Write a 500 Word Play

23rd September 2012

Search begins for the Traverse Fifty.

Traverse is to find 50 playwrights for year-long attachment as part of 50th anniversary celebrations in 2013.

Submissions have opened for an exciting project to find fifty playwrights for a year-long attachment to the Traverse Theatre. This ambitious project is part of the Traverse's 50th anniversary celebrations in 2013.

The Traverse is looking for writers to take inspiration from Scotland's capital and submit a 500 word play for a place in the Traverse Fifty. The group of writers selected will be invited to take part in a series of tailor-made writing events throughout 2013, including panel discussions, workshops and one-on-one dramaturgy.

The year-long attachment, which begins in January 2013, will culminate in a New Writing Festival featuring some of the work developed by the Traverse Fifty throughout the year. At the end of the process the Traverse will offer three seed commissions.

Eligible playwrights will have had no more than two professional productions staged. The deadline for submissions is 12pm, 14 November 2012.

Speaking about the project, Traverse Associate director, Hamish Pirie said, "The idea of writing a play for Edinburgh should be taken as a starting point. The play can be about a real or imagined event, an experience of the city, or any idea stimulated by it. Most importantly we are looking for writing that embraces the spirit of invention and adventure that has come to define the Traverse over the last 50 years."

The Traverse has also launched a new online-only script submissions system. The Traverse artistic team receives a steady stream of unsolicited scripts through the post. From today, all scripts received by the Traverse will be downloaded and read on Kindles, saving an average of 31,500 sheets of paper per year.

The Traverse Fifty writers will be announced on 19 December 2012. More information on http://www.traverse.co.uk/writing/the-traverse-fifty/