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ABOUT JAW | SCRIPT SUBMISSION | PRESS PLAY PERFORMANCES
ARTIST LABS | PROMISING PLAYWRIGHTS | JAW STAFF | JAW HISTORY

Portland Center Stage would like to invite you to submit your work in process for JAW 2015.
While any unproduced work is eligible for consideration, the ideal script is beyond the
first draft stage yet still shy of production-ready.

What is JAW?

                            • JAW (just add water) is a two week festival devoted entirely to the playwright.

                            • JAW provides a full complement of resources for the playwright in order
                               to address anything they might want to work on during the two weeks.

                            • JAW provides a stipend, housing, travel and lots of free food.
                               Also in Portland, Oregon in the summer. What?

                            • Playwrights must be in residence for the entire process.

                            • Each play gets read at least twice. Every play is read blind.
                               No title, or name attached. The ten person committee discusses
                               each play by a number assigned upon submission.

                            • JAW presents a public reading for each play at the end of the workshop.
 

What Plays are Eligible?

                            • The submitted script must be full-length

                            • Musicals are accepted

                            • Submissions may have had a previous reading or workshop,
                               but not a full production

                            • You must be invited to submit or be an Oregon resident
 

How Do I Submit? (MOST IMPORTANT THING) 

                            • Submit scripts by email to jaw@pcs.org

                            • Scripts must be submitted as a pdf or word document.

                            • Please submit your title page as a separate document.

                            • Please remove your name and the play’s title from all other script pages.

                            • Only electronic submissions will be accepted.  Please do not send hard copies.
 

For further information, contact us at jaw@pcs.org

 

ABOUT JAW

For two weeks every summer, Portland Center Stage bursts at the seams with new play energy.  JAW (short for just add water) fills the Armory with playwrights, actors, directors, dramaturgs, stage managers, production assistants, and sometimes even dogs and babies. Rehearsals fill up every nook and cranny of the building while the copy machine whirs day and night, with new pages and fresh scripts churning back into the rehearsal rooms. The two-week blur of activity ends with staged readings that are free and open to the public, and a smorgasbord of performances throughout the Armory from local theater and arts ensembles.

Since launching in 1999, JAW's principal focus continues to be the playwright and the creative process.   Four Playwrights chosen from nearly 200 submissions nationwide collaborate with directors, dramaturgs, actors, and other theater professionals from across the U.S. to read, revise, and sometimes completely re-write their scripts, discovering through the process what does or does not work in the transition from page to stage. Joining them are Promising Playwrights,  high school students selected from PCS’s Visions & Voices program, who write and develop their own short plays, working alongside the professionals. All of the playwrights’ works are then presented in staged readings for the public.

 

 

The 2015 festival begins on July 13 with the public readings July 24-26.

Dates are subject to change

 

As always, JAW is FREE and open to the public.

 

 

script submission

Scripts for consideration at JAW are submitted from literary managers, dramaturgs, playwrights’ centers, and directly from playwrights. The selection process is “blind,” meaning that the reading committee – made up of PCS staff members and Portland-based theater artists – reads each script without the knowledge of title or playwright. Only when the final plays are selected by the committee do they learn who the author is and the actual title of the play.

We will begin accepting submissions Nov. 1, 2014; see above for more information.

press play

Dynamic performance pieces hand-selected for JAW will animate the building and engage audience members before every reading. Dancers, puppeteers and musicians will pop up throughout the building before and after readings.

 

Wes Guy & the Road Trip Massacre Crew, 2013 JAW

 

 

Polaris Dance Theatre, 2013 JAW

Venerable Showers of Beauty Gamelan, 2013 JAW

community artist labs

Artists from across the nation will conduct labs for our local community. Admission is FREE, but in order to maintain a high level of quality, attendance for each lab is limited and determined by random lottery. 

 

promising playwrights

The 16th annual JAW: A Playwrights Festival will kick off with staged readings of new scripts from six Portland-area high school playwrights. Come ready to celebrate and socialize.  These Promising Playwrights are selected from our Visions & Voices Playwriting Program, a residency program offered to Portland-area schools.