New Play Contest

Toronto Fringe Festival

The Toronto Fringe is a platform for everyone to access, discover, and experiment with the arts. Founded in 1989, Toronto Fringe is a grassroots, charitable organization that runs the Toronto Fringe Festival, the Next Stage Theatre Festival, and various year-round programs that benefit youth, emerging artists, BIPOC artists, artists with disabilities, and the performing arts community at large. Embedded in Fringe’s operations are the values of Access, Accountability, Creativity, Exploration, and Support. Toronto Fringe is a creative match-maker, connecting artists with audiences, and empowering everyone to unleash their artist within. Toronto Fringe creates vital opportunities for both emerging and established artists to produce their work with complete artistic freedom, while making productions as affordable and accessible as possible.

Thanks to sponsorship by the Aubrey & Marla Dan Foundation, we can run our annual New Play Contest. This is a juried competition which takes place every fall. Playwrights submit their play anonymously, so their work will be solely judged by what is on the page, allowing an even playing field for any writer to get their chance at a production. The winner receives a free spot in the upcoming Fringe Festival, as well as a bursary to support their work. The Fringe New Play Contest is the “hit-maker” of the Fringe theatre scene. Responsible for launching the careers of artists like Ins Choi and Kat Sandler, the New Play Contest gives an emerging artist the chance to have their work presented at the Fringe Festival for free – one of the only ways to circumvent the lottery process. The winner of the contest is offered:

• A bursary of $2000
• Free entry into the festival
• Free advertising opportunities in the Fringe Program
• Extra promotional opportunities

AMDF supports arts-based activities that give support local artists and show the positive impact art, especially theatre can have.

Project Initiation

2017

Status

Active

Organization Website

https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/awards-contests

“The Aubrey & Marla Dan Foundation has been instrumental in supporting our New Play Contest, an opportunity for playwrights across the city to have a showcase for their work at the Toronto Fringe. This contest has launched the careers of so many incredible writers including, Ins Choi (Kim’s Convenience), Kat Sandler (Help Yourself), Steven Elliott Jackson (The Seat Next to the King), and Amin Kheirollahizadehshirazi (9428 – winner of the 2022 TOSHO Cutting Edge Award). Funding the contest is a vital investment into the creation of new work on the fringes.”