Austin Hay One Act Play Award

The Arts Club of Washington is pleased to announce the results of the 2026 Austin Hay One Act Play Award.

The winning play is Fun&Games, by Charlie Schulman

This four other finalists were:

Y: A Christmas Eve Interlude, by Paul Coleman
A Straight Line Is Just A Circle That Gave Up, by Brian Brijbag
The Fitting, by Angel Micarelli
The Conscience of the King, by Adam Richter

The Arts Club received 125 submissions for this year’s contest. A team of 20 volunteer readers narrowed that pool down to the five finalists. Those five plays were then reviewed by a panel consisting of Peter Marks (Washington Post theater critic), Nancy Robinette (multi-award winning D.C. actor), and Nicholas Zill (D.C. writer, lyricist, and director), who chose the winning play.

All judging, both by the volunteer readers and the panel of finalist judges, was “blind.” The
identities of the playwrights were unmasked only after the winning play had been selected.
Fun&Games, the winning play, will receive a staged reading at the Arts Club on Thursday,
December 3, 2026, at which time the award will be presented to playwright Charlie Schulman.

Tickets for that event, which is open to the public, will go on sale shortly through the Arts Club’s website.

2025 Competition Information

The winner of the 2025 competition was “Guilty Pleasure” a New Play by Charlie Probus