The David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award

Supported by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival,
the Association for Theatre in Higher Education,
and Dramatic Publishing Company

First place award $1000
Presentation of the play at the National ATHE conference and Dramatic Publishing Company may present the winning playwright with an offer of a contract to publish, license, and market the winning play.

The David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award is presented in an effort to promote the writing and production of new plays while honoring and perpetuating the memory of David Mark Cohen, Professor of Playwriting, the University of Texas-Austin. Developed by the Playwriting Program of ATHE and the Playwriting Awards Committee of KCACTF, the award is intended to provide incentive to college and university theatre production departments to foster the growth and development of playwrights through the public presentations of unpublished full-length or collection of shorter works for the stage that have not received a professional production. This award may be presented to any working playwright whose play is produced by a college or university theatre program and entered as an Associate or Participating entry within the KCACTF. All rules regulating entries into KCACTF are applicable to this award except those related to the definition of student playwrights.

The winning playwright will receive a cash award of $1000.00, an offer of publication by Dramatic Publishing Company, and up to $500.00 to defer travel and expenses to attend a script-in-hand reading at the annual August meeting of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. Playwrights will not be permitted to repeat as the winner of the David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award.

Preliminary judging for the award will be managed by the Playwriting Awards Committee of KCACTF with final judging being provided by the Playwriting Program of ATHE. The decision of the judges is final; they have the right to select no winning script if circumstances merit such a decision.

David Mark Cohen, playwright and teacher, served KCACTF as National PAC Chair, 1990-1993, and was an active member of ATHE. He directed the MFA Playwriting Program at the University of Texas-Austin from 1989 until his untimely death in 1998. David was a consummate teacher who provided unrestricted support to developing playwrights. He is deeply missed.