Calling All Young LGBTQ Writers

Have a story you’re itching to tell? Need a creative outlet over holiday break? Looking to add professional work to your college portfolio or resume?

Kansas City Actors Theatre is looking for LGBTQ themed material to feature in its weekly radio program on KKFI 90.1FM, and is sponsoring a contest! Write a play, write a monologue, or write an extended poem and your work could be produced by Kansas City’s finest professional actors and directors.

Winner will get a tutorial on how to shape their work and then the opportunity to sit in and experience the process of producing a radio play from start to finish. The final product will air on the radio and be archived on the Kansas City: Actors, Theatre podcast channel. Winning writers will receive an honorarium of $150!

What are we looking for?

We are looking for 10-15 minute radio plays. They can be conventional or alternative, but they must feature an LGBTQ theme or subject.

All types of genres and subject matter. You may submit multiple scripts, but all submissions need to be original work by the writer.

What is a radio play?

A radio play is much like a live theatrical play or film, except there are no visuals. You must tell the story, create the characters, and paint the picture using only words and sounds.

Who Can Enter?

Young Writers in High School and/or College.

All writers of all backgrounds are welcomed and encouraged to submit written work. But remember, submissions must have an LGBTQ theme or subject.

Important Dates

Submission Deadline: January 16th, 2022

Radio Air Dates: March, 2022

Prizes

Winning Writers will receive an honorarium of $150!

How to Enter

Please send entries to: john@kcactors.org

With your submissions, please include:

  • Name
  • Grade in School
  • School
  • Contact Email
  • Script in PDF format

If you have any questions contact John Rensenhouse at john@kcactors.org. We look forward to reading your amazing work! Happy Writing!

Resources

Need help writing your radio play? Check out these examples below:

VIDEO TUTORIALS

SCRIPT EXAMPLES

AUDIO EXAMPLES

Submission Format

A radio play script follows a distinctive format that allows the playwright to convey how sound and music will be used in the performance. For instance:

  • one page of dialogue is approximately one minute of air time
  • each scene should be numbered
  • lines are usually double spaced
  • sound and music cues are triple spaced
  • paragraphs are triple spaced
  • all cues are capitalised and numbered. Cue numbers start at number 1 on each page
  • notes for pronunciation, physical action, and position of characters are indented

You must also abide by FCC rules and regulations for radio broadcast.  Be advised that certain obscene swear words are not allowed for broadcast on public radio.  KCAT will ask you to change any words that violate the following guidelines.

Obscene
“Programming is obscene if (1) an average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the material, as a whole, appeals to the “prurient interest,” that is, that it seeks to stir up lustful thoughts; (2) it depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable law and (3) taken as a whole, it lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.“

Indecent
“The FCC considers a broadcast to be indecent if it contains “language or material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory activities or organs.”  Also, “Caution should be used and discretion exercised in airing any double-entendres with sexual or excretory overtones.”

Please use this example for assistance in the writing format of your radio play.