If you have ever written comedic theater pieces, or have thought about it, then here is a great opportunity to have your material read in front of a live audience.

The New York Arab-American Comedy Festival will be holding a comedic theater reading night/competition. In addition to reading the scripts, we will pick one piece, based on audience response, which we will produce in this Fall's Comedy Festival.

We hope this will encourage more Arab-Americans to get involved in both the Festival and the entertainment field. We look forward to reading your material on May 22, inshaallah!

The New York Arab-American Comedy Festival is seeking submissions of original short comedic plays and one acts for a comedic theater reading night and competition which will be held on Monday, May 22, 2006.

We will pick one piece read that night to be featured in the 4th Annual New York Arab-American Comedy Festival which will be held November 12-16, 2006 in New York City.

It's like Arab Idol for playwrights! This is a great opportunity to have your writing heard by a live audience.

Even if your piece is not picked on May 22, you can resubmit it again when the Festival is seeking submissions in the Fall. So if you have already written comedic pieces, or if you have been thinking about writing a comedic theater piece, this is your opportunity to get the feedback of a live audience.

Submission Guidelines

The comedic pieces should be no longer than 20 minutes in length (we welcome very short pieces as well.)

All submissions must be written or co-written by an Arab-American.

The theater pieces do not have to be "Arab themed," they simply have to be comedic.

All submissions must be in English.

All submissions must be RECIEVED by May 15, 2006.

Submissions should be sent to the NYAACF at 447 Lawton Avenue Cliffside Park, NJ 07010. Please include your contact info and a brief bio. If you would like your submission returned, please include a self-addressed stamped return envelope. We will read as many pieces as time allows. Electronic submissions are encouraged and can be sent to maysoon@arabcomedy.org.

If you have any questions, please contact Maysoon Zayid via maysoon@arabcomedy.org

For more info about the Festival, please visit our website at http://www.arabcomedy.org.