The Clauder Competition is a playwriting award hosted by Portland Stage and open to all New England playwrights.
Submissions for the 2024 Clauder Competition for New England Playwrights will open December 1st, 2023 and will remain open through March 31st, 2024. For more information on how to submit, visit our Script Submissions page.
Four Decades of Clauder
New England’s most prestigious playwriting award, the Clauder Competition was created in 1981 by Jeb Brooks, who continues to underwrite the program. The Clauder Competition celebrates the distinctive voices of our region’s playwrights and brings their work to the attention of the greater theatrical community. Portland Stage started hosting readings and productions of the winning plays in 1998, and has been administering the Clauder Competition since 2001, where it has remained for over two decades!
A Supportive Launchpad
The Clauder Competition identifies exciting new works by New England playwrights and ensures their successful launch through readings and productions at Portland Stage. These readings provide exposure, encouragement and critical feedback to promising playwrights who typically receive little more than a return postcard for material they send to theaters and producers.
Clauder Success Stories
Past winners or finalists who have launched successful playwriting careers include: Callie Kimball, Brenda Withers, Tom Coash, Adam Bock, Laura Harrington, Elizabeth Egloff, Bridget Carpenter, Melinda Lopez, Liz Duffy Adams, William Donnelly, Kim Rosenstock, and Pulitzer Prize-winners Quiara Alegria Hudes and Paula Vogel.
2012 Clauder Winner, Veils by Tom Coash was nominated for American Theatre Critics Association’s New Play Award. Read more about the play and the award here.
Clauder Prizes
Clauder Grand Prize: a $3,000 cash award, and a workshop at Portland Stage, followed by a full scale production on our Mainstage or in our Studio Theater the following season.
Gold Prizes: $1,500 cash awards each, plus a workshop at Portland Stage.
Additional recognition will be awarded to the best play from each of the six New England states.
2022 Clauder Winners
The 2022 Clauder Grand Prize winner
Manning by Benjamin Benne
The 2022 Gold Prize winner
The Page Turners by Mallory Jane Weiss
Special Commendation
This year a.k. payne’s love i awethu further stood out to us as an excellent entry and we have honored that play with a cash prize and a special commendation.
State Winners
Connecticut: Manning by Benjamin Benne
Maine: In The End We All Go To Providence by Julia Jennings
Massachusetts: I Love You Elizabeth Warren by Laura Neill
New Hampshire: Quietus by Richard Manley
Rhode Island: The Handless King by Elias Harley
Vermont: Provenance by Todd Cerveris
Clauder Through the Years
