all it takes is ONE ACT‍

Play Festival / Contest

About the Play Festival and Contest

The A is For Playwriting Contest and all it takes is ONE ACT Festival engages playwrights who are passionate about abortion rights and reproductive justice, and offers community members the opportunity to see those stories represented on stage. Each year, three winning plays are performed by a talented group of actors. Over the past six years, we have received over 1600 one-act plays about reproductive justice, and brought 15 of them to the stage. The Fifth ONE-ACT Festival took place on June 15th, 2026 at Playwrights Horizons.

Details about the next contest cycle will be released soon!

Why a Playwriting Contest?

It’s not just abortion that is stigmatized in our culture, but the entire lived experiences of people who seek to fulfill their promise as autonomous human beings, realize their own dreams, raise their families in safety and peace, pursue their ambitions, and maintain control over their physical and reproductive lives.

The subject of reproductive justice is one too often simplified by our current dialogues. And too often the voices and perspectives of the people most affected by restrictions, legislative prohibitions, and cultural prejudices are excluded from our artistic institutions.

A is For seeks to change that. We believe that theatre is a powerful platform through which to share stories, debunk myths, and create lasting change. We believe that theatre can transform. We want to challenge the abstract, politicized, and stigmatized ways people think about abortion and reproductive justice. We want to amplify voices that can reframe the conversation. We want to support and promote artists who can dispel myths and misconceptions. We want to hear the stories you want to tell.

In that spirit, the stories we hope to bring to the fore will be diverse in perspective as well as imagination. These plays may be personal and realistic, or they may be allegorical. They may be fantastic, sprung from dreams, or they may be grounded in naturalism. From the surrealist, to the literal. From magical realism, to documentarian. Whatever form or shape they may take, we hope to receive a wide range of works from all over the country, reflecting the great variety of experiences that reproductive justice demands we all recognize.

In highlighting these stories, we’re broadening the emotional vocabulary of the American audience, and opening up our theaters to a fuller and more honest exploration of the human experience.

Full contest rules

2025-2026 CYCLE WINNERS

First Place-PANDAMONIUM!

by Nancy Sun

As a giant panda, Yiyi’s purpose is to save her species from extinction. And according to her Instagram, it might also be her whole personality :) But after struggling with her fertility for nine years, Yiyi starts to doubt whether her life’s work requires her to bear cubs. When you live in captivity, though, do you really have a say? PANDAMONIUM! is about the hard choices we make in a society that values new life, yet restricts the bodies that make life possible. Inspired by real-world animal conservation efforts, our contemporary reproductive rights discourse, and the chronically online, this play is for those who touch grass and those who should.

Second Place-Omo Mi

by Sadia Alao

Omo Mi follows Amina, a young Nigerian-American girl who has to navigate an unexpected pregnancy and possible abortion while dealing with her overbearing mother, Halima, who is vehemently pro-life. Set over the backdrop of Egungun masquerade and Yoruba mysticism, this story explores the notions we impose on women’s sexual and physical beings and how these impositions ultimately lead to generational hurt.

Third Place-The Ella Elliott Fan Club of Southeast Wisconsin

by Lauren Wimmer

It's 2008 and four high school kids have a fan club for their favorite Christian movie star and singer Ella Elliott. They idolize Ella Elliott for being a pro-life warrior in the liberal Hollywood landscape. From a basement in the suburbs outside of Milwaukee, they work on raising money to have Ella Elliott perform at their church's summer fair. When one of the members becomes pregnant, they must come to terms on what to do. And how.

Meet This Year’s Winners:

1st Place
Nancy Sun is a playwright, actor, and queer American daughter of Chinese immigrants. As a storyteller, she centers the narratives of “supporting” characters and makes invisible labor visible. Her play PANDAMONIUM! recently received a developmental workshop at the 2026 Seven Devils New Play Conference, was a Finalist for the 2026 Ojai Playwrights Conference, and a Semifinalist for the 2026 Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. At Primary Stages, Nancy is a 2026 Mary Louise Rockwell Scholar and previously a member of their 2024-25 Echoes Writers Group. Finalist: 2026 Under Construction Playwrights Group at Road Theatre; 2025 Target Margin Theatre Institute Fellowship; Semifinalist: 2025 Signpost Fellowship, 2018 SPACE on Ryder Farm Creative Residency. As an actor, Nancy's select stage credits include Junk (Arena Stage), The Hard Problem (Studio Theatre), and Marginal Loss (world premiere, Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville). Onscreen, she has performed in Showtime’s “Homeland,” TVLand’s “Younger,” NBC’s “The Slap,” and the Warner Brothers’ film Going in Style. She is a toddler mom and a dog mom. MFA: Hunter College, 2028. @thenancysun www.thenancysun.com

2nd Place
Sadia Alao is a writer and filmmaker from PG County, Maryland whose work often explores Black and African identity, mental health, and the immigrant experience. Her goal is to empower and create space for underrepresented lives through narrative And visual storytelling. She is a past recipient of Vital Signs: Creative Arts for Black Lives as well as the John Cauble Award for Outstanding Short Play. A few of her credits also include Director of A Long Time Since Yesterday at Georgetown University, Assistant Director of Black Superhero Magic Mama at Strand Theatre, and more. You can view her original film and performance work through her platform, 301Girl Media (sadiaalao.com).

3rd Place
Lauren Wimmer writes about loneliness, fear, and death in ways that make people say, "hahaha." Her plays have been produced or developed at Cave Theatre Co., The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Circle in the Square Theatre & School, Vineyard Arts Project, Dixon Place, Sewanee Writers' Conference, Panndora Productions, The Tank, Play by Play, The Cell, A Collective Artists, The Dramatists Guild, PlayGround-NY, Irondale, Imaginarium Theatre Company, Mid-America Theatre Conference, Kennedy Center's American College Theatre Festival, Theater For The New City, Swarm Artist Residency, The Workshop Theater, Campfire Theatre Festival, Ars Nova's ANT Fest, Theatre Evolve, The Annoyance, Theater Masters, The Bechdel Group, Possibilities Theatre Company, and Mildred's Umbrella Theater Company.
Lauren's a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and The Playwright Entrepreneur Program at PlayPenn. She's been a Playwrights’ Center Core Apprentice and Sitka Fellow. Her work's been published by Samuel French. Additionally, she’s been a finalist for the Maxim Mazumdar New Play Award, a semi-finalist for the Princess Grace Award, and a nominee for the L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award at Williamstown Theatre Festival.
Lauren is a graduate of The Second City's Conservatory and Writing programs. She received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and her M.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University where she was the recipient of the Mary Marlin Fisher Playwriting Award and the Jean & Samuel Elgart ACS Legacy Fellowship.