The People's Play Award is a biennial playwriting competition hosted by the People's Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne, and New Writing North in 1992. Its object is to encourage writing for live theatre from writers living in the North of England. The prize for the bi-annual award was originally £500 (now £2000) and a production of the winning play by the People's Theatre. Originally, the 2nd and 3rd placed plays would receive a rehearsed reading at the People's Theatre, however, this practice has now ended.
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There have been ten People's Plays so far and each call for entrants has attracted around 40 contenders. The chairperson of the People's Theatre productions committee said of the 2011 entrants, "The diversity of scripts submitted was very impressive, the best of which reflects the high standard of dramatic writing and the thriving theatre culture in the North East at the moment."
Previous Winners
1993: "The Eyes of Another Race" by David Farm
1995: "Lord of the North" by Sidney L. Chalton
1997: "A Rhyme for Orange" by Arthur Craven
1999: "The Big Marrow" by Carina Rodney
2001: "Bloodlines" by Norrene Rees
2003: "Sticky Fingers" by Tony Glover
2005: "My Mam Was An Ice-cream Blond" by Alison Carr
2007: "Lucky Numbers" by Mike Yeoman
2009: "Pig Stew" by Fiona Veitch-Smith
2011: "Ersatz" by Kevan Ogden
Future of the Award
The People's Theatre has stated that it is 'committed to new writing both from the North East of England and the whole world over'. The next People's Play is due to be produced in 2014.