Open Stage: Open Stories

An International 10-Minute Play Competition

For 15 years, Open House Theatre has passionately staged English productions in the beautiful Austrian capital, Vienna. We've always been deeply committed to bringing our audiences the most exciting, important, and meaningful stories we could find.

Now we want to hear yours.
Our actors, our directors, your stories.

For this reason, we're thrilled to announce our first-ever international 10-minute play competition, "Open Stage: Open Stories"

We are now accepting submissions globally for playwrights to compete to have their 10-minute play directed, staged, and performed live by a group of talented professionals who are eager to bring your vision to life.

Maybe this could be your European premiere!

At the end of this competition, our 10 finalists will have their play staged in a one-night-only performance in an intimate, small performance space inside the historic Vienna Gasometer.

This performance will also be filmed, so that it can be shared and enjoyed by everyone!

After the show, following our voting process, three winners will be chosen to receive exciting prizes!

10 Minute Plays
10 Actors
10 Finalists
1 Night of Theatre
100 Euro (First Prize)

The Theme
So what does "Open Stage: Open Stories" actually mean? Well, the intentionally vague-sounding concept is actually the heart of this competition. We are open to a wide variety of plays in terms of genre, theme, and staging.

But here's the catch. It will take place on a completely open and blank stage.

So, we recommend that, wherever and whenever your 10-minute play takes place, it is easily adaptable to that format. To fit with this vision as well, we're especially looking for plays that primarily focus on the actors and tell interesting stories, rather than over relying on props or elaborate effects.

Small cast sizes are also preferred, since an ensemble of around 10 professional actors will be cast for this night of performances, based on the needs of the 10 plays selected as finalists.

The Rules and Format
Please follow our formatting and submission rules closely, so that we are able to judge and consider your play fairly. Submissions that do not follow the submission rules risk disqualification, and we'd hate to miss out on your story due to a technicality.

1. While we won't require an exact template, we ask that you follow accepted general playwriting formats. If you're unsure, here's an example of a super-easy to replicate format that's clear and easy to read. (11 point Arial font, center aligned)

...but hopefully a little longer. Speaking of which...

2. We ask that you carefully consider the length of your submission (it is a 10-minute play, after all) so we're going to set a maximum of 16 pages. We don't have a minimum requirement, but please remember that the play should fill its 10-minute slot. If you need a guideline, 1 minute per page is generally pretty standard.

3. While we are accepting submissions from all over the world, our judges, actors, and directors are English and German speakers. For that reason, we will only be accepting plays that are primarily in English or German for this competition.

4. When you upload your play, please only submit the play as a PDF. This is the best format for our system, and will make sure the document is processed correctly. Please title your document as follows:

OSOS_Title_PlaywrightName

5. To ensure fairness for each submission, each play will be given to our judges without knowing the name of the playwright. This ensures that the only factor in considering the plays is the quality of the work itself. As a result, please do not include your name within the document itself. Your name should only be on the title of the document.

6. There will be a 10 Euro entry fee for this competition. This fee will be used to fund the competition, the prize, to pay the actors and directors, and further to support the theatre. To make sure we're able to support the competition and the creative team involved, we are setting a minimum of 200 submissions to put on the contest.

Due to the size of our judge panel (at least this year) we can also only accept 1000 maximum submissions. After then, submission will no longer be possible, so don't wait until the last minute!

Your fee will only be collected from you once we have reached that minimum threshold. If we are unable to reach that amount, and therefore are unable to hold the competition, you will not be charged.

7. We are limiting submissions to a maximum of 3 submissions per playwright. Each 10-minute play must be submitted individually through our form, and each play is subject to the submission fee.

8. The prize structure for the finalists, as decided by our judges, is as follows. All prizes from the previous tier will be awarded to the higher ones as well.

Top 10: Will receive a filmed video of their produced 10-minute play performed in front of a live audience by professional actors. Also includes a "Top 10" digital watermark emblem, exclusive to this competition, for use in your play's promotion.

Top 3: These plays, which will be voted on live during the night, will also receive a 1 Year Subscription to Play Submission Helper* (CONFIRMATION PENDING*) Also includes a "Top 3" digital watermark emblem, exclusive to this competition, for use in your play's promotion.

First Place: First place will also receive a prize of 100 Euro, along with a "1st Place" digital watermark emblem, exclusive to this competition, for use in your play's promotion.

Other Important Information

1. We are (sadly) unable to fly out or arrange transport for playwrights specifically for this event. However, should you find yourself in our beautiful city on the night of the performance, we will happily guarantee playwrights in the top ten a free seat to see your vision brought to life! If you do plan on attending, please let us know in advance!

2. The plays chosen for this competition will be selected, produced, directed, and acted by the creative teams of Open House Theatre. Once you submit your play, you consent to allow our team the right to produce, perform, and stage your play for the performance on October 10th, without paying performance royalties.

All recorded material from the performance will be made available to the selected playwrights, but will remain the property of Open House Theatre for promotion, social media, and other purposes. The playwright still retains the rights to their 10-minute play. In cases in which this recorded material is used, the playwright will be credited.

3. Payment of the submission fee is final. Once it has been collected, and the submission process is complete, the fee will not be refunded for any reason.

Time to Submit
Alright, ready to go? If you've read through everything above carefully, then you're ready to proceed to our submission process! We wish you the best of luck in the competition. If you find yourself having issues with the submission process, or have not received your submission confirmation within three days, please contact us at official@openhousetheatre.at.

Our submission window will close on August 10th at 11:59 (GMT+2) so don't miss your chance to enter!

The Top 10 finalists will be announced on September 10th. To make sure you don't miss the announcement and other exciting stuff, follow us on Instagram or Facebook, subscribe to our Newsletter, or check back on this page on September 10th! The announcement will not come via email, so mark your calendars!

Also, please feel free to post on social media about the competition and tag us as well!

Are you ready? Then SUBMIT HERE

Or follow this link: https://openstage.openhousetheatre.at/

Want to see it in person? Tickets go on sale HERE June 10th!