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Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg National Student Playwriting Award

The National Student Playwriting Award, initiated in 1973, is part of the Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards Program. Today, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, continues the legacy of this award with the prestigious, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg National Playwriting Award. The purpose of this award is to encourage college students to write for the stage by providing the opportunity for them to collaborate with actors, directors, and others through all stages of production, including rehearsals and performances. The Harold and Mimi Steinberg National Student Playwriting Award supports the development of student-written plays through a variety of benefits, including a potential publication contract, a membership in the Dramatists Guild of America, a $2,500 cash award, and a fellowship at a nationally recognized theater, such as the Lark Play Development Center’s Residency at New York Stage & Film, the Orchard Project, Sundance Theatre Lab, the Cape Cod Theatre Project, O’Neill Playwrights’ Conference, WordBRIDGE, the Playwrights’ Center of Minneapolis, or the Kennedy Center’s Summer Playwriting Intensive. Please refer to the Rules and Procedures. The playwright and/or institution chosen for The Harold and Mimi Steinberg National Student Playwriting Award may receive the following:

  • Production of the play at the Kennedy Center as part of the KCACTF National Festival, with a five day, all-expenses-paid residency at the Center.
  • The Kennedy Center will award the winning playwright a cash prize of $2500.
  • The Kennedy Center will award the runner-up with a cash prize of $500.
  • Complimentary membership in the Dramatists Guild of America
  • Complimentary membership with the Playwrights’ Center of Minneapolis
  • An opportunity to receive a free script publication by Samuel French, Inc.
  • All-expenses-paid professional development opportunity during the summer

For other questions, refer to Rules and Procedures for the Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards Program" above.

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg National Student Playwriting Award Winners

2012
The Swing of the Sea by Molly Hagan, Ohio University
Runner-up The Transition of Doodle Pequeño by Gabriel Jason Dean, University of Texas at Austin

The National Student Playwriting Award Winners

2011
The Swing of the Sea by Molly Hagan, Ohio University
2010
FALLUJAH by Evan Sanderson, Boston University
Runner-up COW PLAY by Matthew George, Yale University
2009
diventare by Jenny Rachel Weiner, Boston University
2008
House of Several Stories by A. John Boulanger, Texas State University
Runner-up - Dearborn Americana by Christian Krauspe, Arizona State University, produced by Western Illinois University
2007
House Full of Letters by Kit Steinkellner, UCLA
2006
In the Sawtooths by Dano Madden, Rutgers University, produced by Boise State University
Runner-up - Song of Miriam by Gabrielle Orcha, Boston University
2005
Social Darwinism by Angela Gant, Playwrights' Theatre of Texas Tech University
2004
Jasper Lake by John Kuntz, Playwrights' Theatre of Boston University
2003
Good Morning Athens! A Rock Musical, Book, Music and Lyrics by Sean Keogh, University of Wyoming
2002
Training Wisteria by Molly Smith Metzler, Playwrights’ Theatre of Boston University
2001
The Lepers of Baile Baiste, by Ronan Noone, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre at Boston University
2000
it is no desert by Dan Stroeh, Wittenberg University
1999
Lot's Daughters by Rebecca Basham, University of New Orleans, Louisiana
1998
Onionheads by Jesse Miller, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia
1997
Carriage by Jerome Hairston, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia
1996
The Last Supper Restoration, Dan O'Brien, Middlebury College, VT
1995
An' Push da Wind Down, Lisa Harper, University of Southern California
1994
Father's Prize Poland China, Shirley Sergent, University of New Orleans, LA
1993
Prisoner, James A. Bell, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
1992
All That He Was, Larry Johnson and Cindy O'Connor, California State University-Fullerton
1991
A Warring Absence, Jody Duncan, California State University, San Bernadino
1990
The Art of Waiting, Rob Shin, Brown University, Providence, RI
1989
The Lower Rooms, Eliza Anderson, Brown Unviersity, Providence, RI
1988
Blue Collar Blues, Denise Kay Dillard, University of Minnesota, Duluth
1987
no winner selected this year
1986
Nijinsky: God's Mad Clown, Glenn Blumstein, University of Iowa, Iowa City
1985
Dancers, Michael Grady, University of Arizona, Tuscon
1984
Excursion Fare, Dennis Smith, University of Oregon, Eugene
1983
Eleven Zulu, Patrick Sean Clark, University of Missouri, Columbia
1982
The Bulldog and the Bear, Richard Gordon, California State University, Fullerton
1981
The Cashier, Glen Merzer, Indiana University, Bloomington
1980
Going On!, Glenn Treibitz, William Paterson College, Wayne, NJ
1979
The Diviners, James Leonard, Jr., Hanover College, IN
1978
The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, Lee Blessing, University of Iowa, Iowa City
1977
Sideshow, Rick Smith, Angelo State University, San Angelo, TX
1976
Meg, Paula Vogel, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
1975
Conpersonas, Paul Stephen Lim, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KA
1974
Medea: A Noh Cycle Based on the Greek Myth, Carol Sorgenfrei, University of California, Santa Barbara
1973
The Soft Touch, Neil Cuthbert, Douglass College, New Brunswick, NJ

The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, part of the Rubenstein Arts Access Program, is generously funded by David and Alice Rubenstein.