The Anacostia Playhouse asks playwrights to imagine what could happen East of the Anacostia if new residents awoke to find that their new communities no longer had that vibrancy they craved and now they must make a life in a place devoid of the soul that drew them to it.

Let us also imagine the next chapter of the creators as they propose to own their space and, perhaps, to withhold their gifts of soul from the displacers.

Shine a spotlight on the voices that are being silenced: The corner cell phone store that plays a musical genre invented in DC ; the special cuisine that was once a neighborhood cornerstone; and the people themselves who built an amazing culture, despite limited resources, over policing, and a lack of access to financing. The people who were brushed aside and left behind. And whose voices were silenced.

The guidelines:

The play should be short: 10-15 minutes

The play should have no more than 4 characters

The play should focus on neighborhoods east of the Anacostia river

Deadline for submissions August 15, 2019

Winners notified October 1, 2019