CALL FOR PLAY SUBMISSIONS: DRAMA IN THE TIME OF COVID—AN ANTHOLOGY

Close to 8 million people worldwide have contracted Covid-19. One million have died. In the United States alone, over 200,000 have succumbed to this deadly virus, and counting. With no end to the pandemic in sight, the "new normal" involves lockdowns, social distancing, face masks, fear, and political strife.

More than any other creative genre, drama has suffered the hardest during the Covid-19 pandemic. With the closure of theaters worldwide as in plagues of the past, playhouses have been forced to find new ways to reproduce the magic of live theater by going virtual. For smaller venues lacking the resources, many have closed temporarily or permanently shuttered. For playwrights, this reality translates to fewer opportunities to showcase their work, and the virus places in peril the future of live theater and new works.

We seek an anthology to showcase works by playwrights examining Covid-19 in all its permutations. We are looking for dramatic works (short plays, performance pieces, monologues, etc.) from diverse playwrights worldwide that speak to the deaths, isolation, social, political, and economic upheaval that have followed in the wake of this pandemic. The anthology will be published by FlowerSong Press in Spring 2022. For more information on this call for submissions and FlowerSong Press, please visit here.

To submit, send new and un-produced scripts as attachments of no more than 25 pages to covidanthology@gmail.com by August 1, 2021. Include a 50-75 word third-person bio in the body of your email. Plays that have had readings or workshops are acceptable. Format scripts as Microsoft Word or PDF documents only, and include a title page with contact information. Simultaneous submissions are okay but please notify us asap if accepted elsewhere. All accepted playwrights will receive a copy of the anthology upon publication.

Meet the editors:

Robert Paul Moreira, Lecturer in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, earned his M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Texas-Pan American, and his Ph.D. in Literature from the University of Texas at San Antonio. He is the editor of ¡Arriba Baseball!: A Collection of Latina/o Baseball Fiction (2013). His award-winning short fiction, plays, and criticism can be found in Southwest American Literature, Aethlon, Azahares, Langdon Review of the Arts in Texas, Cobalt Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, and the anthologies SOL: English Writing From Mexico (2010); Along the River 2 (2012); and New Border Writing (2013). He is the recipient of two fiction awards from the Texas Association of Creative Writing Teachers, a Pushcart Prize nomination, the 2011 Wendy Barker Award, and the 2016 NACCS Tejas FOCO Fiction Award for his short story collection, Scores. As a dramatist, Robert's plays include Roses From Castile, Miriam's Song, Proxima b, Dick Tea, and Kiki. Malinalli, a musical in collaboration with Josiah Esquivel, will be published by FlowerSong Press in 2021.

Philip Zwerling, formerly Associate Professor of Creative Writing and Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, earned his M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of New Orleans, and his Ph.D. in Theatre from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of two monographs: After School Theatre Programs for At Risk Teenagers, 2007, and The Theatre of Lee Blessing: A Critical Study of 44 Plays, 2016, coauthor of two books: Nicaragua: A New Kind of Revolution, 1985, and Eyes on Havana: The Memoir of An American Spy Betrayed by the CIA, 2018, and editor of one: The CIA on Campus: Academic Freedom and the National Security State  2012. Scenes from his plays are anthologized in One on One: The Best Women’s Monologues for the Twentieth First Century, One on One: The Best Men’s Monologues for the Twenty-First Century, and Duo: The Best Scenes for the Twenty First Century, all by Applause Books. His coauthored full length play Locked will be published by Lamar University Press in 2021.