Cuyahoga County Students Grades 1 -12 are invited to submit original plays to the 38th Annual Marilyn Bianchi Kids' Playwriting Festival  The Marilyn Bianchi Kids' Playwriting Festival is open to all students in Cuyahoga County, grades 1 -12, whether home-schooled or attending a private, public or charter school. All plays must be the original work of the student who is submitting it. No collaborations, no adaptations or copying from movies, TV, books or other plays. Teachers and parents can offer advise or constructive criticism, but should not help with characters or dialogue. The play may be in any category: comedy, drama, mystery, fantasy - wherever your imagination leads you. The Festival does not accept musicals (but scripts may call for brief music or songs as part of the action). Winning plays are awarded on the basis of imagination and human values as much as upon playwriting skill. Plays submitted by 1st – 6th graders must be no longer than 10 minutes when read aloud.Plays submitted by 7th – 12th graders must be no longer than 20 minutes when read aloud. An official entry form can be found here: http://www.dobama.org/marilyn-bianchi-kids-playwriting-festival/ Plays must be typed, no handwritten plays are accepted. Include a title page that has: The title of the play, playwright's name and address, phone number, school, and grade.  The playwright's name and age should not appear anywhere else on the play. Plays can be submitted as a word document, a pdf or in a hard (paper) copy. E-mail word files or pdfs (along with your completed entry form) to youngplaywrights@dobama.org. Or mail a hard copy to: Dobama Theatre, MBKPF, 2340 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights, OH 44118 SOME SUGGESTIONS1. Keep your play to around 10 -15 pages long. 2. Having anywhere from two to ten characters in your play is a good thing. The characters can be people (kids, teenagers or grown-ups), animals (dogs, cats, insects), monsters (all kinds), robots, plants (trees, flowers, poison ivy) and even inanimate objects (a television set, a toaster, a washing machine), etcetera. 3. Having your play take place anywhere from one to three locations is another good thing. 4. Remember a play is different from a movie.  If in your play a character jumps out of a plane, lands in pasture on top of a giant bull who throws him into a lake that he swims across: this will be a challenge to put on a stage. This would be something you would more likely to see in a movie. 5. Remember these are just suggestions and not rules. Deadline for submissions is March 1, 2016. Winners will be announced before March 30, 2016 Auditions for this year's Festival will be held at Dobama Theatre on Wednesday, March 30th from 5 - 7 pm and Saturday, April 2 for 10 am - 2 pm. Actors of all ages will be needed. Actors do not need to prepare a monologue, but should come prepared to move and read from scripts. To schedule an audition, please e-mail Education Associate Melissa Crum at : youngplaywrights@dobama.org The Festival will take place on June 3-5, 2016.