Kennedy Center: The Mark Twain Comedy Playwriting Award

1st Place Cash Award of $2,500
and a fellowship to attend the Sundance Theatre Lab

Dramatic Publishing Company will present the winning playwright with an offer of a contract to publish, license, and market the winning play.

2nd Place Award of $1,500
Grants of $750 and $500 will be made to the producing organizations of the first and second place winner, respectively

The Mark Twain Comedy Playwriting Award will be offered for the best student-written full length comedy play. As a social commentator, satirist and creator of memorable characters, Samuel Clemens - the distinguished 19th century novelists and essayist also known as Mark Twain - was a fearless observer of society, who outraged many while delighting and informing many more with his uncompromising perspective of social injustice and personal folly. This award is named in his honor and supported by Comedy Central, the cable television company.

The play must be produced by a college or university and entered in the KCACTF. It must comply with the guidelines for scripts entered in the KCACTF Michael Kanin Playwriting Program.

The Mark Twain Comedy Playwriting Award Winners

2007
Winner - Reel, Paul Shouldberg, Indiana University
2nd Place - In The Sawtooths, Dano Madden, Rutgers University

2006
The Last Black Play, Nathan Louis Jackson, Ebony Theatre Company of Kansas State University

2005
Cow-Tipping and Other Signs of Stress by Gregory Fletcher, Playwrights' Theatre of Boston University

2004
Good Morning Athens! A Rock Musical , book, music and lyrics by Sean Keogh, University of Wyoming

2003
Training Wisteria, by Molly Smith Metzler, Playwrights’ Theatre of Boston University

2002
A first place tie:
The Movie Game, by Adam Hummel, University of Minnesota-Duluth
Rainy Day People, by Todd McCollough, University of Wyoming

2001
1st Place: These Two Couples Went to Italy.... by Paul Rusconi, University of Texas at Austin

2nd Place: Lenny Hackman's Liver by Matthew Dryden Roland, Boston University

2000
1st Place: An Irish Play, Dan O'Brien of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
Mr. O'Brien received a cash award of $2500.00 and a fellowship to attend the Bay Area Playwrights' Festival in San Francisco. Brown University received a $750.00 grant for producing the play

2nd Place: Sid and Elsie, Benari Poulten of Brandeis University, Boston, Massachusetts
Mr. Poulten received a cash award of $1500.00. Brandeis University received a grant of $500.00 for producing the play