The Dubai Drama Group has launched the UAE’s first ever national playwriting competition, Act Up!, aiming to seek out talented writers who have a passion for theatre, and to celebrate life in the UAE. Established in 1984, the group is celebrating its 25th anniversary by putting out a call to action for talented writers to put pen to paper and enter the competition.
Entrants can be of any age, from all walks of life and theatrical pieces can range from a five-minute monologue to a full one act play that can last as long as fifteen minutes. The only conditions are that pieces should use a maximum of four characters and should refer in some respect to life in the UAE. The aim is to encourage entries that highlight the Arabic side of life in the country, as well as the expatriate life in order to highlight the diversity of the UAE.
New Chairman, Abishek Reddy, said “We want to celebrate all aspects of life in the UAE. We’d love to see entrants from all different kinds of people with a variety of stories. The UAE is such a rich and diverse country and we’d love to see that fact celebrated in the winning pieces.”
The winning entrants will be produced and directed by the Dubai Drama Group and will be showcased in Dubai’s first ever open air theatre spectacle in December – an evening of theatre that will be open to all and will celebrate the group’s 25th anniversary.
Impact Porter Novelli (IPN), the Middle East’s leading public relations consultancy, has decided to lend its full support to the Act Up! competition and is sponsoring this exciting venture.
IPN’s Regional Director Tim Walmsley said “Our job is to create and manage meaningful conversations between audiences, brands and organisations. Theatre is an intensely exciting medium to inspire intelligent dialogue - especially here in the UAE, one of the world’s most diverse countries. So, very simply, we wanted to join in the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Dubai Drama Group to help raise the curtain on the nation’s storytellers and playwrights.”
