The Jane Chambers Award

The Jane Chambers Team Proudly Celebrated our 40th Anniversary with the 2024 winners (see below for their information), and we are taking this historical moment to honor WTP, ATHE and a grassroots network of volunteers who have given their expertise, talent and time to serve the award. During our ten and twenty years, respectively of stewarding the Prize, we have sought to create alternate pipelines of adjudication, reception, teaching and production. Given the shifting tectonics of the fields (both professional and academic) we have decided to mark this milestone by taking a pause with the contest at least through the coming academic year 25-26 as we revisit our mission, reflect on the current model, and gather resources for a sustainable future. We will post updates as we have them. Thank you ALL for your continued support of the Jane Chambers Award.

Sincerely, Jen-Scott Mobley (East Carolina University) Maya Roth (Georgetown University)

Celebrating
40 Years
in 2024!!!

"The Jane Chambers Prize for Feminist Playwriting has had an outsized impact on the field and artists lives, contributing to more astute reception, and increased production, of myriad of women and genderqueer writers for the stage." ~Maya E. Roth

To read the ATHE newsletter article celebrating 40 years of the Jane Chambers Award, CLICK HERE.

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THE JANE CHAMBERS AWARD recognizes new plays and performance texts created by women writers which present a feminist perspective and that provide significant opportunities for female performers. This annual award, founded in 1984, welcomes experimentations in form and in subject matter. It is given in memory of lesbian playwright Jane Chambers, who through her plays such as A Late Snow, My Blue Heaven, Last Summer at Bluefish Cove, and Kudzu became a major feminist voice in American theater. Sponsored by the Women and Theatre Program with the Association for Theater in Higher Education, the contest understands feminism to cross an array of class, sex, race, national, ethnic, theatrical, and/or geographic perspectives. The Jane Chambers Contest winner receives $1000 and a rehearsed reading at ATHE’s annual summer conference, where she is recognized at ATHE's Awards Ceremony.

Read more about Jane Chambers and her work at JaneChambers.org.

As is stated above, our Jane Chambers competition is on pause at this time. If you are interested in submitting for this award, please check back in the future for more information.

FAQ

Watch this space for future submission info!

Contact our Jane Chambers coordinators Jennifer-Scott Mobley and Maya Roth with questions.

Jane Chambers Award for Excellence in Feminist Playwriting

2024 WINNER:

shadow/land by Erika Dickerson-Despenza

RUNNERS UP:

Beautiful Blessed Child by Daria Miyeko Marinelli

The Words of Ants by Xiaoyan Kang

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Amma’s Wit by Sandra A. Daley-Sharif

Traces of Desire by Lina Patel

This year we had a record number of submissions--450-- read across 4 rounds of adjudication by 36 readers across the country. Thank you to all of our readers and Congratulations and Kudos to our winner, runners up and honorable mentions!