  Intake by Celeste Michael
  Put Me In Coach by Frank Shima
• 4:15pm
  The Hands That Rock the Candy Bowl by Teddy Durgin
  Imperfect Storms by Scott C. Sickles
• 4:45pm
  Code by Steven Ty
  Logs by Haz Cady
• 5:15pm
  Prior Engagement by Wyn Alyse Thomas
  How About Them Dodgers by Philip Middleton Williams

• 7:00pm MDC Gala Dinner (not open to the public)

MDC Conference Deadline July 15

The submission window for the MDC Conference will close on July 15, 2004. Please submit your ten minute play so you can attend the conference by this date.

Submission details here: https://www.midwestdramatists.org/2024/05/seeking-submissions-for-2024-midwest.html

Seeking Submissions for the 2024 Midwest Dramatists Conference

WE ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS FOR THE MIDWEST DRAMATISTS CONFERENCE. 

 

The Midwest Dramatists Center (MDC) is pleased to announce the return of the Midwest Dramatists Conference, to take place September 26-28, 2024. MDC is a Kansas City, Missouri-based organization and we invite play submissions from playwrights across the country.

 

Industry professionals Edward Einhorn, Artistic Director of Untitled Theater Company Number 61, and Kansas City film and theatre critic Lonita Cook will serve as adjudicators of the play readings held during the conference and conduct workshops for the playwrights whose plays have been selected for the conference. Additional adjudicators will be announced on our website this summer.

 

We are currently seeking 10-minute plays with no more than three characters. Each playwright will receive a 25-minute slot that includes their play reading and adjudicator comments. The play must be unpublished, but previous productions or readings are acceptable.

 

The submission window will remain open until we have received 125 applications, and selected playwrights will be notified by July 30, 2024. There is no submission fee. One submission per playwright. The conference will provide actors and directors from Kansas City’s vibrant professional theatre pool.

 

Once you are accepted, conference registration is $275. Playwrights whose plays are chosen are required to attend in order to have their plays read at the conference. In addition to the play reading with adjudicator feedback, conference registration includes the opening night reception, breakfast and afternoon snacks Friday and Saturday, the Gala dinner, and breakout sessions. More details about the conference will be announced at www.midwestdramatists.org.

 

 The conference will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Olathe, Kansas, 12080 S Strang Line Road. The phone number is 913-815-2345. There is a special hotel discount for artists visiting from out of town. Please let the hotel know you are attending the conference when you call for reservations. The local airport is Kansas City International (MCI), in Kansas City, Missouri.