An exciting monthly writing contest presented with Bamboo Ridge Press!
We're proud to announce a new monthly playwriting contest in collaboration with Bamboo Ridge Press. Every month, Kumu Kahua's artistic director Harry Wong III will select a writing prompt on the first day of that month. We're looking for 5-page monologues or 10-page scenes based on that prompt; the due date for submissions are always the last day of the month. All entries must be written in traditional play format; instructions on this format can be found here (https://www.dramatistsguild.com/script-formats), courtesy of the Dramatists Guild.
There will be one winner each month. Scripts will be submitted to the judges anonymously. Winners will receive $100 and a subscription to Bamboo Ridge Press. Woo!
The prompt for March 2024 is:
A "shave and haircut" prompt. Write a ten (10) page maximum scene about an argument resulting from a visit to the barber/hairdresser. The conflict can be before, during, or after the cut. The conflict could be between the person getting the haircut and the person performing the cut; two people cutting their hair, or two stylists.
Best of luck!
PREVIOUS PROMPTS
February 2024
A romantic interloper prompt. Write a ten (10) page maximum scene or a six (6) page maximum monologue of a bouquet of flowers sabotaging an otherwise romantic date. The bouquet may act out of malice, or unintentionally, but the bouquet ruins a romantic situation.
January 2024
A New Year's resolution. Write a ten (10) page maximum scene or a six (6) page maximum monologue of the first challenge to a person's New Year's resolution. It's a resolution that the character has made, and you should choose whether they succeed or fail when confronted.
December 2023
A "what's in the news" part two prompt. Write a ten (10) page maximum scene or a six (6) page maximum monologue of a child responding to an event currently in the news. They may or may not proffer a solution, but they do add clarity to the event. The child could be talking to an adult or other children. Find all the innocence and cruelty in a child's perspective.
November 2023
A "what's in the news" prompt. Write a ten (10) page maximum scene or a six (6) page maximum monologue of an adult responding to a child's question about an event currently in the news. We encourage you to pose the most difficult question a child can muster to the most problematic events in the world right now. Remember that this is a scene or monologue in the dramatic form; avoid preaching and cant.
October 2023
A Trick or Treat prompt. Write a ten (10) page maximum scene about a group of kids who retaliate with a trick against a house and someone that didn't give them a treat on Halloween night. As always, have fun with this. Act out your childhood revenge fantasies, but don't forget about the consequences.
September 2023
A Karen vs. Karen prompt. Write a ten (10) page maximum scene about a conflict between at least two (2) "Karens." The two "Karens" are both perpetrator and victim. All the usual "Karens" tropes apply, but for the purposes of this a prompt, a "Karens" is loosely defined as a person who demands civility for themselves from someone, but goes about it in the most uncivil way.
August 2023
A super powers prompt. Imagine a society where everyone has the same super power, but one individual loses that power. The scene is about incidents that happen to that individual, or the monologue is about what goes through their mind as they deal with their new existence.
July 2023
A poetic meeting prompt. A ten page maximum "meet cute" between two people, but written in some form of poetic verse. This would be like the first meeting between Juliet and Romeo. Free verse, iambic pentameter, haikus, dactylic hexameter, in rhymed couplets, in alliteration, etc. Even rap! Pick a form, state what it is in the title, and make it work for the scene. We know you can do it!
June 2023
A 3 prop prompt. Write a ten page maximum scene that uses a leaf blower, a Ken doll, and a can of Spam. Whatever scene you create, you must use all three props, and each prop must be essential to the action/story of the scene.
May 2023
A group of people retaliating against a company's "woke" policy. Like doing some kind of action against Target selling rainbow flags, or Disney having a pride day, or Budweiser beer. Whatever it is, it's more than a protest or a boycott.
April 2023
Someone "mansplaining" something to someone else. Here's a rather simplistic example: a hammer explaining to a nail what it's like to be a nail.
March 2023
Something a little different. Write an extended stage direction, no more than 8 pages, that you consider impossible to execute on stage. For example, Ibsen's play, When We Dead Awaken, ends with an avalanche carrying two characters to their death.
February 2023
A historical meeting between two historical figures that ends in a conflict. Like Rosa Luxemburg meeting Elon Musk at a Walmart, or Lili‘uokalani meeting Hilary Clinton at an ABC Store.
January 2023
A first kiss. (Have fun with this!) It could be a couple, or polyamorous relationships, or an individual. A woman and a man. A man and a man. A woman and a woman. Or any number of combinations. Any gender, any race, any religion, any class, any sexual orientation. It could be a collision of differences or a meeting of perfect matches. It could be a human and a pet, or two pets, or an insect and an empty soda can, or a flower and a bee, or a nail and a hammer and a piece of wood. So, start fulfilling that New Year's resolution and write!
December 2022
A New Year’s Eve situation between New Year's Eve revelers and the homeless. For example, a group of homeless people try to get into a club in Waikīkī.
November 2022
A Christmas confrontation: An interrogation between a child and an adult over the existence of Santa Claus. For example, here in Hawai‘i, a child may ask, “How does Santa get in the house when we don’t have a chimney—and all my friends don’t have chimneys?!”
October 2022
A Thanksgiving situation. A fight over food that masks strongly held political differences. For example, here in Hawai‘i, one person brings Zippy’s Chili with meat and another brings Zippy’s Chili without meat, and the ensuing argument masks a fight over whether or not the Honolulu Rail is a good thing.
September 2022
In honor of Halloween, one child in a group of kids receives a magic piece of candy that, once eaten, grants her or him three wishes.
August 2022
An initial meeting between 2 college freshmen in their dorm room from different parts of the USA. For example, a local girl leaves Hawaiʻi for college where she shares a room with a girl from Sudbury, Massachusetts.
July 2022
A conflict between supporters of different gubernatorial candidates. (For example, a conflict breaking out between signwavers of different gubernatorial candidates on the street in Hawai‘i.)
June 2022
A monologue of someone delivering a commencement address to their alma mature. It can either be their high school or their college/university.
May 2022
A conflict between a mask wearer and a non-mask wearer at this current stage of the COVID pandemic.
April 2022
A group of high school friends at a reunion in two parts: 10 years after high school, then 30 years later.
March 2022
A confrontation between Hawai‘i locals and spring breakers surfing out on the ocean in Waikīkī.
February 2022
A meet-cute (an amusing or charming first encounter between two characters that leads to the development of a romantic relationship between them) between a Hawai‘i local and a tourist in Waikīkī.
January 2022
A police officer catches a grandparent teaching their grandkid(s) to pop illegal firecrackers.
December 2021
For some reason, it snows everywhere on the islands of Hawai‘i for single day. Write a scene arising from this snow day (10 page maximum).
November 2021
Bringing your new significant other from the continental United States to Thanksgiving with your local Hawai‘i family.
October 2021
The first time a group of kids go trick-or-treating without their parents, and the scariest house in the neighborhood is next.
September 2021
A final recorded message from someone with COVID-19 in a Hawai‘i hospital ICU.
August 2021
A confrontation between a person and a cockroach.