OSWEGO COUNTY – The Oswego Players continue to seek submissions of short plays for the Donald J. McCann Memorial One-Act Playwriting Contest. Entries will be accepted until Saturday, June 15.
“If you’ve ever felt the urge to write a play, now’s the time to take that leap and submit your work,” said Oswego Players President Norman Berlin III.
The Donald J. McCann Memorial One-Act Playwriting contest is free to enter and is open to any playwright who is age 18 or older and resides or attends college in the state of New York.
All plays must be based on original concepts and be unpublished and unproduced. No adaptations or verse plays will be accepted. None of the submitted plays may be read publicly until the prize winners have been announced. All submissions must be one act, single set, with a suggested run time of 20 to 30 minutes.
The contest honors Don McCann, a true wordsmith who not only directed thought-provoking plays but also crafted his own one-act gems.
A lifelong resident of the Port City, McCann made his mark as a reporter for the Oswego Palladium Times before delving passionately into the realms of acting, directing, and writing with the Oswego Players in the mid-1950s.
Throughout his four-decade tenure, he held roles as President and Historian for the theater group, which has been a staple in the regional arts scene since 1938. McCann’s artistic flair leaned towards bold, message-driven plays such as “The Visit,” “Inherit the Wind” and “Agnes of God,” all of which he helmed. Not only did he contribute numerous articles and play reviews, but he also ventured into crafting one-act plays for the group’s performances.
Anyone interested in submitting an original one-act play script for the contest should contact [email protected] for a complete set of rules and guidelines. All submissions must be received by Saturday, June 15 and sent either electronically to [email protected] or through the mail to Playwriting Contest, P.O. Box 183, Oswego, N.Y. 13126.