About STAGE
Scientists, Technologists and Artists Generating Exploration

The Professional Artists Lab and the California NanoSystems Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara continue their collaboration with the fourth STAGE International Script Competition, open to plays about science and technology, and announce the expansion of their collaboration with the STAGE Project.

The STAGE International Script Competition:

The winning script will receive $10,000 USD. The prize is given at a public awards event with distinguished professionals from the worlds of theatre, film, science and/or technology, to be held in conjunction with a staged reading/performance/demonstration with a cast of professional actors.* In addition, the winning playwright will have access to advice and guidance from professional theatre and film artists as well as experts in the fields of science, engineering and technology. Other Professional Artists Lab development opportunities for the winning script may be possible.

The STAGE Project:

Based on the extraordinarily positive response to the STAGE International Script Competition, STAGE has expanded into the STAGE Project. Under this umbrella, the Professional Artists Lab and the California NanoSystems Institute will collaborate internationally with professional artists to create and develop multi-media theatre pieces in which science and technology play prominent roles in content and/or form.

This October, work will begin on the first of these theatrical creations: The Brain Project, a multi-media theatre piece about the brain.

STAGE endeavors to:

• Cultivate appreciation and collaboration between the two cultures of science and art
• Catalyze the development of art that depicts the technological age in which we live
• Promote understanding of the sciences in the public arena
• Foster new and imaginative voices and methods of storytelling
• Accomplish all of the above within an international community

The Professional Artists Lab is a dynamic artistic laboratory in the Department of Film and Media Studies and the Media Arts and Technology Program at UCSB, in which professional actors, directors, writers and producers create and develop new works in film, theatre, television, radio and multi-media performance. The California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), one of the prestigious California Institutes for Science Innovation, focuses on dramatic breakthroughs in materials, devices and resulting technologies, made possible by controlling form and function at the nanoscale. These breakthroughs are being accomplished through the integration of many science and engineering disciplines, and will have broad applications for innovation in communication, biomedical, energy and environmental technologies.

*Specific circumstances of the staged reading/performance/demonstration will vary, appropriate to each script and to be determined by the Competition. For examples, please go to News & Events.