ASHEVILLE, N.C.: LEAD Productions, a brand-new local theatre company, has announced the Asheville National 10-Minute Play Contest and Festival which will debut in April 2016. The three-night festival will feature ten plays at the Grace Center in Mills River, N.C.

“We are really excited about this festival,” said Richard Handy, who worked with LEAD productions to create the event, in a statement. “It’s going to put Asheville on the national map, theatrically.”

The festival’s coordinators expect to receive around 500 submissions from emerging and established playwrights from across the country. The 10 selected playwrights—of which at least one local playwright will be from western North Carolina—will each receive a $100 prize, a video copy of the performance, and a copy of their play published in an anthology.

Submissions for the festival are currently open, and playwrights may submit their work until Feb. 15.