The 4th International ‘Monodrama-2026’ Competition for the Best Work in the Monodrama Genre

The purpose of the ‘Monodrama’ competition is to develop and promote contemporary drama in the one-person show genre, support talented playwrights, and introduce the public to new authors and their plays.

Since 2016, 650 authors from various regions of the Russian Federation; the CIS countries — Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine; the Baltic states — Latvia and Lithuania; as well as from Bulgaria, Germany, Israel, India, the Netherlands, France, Montenegro, and Sweden have participated. The competition has attracted both recognised playwrights, including Mikhail Kheifets, Grigory Kakovkin, Sergei Davydov, Yulia Pospelova, Alexandra Fomina, Yuliya Tupikina, Maria Malukhina, and Yegor Cherlak; and authors trying their hand at playwriting for the first time. Many of the participants’ plays have since been staged in theatres in Russia and abroad. Following the competitions, anthologies featuring the plays of the winners and finalists are published.

The Russian State Art Library (RSAL) invites authors writing in Russian, who may reside anywhere in the world to take part. The competition accepts only original monodramas that have not previously been staged or published. Each author may submit only one entry.

The text of the play and the application form must be sent to: bisk@liart.ru  with the subject line: ‘For the “Monodrama-2026” competition.’

Texts must be submitted in MS Word (Times New Roman, 12 points, 1.5-line spacing, no more than 15 pages). Files compressed in RAR or ZIP formats are permitted.

Submitted plays will not receive critiques.

Play submissions will be accepted from 1 November 2025 to 31 May 2026.

The jury will announce its final decision on 1 September 2026.

Following the results of the competition, a Long List and a Short List will be drawn up comprising at least three winning plays. The winners of the competition will be awarded certificates.

Following the results of the competition, RSAL will publish an anthology of the short-listed plays.