The 2018 contest has concluded. Please check back in September for information on the 2019 contest.
The 2018 contest has concluded. Please check back in September for information on the 2019 contest.
Student Jane Chambers Playwriting Contest
The Jane Chambers Student Playwriting Award recognizes plays and performance texts created by cis/trans/female-identifying women that present a feminist perspective and contain significant opportunities for female performers. This competition is open to both graduate and undergraduate students. The Jane Chambers Award for emergent playwrights encourages diversity of style and content. All forms of drama are accepted, including solo performance work.
The winning play will be recognized at the annual WTP+ pre-conference, which will be held in late July/early August, prior to the Theatre in Higher Education Conference (ATHE). The student winner will receive a $250 cash prize and a year's membership in Women and Theatre.
Please see below for this year's winner and honorable mentions!
Jane Chambers 2026 Student Playwriting Award
2026 Winner
JO VAN GOGH by Kate Isabel Foley
Jo Van Gogh Synopsis:
In the wake of her husband Theo’s passing, 28-year-old Johanna van Gogh is left with nothing but her infant son, 200 of her brother-in-law’s paintings, and her husband’s dying wish: to make Vincent van Gogh a world-renowned artist. As Johanna sorts through the paintings, she uncovers the little-known stories of the women Vincent painted, leading her to question what kind of mother and businesswoman she wishes to be. A story about love, legacy, and reinvention.
Kate Isabel Foley (she/her) is a bisexual playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. Her storytelling plays with whimsy, queerness, mental health, womanhood, the inner child, and reinterpreting the stories we thought we knew—sometimes all at once.
Captain Darling—Kate’s dark reimagining of Peter Pan that centers Mrs. Darling—had its world premiere in 2024 at the Kaleidoscope Performing Arts Center in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Jo Van Gogh–the story of the woman responsible for solidifying Vincent van Gogh’s legacy–enjoyed a workshop and staged reading at City Theatre as part of its 2025 Momentum Festival in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Kate holds a B.A. in English and Theater, with distinguished honors, from Ursinus College and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University. You can follow her on Instagram at @kateifoley and visit her website at https://kateisabelfoley.com.
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2026 Honorable Mentions
JOHN DESERVES TO DIE by Rachel Beth Greene
All is calm until theater department favorite Professor Daniel Holmes casts unassuming freshman Laura Vogel as Carol in his Spring production of David Mamet’s Oleanna. No one is less pleased than ambitious sophomore Jen Barnett, who threatens to expose a secret that could turn lives and careers upside down. When student reporter Andy Stark starts to follow leads for an explosive exposé, it is only a matter of time before dangerous truths come out. Art begins to imitate life as secrets unravel, masks come off, and classic texts are challenged. In this decidedly murderous exploration into the devilish intricacies of sex, power, consent, and gender politics in academia, three students take control in asking: If Carol was telling the story, wouldn’t John deserve to die?
Rachel Beth Greene is a Boston-based playwright creating explosive and brave works of theatre which wrestle with the thorny intersections of gender, sexual, and body politics when power dynamics are pushed to their furthest extremes. Rachel’s plays include JOHN DESERVES TO DIE (O’Neill New Play Conference Semi-Finalist, Princess Grace Award Semi-Finalist, Fresh Ink Theater Company, Tier5 Theatre Company, LakehouseRanchDotPng, First Kiss Theatre Company), jessica of venice (National Jewish Playwriting Contest Semi-Finalist, Getchell Award Finalist, Boston University), Power Play (Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival, SheNYC Arts Semi-Finalist, Women's Theater Festival Finalist, Brick Road Productions, Artists’ Theater of Boston), XOXOLOLA (LakehouseRanchDotPng), Guts (Moonbox Productions, The Rockwell, First Kiss Theatre Company/The Brick), and Margaret My Name (Brandeis University). Rachel is an MFA Playwriting candidate at Boston University and holds a degree in Theater Arts from Brandeis University. More at rachelbgreene.com and @rachel.b.greene on Instagram.
MIKVAH GIRLS by Emmy Weissman
Mikvah Girls is the story of two orthodox Jewish women who are supposed to be performing a monthly cleansing ritual at a mikvah. Instead, they actually use this time to hold meetings of their two-person Bruce Springsteen fan club. Together they grapple with the effects their religion has on their sexuality, desires, hopes, and dreams, all while obsessing over the Boss and dreaming of a better world they could build together.
Emmy Weissman (she/her) is a manic pixie playwright from New Jersey. She writes plays about (often feral) girls and women bursting through the seams of their lives filled with whimsy, absurdity, and magic. Her plays include Granted (Hunter College), Mikvah Girls (Princess Grace Award Runner Up, Hollywood Fringe Best Drama), The Sisters Fox (Take Ten/Theater Masters), and Open Studio (LaGuardia Performing Arts Center). MFA-Hunter College.