Got an idea for a historical or cultural play about the Rio Grande Valley? Or perhaps you've been wringing your hands over city politics and want to immortalize your humorous take on baseball stadiums and mayoral races. Well, dig out that typewriter and get started - the KUNM 89.9-FM Radio Play Scriptwriting Competition could be your big break.
Three winning scripts will be chosen during the contest, which is aimed at promoting local writers and raising awareness of the Southwest's cultural heritage. The winners will each receive $500, have their scripts produced live, then recorded and cleaned up for broadcast on local public radio this spring and summer.
Entries can be as artsy or atavistic as the writer wants, but producers are looking for pieces that pertain to Albuquerque, the Rio Grande Valley and adjacent areas.
"We're looking for diverse group of entries with a diverse group of backgrounds," said Rachel Kaub, a volunteer radio theater coordinator at KUNM.
Suggested topics for the 30-minute plays include regional history, cultural diversity, multilingualism, social commentary and satire.
"This competition provides local artists a unique opportunity to produce original broadcasts and address regional issues," KUNM general manager Richard Towne said in a statement. "In keeping with the traditions of theater, we hope candidates will incorporate the promise of a live audience and the ambience of a particular locale into their scripts."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Several production elements must be taken into consideration when penning a script for radio, Kaub said.
"The key to writing for radio is writing for ear," she said. "Traditional stage directions have no meaning, action must be telegraphed by sound. If for instance screenplay has the inscription of a rider on horseback, it must have sound effects or music to provide rhythm for that segment."
Kaub added that narration might also be a means of conveying physical action. Traditional internal dialogue, such as the thoughts of a private-eye in a noir drama could work, she said, as could an external, overt narrator.
She said that would-be playwrights looking for ideas can find written samples and sound bytes from radio dramas on the Internet by searching for radio theater using any popular search engine.
Funding for the contest comes from a two-year, $9,000 grant from the City of Albuquerque's Urban Enhancement Trust Fund, which was established in 1983 to enhance quality of life in the city. Besides paying the prize money, the grant will be used to hire actors, produce the plays and secure venues, Kaub said.
Live venues haven't been selected, but she hopes they will be individually chosen to fit the mood and theme of each play.
For instance, "If a Native American submission wins one of the prizes it would be wonderful to produce it at the Pueblo Cult center," Kaub said. "We'll make a final determination after we see what kind of scripts we come up with."
The competition is cosponsored by Albuquerque Radio Theater, a group that now produces drama for public radio. Kaub said members hope the contest will bring more people into the group's circle.
"We hope it will draw people into the realm of radio theater and give them an appreciation for what radio theatre once was and will be," she said.
Writers must submit two hard copies typed in play format. Each copy should include two title pages, one with the author's name, address, e-mail address and phone number; and the other with just the title of the play. No author information should appear anywhere else on the script. Entries must be postmarked on or before Feb. 25, 2002 to Albuquerque Radio Theater, care of KUNM, O§ate Hall, UNM, Albuquerque, N.M. 87131-1011. E-mail the group at ART@unm.edu, or call Kaub at 836-5688 for more information.
