THE-WRITE-STUFF

Playwriting Competition for Youth

Our Playwriting Competition for Youth Ages 12-19

Submissions are now open for 2024! The deadline is June 1st. For more information on how to submit your play, click the button below!

Québec-based playwrights ages 12-19 are eligible to enter, with a $500 cash prize awarded to the winning entry. Short-listed playwrights will be provided with mentoring and dramaturgical feedback from industry professionals, as well as a professional staged reading as part of Park 'N Play, our annual open-air reading series featuring some of Montréal’s finest actors.

The-Write-Stuff plays a critical role in training and supporting upcoming creators in Québec. This competition is unique in Canada. While there may be other young playwright contests, The-Write-Stuff differs from the rest in that the company fully produces a staged reading of the selected plays and provides the playwrights a professional experience from beginning to end.

2023 Finalists

OUR 2023 TWS FINALISTS ARE:

Cadillac by Marcel Pare - 1st Place
Decision of a Lifetime by Noémie Lavertu
Egg by Alina Ichmouratov - Tied 2nd Place
In The Closet by Hannah Calderon & Tali Warshawsky - Tied 2nd Place
Last Words To Dad by Vianne Lafond
The Floral Forfeiture by Sage Clahane
The Suspects by Maria “Mai” DaSilva
The Wichita Falls Route by Elliot Million-Lovett.

Thanks to our TWS 2023 Jury Oren Safdie, Michaela Di Cesare and Bevin Dooley for their dramaturgical feedback sessions with each of the writers. Thank you to everyone who came out to catch the Park N' Play readings of these new short works. Please stay tuned for more details on next year’s The-Write-Stuff on our website.

Park N’ Play 2023

2023 Jury

Bevin Dooley is a playwright & dramaturg. Selected works include Nyctophobia/ Here There Be Night (Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre); IN CAMERA (parts&labour/ CGAS/ Found Festival); and Slack Tide (Blarney Productions/ part&labour/ Edmonton Fringe Festival). Readings of her work have been presented at SkirtsAfire, Script Salon, and the Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival. Bevin has worked as a dramaturg with Alberta Musical Theatre Company, the University of Alberta New Works Festival, NextFest Festival of Emerging Artists, and Alberta Playwrights’ Network. In addition to their theatre work, Bevin is currently expanding the ways they tell stories to include filmmaking and prose fiction.

Oren Safdie attended the Graduate School of Architecture at Columbia University before turning his attention to writing. Private Jokes, Public Places was an off-Broadway/London sensation set in the world of academia, which sent shock waves through the architecture community. (The Wall Street Journal named it as one of the top ten new plays of the decade.) His next play, The Last Word, ran off-Broadway, and starred two-time Emmy Award Winner Daniel J. Travanti. Other New York productions include Gratitude, Unseamly, West Bank, UK, Jews & Jesus, False Solution, The Bilbao Effect and La Compagnie, which he developed into a ½-hour pilot for CBS. His new film, The Man Who Saved the Internet with a Sunflower,(directed by Emil Ben-Shimon), is set for release in May. Oren has taught Playwriting and Screenwriting at the University of Miami, Douglas College, CS Arts, Interlochen Arts Academy and St. Olaf College.

Michaela Di Cesare is a playwright and performer with a Master’s Degree in Drama from the University of Toronto. Michaela’s solo show 8 Ways my Mother was Conceived was presented in Toronto, Montreal, New York City, Ottawa, Hudson, Winnipeg and Stratford. Michaela wrote and performed in In Search of Mrs. Pirandello (2016 WildSide Festival Centaur Theatre). Then came the world premiere of Successions in the 2017/2018 Centaur Theatre season (Outstanding New Text, METAs 2018). Her play Extra/Beautiful/U won first place in the 2017 Write on Q competition presented by Infinitheatre (upcoming production Fall 2023). Her play FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) premiered with Geordie Productions in September 2019 (Outstanding New Text Nomination, METAs 2020).

The Write Stuff 2022 Winner

Dabble in Lemony by Ainsley Murphy

Dabble In Lemony, is a fun and suspenseful short play, with a bit of a film noir aesthetic. It follows Willie, who was hired off the streets to supposedly test the food at a fancy restaurant owned by Salvatore Ricci, head of the Ricci family and leader of organized crime in New York.

Park ‘N Play 2022

“The-Write-Stuff allowed me to breathe existence into my words. From the read-through to the afternoon presentation I finally learned what it truly means to see a work ‘brought to life’. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of such a wonderful effort of creation and I hope that others are fortunate enough in the future to experience this.”
— Ainsley Murphy, The-Write-Stuff 2022 Winner

  • Operation Family Troubles by the students from St-George's High School.

    Blame by Kate Collins.

    Around the World and On the Screen by Talya Chepchirchir.

    Dabble In Lemony by Ainsley Murphy. Winner of TWS 2022.

  • Elephant in the Room by Sinead Chapdelaine. Winner of TWS 2021.

    Withered Flowers by Zoé Solenn Jaubert.

    Toxic Smile by Noémie Lavertu.

    Blue M&M by Tarika Kaur.

    The Waitress by Savannah Thiessen.

Past Finalists

Emerging Voices is proudly supported by Caisse Desjardins de la Culture. Created in 1994 by and for the cultural sector, Caisse Desjardins de la Culture helps artists, artisans, creators and the self-employed to realize their projects, whether personal or professional. For more information on Caisse Desjardins de la Culture, please visit: http://www.caissedelaculture.com.