The following was posted on the "Misfitsaudio audio" Yahoo Group and I checked with the organiser and have received permission to extend this challenge to Script Frenzy ... NOTE: See the end for important addenda!

[Snip]
KUNM's Radio Theatre is collaborating with Lance Axt of Play It By Ear Productions in California and The Filling Station theatre here in Albuquerque on an evening of live short radio plays called "You Have Five Minutes," to take place on June 20th. Here's the call for scripts that has gone out to local playwrights and is about to be disseminated more widely. Lance is one of the regular radio theatre professionals at the NATF (National Audio Theatre Festivals) annual workshops. Linda

Scripts Wanted for You Have Five Minutes, an evening of radio theatre to be recorded live at the Filling Station under the direction of Lance Axt, of Play It By Ear Productions, Pacific Grove, CA.

Genre: ANY.

One submission per writer. The radio plays can be:

1. written around one of the following backgrounds:

an approaching rainstorm (you choose the place)
a carnival in full swing (there will be a calliope playing and kids running around)
a chill wind/ill wind blowing through trees (good for something creepy; again you choose the place)
a bar
a busy city street
an African jungle
a pier;

2. a multi-voice spoken word piece around a piece of music, be it original music performed by our three-piece band, or a piece of public
domain classical music;

3. a narrative short-short story for multiple voices;

4. or something that defies convention allowing you to go completely crazy, especially in terms of LANGUAGE.

Cast limit of four (4) actors. No monologues, swearing (FCC rules), and especially, no allusions to old time radio! I want to see what you can do with modern language instead of stilted, dated dialogue! Keep the live effects as simple as possible considering the time limitation.

Your radio play MUST be five minutes long or less. Literally, you must time these pieces out so that they are five minutes or less in length. The scripts must be formatted for audio theatre: examples of formatting can be found on the National Audio Theatre Festival's website, on the 'Resources' page under 'Script Formats.' In that section, you will find an article by David Ossman of the Firesign Theatre on the subject which will help you along. READ HIS PRIMER.

It is also recommended that you visit the website of Tom Lopez/ZBS Foundation. Lopez (under the guise of 'Meatball Fulton') has recorded numerous 'behind the scenes' podcasts, and many of them deal with his short pieces: both how-to write them, and recorded pieces to listen to! Specific podcasts:
#7 (Saratoga Springs),
#14 (2 Minute Film Noirs),
#17 (how to write a 90 second story for audio),
#18 (2 Minute Film Noirs: Joe and Moe).

Deadline: May 1. Plays can be mailed by snail mail to:

Play it by Ear Productions
13 Glen Lake Drive
Pacific Grove, CA 93950

Or e-mailed to with 'You Have Five Minutes submission' in the subject column [SEE BELOW]. Note that no plays will be accepted after the 1st via e-mail; May 1st is the postmark date cutoff [SEE BELOW].
[EndSnip]

Mr Axt responded ...

[Snip]
The contest is really open to NM residents and members/past workshop participants of the National Audio Theatre Festival (www.natf.org) only, but you never know, right? So I will bend the rules this once ... A request though: any playwrights who submit via the Script Frenzy page need to put "You Have Five Minutes Submission - Script Frenzy" in the subject line. Trust me: it'll make my life a lot easier. Thanks.

One other thing - the e-mail and postmark deadline has been extended to May 15 (no further, though).

Lance Roger Axt
Play it by Ear Productions
[EndSnip]

So here's your chance to get some valuable practise with a short audio play (it's not necessarily easier than a longer play!) that will add to your page count AND you are in the running to get it produced!

Wouldn't THAT look good in the old resume?

Kirok of L'Stok