7th Annual Risk Theatre Playwriting Competition

Edwin Wong calls on playwrights worldwide to submit plays to the 7th annual 2025 Risk Theatre Modern Tragedy Competition, juried by an international panel of professionals, anonymous to each other and the public until the winners are announced.

Cash prizes of $10,500 for the winner and five $700 prizes for the runners-up (total $14,000).

The Premise of Risk Theatre:

There’s an undercurrent of interest in risk and uncertainty for theatre to capitalize on. We live in an increasingly complex world where unintended consequences abound. More than ever, we have a moral imperative to understand risk. What is risk? What can go wrong? The best place to simulate risk is on the tragic stage. This belief informs risk theatre, which is based on the following premises:

1) tragedy consists of a gambling act in which protagonists wager all-in
2) by wagering all-in, protagonists expose themselves to unexpected and catastrophic low-probability, high-consequence events
3) as the dramatization of a gambling act, the emotional reaction of risk theatre is anticipation and apprehension: anticipation for what the protagonist wagers and apprehension for the price the protagonist, the protagonist’s friends and family, and the community must pay.

If you're interested in the connections between risk and theatre, check out my collection of essays here: https://brown.academia.edu/Edw...